I was wondering how the free alternative for Nvidia drivers hold up so far.
With the last release 11.3 i had some problems with the noveao drivers that they produced incorrect thumbnails images.
But i wonder how they are now, the drivers.
Because i might try it again with the next release in hope that they matured somewhat to a more usable stage.
I am running 11.4 RC1 on my test box (Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, 2GB RAM and a NVIDIA 8400 GS). The nouveau (free) driver on this system is excellent. KDE desktop effects worked OOTB. Very happy with it. I haven’t bothered trying out the nonfree driver yet because I am liking the free driver so much.
Hi,
It depends of the nvidia card you have. New generation of nvidia cards with the optimus technology will be a complete mess with the non free (propietary) driver. It simply doesn’t work at all. A lot will revert to the free (nouveau) driver.
Nvidia announced recently that it will not develop a linux driver compatible with this optimus technology. Let’s hope they changed their mind on this since they are looking to get more linux developpers on their team.
Nvidia announced recently that it will not develop a linux driver compatible with this optimus technology. Let’s hope they changed their mind on this since they are looking to get more linux developpers on their team.
DaaX, while I never say never, I can find Linux beta nVidia drivers for Laptops said to contain the optimus GPU and then I find this quote made on 7-23-10 by:
**AaronP**](http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/member.php?u=41053)
NVIDIA Corporation
Apparently, this [Linux Support for Optimus] depends on the laptop. Some laptops have a hardware mux that allows you to switch the display to the NVIDIA GPU, similarly to how the old Hybrid Graphics worked. On those laptops, there should be a BIOS setting.
On laptops that don’t have that hardware mux (i.e. where the display is hard-wired to the Intel display engine), then you currently cannot use the NVIDIA GPU for display, though you should still be able to use it for CUDA and offscreen rendering.
We currently do not have plans to support display on Optimus systems where the display is connected to the Intel hardware, but as you said, it’s something we’ll probably end up having to look into in the future, to at least provide some basic display sharing. I can’t promise anything, though.
So, I am thinking that your statement might not be entirely correct and may depend on the Laptop manufacture as well as the included chipset. I found most Linus no-support statements about a year old and so I wonder what the most recent statement from nVidia might actually say about the Optimus GPU and Linux support if we could find it?
Thank You,
That sounds great.
Currently i have the non free Nvidia driver installed. Works fine. But i have an older gfx card (GT8800). Not sure if it has the Optimus chip.
My complained about the initial release of the nouveau driver was that it was giving me broken rendered images of the thumbnails. That was on the desktop side.
My hope is now of course that they are matured and don’t have that particular problem anymore.
Many openSUSE KDE nVidia graphic card users with 32-bit hardware are encountering a problem with the nVidia 260.19.xxx proprietary driver, which in some cases does not work at all, but where in most cases there are problems launching applications such as virtual box, vlc, amarok, … etc …
In many cases there are workarounds to those problems (such as running those apps from terminal with ‘strace application’ - but that does not work for all users in all cases). Rolling back to the 253.56.xx proprietary nVidia driver works for openSUSE-11.3 and older, but for 2.6.35 and newer kernels that roll back is not acceptable as one needs a driver newer than the 253.56.xx .
Its an ugly problem, with no quick fix in sight for 32-bit KDE nVidia users on openSUSE. This could be with us for some time. Solutions such as moving to LXDE/Gnome desktops understandably don’t fit in well with many of the 32-bit KDE users who are big fans of the KDE desktop.
wrt the nouveau driver, I had problems with it with video playback on a 8400GS with the recent 32-bit openSUSE-11.4 KDE4 Milestones and RC1, but the PC with the problem died just over a few days ago, so its all a mute point (as with a dead PC I no longer have that problem).
In both nouveau and proprietary nVidia driver cases, 64-bit nVidia users do not have these problems.
Generally speaking, the proprietary nVidia driver is IMHO about 2x as fast as the nouveau driver. The nVidia proprietary driver offers VDPAU for HD video playback and the nouveau driver does not. One can get 3D affects with the nVidia driver that one can not get with the nouveau driver.
On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:36:01 +0530, oldcpu
<oldcpu@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Rolling back to the 253.56.xx
> proprietary nVidia driver works for openSUSE-11.3 and older, but for
> 2.6.35 and newer kernels that roll back is not acceptable as one needs a
> driver newer than the 253.56.xx .
when recently my computer died i didn’t understand what was going on and
thought it might be nvidia related. running kernel 2.6.37-something the
256.x driver wouldn’t compile, but applying an old patch (provided by
philipp thomas a long time ago, IIRC), i could compile the driver for the
new kernel, and it did work. it’s a short patch, so i’m quoting it here:
--- kernel/nv.c.original 2010-09-07 13:55:25.770456446 +0200
+++ kernel/nv.c 2010-09-07 14:08:34.681351694 +0200
@@ -423,7 +423,9 @@ static struct pci_driver nv_pci_driver =
static struct file_operations nv_fops = {
.owner = THIS_MODULE,
.poll = nv_kern_poll,
+#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE < KERNEL_VERSION(2,6,36)
.ioctl = nv_kern_ioctl,
+#endif
#if defined(HAVE_UNLOCKED_IOCTL)
.unlocked_ioctl = nv_kern_unlocked_ioctl,
#endif
–
phani.
Hi jdmcdaniel3,
I don’t pretend to know everything on the subject, far from it. And by the way, I never say never. 
My opinion was based on the 3 late experiences I had in installing different distro on laptop with the optimus technology. I never made the proprietary driver to work correctly.
I didn’t know there were laptops with a switch in the BIOS to deactive this optimus technology. After I wrote this message yesrterday, I made some research (phoronix for instance) on the subject and found that there exist some workaround. But it is still some hacks if a understand it well.
I am simply happy that you point me to that quote. So there is hope. 
Hi jdmcdaniel3,
I don’t pretend to know everything on the subject, far from it. And by the way, I never say never.
I didn’t know there were laptops with a switch in the BIOS to deactive this optimus technology. After I wrote this message yesrterday, I made some research (phoronix for instance) on the subject and found that there exist some workaround. But it is still some hacks if a understand it well.
I am simply happy that you point me to that quote. So there is hope.
Hey DaaX there is always hope. It is my opinion that nVidia would be crazy to not have support for Linux. That is particularly true with the advent of the Intel Sandy Bridge CPU’s and built in graphics. I do understand there are some technical details that might even be out of nVidia hands. nVidia needs the widest base possible to handle the Sandy Bridge threat. In fact, the latest setback with the Intel’s Chipset for Sandy Bridge should actual help nVidia, but only for a short while.
Thank You,
Hi jdmcdaniel3,
Do you have more info on that story ? I heard about Sandy bridge, but I don’t really know what it is exactly. Looks interesting…
Here is thread where we did talk about the problem.
Intel’s Sandy Bridge is here: AKA i7 2600/2600K & i5 2500/2500K (The K is for Over Klocking
Basically, the Intel Chipset that supports the Sandy Bridge CPU’s has a problem that can cause the four 3 GB SATA ports to corrupt data and/or die completely. It also includes two 6 GB SATA ports said to be unaffected. It was suggested until you get a replacement to STOP using the four 3 GB ports immediately. The potential percent failure rate was high enough that Intel stopped all shipments of the chipset and has required that all manufactures using it to recall their products for replacement. It is my understanding that fixed chipset shipments have resumed, but it is a crazy blunder on Intel’s part which said it was not found due to the fact that the chipset deteriorates over time and works at first, so they say. I purchased an MSI motherboard with this Sandy Point chipset, I think it was called and sometime in April or May, new MSI boards may exist for replacement. MSI will send me an email with an RMA number and I must return the board for a replacement. Of course by then, I may just buy another so I am not down for the count while waiting for the new motherboard to show up.
Thank You,
Erk! I never heard of this. Holy ****. That is not funnt at all… no luck for you.
Thanks for the link.
I think i will hold off on a new motherboard. Isn’t Sandy chipset anyway controversial? (DRM)
I think i will hold off on a new motherboard. Isn't Sandy chipset anyway controversial? (DRM)
Well I do not know about controversial JoergJaeger, but it is an attempt by Intel to undercut AMD & NVIDIA with one single CPU/CHIPSET combo. Please, if anyone has questions on comments about Sandy Bridge, I ask that you make them here:
Intel’s Sandy Bridge is here: AKA i7 2600/2600K & i5 2500/2500K (The K is for Over Klocking
Thank You,