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Since after High Sierra (Mojave I think?), Apple eliminated the ability to use non-metal drivers on macOS wholesale. Nvidia’s drivers weren’t developed in Metal

by jsgo 6y ago

Since after High Sierra (Mojave I think?), Apple eliminated the ability to use non-metal drivers on macOS wholesale. Nvidia’s drivers weren’t developed in Metal and there’s zero reason for them to do so (only way to use Nvidia is intentionally either as an addon to a Mac Pro or as an eGPU, which they don’t see a large market for it) and Apple has a long history of killing off support of something on their platforms, users be damned.

bangonkeyboard 6y ago
> only way to use Nvidia is intentionally either as an addon to a Mac Pro or as an eGPU, which they don’t see a large market for it Not quite. From Nvidia: "Apple fully control drivers for Mac OS. But if Apple allows, our engineers are ready and eager to help Apple deliver great drivers for Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave)...Unfortunately, Nvidia currently cannot release a driver unless it is approved by Apple." — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia#Apple/Nvidia_web_driver_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia#Apple/Nvidia_web_driver... Apple is preventing Nvidia from releasing Mac Pro and eGPU driver support.
- jsgo 6y ago
  Which means if Apple allows them to use non-metal drivers. Historically, there’s little reason to think Apple would waiver (wish they would) and the value for Nvidia to write their drivers using Metal is minimal. I’m kind of curious though: what value do their web drivers have to them now that they couldn’t just release them as OSS and allow a determined group to rewrite them as Metal.
  - bangonkeyboard 6y ago
    No, you've misunderstood again. Nvidia's eGPU web drivers already supported Metal in High Sierra [0]. Apple refuses to sign their drivers for Mojave and up. Without Apple's signature, GPU drivers will not run on macOS, OSS or not. [0] https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2020_03/840568137_ScreenShot2020-03-14at3_08_33PM.png.4ea6c048cc4115cb20209c562b4167de.png https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2020_03/84...
    - jsgo 6y ago
      Ah, that's interesting. I know there are some older Nvidia cards that do work on Mac, but most of the recent GTX/RTX/etc. ones don't. Are they similarly Metal (and just missing a signature)? Because whenever I was actually keeping up with this, the stalemate was over Nvidia not leveraging Metal.

by jsgo 6y ago

bangonkeyboard 6y ago

> only way to use Nvidia is intentionally either as an addon to a Mac Pro or as an eGPU, which they don’t see a large market for it Not quite. From Nvidia: "Apple fully control drivers for Mac OS. But if Apple allows, our engineers are ready and eager to help Apple deliver great drivers for Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave)...Unfortunately, Nvidia currently cannot release a driver unless it is approved by Apple." — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia#Apple/Nvidia_web_driver_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia#Apple/Nvidia_web_driver... Apple is preventing Nvidia from releasing Mac Pro and eGPU driver support.

jsgo 6y ago
Which means if Apple allows them to use non-metal drivers. Historically, there’s little reason to think Apple would waiver (wish they would) and the value for Nvidia to write their drivers using Metal is minimal. I’m kind of curious though: what value do their web drivers have to them now that they couldn’t just release them as OSS and allow a determined group to rewrite them as Metal.
- bangonkeyboard 6y ago
  No, you've misunderstood again. Nvidia's eGPU web drivers already supported Metal in High Sierra [0]. Apple refuses to sign their drivers for Mojave and up. Without Apple's signature, GPU drivers will not run on macOS, OSS or not. [0] https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2020_03/840568137_ScreenShot2020-03-14at3_08_33PM.png.4ea6c048cc4115cb20209c562b4167de.png https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2020_03/84...
  - jsgo 6y ago
    Ah, that's interesting. I know there are some older Nvidia cards that do work on Mac, but most of the recent GTX/RTX/etc. ones don't. Are they similarly Metal (and just missing a signature)? Because whenever I was actually keeping up with this, the stalemate was over Nvidia not leveraging Metal.