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Linux 4.6 Brings NVIDIA GTX 900 Support, OrangeFS, Better Power Management (phoronix.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The Linux 4.6-rc1 kernel has been released. New to the Linux 4.6 kernel are a significant number of new features including NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900 open-source 3D support when using the closed-source firmware files, Dell XPS 13 Skylake laptop support, a fix for laptops that were limiting their own performance due to incorrectly thinking they were overheating, AHCI runtime power management support, Intel graphics power management features enabled by default, a new file-system (OrangeFS), and a range of other improvements.
Debian bug #1558331 proves that. They claim MongoDB and Chrome are tools of the repukianz so they don't allow us to install them.
Wow, this shows the hatred of Debian contributors:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1558331?comments=all
They hate us and don't want to allow us to use the software we need.
Developers provided performance charts against AppleFS in the release notes, but they found it wasn't comparing the same thing.
This is what they've been saying about both AMD and NVIDIA since there was a linux and an AMD and an NVIDIA. They all say "open-source xxx with binary". So what, they are drawing the line somewhere else?
Sounds to me like an open source driver in the OS and an opaque firmware blob to be loaded into the peripheral and run entirely there.
Not ideal. But how (besides the complexity and ease of installing malware) is it different from doing a complex silicon design, with an open driver, and not giving the RTL description of the logic? Or doing an FPGA design, providing an open driver, but not giving the source to the FPGA load, only the opaque binary object that describes the logic to be emulated?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I have a GTX 660. I have it because the folks who built my system for me included it as part of a package that had everything else I wanted. I was a bit leery of it at first, but went with it after finding that it was listed as supported by Nouveau, and that Nvidia provided its own Linux drivers as well. Nouveau sucked: it did not support a number of features that it claimed to, and was flaky as hell. Got tired of of my desktop vanishing without a trace, so I decided to try the Nvidia drivers, which worked a treat. Sometime later, after a number of successful driver updates, I hit one that didn't go so well. Filed a bug with Nvidia, and found their tech support folks to be extremely polite, knowledgeable, and helpful--and they actually took the time to explain a few things to me.
I prefer to use FOSS software. But I also prefer to use a computer that works.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
The ideal is convincing Nvidia that software patents will not be an issue if they open up the code. We may have to wait for the ex-SGI guys in that place to retire because they were burnt before. The absolute ideal way for that to happen is if those stupid software patents that are normally just a description of a problem instead of a solution to be completely discarded.
There could be another reason for this. Do you recall how Creative Labs became very obstructive regarding design information for the X-Fi range of sound cards, to the extent that they would not release even basic info to the GNU/Linux driver community? The reason is because Microsoft sponsors them to write drivers for Windows. Just as Microsoft paid games companies to use DirectX over OpenGL. So there is a high probability that nVidia are taking the Microsoft coin and in return the deal prohibits them from providing full open source to the FOSS community...