NVIDIA switching to open kernel modules by default in future driver update for Turing+
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/05/nvidia-switching-to-open-kernel-modules-by-default-in-future-driver-update-for-turing/Open linkView original on lemmy.ml289
Comments25
Please. I hate all the incompatibility when trying to build a custom kernel.
If they're proactive about taking patches this will really help reduce issues with the dkms driver
I've procrastinated getting an AMD gpu for so long that I'm not going to need one! It's still fuck you nvidia, I'm not a goldfish.
You have to keep in mind that this is only about the kernel module (and only for Turing GPUs and newer). The userspace components stay proprietary. You are still not going to use the mesa graphics stack using an Nvidia gpu anytime soon.
with the recent development in NVK and Nouveau (and futurely Nova), you probably will relatively soon
I just wish they'd support older cards as well with the new open source stuff.
yeah it's a bit sad. My 1080ti is still strong enough to support modern day games, and I couldn't care less about ray tracing. Pretty annoyed with the fact they don't support older cards.
Yeah, my 1070 is still going very strong.
as a 1050Ti owner (which still is more than enough for my usage), same
That explains the pain I was having with 650M.
I guess nouveau and friends (nova?) are there already for older cards?
Honestly I think they want the older cards to die
Personally i still got Windows on a second SSD for gaming as ive had a more reliable experience there than on any linux i've used as daily drivers (Arch, Endeavour, Debian and now Fedora 40)..
That being said, does this mean better compatibility with, say, Wayland for example ? I would like to completely ditch Windows but this aspect has been holding me back from a complete switch for years.
Wayland Nvidia compatibility will be here soon™ Nvidia drivers needed explicit sync, which was not supported in Wayland. However, explicit sync has been merged into the Wayland protocol and should be here shortly. Gnome 46.1 already ships with it.
I do not understand fully but maybe drivers need a bit of configuration too to use this? I'm not sure of all the steps but it should be here soon
I believe version 555 of the Nvidia driver is supposed to get the explicit sync patch.
Would explicit sync solve the xwayland electron apps from UI glitching and flickering?
IIUC, yes
all the necessary things are already here on the linux side AFAIK the only thing left is a stable release of their drivers with support for it, which should come relatively soon
Beta due this week I think
Tbh im incredulous that explicit sync wasnt a thing from day 1.
Like what kind of sane API have you ever used that didn't allow you to buffer / queue up operations and then flush them all at once?
Did they need it before now?
That’ll be my switchover point too, most likely. Can’t fuckin’ wait until they get that stuff ironed out.
Right there https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules?tab=readme-ov-file#compatible-gpus
All the RTX-es (2xxx, 3xxx, 4xxx) and some newer quadro cards
You will still get updated closed source driver
I'll hold the cake until they deliver, and after that credit when due