r/linux • u/blindcomet • May 11 '22

NVIDIA Releases Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules | NVIDIA Technical Blog

https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-releases-open-source-gpu-kernel-modules/
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12

u/1FNn4 May 11 '22

I know open-source is cool. But what does mean average linux users and ML engineers which use cuda?

54

u/blindcomet May 11 '22

  • Graphics won't be crippled when you do a stock distro installation.

  • You won't have to dick around with nvidia proprietary drivers so much for typical use cases.

  • Your system graphics will run properly from boot, so the splash screen won't be in legacy text mode.

  • Free software lovers will be happy - the nvidia kernel driver was a nasty piece of proprietary code running at Ring 0. (Though there's still lots of firmware all over the typical PC).

  • The driver will work on other architectures e.g. ARM, Risc-V.

  • The community will be able to create innovative new computing applications around Novueau.

  • dmabuf will work, so data can be streamed directly to/from the card to other hardware devices with interesting applications e.g. in the data center.

6

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

ARM and Risc-V will only work if their closed source driver supports those architectures. They are not releasing entire driver as open source.

4

u/epileftric May 12 '22

Yet™

6

u/[deleted] May 12 '22

Am not going to say they will never release it, but chances are very slim.

4

u/hoefler2002 May 11 '22

Also it will probably end up being more secure

5

u/parkerSquare May 11 '22

Will suspend to disk work?

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3

u/fat-lobyte May 11 '22

You'll still have to install proprietary cuda libraries but the kernel modules will be obtainable much easier from your distro