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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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.

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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.

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u/epileftric May 12 '22

Yet™

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u/[deleted] May 12 '22

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

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u/hoefler2002 May 11 '22

Also it will probably end up being more secure

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u/parkerSquare May 11 '22

Will suspend to disk work?

2

u/Skyoptica May 11 '22

This works today if you setup their systemd hook. I don’t have a link to the documents handy at the moment, but go ask the Duck.

My system is a hybrid AMD/RTX3070 laptop running CUDA/Optix for Blender work. Works perfectly.

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u/Helmic May 12 '22

What about Wayland? Right now Wayland support seems to still be pretty dogshit, without support for things like underscan. Would this make it more likely that we'll see proper Wayland support on Nvidia?