Nouveau Developers Remain Blocked By NVIDIA From Advancing Open-Source Driver

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Nouveau Developers Remain Blocked By NVIDIA From Advancing Open-Source Driver

Longtime Nouveau contributors Martin Peres and Karol Herbst presented at this week's XDC2017 X.Org conference at the Googleplex in Mountain View. It was a quick talk as they didn't have a whole lot to report on due to their open-source NVIDIA "Nouveau" driver efforts largely being restricted by NVIDIA Corp...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nouveau-XDC2017

[stan]

We've been hearing "stay tuned" since 2007. Nvidia has shown its true colors. Anyone who cares about open source and free software should avoid Nvidia like the plague.

[andre30correia]

We've been hearing "stay tuned" since 2007. Nvidia has shown its true colors. Anyone who cares about open source and free software should avoid Nvidia like the plague.

until the open amd drivers are the same level in gaming opencl and vulkan the only choice is Nvidia

[Jumbotron]

That's ok Nvidia. Keep doing exactly what you are doing. Your attitude and hubris only ENCOURAGES the further development and expansion of open source. It may be glacier slow....but like glaciers, once going, are unstoppable. As far as you guys who whine about the only game in town is Nvidia when it comes to gaming.....well....sack up and buy AMD and contribute with bug reports and fixes if you can code. You expect everyone ELSE to take the hit for you ? Besides....AMD owns gaming on the console side. Support them by buying a console equipped with an AMD SoC.

[finalzone]

until the open amd drivers are the same level in gaming opencl and vulkan the only choice is Nvidia

That is the trap Nvidia is aiming for. Spending money on a company unwilling to contribute to the open-source community as complained by Linux kernel developers is the worst decision ever made. Yet users wonder why nothing progresses.

[TumultuousUnicorn]

until the open amd drivers are the same level in gaming opencl and vulkan the only choice is Nvidia

I think I agree: AMDGPU offers good performance for gaming, but it lacks of other features (OpenCL or DC/DAL).
The NVIDIA driver is non-free, but all features are working.

[Oguz286]

until the open amd drivers are the same level in gaming opencl and vulkan the only choice is Nvidia

Even so, personally, I will not buy any NVIDIA hardware until they stop blocking progress on nouveau. Not sharing hardware details and offering help is one thing, actively not releasing the very thing that would make nouveau feasible is another. They are not required to release the power management firmware, and so I'm not required to buy NVIDIA hardware, and that is exactly why I only buy AMD graphics cards.

[elldekaa]

I think I agree: AMDGPU offers good performance for gaming, but it lacks of other features (OpenCL or DC/DAL).
The NVIDIA driver is non-free, but all features are working.

but this is coming... it is just a matter of time now

[fuzz]

[birdie]

I guess there'll be a lot of NVIDIA bashing in this topic, but please listen to this (it's from the Q&A section of the same talk) first, OK?

An NVIDIA representative says they are fully aware of nouveau's troubles and they are still figuring out ways to remove this deadlock. It still sucks a lot that they don't give any ETA on when they will finally release signed firmware for public domain. It sucks even more if you realize that every Windows/MacOS/Linux proprietary driver does embed the said firmware (so it's already in public domain, albeit in an obfuscated binary form), so it's not the question of protecting their IP. It's some internal politics I cannot find any rational explanation to.

NVIDIA, get your shit together, please. Nouveau devs don't ask to be paid, they don't ask for your blueprints or anything which might jeopardize your IP. They just ask you to release what's already in public domain for fuck's sake. AMD actually pays its own internal and external developers to work on their open source drivers. NVIDIA has been spared of that. It's just shameful, guys.