Nvidia joins Linux

[leclerc65]

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/open-source-insider/2012/03/open-source-status-rising-nvidia-joins-linux-foundation.html

[synaptix]

Grats to nVidia for *finally* joining. :)

Also for anyone interested, here is a full list of members of the Linux Foundation:

http://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/members

[Basher101]

Hell yeah!

[winh8r]

I knew they would see the logic in it eventually!

Good news.

[Cavsfan]

^^ Glad to hear! Nice list too synaptix! Lots and lots of companies.

[BigSilly]

What does this change then? As an Nvidia user myself I'm keen to know.

[Cavsfan]

What does this change then? As an Nvidia user myself I'm keen to know.

I believe it means they will be adding repositories and we will get updated drivers through regular updates.
Right now, as you know, it's either the old one that comes with the install or you have to manually install the new driver.

[JDShu]

I believe it means they will be adding repositories and we will get updated drivers through regular updates.
Right now, as you know, it's either the old one that comes with the install or you have to manually install the new driver.

I don't think so. Firstly Ubuntu (or any other distro) is not Linux in this context. Mror importantly, Nvidia's driver are proprietary, so they can't be included into the repositories anyway.

From what I've seen, the actual impact of joining the Linux Foundation is actually not very much in terms of what Linux users get. The main benefit is the increase in credibility (and money (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Foundation#Corporate_Members)) for the Foundation. It's also possible that it signals a change in attitude and Nvidia start lending support to the the open source nouveau driver, but given all the legal hurdles, I wouldn't bet on it.

[llua+]

What does this change then? As an Nvidia user myself I'm keen to know.
street-cred

[shizz]

So no chance in Ubuntu users getting complete support for the graphics cards? In the sense of Nvidia providing the drivers for optimus technology?

[Copper Bezel]

I don't think so. Firstly Ubuntu (or any other distro) is not Linux in this context. Mror importantly, Nvidia's driver are proprietary, so they can't be included into the repositories anyway.

From what I've seen, the actual impact of joining the Linux Foundation is actually not very much in terms of what Linux users get. The main benefit is the increase in credibility (and money (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Foundation#Corporate_Members)) for the Foundation. It's also possible that it signals a change in attitude and Nvidia start lending support to the the open source nouveau driver, but given all the legal hurdles, I wouldn't bet on it.

Yeah, but honestly, it's still good news. With Adobe dropping Flash support, it's beginning to feel lonely out here. I'm glad to see Nvidia looking for publicity in its Linux support even if it just shows that desktop Linux is still worth marketing toward, even for people who aren't IBM.

[mips]

Come Wayland we won't be using nVidias drivers any more seeing they have no intention to support Wayland according to them.

[jasonrisenburg]

I have always preferred Nvidia

[alphacrucis2]

Come Wayland we won't be using nVidias drivers any more seeing they have no intention to support Wayland according to them.


That's not exactly what they said. I recall "at this time" was mentioned.

Edit. Doing a search you might be right however plans and intentions change.

[Cavsfan]

I don't think so. Firstly Ubuntu (or any other distro) is not Linux in this context. Mror importantly, Nvidia's driver are proprietary, so they can't be included into the repositories anyway.

From what I've seen, the actual impact of joining the Linux Foundation is actually not very much in terms of what Linux users get. The main benefit is the increase in credibility (and money (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Foundation#Corporate_Members)) for the Foundation. It's also possible that it signals a change in attitude and Nvidia start lending support to the the open source nouveau driver, but given all the legal hurdles, I wouldn't bet on it.

Thanks for that clarification. I install my own nVidea drivers anyway and am on 295.20 right now.
It was released on 2012.02.13

[forrestcupp]

I don't think so. Firstly Ubuntu (or any other distro) is not Linux in this context. Mror importantly, Nvidia's driver are proprietary, so they can't be included into the repositories anyway.
There's no reason they couldn't create an official 3rd party PPA-type repository, though. I doubt if they will, but then again, I never really thought they would do this, either.

[Cavsfan]

At least nVidea is producing Linux drivers at about the same time windows 7 drivers are released.
My windows setup notified me of a new driver last night that just came out yesterday. I suspect they will release
one for Linux in the next 2-3 days. And they are putting out 32 bit and 64 bit drivers for both OSs.

So, you can't say they are ignoring Linux.

[synaptix]

So, you can't say they are ignoring Linux.

They will once Wayland comes out, since nVidia has stated they will not be supporting it.

[Cavsfan]

They will once Wayland comes out, since nVidia has stated they will not be supporting it.

So, Ubuntu drops the X server and goes for Wayland. And that is nVidea's fault? Anyway, wayland can run the X
server underneath to stay compatible, so incompatable-driver>X>Wayland.

http://wayland.freedesktop.org/architecture.html (http://wayland.freedesktop.org/architecture.html)

[Grenage]

With Fedora and Ubuntu heading that way, I imagine that's your average mainstream Ubuntu user covered - which I assume will cover the majority of Linux gamers - which I assume are the people that really need nvidia's driver.

So either Nvidia will end up supporting it, a lot of Linux gamers will leave Ubuntu, or a lot of Linux gamers will leave Nvidia.

Not that I game on Linux; I would, but there are few games I like.

[ssam]

probably more to do with their tegra arm chips, than desktop graphics drivers.

[mips]

So, Ubuntu drops the X server and goes for Wayland. And that is nVidea's fault?

Anyway, wayland can run the X server underneath to stay compatible, so incompatable-driver>X>Wayland.


I suspect everyone will eventually drop X when wayland becomes stable. X is ancient and things have to change, no one is to blame. Maybe nVidia will come around eventually when Wayland is more prolific but I'm not holding out any hope.

Does X not run on top of Wayland thus separating it from the driver? So it will have to be the open source driver.

[mips]

So either Nvidia will end up supporting it, a lot of Linux gamers will leave Ubuntu, or a lot of Linux gamers will leave Nvidia.

Not that I game on Linux; I would, but there are few games I like.

I don't game in linux either, windows yes.

Slightly off topic but in future I will be looking at running Xen hypervisor on my hardware with windows & linux running on top of the hypervisor. Xen supports VGA passthrough giving you direct access to the GPU (exclusive) so one should be able to game on windows in a VM and I'll let linux use the onboard Intel GPU. The beauty of this setup is you don't have to reboot (dual boot) to game and you can have both OSs running at the same time. All this is my limited understanding of things and I have not tried it yet as I don't think my hardware meets the required specs to implement it.

[SemiExpert]

I think that NVIDIA still has a long way to go to rebuild its tarnished image. Yes, NVIDIA is still trying to live down the GPU class action suit, but they also have to face up to the fact that Tegra brand isn't a big draw to consumers, despite the performance specs. http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/ I can really root for AMD as the underdog, I can support Intel on the basis of their recent support for LibreOffice, and I even applaud Broadcom for improving Linux driver support, better late than never. NVIDIA is still this company: http://www.techspot.com/news/43614-customers-get-shafted-in-nvidia-class-action-suit.html

[forrestcupp]

Hopefully in 2-3 years when Wayland hits, Nouveau will be a lot more capable. 2-3 years is a long time on the Linux development timeline.



Slightly off topic but in future I will be looking at running Xen hypervisor on my hardware with windows & linux running on top of the hypervisor. Xen supports VGA passthrough giving you direct access to the GPU (exclusive) so one should be able to game on windows in a VM and I'll let linux use the onboard Intel GPU. The beauty of this setup is you don't have to reboot (dual boot) to game and you can have both OSs running at the same time. All this is my limited understanding of things and I have not tried it yet as I don't think my hardware meets the required specs to implement it.
That will be awesome if that is true.

[Paqman]

I would be surprised if Nvidia were doing this so they could make life easier for us desktop Linux users. I would imagine they're more interested in supporting their HPC customers doing hardcore GPGPU. Nvidia is a business, I would expect that they're making this move to follow the money (a bit like Microsoft recently starting to support Linux on their hypervisor) and there's a great deal more money in HPC than in desktop Linux.

[SemiExpert]

Hopefully in 2-3 years when Wayland hits, Nouveau will be a lot more capable. 2-3 years is a long time on the Linux development timeline.


That will be awesome if that is true.

I think that the timeline for Wayland is appropriately long. It's going to be an issue in 2014, and it got way too much press back in the fall of 2010. It's coming but it isn't here, yet. http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pro-linux.de%2Fnews%2F1%2F18153%2Fwayland-in-ubuntu-1204-noch-kaum-brauchbar.html

[arnab_das]

so does this mean that canonical will update ubuntu with the very latest nvidia drivers? if not, its not much of a change is it? nvidia surely wont incorporate everything it offers on the windows platforms simply because one wont run a mass effect 3 on a linux computer.

[forrestcupp]

I think that the timeline for Wayland is appropriately long. It's going to be an issue in 2014, and it got way too much press back in the fall of 2010. It's coming but it isn't here, yet. http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pro-linux.de%2Fnews%2F1%2F18153%2Fwayland-in-ubuntu-1204-noch-kaum-brauchbar.html

Hopefully Ubuntu won't introduce it for the first time in an LTS release. I still can't believe they're introducing Multiarch in 12.04. It seems kind of crazy to completely change how a certain thing is done in an LTS release. And 2014 will be the next LTS if they stay on the same path.

[Paqman]

so does this mean that canonical will update ubuntu with the very latest nvidia drivers?

Unlikely.

[SemiExpert]

Hopefully Ubuntu won't introduce it for the first time in an LTS release. I still can't believe they're introducing Multiarch in 12.04. It seems kind of crazy to completely change how a certain thing is done in an LTS release. And 2014 will be the next LTS if they stay on the same path.

With 12.04 LTS, 64-bit becomes "recommended," hence the need for Multiarch. I don't think that the move is premature.

[forrestcupp]

With 12.04 LTS, 64-bit becomes "recommended," hence the need for Multiarch. I don't think that the move is premature.

I think it's premature because all along we've been using the IA32 libs to easily do the same thing. Now they're completely changing that out for a brand new, untested method of handling 32-bit apps in 64-bit OS, which originally broke the support of some of those older apps. I'm all for Multiarch, but I just think they should have been integrating it and working out the kinks before they got to LTS. Hopefully they'll do that with Wayland, or things could be a much bigger mess.

[mips]

That will be awesome if that is true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ia3IwG6tp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYg6n8yBktM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtmwnx-k2qg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SaYO0ERW44

http://xen.org/support/tutorial.html
http://wiki.xen.org/xenwiki/XenVGAPassthrough


.

[forrestcupp]

So it's only going to be with Xen?

[mips]

So it's only going to be with Xen?

For now, yes. No idea what the other VM suppliers are doing.

I would love to try out the Xen VGA Passthrough feature but unfortunately for me my motherboard does not have Intel VT-d support. When I build a new pc in the future I will make sure I get everything with VT-d support.

[cariboo]

I think it's premature because all along we've been using the IA32 libs to easily do the same thing. Now they're completely changing that out for a brand new, untested method of handling 32-bit apps in 64-bit OS, which originally broke the support of some of those older apps. I'm all for Multiarch, but I just think they should have been integrating it and working out the kinks before they got to LTS. Hopefully they'll do that with Wayland, or things could be a much bigger mess.

Multiarch works quite well, it allows you to install 32-bit programs on a 64-bit system seamlessly. We are seeing quite a few third party programs that claim they are 64-bit programs, but they still depend on 32-bit libraries that are causing a lot of problems. The solution in many cases is to just install the 32-bit version, which pulls in all the dependencies automagically. Skype-i386 from the partner repository in Precise is an example that installs and works flawlessly.

[Cavsfan]

Well, whatever they decide to do is OK with me I guess. I like to stick with LTS versions.
And I will not be getting into any OS that does not support my nVidia card for sure.
I have the Geforce 9800 GT. It is not the best and not the worst. It's a pretty good card actually.
My son runs some pretty fierce games with Steam in windows 7 with it.

Hopefully by 2014, something will have been worked out.

[forrestcupp]

Multiarch works quite well, it allows you to install 32-bit programs on a 64-bit system seamlessly. We are seeing quite a few third party programs that claim they are 64-bit programs, but they still depend on 32-bit libraries that are causing a lot of problems. The solution in many cases is to just install the 32-bit version, which pulls in all the dependencies automagically. Skype-i386 from the partner repository in Precise is an example that installs and works flawlessly.

I had a problem installing dotnet20 with winetricks in Precise because it told me it wouldn't install on a 64-bit system. I've never had that problem before, and there was nothing I could do to get it working. It worked just fine with Wine 1.4 rc5 in Oneiric, and I can't imagine there would be that huge of a regression from 1.4 rc5 to 1.4 final. It has to have something to do with differences in Precise, and Multiarch just seemed to fit. At least that's the only clue I could find from searching around. It could be something totally different, though. I never did get it to work.

[jwbrase]

I don't think so. Firstly Ubuntu (or any other distro) is not Linux in this context. Mror importantly, Nvidia's driver are proprietary, so they can't be included into the repositories anyway.

From what I've seen, the actual impact of joining the Linux Foundation is actually not very much in terms of what Linux users get. The main benefit is the increase in credibility (and money (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Foundation#Corporate_Members)) for the Foundation. It's also possible that it signals a change in attitude and Nvidia start lending support to the the open source nouveau driver, but given all the legal hurdles, I wouldn't bet on it.

I especially wouldn't bet on it given that *Oracle*, of all companies, is a Linux Foundation member at a higher level than SUSE, Canonical, or RedHat (or NVidia, for that matter).

[Cavsfan]

In case any one is interested, nVidia came out with a new driver for Linux on March 22nd: version 295.33

[rk0r]

Now they need to make good games for linux.

:p

[Copper Bezel]

Meh. I thought graphics cards were for making all your browser windows do silly slidey, poppy, whooshy things on the screen when you switch between them.

[Cavsfan]

My browser windows do silly slidey, poppy, whooshy things on the screen when you switch between them.

Doesn't yours? That is what nVidia is all about! :p

[knight2000]

I'm not convinced this decision has anything to do with Linux on the desktop. Nearly all of the next generation tablets use nvidia chips. There is a huge market for Android/Linux tablets this year. So it could be all about having a visible prresence within that market. There are many truckloads of money to be made from Android tablets and phones. Desktop Linux on the other hand is not such a cash cow.

[dangmc]

In case any one is interested, nVidia came out with a new driver for Linux on March 22nd: version 295.33

I just installed 295.33 this afternoon-it's unuseable for me: Oneiric started random crashes when running Firefox, also strange graphics watching videos; eg. multiple images. I played around with different Adobe flash versions, (Flash-Aid) no luck. I then reverted back to 280.13-end of problems.

11.10amd_64
GeForce 9800 GT
Asus P7P55D-E
WD Caviar black 1tb.
8 gb. ram

[Cavsfan]

I just installed 295.33 this afternoon-it's unuseable for me: Oneiric started random crashes when running Firefox, also strange graphics watching videos; eg. multiple images. I played around with different Adobe flash versions, (Flash-Aid) no luck. I then reverted back to 280.13-end of problems.

11.10amd_64
GeForce 9800 GT
Asus P7P55D-E
WD Caviar black 1tb.
8 gb. ram

Too bad that happened to you. It is probably due to the development release Oneiric. I am on Lucid Lynx 10.04
and have never had any problems upgrading to the newest driver. I did have a problem a while back where an update
to the Xorg server kept my Compiz from running and Cairo-Dock was just a rectangular block at the bottom of the screen.
What solved that problem was re-installing the driver.

I also have the GeForce 9800 GT.

[imachavel]

how so? Nvidia doesn't make games. They create graphics processing units, which can handle processing the tessels and textels of hundreds of millions of bits. Linux doesn't support many newer games, which use the video graphics api library directx11, which only exists for windows, since it's closed source, as do all directx versions.

opengl games run awesome on Ubuntu. As far as I know, the only major difference between directx and opengl is that directx supports audio bit processing included in the processing library, where opengl only supports graphics api, therefore you aren't going to get the audio. Has opengl been rewritten to support higher processing games? No I don't believe so. But what would it help? The reason certain games can run in a Linux environment is because of the fact that the game developers making those games write them to be supported using Directx. If I'm wrong I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure this is how it works.

Does Linux in fact handle processing kernel loads better? Yes it does, has it been proven a game with supported graphics library api can run just as well in linux if not better on slightly slightly slightly slightly slightly lower grade gpu hardware? I don't think it has, but it'd be awesome if it was, which I'm not saying it can't, and then at the same I'm not saying it hasn't, because I haven't really researched it. Google links are always nice

[imachavel]

Too bad that happened to you. It is probably due to the development release Oneiric. I am on Lucid Lynx 10.04
and have never had any problems upgrading to the newest driver. I did have a problem a while back where an update
to the Xorg server kept my Compiz from running and Cairo-Dock was just a rectangular block at the bottom of the screen.
What solved that problem was re-installing the driver.

I also have the GeForce 9800 GT.

Well there is no guarantee that drivers will automatically be supported for a current gpu, if a Linux development team hasn't written them to be supported by the kernel for the kernel. Man, c++ is hard enough to learn, writing those drivers means they must be tested and debugged, honestly it's hard to guarantee that will be done automatically right off the bat, and that hardware acceleration will be supported by the current graphics api library. Anyhow, none the less, the driver support for linux ubuntu 11.4 and other distros is awesome. It's really really hard to beat the support you get with linux, and it's free. And for all my smack about games being developer for directx11 not running well in opengl, call of duty 4 runs to me even better on my current gpu in ubuntu, then it did when I was running the game with windows. Now to be completely honest, it freezes every 5 seconds, so it might as well run way more crappy. I'm not sure how that works exactly, graphics processing takes processing speed and power for bit per second, as well as maximum vram cached storage, so maybe what it is, is that the linux kernel routine does a better job caching small amount of gpu to the processing kernel, and yet directx handles the overall frame rate loading consistency better.

Or maybe that has nothing to do with it, but I can get cod4 to run on my hardware at maximum specs, and with windows at medium specs, but it crashes constantly in linux. Or a more plausible answer. Maybe linux doesn't have buffers that prevent the game from running on a higher setting the way windows does. Guess I've asked more questions then provided answers, oh well

[Roasted]

Typically I'd think this is good news, but I find it hard to get too excited if they are blatantly not going to support Wayland. I just feel like the news with this announcement will be on a limited time frame if that's the case.

[imachavel]

Typically I'd think this is good news, but I find it hard to get too excited if they are blatantly not going to support Wayland. I just feel like the news with this announcement will be on a limited time frame if that's the case.

4100 beans, you are an Ubuntu addict, and loving it all the way huh!?

[Cavsfan]

Well there is no guarantee that drivers will automatically be supported for a current gpu, if a Linux development team hasn't written them to be supported by the kernel for the kernel. Man, c++ is hard enough to learn, writing those drivers means they must be tested and debugged, honestly it's hard to guarantee that will be done automatically right off the bat, and that hardware acceleration will be supported by the current graphics api library. Anyhow, none the less, the driver support for linux ubuntu 11.4 and other distros is awesome. It's really really hard to beat the support you get with linux, and it's free. And for all my smack about games being developer for directx11 not running well in opengl, call of duty 4 runs to me even better on my current gpu in ubuntu, then it did when I was running the game with windows. Now to be completely honest, it freezes every 5 seconds, so it might as well run way more crappy. I'm not sure how that works exactly, graphics processing takes processing speed and power for bit per second, as well as maximum vram cached storage, so maybe what it is, is that the linux kernel routine does a better job caching small amount of gpu to the processing kernel, and yet directx handles the overall frame rate loading consistency better.

Or maybe that has nothing to do with it, but I can get cod4 to run on my hardware at maximum specs, and with windows at medium specs, but it crashes constantly in linux. Or a more plausible answer. Maybe linux doesn't have buffers that prevent the game from running on a higher setting the way windows does. Guess I've asked more questions then provided answers, oh well

I am not a gamer myself. I play NFSMW once in a while but, backgammon is my usual game of choice - burning up that GPU nonetheless!!! LOL

My son plays MW2 and Rage and some others but, they will not run under Wine as we have tried.
I love the ability to dual boot. Each OS has it's good points and bad. Windows 7 is at least 10 times slower shutting down and starting up as Ubuntu.

I have a nice conky along the right side that provides 4 temperature readings for my quad core CPU, the GPU temp and version of the nVidea driver, (all in Fahrenheit as I don't relate to Celsius)
processor usage, disk usage, network usage and 3 days of weather and I have a 28" 1920x1200 1080p monitor so I have Firefox set not to overlap the conky.

I also have to delay the conky for 15 seconds because Ubuntu boots up so quickly that it will be on top of everything without the delay.

Windows needs at least 1 minute + to do what Ubuntu does in seconds. But, I know Ubuntu is a lot smaller OS.

[Roasted]

4100 beans, you are an Ubuntu addict, and loving it all the way huh!?

:confused::confused::confused:

[cbennett926]

:confused::confused::confused:


I was trying to figure out the same thing hahahaha

[MisterGaribaldi]

In line with this news, Nvidia now boasts a vice president of Linux platform software now

And this article was edited by monkeys from the Department of Redundancy Department monkeys?

[alexfish]

And this article was edited by monkeys from the Department of Redundancy Department monkeys?
Look before you leap
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