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NVIDIA Drivers for 2.6 Kernel
fmileto writes "Kerneltrap.org is reporting that Nvidia has released drivers for the 2.6 series kernel. The driver and install directions can be found on Nvidia's website."
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Now if only ATI would do the same.
This is making my transition to 2.6 on my laptop look much more likely. I was wondering when NVidia would get around to doing such a thing. The fact that it has been relatively prompt seems to suggest that they are still somewhat interested in the Linux market.
The next question is when will they release drivers for Keith Packard's/Freedektop.org's Xserver, because to be honest, I'm very interested in seeing what that can do...
Jedidiah
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
I tried installing it on a new Debian Woody (stable) installation, but it could not determine the module file name. I tried several options to point it to the kernel source and headers, but it didn't work. Eventually, I installed an older version using http://people.debian.org/~rdonald/index.php.
Does anyone know how to install this new version? I didn't even know it was this new, except for the distinct lack of hints that Google provides so far.
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
The last (2.4) drivers that worked for me were 1.0.4496; the recent ones are a disaster, so hopefully they've taken the time to iron out the bugs and this isn't just the latest version of the driver with the (already existing) 2.6 patch bolted on.
"'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
- JRR Tolkien.
Atleast that is what they want people to think...
For the video drivers that might be true. Although I doubt there is really anything really new in there... a lot of manufacturers overestimate their own brilliance.
But for there chipset drivers (e.g. nForce) they are just plain assholes.
Jeroen
Secure messaging: http://quickmsg.vreeken.net/
Actually in the long run having the source code and/or specs to build a driver/module would be better in that the OS driver spec may change, but all you would need to do is rewrite the driver to work under the new system. (Yes, easier said than done.)
On the other hand binaries are so much easier to deal with though. Install them and they either work, kinda work, or don't.
Maybe those IBM-Linux commercials are right, "the future is open" because with closed source software and companies not supporting every single platform for ever the closed-source software is destand to become unsupported and eventually become stuck in the past. Does Windows XP support all old hardware that may still work in your computer?
Then again maybe I just think too much.
Losing faith in humanity one person at a time.
You had 3D acceleration?
Fer sure, and its definitely been working (smooth 3D viewing of 100,000 polygon meshes). Either that, or the Underpant Gnomes installed a 10GHz processor in my machine while I was asleep...
However, its worth noting that I'm using the drivers as packaged by Gentoo. This may include the patch which another reply to my OP mentions; I wasn't aware of this patch when I posted.
Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
Wonder if Mandrake will pull another microsoft on this one? Tried installing drivers for a dlink nic on 9.2 and got a message that the binary only drivers would "pollute" the operating system or some such. Refused to install them at all - there was no do it anyways option. Anyone else suffer someone elses self righteousness like this lately?
I would say a very long time. Until last year, I was using a TNT with the unified NVidia drivers, and I only switched because I managed to pick up a TNT2 for $10 or $20 (the TNT 1 was Asus's excellent model, but it wasn't good at doing 1600 x 1200).
If they're supporting a card that old, I don't think you're going to have to worry anytime soon. I'm impressed that they're supporting their entire post-Riva lineup with a single driver.
Personally, the Free drivers never worked for me; X just looked mangled. I installed NVidia's binary driver by following the directions (gasp!) and everything Just Worked, and has continued to Just Work. Recently, I used the patches from minion.de to upgrade to Linux 2.6, and yet again it's working fine. I've never heard of the console corruption or X locking problems until reading the comments on this article.
The monolithic installer certainly does make things easier. You don't have to separately install the GL libraries and the kernel module anymore. It's just one file for whatever post-Riva card you have.
I've been able to run OpenGL demos, and the power in my area is less stable than X11 (out when I left for work this morning).
Am I a big proponent of Free as in libre? Yes, certainly. But NVidia released good software which works with the hardware I had already. Same reason I still use my MP3 discman; I don't know of a company that has an Ogg-compatible CD-ROM player (my music collection is too big to constantly fiddle with hardware players, sorry). Broadcast radio in Baltimore sucks and I need music. I prefer the Free alternative when it's practical, but sometimes it's not. You definitely find that out working for a physical plant (specialized software needs).
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
Find a country where the law (1) forbids manufacturers to keep secrets from customers and (2) specifically permits the use of reasonable force in certain situations; or (3) forbids the release of closed-source software. {This may require the purchase of a small uninhabited island, but you probably can pick up a used one on ebay. Alternatively, there was talk about some Central / South American countries outlawing closed-source software: see if you can find one that actually has}. Go there and take a graphics card with you. Request driver source code from manufacturer. Point out that local law says you have a right to that information. If driver source code is not forthcoming, disassemble binary driver under reasonable force provisions of local law. Publish source code as discovered by you on secure web server located in that country and with all logs diverted to /dev/null. Get general feeling that this is like DeCSS all over again. Wait for authorities in USA to determine that your liberated source code is not illegal. Sue prosecutor.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
That doesn't provide framebuffer support. That provides NVidia driver support for XFree86. The 2.6 kernel doesn't seem to have a fully functional framebuffer driver for nvidia cards (I couldn't get it to work either, but it works for me in 2.4). I don't know how to get XFree86 to try to use the framebuffer driver from the kernel, but I've heard there's no performance gain over using NVidia's drivers directly.
Developers: We can use your help.
NVIDIA is a 3D hardware company - they make their money by selling cards to run the latest whizz-bang games.
The part of the Linux market that is growing fast is servers and, to a lesser extent, corporate desktops. This is not the part of the market that is interested in consumer 3D graphics.
NVIDIA could easily give up on Linux. The Linux gamer market is tiny, and it's not growing very fast. NVIDIA's shareholders would not give a damn.
Nvidia drivers make the center of my screen fuzzy, (3d is fab though) I'm wondering if they are worth it, if I have to move all of my small text to the periphery of the screen to be able to read it.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
> Drivers are commodities, there's really no good reason to keep them closed.
Drivers may be commodities, but the video hardware they control definitely isn't.
The drive gives explicit, step-by-step instructions on how to control said hardware, and what its capabilities are from the end-user viewpoint. Why would *any* company in a heavily competitive market give their competitors *any* early advantage by publishing such detailed information on the inner workings of their products? Yes, competitors will eventually figure all this out - but by then, the newer/faster/shiner products will be out there.
This is all assuming that said company owns all the IP to that hardware; if there are any 3rd party licenses involved, the company may never be able to legally release the info w/o violating NDAs and whatnot with that 3rd company.
I am going to download the drivers anyways.
Why? I'm sure they keep count of the linux driver downloads. If they see a boost in the numbers, maybe we will get quicker updates.
I have an ATI card, but that won't stop me from buying an NVIDIA card in the future if they provide some serious 3d support ala Windows.
Does this sound dumb? I know it's fudging the numbers, but with computers and software there is always that chicken and egg problem we have seen so many times before.
Discuss.
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