NVIDIA Talks Of Optimus Possibilities For Linux

[alexThunder]

Freedom not to successfully use for any real life work? I.e. freedom to work in text console?

Linux is meant to be run on modern hardware. It looks to me Alan Cox and you have a different opinion.

I think you really got something wrong there...

No, it's sad having to use proprietary drivers.
Nvidia, enjoy re-implementing the wheel.

word

[ChrisXY]

Freedom not to successfully use for any real life work? I.e. freedom to work in text console?

What real work would you need to do that is not possible without a proprietary driver? What exactly forces you to work in a text console?

[QUOTE=birdie;248192]Linux is meant to be run on modern hardware. It looks to me Alan Cox and you have a different opinion.[/code]
But linux is not meant to run with proprietary drivers. There's a reason that they "taint" the kernel.

[patrik]

Freedom not to successfully use for any real life work? I.e. freedom to work in text console?

Yes, and free to give that freedom up and install Windows if Linux is not your cup of tea.

Linux is meant to be run on modern hardware. It looks to me Alan Cox and you have a different opinion.

I can only speak for myself, but yes. Linux is not "supposed to run on modern hardware". It's supposed to run on hardware that it has support for. If the support is lacking, you should complain to the hardware manufacturer and not argue that Linux should give up the key thing that made it successful in the first place.

Linux makes my life easier. Should I give that up because your hardware manufacturer isn't supporting your choice of operating system?

[patrik]

Well.. I agree on that statement. I don't give a single fuck if I have to use closed source drivers. If Nvidia doesn't want to release open source drivers, so be it. They are responsible for their drivers and they are doing quite well except for the optimus functionality. Furthermore, I use Linux because it offers me freedom. Limiting me to not use close source drivers will limit my freedom. It limits me on playing games on Linux.

I strongly support open source software, but I don't hate closed source software because it's closed source.

That last bit of freedom you're asking for can be quite expensive. If we make life easier for binary blobs, the result will be more binary blobs. More binary blobs equals less freedom. So by asking for more you get less.

I sometimes use closed source software as well, but I try very hard not to become dependent on it. Once you're stuck... you're stuck.

[Goderic]

For whatever reason, the management at Nvidia will not allow this. I'd hope the kernel developers realize that not every company can, or is willing to, release OSS drivers for their product. If the kernel devs are going to object on moral grounds, why not remove support for binary blobs altogether?

The Linux devs know you sometimes can't release OSS drivers, and that's why the option is there. If you port a driver (which is mostly the reason why you can't open source it) you can't really say it's derived from the Linux kernel because it already worked without it. Which is why the Nvidia blob is (probably) not a violation of the GPL. But that's as far as Linus (and probably most of the other devs) want to go.
When you're going to use special Linux kernel features, and thus make a derivative work of it, you'll have to stick to the GPL just as everyone else.

[not.sure]

When you're going to use special Linux kernel features, and thus make a derivative work of it, you'll have to stick to the GPL just as everyone else.

Indeed. And if we assume that it turns out most of the discussion here is moot. It's not about the personal taste of individuals, it's more of a legal requirement to reject this.

[pingufunkybeat]

Freedom not to successfully use for any real life work? I.e. freedom to work in text console?

You are free to use Windows, MacOS, BSD, or any other operating system you like.

Nobody is taking anything away from you. Leave the developers to license their code however the hell they want.

Or write your own kernel.

[DanL]

Should read as:
Fuck Linux as a viable gaming platform. Fuck desktop Linux.
We are quite content with semi-working dead slow open source drivers for ATI/NVIDIA (which don't support well power saving features thus no sane laptop user should ever use them).
With such an attitude Linux will always have 1-1,5% market share. And don't even get me started on Stable API nonsense and lack of real backward libraries compatibility (it's just not there).

This isn't a Windows or Haiku forum. I think you got lost..

[crazycheese]

This isn't a Windows or Haiku forum. I think you got lost..

I don?t think so.

[hdas]

Btw, for those who are unaware, the ati proprietary drivers (fglrx) already support muxless hybrid intel/ati graphics - which I think is the equivalent of Optimus. It does so by interacting with the Intel's X.org userspace driver - so it feels a little laggy. So while I don't see dma-buf as a necessary feature for hybrid graphics, I hope it does makes things faster.

Funny part is with these muxless systems, you simultaneously get both KMS with the Intel driver and the good features of fglrx (nice OpenGL performance and also OpenCL). KMS otherwise wouldn't be possible with fglrx (or other closed drivers). So hybrid graphics FTW!