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NVIDIA's Latest CineFX Card Under Linux
Nvidia Lacky writes "Ran across a new article from LinuxHardware.org that goes through NVIDIA's new driver release and also takes a first look at a CineFX-based NVIDIA card, the Quadro FX under Linux. Should be a good read for those that have been frustrated with Linux drivers in the past or that are looking to get a new workstation video card."
Video Card Reviews Monday, NVIDIA took the next step in their strive to own the Linux video market with the release of their 1.0-4349 drivers. These drivers represent a first in the Linux driver market, a utility that not only installs the drivers on any distribution, but also keeps the driver up-to-date. We now take a look at this new utility and the drivers themselves. We'll walk you through the installation of these new drivers, the capabilities of the new utility, and the performance of the drivers. Included in this review is the first look at a CineFX architecture card, the Quadro FX 2000 workstation graphics adapter.
and the site is down.
NVIDIA has already been supporting linux lately, maybe poorly to some, but they are among very few who give a shit about it, so let them keep fine tuning, eventually it will be something rather beautiful.
Think of how long it took to perfect windows display drivers, they had what 15 years?
Linux is "new" to most people, it'll come in time and this is proof.
Posting useless rant since 2003.
Hardware just isn't up to snuff with ATI along with the impending doom... Doom 3 that is.
Everyone wants the final specs of Doom 3 first.
I know thats what I'm waiting on.
I don't like ATI drivers but they're hardware is always good. Nvidia is the reverse, I've had a few nvidia based cards fail on me in the past but the drivers were always great.
I recently installed the new nvidia driver for mandrake 9.1. The good thing about this new driver is that it automatically figures out what all relevent stuff needs to be installed. (Earlier u had to download specific drivers based on your distribution version). But after installing the new driver, I found out that it *did not* modify the xfree86 config file, which I had to go and manually change. Although it was not difficult, but still it can be complicated for an newbie.
All seven of us that run 3D apps in Linux are happy.
Now that the site is /.'ed, what's the price on this card?
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
From the NVIDIA Linux update.
"NVIDIA Linux Update automatically detects the Linux operating system, kernel type, and CPU on a system and sets up the system for optimal performance and stability."
Sounds like the kind of easy driver setup windows users enjoy. I hope Creative follows this format and I can get my sound card working without hours of pain.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
I did a format and install of RH9 last night and so in the process of getting it all to work, installed the latest nVidia drivers. Since I always run a custom kernel installing them used to be difficult. I can't tell you how surprised I was that nVidia compleatly re-wrote their installer to do all the work for me. It detected a "non-standard" kernel and compiled and installed for me. Smooth. I want to see more companies put that much effort into getting their hardware to work under linux. I wouldn't even concider another vender now unless they could demonstrate the dedicacion to the *nix world that nVidia has.
The latest Linux drivers is pretty nice and all, but I'd wish they'd update the FreeBSD ones as well. Geez.
Im wondering if this video card will be compatible with the Linux build of DanceDanceRevolution that will soon be coming out because if there is one thing i cant stand it is not being able to play DDR.
post some inciteful articles
Most of what they post is inciteful. They even add snide little comments to make sure it'll incite zealots to hop on their soapboxes and spout off.
Now if they could just figure out how to post insightful articles....
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Now, here I am weeks later with no sound, under (updated) RH 8.0. Could someone please point me at a useful resource for diagnosing why sound isn't working, and fixing it? TIA!!!
I wouldn't mind upgrading to RH 9, except nForce 2 drivers aren't out for it yet, AFAIK.
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
Monday, NVIDIA took the next step in their strive to own the Linux video market with the release of their 1.0-4349 drivers. These drivers represent a first in the Linux driver market, a utility that not only installs the drivers on any distribution, but also keeps the driver up-to-date. We now take a look at this new utility and the drivers themselves. We'll walk you through the installation of these new drivers, the capabilities of the new utility, and the performance of the drivers. Included in this review is the first look at a CineFX architecture card, the Quadro FX 2000 workstation graphics adapter.
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4349.run --help ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4349.run [options]
./nvidia-installer installation utility.
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4349.run, but do not
./nvidia-installer
The New Utility
Let's start this review by pointing you to a Bjorn3D article that talks about the Linux advantage. Their article basically takes you through a press briefing that the media received from NVIDIA. It's a good article that talks about NVIDIA's stance on Linux and what they hope to accomplish in the Linux sector. It would have been the intro here but they did such a good job....
Now let's get into the hard stuff and show you the goods. The new NVIDIA installer, based on the Loki installer, is designed to make driver installation painless. Let's walk through a standard installation:
Grab the Linux driver from NVIDIA's website here: http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-4 349/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4349.run
Run the utility by typing "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4349.run".
You'll be greeted with the screen shown below. This screen simply displays the license and asks you to either accept or deny it.
Once you've accepted the license, the utility will check for a kernel module that has been pre-compiled. If it does not find one, it will then ask if you want to check the NVIDIA ftp site for a module.
If you say "Yes" to the above question, the utility will go check and will return with either a module or a statement that you will need to build a module from scratch. Since we were working with a custom compiled kernel, we got the later.
When you select "OK", the utility will then go to work and compile the new module and proceed to install the rest of the driver package.
That's it. You will finally receive a screen stating that installation was a success and now all you need to do is configure your XF86Config file.
Now that you've seen how easy this installation can be, we'll now show you all the options that the installer has:
glacier src #
This program will install the NVIDIA Accelerated Graphics Driver for
Linux-x86 1.0-4349 by unpacking the embedded tarball and executing
the
Below are the most common options; for a complete list use
'--advanced-options'.
--info
Print embedded info (title, default target directory) and exit.
--check
Check integrity of the archive and exit.
--extract-only
Extract the contents of
run 'nvidia-installer'.
The following arguments will be passed on to the
utility:
-a, --accept-license
Bypass the display and prompting for acceptance of the NVIDIA
Software License Agreement. By passing this option to
nvidia-installer, you indicate that you have read and accept
the License Agreement contained in the file 'LICENSE' (in the
top level directory of the driver package).
--update
Connect to the NVIDIA ftp server 'ftp://download.nvidia.com'
and determine the latest available driver version. If there is
a more recent driver available, automatically download and
install it. Any other options given on the commandline will be
passed on to the downloaded driver package when installing it.
-v, --version
Print the nvidia-in
awesome! now i can run Tux Racer in such a crazy good looking mode that it actually becomes fun!
While in a practical way it's good that you can enable the Linux kernel and XFree86 to make use of NVidia's hardware, I'm not very thrilled about the fact that NVidia provides this driver.
Some people seem to believe that these drivers are Free Software (well, they usually say "open source"), simply because you compile the glue between the binary and the kernel, but this is not the case. The NVidia drivers are proprietary software, and it's a problem when a task can only be done using non-free software. Since I (regretably) own an NVidia card, I've had to make the choice between 3d acceleration, or using only free software on my computer. Obviously, I chose the latter.
So, I would discourage people from using these drivers, and instead support a vendor whose boards do have fully functional Free drivers (these don't have to be provided by the vendor directly). Unfortunately, I haven't a clue as to what that vendor would be.
Please post your snail mail address, and I'll add one to this evenings post. Duties and taxes extra.
I've got a GF4 Ti4200 running on linux just peachy. It plays Warcraft III (winex) in 1280x1024 with all the graphics turned up.
The current setup for nVidia's drivers basically consists of installing the kernel module and using "nvidia" as the driver under XFree86 instead of "nv". The whole process takes about 3 minutes from download.
Shouldn't you guys be reporting on smart bombs or something?
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
Is anyone out there competing with NVIDIA for the linux 3D graphics market? I know ATI released some binary drivers but haven't heard how complete or stable they are. Can anyone comment on this?
Like CPUmon is there an app for Linux/win/bsd/osx that can be used to monitor GPU usage levels? Not for any real purpose but just to do it..? As in you load up quake on your GF3 and you check the histogram after you quit out the game to see peak levels?
I cant seem to find one. Is it even possible to do this?
From my personal experience, I was trying to install RH6/7 about a year and half ago. My video card is ATI All-In-Wonder Ultra Pro AGP. Its a 32 MB card, with TV-Tuner/TV-Out capabilities. It was fairly new at that time as Radon cards were just arriving.
1) RH installation was in graphics mode, but after that X wouldn't start.
2) After subscribing to about 3-4 mailing list and about 1-2 months of digging i found that the Chip ID in the card was not compatible , and all that was required was overriding the chipID with that of a previous version of the card.
3) Then after about anout 1-2 months of digging i was able to get h/w based 3D accl. I recompiled my kernel/ X atleast 20 times during those day.4) Another month to get the TV tuner working.
I am not a Video Card hacker, but i can compile and install X, Kernel modules etc. But hadn't been for the good folks at http://gatose.sf.net (not goatse :-) ) I wouldn't have beeen able to get it to work.
So it took about 6 months from the release of the card for me to get it fully working.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Tux Racer is hardly the only game you can play natively under Linux. I am not talking WineX here, I am talking native Linux binaries. I would even venture to say that UT (original) runs even better under Linux with the nvdriver than it does on Windows with the Detonator driver. No, it's not free as in speech (it is free as in beer, however) but NVidia wrote an incredibly good driver that works under Linux and FreeBSD. Now if they would only support Linux PPC that would be really nice...
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
ATI has several cards which has 3D acceleration supported with XFree86 open source drivers.. html
http://www.xfree86.org/~dawes/4.3.0/DRI
(3dfx seems to be well supported aswell)
NVidia might have the hardware, but when considering upgrading and future EOL. Going with a vendor that locks you down seems like a limited choice.
The drivers work great on my RH8 machine with my Geforce2 card. But I've switched back to the XFree86 drivers right after. Why? They still don't support power management. All I want is for my monitor to turn off after a while. Not possible. From the README:
KNOWN LAPTOP ISSUES
o Power Management is not currently supported.
*sigh*
100% processor usage when you scroll a window. Once you disable DRI in X, no problems. Oh well, 2D is good enough for the desktop.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
It seems that, once again, the only UNIX that's figured this sort of thing out is Darwin.
All hail OS X.
Seriously though, does anybody have a good understanding of what the real issue is here? Is the problem the Linux kernel itself, or nVidia not putting development money into it? The fact that there is no legit OpenGL implementation, or the fact that nobody see's it as a priority?
What's the biggest obstacle between Linux and proper, mature, accelerated 3D from a major vendor?
bash-3.00$ uname -a
SunOS panda 5.10 Generic sun4u sparc SUNW,Ultra-2
Benchmarking the new workstation quadro cards with Quake 3 !!! heh hheh.
This type of card is optimized for giant data sets, zillions of polygons or nurbs at once. CAD/3D Modeling, etc. Think of the golum guy in LOTR.
Quake 3 has lots of blocky square guys running around at 300 fps on modern machine. Makes about as much sense as benchmarking it with the original wolfenstein.
This isn't what the card is designed for and it isn't probably going to perform as well as a card several hundred $ cheaper that is.
So, the review turns out to be not so useful.
#6495ED - cornflower blue
Nothing I like better than to read the ramblings of a crack-head. I'm pissed at Ford, so I'm now I'm going to walk to work. Yeah that makes sense.
nohup rm -rf ~/. >& zen &
I'm on Debian. When I get this program and run it, it tells me that there are no kernel headers. How can I fix this?
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
Apparently the author thinks only about 3D performance. That's the only explanation for the fact that he recommends the previous drivers over the latest ones.
The latest drivers fix a lot of issues with 2D performance, which could affect every day usage a lot.
Moreover, they fix compile issues on several kernel versions.
If you're desperate after 3D performance and don't care about anything else period, then stay with the previous drivers. Otherwise everyone is encouraged to upgrade.
wait... 3dmax????!
they already ported max?
In case you haven't noticed, it's costing nVidia time and money to support its hardware under Linux. nVidia could just as easily state that it will only support its hardware under Windows, and that Linux users can go bugger themselves. Instead, they release drivers in a way that lets them protect their trade secrets without having to make outsiders deal with NDAs.
And what happens? Ungrateful pricks like you are "not very thrilled" that nVidia goes an extra mile to make sure that anybody who wants to can use their hardware.
I currently have a GeForce2GTS and have tried many of the drivers from NVidia with sporadic stability (yes, I've posted to their forums... no, they haven't been able to help).
I'm seriously considering a Radeon 9100... does anyone know how stable the current drivers from XFree are on this card?
Secondarily, how does the performance compare between the above two cards (under Linux)?
Yes, I do occasionnally use 3D in Linux (I don't use MS-Windows at all)... bzflag and UT mostly.
- Preferences: Solaris 10 (servers), Ubuntu (desktops), Solaris 11 (personal servers) -
I sent a note to NVIDIA last night to thank them for the previous version of their drivers. One of the problems that is cited in article after article is that judging the size of the open source market is very difficult because the software is freely redistributed. Even counting downloads is just an estimation technique, because the files may get mirrored or cut on a CD and passed around.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
"Locks you down", for a piece of hardware that only has a couple year lifespan?
What are you smoking?
SuSE 8.1 or below should use the FTP site to download the RPM's for the driver, I believe it has something to do with interoperability of the new Loki style installer and Sax2.
:). But in the US 8.2 won't ship until mid-april.
SuSE 8.2 users should be fine
StarTux
Nitpicking to 97% of Linux users out there, but it looks like it's only for the IA32 platform. That rules out my PowerPC. Of course, the card that is under review probably doesn't work on the Mac Platform anyway. *sigh*
Neither vendor "locks you down"; if you upgrade video cards you will almost certainly have to install new video card drivers. Whether or not they are open source or the specs are available.
The one exception I can think of is that going with nVidia means you're locked into an X86 architecture, since (I think) there aren't drivers for it for other platforms. I don't have any idea what other hardware does or doesn't have the same issue.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
Q: Why does NVIDIA not provide rpms anymore?
A: Not every Linux distribution uses rpm, and NVIDIA wanted a single solution that would work across all Linux distributions. As indicated in the NVIDIA Software License, Linux distributions are welcome to repackage and redistribute the NVIDIA Linux driver in whatever package format they wish.
Say wha..?
Raven Shield, America's Army, NOLF2, C&C Generals, Icewind Dale 2, SOF2, shall I continue?
Please stop pretending Linux is a viable gaming platform. It isn't, end of story.
--
No, you don't.
Get that fact through your head and you'll understand everything much more clearly.
Computers are not like oil or steel or cotton. Computers have loyalty. A comupter is owned by whoever wrote the software making it run. You can only trust a computer as far as you can trust the person (or people) who wrote the software that runs on it.
This is one of the reasons why allowing a single, for profit corporation to own a monopoly on proprietary software is orders of magnitude worse than allowing a single, for profit corporation to own a monopoly on something like oil or steel.
You purchased the hardware, you pay for the electricity to run it, you provide the real estate where it sits, you pay for the air conditioning to keep it cool, and you pay the parts and labor when it breaks. But as soon as it starts running someone elses software, it will start doing what that other person want it to do. There's no reason for them to respect your wishes once they own your computer.
So ask yourself: Who wrote this software? What was their motivation for writing it? Was it about money? And where is that money coming from? What is their cause? And do you want to contribute to their cause?
Then choose your friends carefully.
--
Thats why I won't run the drivers; will they obey my wishes, or NVidia's? Also those who are 'pragmatic', please remember what pragmatism can buy you. Zealots do have their place.
"You need to get off your high horse and join the 99.999% of us in the real world who just want their apps and games to work and could give a crap about if a driver is proprietary or not.
"
Ummm...is that the "real world" that has still functioning hardware obsoleted by the manufacturer because they no longer want to support it? Or the "real world" that has to wait ages for the manufacturer to release an updated driver, to give added functionality or to fix a long standing bugs? Or maybe that's a different "real world" were the manufacturer will not admit that there's a problem with their drivers, and blames it on you. IMO I think all you ex-windows users apparently haven't learned your lesson, and now wish to pass your "I don't give a damn about any philosophy, as long as I get what I want" attitude onto the OSS movement. You know the MINUTE those drivers "break" your going to change your tune so fast, your voice is going to break. Here's a really big hint. ANYTHING that's a level above hardware needs to be open, no IFs, ANDs, or BUTs.
Anything less means that you don't control your hardware, except at the "I can throw it in the trash" level. As we move further up the onion the more and more one can relax that restriction. Got it?
The main problems with Linux-based gaming are ideological ones: the Linux community must convince developers to use OpenGL instead of DirectX, and convince them that the small amount of work involved in a Linux port would give a good return on investment.
That's it. I'm no longer part of Team Sanity.
"Isn't it possible that, say NVidia has developed some amazing way of compressing polygons to speed up data transfer to their card and do not with competitors to know about it?"
Interesting idea Blue Ear. Now ask yourself this. In a virtual room full of geeks, that crows their defiance everytime a RIAA or other, squeeze their "rights" and then proclaim their technical ability to circumvent efforts by such well-funded opposition. How could Nvidia's monied competitors be blissfully unaware of such a technical feat, or the means to impliment something similiar?
"A lot of companies are worried that the R&D money they invested in designing costly software is lost the moment they go open source."
And how many times has this not only been proven to be unfounded, but the gains have been greater than any percieved loss, by going open source?
Why you're right. How did us country bumpkins programmers ever manage to write all this software without big boss man corporation to help hold our hands?
I think YOU underestimate us.
It's not an underestimation here, but a bow to reality. A 3D driver is something difficult to write (hell, it took ATI's own engineers years to get a decent set!), but rather hard to get community enthusiasm for. Most people (even on Slashdot) don't even think it's all that complex. They think it's something of the same magnitude of complexity as a network driver. The free OpenGL drivers that exist (especially for complex hardware like ATI's) just aren't comparable to the vendor ones. There are many things working against free 3D drivers:
1) Technical knowledge -- 3D is a rather specialized field, and knowledge about the design of the hardware itself is pretty much localized to the company that designed it. While a team of coders for an open project can easily have the technical knowledge (equal to that of a team at a commercial company) to write something like a kernel, it's pretty much guarenteed that only the team at the hardware company is going to be the best qualified to write drivers for their own hardware.
2) Community support. It's rather easier to get a whole lot of dedicated people working on something like a kernel or a high profile application. But a single driver? I just don't see a whole lot of people clammoring to work on a project like that.
3) Time. Hardware changes quickly and drivers have to quickly respond to those changes. OSS projects aren't exactly known for their lightning quick reflexes.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Nah, I think you covered them all.
Well i have an ATI FireGL 2, the version on a 64bit pci card. There are binary drivers for x86 linux, x86 windows and HP-UX on PA-RISC. However since the only machine i have with 64bit pci is an Alpha, i`m somewhat screwed.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
just wanted to point out that some of the games you just listed does work under Linux.. at least if you're running winex..
I can run enough games to be satisfied myself..
- I choked on the red pill and now I'm stuck in limbo