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> Nvidia isn’t exactly known for making lots of things open source. It is true nvidia drivers are not open source, but this github page says nvidia has 248 rep

> Nvidia isn’t exactly known for making lots of things open source. It is true nvidia drivers are not open source, but this github page says nvidia has 248 repositories: https://github.com/NVIDIA https://github.com/NVIDIA I'm not sure why the link was submitted today. The repo says it is 3-4 years old.

kkielhofner 6y ago
I understand why Nvidia gets a lot of heat from the Linux community regarding the closed source nature of their GPU drivers. That said, I use them on all of my Linux machines and not being a FOSS purist I don't take issue with it. Additionally, most of the complaints come from the Linux desktop community. You rarely see the ML community at large expressing any concern. For the most part they're just trying to get work done and the overall CUDA ecosystem is tremendously useful in that regard. Very usable desktop experience, CUDA just works, the rest of the software ecosystem makes anything else pale by comparison (see the Pytorch ROCm discussion that made the HN front page today). Every few months I take another look at ROCm and frankly don't understand how anyone can take it seriously. In the FOSS/Linux community the discussion around the closed source nature of desktop drivers seriously discounts the amount of FOSS work Nvidia has done.
- pirocks 6y ago
  My perception is that Nvidia in particular gets a lot of heat because they have bad/buggy drivers which integrate poorly with existing package managers/distros, not just closed source drivers. Anecdotally I have at least one issue on my home desktop which is suspect is caused by Nvidia drivers and poor display hotswap on a work device which is definetly caused by Nvidia.
  - kkielhofner 6y ago
    That's fair but every time the issue is raised on HN, for example, there are anecdotal reports all over the place. Given the ridiculous number of variables I will believe virtually anything to be true for that specific person, configuration, use case, etc. I understand the support for AMD's in kernel drivers (and Mesa), rooting for the underdog, etc but anyone who is being honest will acknowledge there are plenty of issues with their drivers and various configurations as well. Assuming it's six of one, half dozen of the other the fact that Nvidia drivers also bring the entire CUDA ecosystem to any GPU made in the last five years (or more) really tips the scales (overall) for the justification of an Nvidia hardware purchase (all other things being equal).

kkielhofner 6y ago

I understand why Nvidia gets a lot of heat from the Linux community regarding the closed source nature of their GPU drivers. That said, I use them on all of my Linux machines and not being a FOSS purist I don't take issue with it. Additionally, most of the complaints come from the Linux desktop community. You rarely see the ML community at large expressing any concern. For the most part they're just trying to get work done and the overall CUDA ecosystem is tremendously useful in that regard. Very usable desktop experience, CUDA just works, the rest of the software ecosystem makes anything else pale by comparison (see the Pytorch ROCm discussion that made the HN front page today). Every few months I take another look at ROCm and frankly don't understand how anyone can take it seriously. In the FOSS/Linux community the discussion around the closed source nature of desktop drivers seriously discounts the amount of FOSS work Nvidia has done.

pirocks 6y ago
My perception is that Nvidia in particular gets a lot of heat because they have bad/buggy drivers which integrate poorly with existing package managers/distros, not just closed source drivers. Anecdotally I have at least one issue on my home desktop which is suspect is caused by Nvidia drivers and poor display hotswap on a work device which is definetly caused by Nvidia.
- kkielhofner 6y ago
  That's fair but every time the issue is raised on HN, for example, there are anecdotal reports all over the place. Given the ridiculous number of variables I will believe virtually anything to be true for that specific person, configuration, use case, etc. I understand the support for AMD's in kernel drivers (and Mesa), rooting for the underdog, etc but anyone who is being honest will acknowledge there are plenty of issues with their drivers and various configurations as well. Assuming it's six of one, half dozen of the other the fact that Nvidia drivers also bring the entire CUDA ecosystem to any GPU made in the last five years (or more) really tips the scales (overall) for the justification of an Nvidia hardware purchase (all other things being equal).