NVIDIA Transitioning To Official, Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Driver

[numacross]

The problem withNouveau was the lack of redistributeable firmware. If they release that I would suspect Nouveau would improve in leaps and bounds even without official support.

The blog you quoted in the post before stated that Nouveau required a dedicated special firmware release from NVidia:

[...] And also just like the binary driver a big chunk of Nouveau is not in the kernel, but are the userspace pieces found in Mesa and the Nouveau specific firmware that NVidia currently releases [...]

So which one is it? Does Nouveau use the exact same firmware images as NVidia binary driver or is it something specially made for them?
The blog states that the eventual end goal is to have a merged kernel driver that both proprietary NVidia stuff and Mesa (currently using Nouveau) can share, with shared firmware of course.

[ezst036]

Why you people are happy so much? Given how nvidia *ucks you at all angles, you still want more?
They were open source hostile.

I saw the word "were".

I say let's give Nvidia a chance here. I want to assume the whole thing in good faith, maybe I'm wrong. Let Nvidia have their day. Everybody deserves a second chance. And so its said, let's applaud AMD and Intel for all that they have done over the years to advance open source drivers and the 3d stack, but at the end of the day let's not forget.

Neither Intel nor AMD have delivered a control panel. We're still stuck like 80's kids around here tinkering with config files and this command line bull sheet with their drivers. Both of them. Both of them have dropped the ball. So it's not all peaches and sunshine around here.

Hopefully Nvidia promotes their GUI for the open source drivers and if so, that will put them a leg up in that area over what AMD and Intel provide.

Again, in reference to the word "were". if you wind the clock back far enough 100% of companies were hostile to open source. Heck, look at Microsoft these days. I can find plenty to fault, but this clearly isn't Ballmerville anymore.

Things are changing.

[TheDcoder]

I see many people here praising AMD for their already open-source drivers, but don't they also ship a closed-source version which is more performant? And according to some people the AMD drivers have many issues, one of them even said it's worse than Nvidia.

I'm an Nvidia user so I do not know how much of that is true, can anyone shed some light on this? I'm happy that Nvidia is finally open-sourcing their driver and if the stuff about AMD is true I'd rather stick to it when purchasing new hardware.

[rabcor]

Nvidia redemption story?!

My eyes see it, but my brain just doesn't seem to get it, this is bizarre! I just can't believe it, I probably won't believe it till it's actually released, Nvidia's always been so hostile to open source, this is fucking big.

[Henk717]

Fantastic news, I don't care who ends up doing user space as long as it works as well as AMD's Mesa driver which to me is the most stable you can get.

i'd love to be able to have a basic stable gaming desktop that performs well enough. And then be able to install their propriatary components when i need the extra features or performance boost.

if this ends up working well Ill probably replace my Vega 64 for a 3090.

[ptrwis]

Unfuck Nvidia

[xinthose]

The repo has 2 commits and 2.4k stars already: https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules.

[jaxa]

Ryzen Master for Linux or we riot

[brad0]

Still won't consider anything but AMD or Intel GPUs.

[Vaporeon]

Calm down everyone, they just moved the secret sauce into the silicon so the driver itself does not do as much.
This means they don't care so much about hiding the source.
Unfortunately older existing cards will never see proper OSS support from nvidia because of this, since those require the special sauce to be in-driver.

I would be happier if I was not stuck on a GTX 1080 that is currently not worth upgrading.