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No, OpenBSD support for nvidia is very, very sad. There is no nvidia binary driver, and no nouveau port. You only have the ancient nv driver, which is just a f

by byuu 12y ago

No, OpenBSD support for nvidia is very, very sad. There is no nvidia binary driver, and no nouveau port. You only have the ancient nv driver, which is just a frame buffer. And an absolutely horrible one at that. It is at least 20x slower than pure VESA. I don't know how that's possible, but it's too ridiculous to make up. If I drag a window across the screen, it takes about five seconds for the system to catch up on the redraws. OpenBSD also lacks the memcontrol utility, so you can't tweak MTRR (write-combine caching) for VESA (which increased my video bandwidth rate from 200MiB/s to 1,200MiB/s), unless you write your own C program to use the kernel API for doing that. Even then, the real problem is that finding a video card that has your native widescreen VESA resolution is like winning the lottery. I managed to find a 2560x1600 card for my primary system, but I've yet to ever find a card that has a 1920x1080 VESA mode for my secondary PC.

jlgaddis 12y ago
After writing my previous comment I debated installing OpenBSD on a spare laptop I have here (that has an Nvidia card in it) but you saved me the trouble and disappointment. Thanks.
ams6110 12y ago
I would phrase it the other way around, Nvidia support for OpenBSD is very, very sad. The OpenBSD project refuses to include binary "blobs," and Nvidia just simply don't provide open-source drivers for their cards. There's been some indication recently they may be changing their stance on that, so we can hope. All that said, the BSDs, and OpenBSD in particular do not have ultimate video performance as a goal. While OpenBSD is certainly usable as a desktop or laptop OS (I use it) you are best to stick with Intel or AMD graphics adapters. FreeBSD might arguably be a "better" desktop OS but I prefer OpenBSD's focus on consistency, security, stability, and documentation.
- byuu 12y ago
  > I would phrase it the other way around, Nvidia support for OpenBSD is very, very sad. Sure, in the case of the nvidia binary-blob driver, that's very fair. It's the same net effect to the end user, though. nvidia+OpenBSD is an instant failure. You can also blame nouveau relying on Linux KMS functionality, but I would like to see OpenBSD try a bit harder to run nouveau, given how ridiculously poor nv is. Really, nv is actually worse than nothing. I'd sooner run in VGA 640x480x16-color mode. It's that bad. > All that said, the BSDs, and OpenBSD in particular do not have ultimate video performance as a goal. I don't want ultimate performance to run Crysis (whatever # they are up to now) or Star Citizen or whatever is popular amongst gamers today. I want a frame buffer that will let me drag a window across the screen without deadlocking my system for 5-10 seconds. I appreciate their pain with these damned video card manufacturers, but I don't think my request is unreasonable, either. > you are best to stick with Intel or AMD graphics adapters AMD drivers are absolute shit on every other OS, so I don't expect them to be reliable under OpenBSD. And unfortunately, Intel won't sell PCIe cards. I really, really, really wish they would.

by byuu 12y ago

jlgaddis 12y ago

After writing my previous comment I debated installing OpenBSD on a spare laptop I have here (that has an Nvidia card in it) but you saved me the trouble and disappointment. Thanks.

ams6110 12y ago

I would phrase it the other way around, Nvidia support for OpenBSD is very, very sad. The OpenBSD project refuses to include binary "blobs," and Nvidia just simply don't provide open-source drivers for their cards. There's been some indication recently they may be changing their stance on that, so we can hope. All that said, the BSDs, and OpenBSD in particular do not have ultimate video performance as a goal. While OpenBSD is certainly usable as a desktop or laptop OS (I use it) you are best to stick with Intel or AMD graphics adapters. FreeBSD might arguably be a "better" desktop OS but I prefer OpenBSD's focus on consistency, security, stability, and documentation.

byuu 12y ago
> I would phrase it the other way around, Nvidia support for OpenBSD is very, very sad. Sure, in the case of the nvidia binary-blob driver, that's very fair. It's the same net effect to the end user, though. nvidia+OpenBSD is an instant failure. You can also blame nouveau relying on Linux KMS functionality, but I would like to see OpenBSD try a bit harder to run nouveau, given how ridiculously poor nv is. Really, nv is actually worse than nothing. I'd sooner run in VGA 640x480x16-color mode. It's that bad. > All that said, the BSDs, and OpenBSD in particular do not have ultimate video performance as a goal. I don't want ultimate performance to run Crysis (whatever # they are up to now) or Star Citizen or whatever is popular amongst gamers today. I want a frame buffer that will let me drag a window across the screen without deadlocking my system for 5-10 seconds. I appreciate their pain with these damned video card manufacturers, but I don't think my request is unreasonable, either. > you are best to stick with Intel or AMD graphics adapters AMD drivers are absolute shit on every other OS, so I don't expect them to be reliable under OpenBSD. And unfortunately, Intel won't sell PCIe cards. I really, really, really wish they would.