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Nvidia Is Joining The Linux Foundation

121 points by voodoochilo 15y ago

jfoldi 15y ago
Is this good for open source?
- prg318 15y ago
  I'd say its negligent. From the article: "Among the many Linux Foundation members are VIA (their open-source strategy failed and really haven't been doing anything), AMD (they're still happy with their Catalyst binary blob while the open-source support is still lagging), Adobe (they abandoned Flash Player for Linux and most of their software is not available natively under Linux), Oracle (enough said with their share of controversies in various open-source communities), and a host of mobile-focused firms like ARM / Qualcomm / Samsung that don't ship full open-source graphics drivers for Linux (the best case to date for them has been open-source kernel drivers with closed-up user-space components, some of which are being reverse-engineered). "
  - skystorm 15y ago
    You probably meant "negligible" ;) But I otherwise agree that nothing much will come of this.
ekianjo 15y ago
What the article doesn't fully answer is: "what are they gaining from joining the Linux Fundation ?". Any idea?
- akg 15y ago
  I think that more and more software is becoming a means to sell your hardware. I would assume that Nvidia wants to utilize as much of the community as possible to push the next wave of Linux based mobile devices. They aren't really making money off the software anyway, so I doubt it would hurt them to open-source that and it can help them to push their products on more linux based devices.
  - yabai 15y ago
    I imagine they will not open source their Linux drivers. While I wish they would, I am not certain that would make business sense for them.
- seclorum 15y ago
  Credibility when the time comes to woo manufacturers to build Linux-based products with their hardware? Also: Canonical.
- pjmlp 15y ago
  They get to put nice empty PR statements as they are part of the Linux foundation. To the common man on the street it means the same as they are now fully supporting Linux.
- riobard 15y ago
  To get more people running heavy number-crunching algorithms on their monster graphic cards? Like CUDA stuff. AFAIK most these applications are on Linux platforms.
- httpitis 15y ago
  Supporting Wayland?
DallaRosa 15y ago
I wonder if this is gonna be just like Broadcom joining the Linux Foundation... (for those that didn't get it, I meant "nothing at all")
- Tuna-Fish 15y ago
  Huh? After joining up, broadcom produced the "brcmsmac" driver, which is now part of mainline, and modern broadcom devices typically work out of the box. Broadcom joining the Linux Foundation certainly had a lot of effect. It's just that these things take time. If nVidia makes the call that they are going to support OSS drivers today, it would likely take at least a year before anything percolated up to normal users.
  - DallaRosa 15y ago
    I'm just saying that out of my own experience. I found a bug in their driver with kernel 2.6.37 and I wrote a patch and sent them. The answer I got was: "Our internal version works properly with 2.6.37 but we haven't had enough complaints to make releasing this patch necessary" (ok, those weren't the exact words but that was the meaning of it). So I learned not to expect much of them.
- aniket_ray 15y ago
  Well based on the experience of when Adobe joined the Foundation, I'd say the impact is going to be pretty much zero. Support for the few pieces of linux software that they used to make (prior to joining the Foundation) has now stopped/ gradually being wound down.
odiroot 15y ago
So, can I get my Optimus-enabled Linux drivers now? Nah, probably just another empty statement.
Alind 15y ago
nvidia..what a waste. Linux doesn't need graphic card at all.
Alind 15y ago
nvidia..what a waste. Linux doesn't need graphic card at all.
lookelsewhere 15y ago
I was fooled into thinking this was something significant. Hopefully, they'll prove us all wrong and we'll start to see some meaningful contributions headed our way even though it's not what the past has shown. Or maybe I can accept this title as link bait and move along.

121 points by voodoochilo 15y ago

jfoldi 15y ago

Is this good for open source?

prg318 15y ago
I'd say its negligent. From the article: "Among the many Linux Foundation members are VIA (their open-source strategy failed and really haven't been doing anything), AMD (they're still happy with their Catalyst binary blob while the open-source support is still lagging), Adobe (they abandoned Flash Player for Linux and most of their software is not available natively under Linux), Oracle (enough said with their share of controversies in various open-source communities), and a host of mobile-focused firms like ARM / Qualcomm / Samsung that don't ship full open-source graphics drivers for Linux (the best case to date for them has been open-source kernel drivers with closed-up user-space components, some of which are being reverse-engineered). "
- skystorm 15y ago
  You probably meant "negligible" ;) But I otherwise agree that nothing much will come of this.

ekianjo 15y ago

What the article doesn't fully answer is: "what are they gaining from joining the Linux Fundation ?". Any idea?

akg 15y ago
I think that more and more software is becoming a means to sell your hardware. I would assume that Nvidia wants to utilize as much of the community as possible to push the next wave of Linux based mobile devices. They aren't really making money off the software anyway, so I doubt it would hurt them to open-source that and it can help them to push their products on more linux based devices.
- yabai 15y ago
  I imagine they will not open source their Linux drivers. While I wish they would, I am not certain that would make business sense for them.
seclorum 15y ago
Credibility when the time comes to woo manufacturers to build Linux-based products with their hardware? Also: Canonical.
pjmlp 15y ago
They get to put nice empty PR statements as they are part of the Linux foundation. To the common man on the street it means the same as they are now fully supporting Linux.
riobard 15y ago
To get more people running heavy number-crunching algorithms on their monster graphic cards? Like CUDA stuff. AFAIK most these applications are on Linux platforms.
httpitis 15y ago
Supporting Wayland?

DallaRosa 15y ago

I wonder if this is gonna be just like Broadcom joining the Linux Foundation... (for those that didn't get it, I meant "nothing at all")

Tuna-Fish 15y ago
Huh? After joining up, broadcom produced the "brcmsmac" driver, which is now part of mainline, and modern broadcom devices typically work out of the box. Broadcom joining the Linux Foundation certainly had a lot of effect. It's just that these things take time. If nVidia makes the call that they are going to support OSS drivers today, it would likely take at least a year before anything percolated up to normal users.
- DallaRosa 15y ago
  I'm just saying that out of my own experience. I found a bug in their driver with kernel 2.6.37 and I wrote a patch and sent them. The answer I got was: "Our internal version works properly with 2.6.37 but we haven't had enough complaints to make releasing this patch necessary" (ok, those weren't the exact words but that was the meaning of it). So I learned not to expect much of them.
aniket_ray 15y ago
Well based on the experience of when Adobe joined the Foundation, I'd say the impact is going to be pretty much zero. Support for the few pieces of linux software that they used to make (prior to joining the Foundation) has now stopped/ gradually being wound down.

odiroot 15y ago

So, can I get my Optimus-enabled Linux drivers now? Nah, probably just another empty statement.

Alind 15y ago

nvidia..what a waste. Linux doesn't need graphic card at all.

Alind 15y ago

nvidia..what a waste. Linux doesn't need graphic card at all.

lookelsewhere 15y ago

I was fooled into thinking this was something significant. Hopefully, they'll prove us all wrong and we'll start to see some meaningful contributions headed our way even though it's not what the past has shown. Or maybe I can accept this title as link bait and move along.