NVIDIA have released some GPU documentation on GitHub

We've seen this all before -- Nvidia make some rumblings about working with the nouveau devs, providing documentation and hints as to how things should work, maybe even contributing a few patches here and there.. then it all dries up, nvidia go back to their closed-source ways patting themselves on the back for being so generous, while the nouveau driver limps along barely even usable for anything other than 2D rendering (and even then, not being 100% reliable).

Forgive me if I don't get out the party poppers and celebratory bunting just yet.

QuoteSomeone check the weather in hell, as NVIDIA seem to be opening themselves up a bit more with the release of some GPU documentation.

Indeed.

I used to be a full nvidia customer for at least 10+ years.

Then AMD did such an amazing job with their Open Source MESA Linux Driver. I switched. AMD earned my loyalty and in exchange I have built at least 6+ full AMD rigs in the last 2 years alone. Now I am looking to exclusively do AMD in laptops too because the Linux Drivers are so much better than Nvidia and more performant than Intel.

As it stands currently, AMD is a superior experience on Linux because the open source driver makes everything stable as software marches forward.

NVIDIA -- you are late to the race, AMD and Intel have already finished the open-source race. You have a lot of work to do before we are swayed to even consider your products again.

Edit:

QuoteIt goes back to at least 2012 when they said they would release more docs while now it appears they are living up to that promise for helping Nouveau. -- Phoronix

Jesus Christ! Am I to understand it took 7 years for them to even begin to deliver progress on this task? They're going to have to do better than that! I want to see current-gen documentation delivered in this Fiscal Quarter. Unacceptable, at this speed I will sooner see them dethroned.


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 7 August 2019 at 7:41 pm UTC

Improvement, but far from enough to make Nouveau work properly. Nvidia are being their usual selves. Let them open stuff properly like AMD and Intel do, without all this fooling around.

Almost a decade long legal review is a poor excuse for their anti-competitive reasons for not opening things up.


Last edited by Shmerl on 7 August 2019 at 7:14 pm UTC

I suppose that you still need the binary blobs to do anything and they are not providing.

QuoteBefore anyone asks in the forums: unfortunately, no, at this stage it doesn't help with Nouveau's biggest challenge of re-clocking / signed firmware since GTX 900 series making it a real obstruction to be able to re-program the hardware to operate at its effective clock speeds rather than the lower boot clock speeds. When asking NVIDIA about it, they are aware of the situation but no solution to announce right now.

They don't even have anything to say to this most basic feature? Nice PR stunt, Nvida!

I think I have to agree with Linus Torvalds: "Fuck you, Nvidia!"

Quoting: KohriasThey don't even have anything to say to this most basic feature? Nice PR stunt, Nvida!

So far it looks like they are ready to open anything, but the features that are blocking Nouveau to become fully functional. I.e. all that doesn't change the status quo. And surely they won't comment on continuing messing things up.

Quoting: ShmerlImprovement, but far from enough to make Nouveau work properly.

They don't need Nouveau to work properly, they need Nouveau to work enough to justify keeping certain kernel interfaces in place, to prevent cases like this one.

Quoting: RussianNeuroMancerThey don't need Nouveau to work properly, they need Nouveau to work enough to justify keeping certain kernel interfaces in place, to prevent cases like this one.

Good attitude towards the blob. Kernel developers should have strong push against any special treatment for Nvidia. Either Nvidia works with upstream, or they should get lost.


Last edited by Shmerl on 7 August 2019 at 7:25 pm UTC

Quoting: RussianNeuroMancer

Quoting: ShmerlImprovement, but far from enough to make Nouveau work properly.

They don't need Nouveau to work properly, they need Nouveau to work enough to justify keeping certain kernel interfaces in place, to prevent cases like this one.

QuoteIBM developer Alexey Kardashevskiy did warn that this particular code is "heavily" used by NVIDIA's graphics driver. Hellwig responded though that "Not by the [driver / code] that actually exists in the kernel tree, so it simply doesn't matter."

That's fucking hilarious! So because Nvidia insisted on having a closed binary blob in their backyard Sandbox and not coming to the Community Sandbox, the community saw no reason to shoulder the burden of maintaining old code that Nvidia's sandbox depends on.

This is yet another reason why you develop such critical low level critical components in the open. I had a shitty experience on GTX 970 (My last Nvidia GPU) and it looks like more users are about to have a shitty time on Nvidia due to their poor foresight.

edit: Reading this whole fiasco makes me want to upgrade my AMD VEGA 64 to a AMD Radeon VII or Navi 5700 XT


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 7 August 2019 at 7:30 pm UTC

Quoting: Guestone can only hope that nvidia have a change of tune. I honestly doubt it.

Current Nvidia CEO simply doesn't get the point of open source, they aren't any better than Oracle in this sense. Unless their higher management is replaced, I doubt anything will change there. So there is no point to expect anything from them. The best tactic for Linux users is to completely avoid them.


Last edited by Shmerl on 7 August 2019 at 7:51 pm UTC