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NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

developer.nvidia.com

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Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#31

Post by sillywalk »

From the github repo[0]:

Most of NVIDIA's kernel modules are split into two components:

    An "OS-agnostic" component: this is the component of each kernel module that is independent of operating system.

    A "kernel interface layer": this is the component of each kernel module that is specific to the Linux kernel version and configuration.
When packaged in the NVIDIA .run installation package, the OS-agnostic component is provided as a binary:

[0] https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules

Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#32

Post by misterbishop »

mepian wrote: post #15
hypeatei wrote: post #2

How is the NVIDIA driver situation on Linux these days? I built a new desktop with an AMD GPU since I didn't want to deal with all the weirdness of closed source or lacking/obsolete open source drivers.

The current stable proprietary driver is a nightmare on Wayland with my 3070, constant flickering and stuttering everywhere. Apparently the upcoming version 555 is much better, I'm sticking with X11 until it comes out. I never tried the open-source one yet, not sure if it supports my GPU at all.

this is resolved in 555 (currently running 555.58.02). my asus zephyrus g15 w/ 3060 is looking real good on Fedora 40. there's still optimizations needed around clocking, power, and thermals. but the graphics presentation layer has no issues on wayland. that's with hybrid/optimus/prime switching, which has NEVER worked seamlessly for me on any laptop on linux going back to 2010. gnome window animations remain snappy and not glitchy while running a game. i'm getting 60fps+ running baldurs gate 3 @ 1440p on the low preset.

Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#33

Post by imtringued »

stkdump wrote: post #19
vlovich123 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK I believe all they did was move the closed source user space driver code to their opaque firmware blob leaving a thin shim in the kernel. In essence I don’t believe that much has really changed here.

But the firmware runs directly on the hardware, right? So they effectively rearchitected their system to move what used to be 'above' the kernel to 'below' the kernel, which seems like a huge effort.

Why? It should make it much easier to support Nvidia GPUs on Windows, Linux, Arm/x86/RISC-V and more OSes with a single firmware codebase per GPU now.

Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#34

Post by bobajeff »

anon291 wrote: post #20
hypeatei wrote: post #2

How is the NVIDIA driver situation on Linux these days? I built a new desktop with an AMD GPU since I didn't want to deal with all the weirdness of closed source or lacking/obsolete open source drivers.

I've literally never had an issue in decades of using NVIDIA and linux. They're closed source, but the drivers work very consistently for me. NVIDIA's just the only option if you want something actually good and to run ML workloads as well.

I did when my card stopped being supported by all the distros because it was too old while the legacy driver didn't fully work the same.

Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#35

Post by Workaccount2 »

sqeaky wrote: post #24
anon291 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've literally never had an issue in decades of using NVIDIA and linux. They're closed source, but the drivers work very consistently for me. NVIDIA's just the only option if you want something actually good and to run ML workloads as well.

> but the drivers work very consistently for me The problem with comments like this is that you never know if you will be me or you on your graphics card or laptop. I have tried nvidia a few times and kept getting burnt. AMD just works. I don't get the fastest ML machine, but I am just a tinkerer there and OpenCL works fine for my little toy apps and my 7900XTX blazes through every wine game. If you need it professio…

It also depends heavily on the user.

A mechanic might say "This car has never given me a problem" because the mechanic doesn't consider cleaning an idle bypass circuit or adjusting valve clearances to be a "problem". To 99% percent of the population though, those are expensive and annoying problems because they have no idea what those words even mean, much less the ability to troubleshoot, diagnose, and repair.

Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#36

Post by tormeh »

green-salt wrote: post #27
hypeatei wrote: post #2

How is the NVIDIA driver situation on Linux these days? I built a new desktop with an AMD GPU since I didn't want to deal with all the weirdness of closed source or lacking/obsolete open source drivers.

Whatever pop_os uses has been quite stable for my 4070.

Pop uses X by default because of Nvidia.

Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#38

Post by robviren »

misterbishop wrote: post #32
mepian wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current stable proprietary driver is a nightmare on Wayland with my 3070, constant flickering and stuttering everywhere. Apparently the upcoming version 555 is much better, I'm sticking with X11 until it comes out. I never tried the open-source one yet, not sure if it supports my GPU at all.

this is resolved in 555 (currently running 555.58.02). my asus zephyrus g15 w/ 3060 is looking real good on Fedora 40. there's still optimizations needed around clocking, power, and thermals. but the graphics presentation layer has no issues on wayland. that's with hybrid/optimus/prime switching, which has NEVER worked seamlessly for me on any laptop on linux going back to 2010. gnome window animations remain snappy…

Had similar experience with my Legion 5i 3070 with Wayland and Nvidia 555, but my HDMI out is all screwed up now of course. Working on 550. One step forward and one step back.

Re: NVIDIA Transitions Fully Towards Open-Source Linux GPU Kernel Modules

#39

Post by Animats »

joe_the_user wrote: post #25
Animats wrote: post #18

NVidia revenue is now 78% from "AI" devices.[1] NVidia's market cap is now US$2.92 trillion. (Yes, trillion.) Only Apple and Microsoft can beat that. Their ROI climbed from about 10% to 90% in the last two years. That growth has all been on the AI side. Open-sourcing graphics drivers may indicate that NVidia is moving away from GPUs for graphics. That's not where the money is now. [1] https://www.visualcapitalist.com…

Well, Nvidia seems to be claiming in the article that this is everything, not just graphics drivers: "NVIDIA GPUs share a common driver architecture and capability set. The same driver for your desktop or laptop runs the world’s most advanced AI workloads in the cloud. It’s been incredibly important to us that we get it just right." And For cutting-edge platforms such as NVIDIA Grace Hopper or NVIDIA Blackwell, you m…

That's interesting. I've been expecting the AI cards to diverge more from the graphics cards. AI doesn't need triangle fill, Z-buffering, HDMI out, etc. 16 bit 4x4 multiply/add units are probably enough. What's going on in that area?
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