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I'm really curious why so many people complain about Nvidia GPUs under linux. I've been running several Nvidia cards under linux over the last 10+ years without

I'm really curious why so many people complain about Nvidia GPUs under linux. I've been running several Nvidia cards under linux over the last 10+ years without any serious issues. Back in the day Nvidia was really the only option and Fglrx was a total mess (So it's really nice to see how AMD cards under linux are now coming along...). And I don't have the impression that the quality has gone down over the years. But is it because many distros don't ship with the Nvidia drivers and then people run into issues with Nouveau, or break something by installing the closed source driver manually or from a 3rd party repository and then get incompatible/broken libraries, wrong kernel versions and stuff like that? Or is there really something wrong with the drivers themselves? (let's ignore optimus...)

SahAssar 7y ago
The Nvidia drivers are closed source, the AMD drivers are open source. The open source alternative to Nvidia drivers is not up to date or feature complete as it is not built by the company building the cards. If you want open software you need FOSS. Nvidia is not even close to FOSS. AMD is closer to FOSS.
- HansHamster 7y ago
  Sure, but closed vs FOSS was not really my point. Just because it's closed doesn't mean the driver is bad from a purely technical/functional point of view and for many people that might be enough. The parent sounded like Nvidia GPUs just don't work well under Linux, and from my experience that's just not the case. And the open AMD drivers took many years to get to the level they are now. Technical issues with Nvidia I can think of are the EGLStreams with Wayland and Optimus.
- greenhatman 7y ago
  Nvidia on Linux. Nothing to do with FOSS. I'm running the closed source Nvidia drivers and everything runs 100%. I can run most games as well.
Hydraulix989 7y ago
Why ignore Optimus for no sane reason except for the very reason that it is convenient for your argument? That's the real elephant in the room and it affects nearly every single laptop with an NVIDIA GPU in it! Btw, have you tried using Wayland? """ Only the first two [standard graphics APIs] are implemented by the Nvidia proprietary driver. In order to support Nvidia, Wayland compositors need to add code resembling this: if (nvidia proprietary driver) { /* several thousand lines of code / } else { / several thousand lines of code */ } """ From: https://drewdevault.com/2019/02/10/Wayland-misconceptions-debunked.html https://drewdevault.com/2019/02/10/Wayland-misconceptions-de...

SahAssar 7y ago

The Nvidia drivers are closed source, the AMD drivers are open source. The open source alternative to Nvidia drivers is not up to date or feature complete as it is not built by the company building the cards. If you want open software you need FOSS. Nvidia is not even close to FOSS. AMD is closer to FOSS.

HansHamster 7y ago
Sure, but closed vs FOSS was not really my point. Just because it's closed doesn't mean the driver is bad from a purely technical/functional point of view and for many people that might be enough. The parent sounded like Nvidia GPUs just don't work well under Linux, and from my experience that's just not the case. And the open AMD drivers took many years to get to the level they are now. Technical issues with Nvidia I can think of are the EGLStreams with Wayland and Optimus.
greenhatman 7y ago
Nvidia on Linux. Nothing to do with FOSS. I'm running the closed source Nvidia drivers and everything runs 100%. I can run most games as well.

Hydraulix989 7y ago

Why ignore Optimus for no sane reason except for the very reason that it is convenient for your argument? That's the real elephant in the room and it affects nearly every single laptop with an NVIDIA GPU in it! Btw, have you tried using Wayland? """ Only the first two [standard graphics APIs] are implemented by the Nvidia proprietary driver. In order to support Nvidia, Wayland compositors need to add code resembling this: if (nvidia proprietary driver) { /* several thousand lines of code / } else { / several thousand lines of code */ } """ From: https://drewdevault.com/2019/02/10/Wayland-misconceptions-debunked.html https://drewdevault.com/2019/02/10/Wayland-misconceptions-de...