Nvidia Dance...

[Mike A. Harris]

Charles Lesh wrote:
> Hey all:
> 
> I've been happily using FC3 with binary nvidia drivers for a while.  
> 
> I've also been playing with rawhide, which is sweet, but a no go with
> binary nvidia drivers.
> 
> If I remember correctly, FC3 test releases and the initial release
> itself could not handle the binary nvidia drivers due to changes in
> the kernel.
> 
> Without flames, and understanding how evil binary drivers are, should
> I expect a significant delay and lots of screwing around between the
> release of FC4 and the nvidia drivers working? (I like to call this
> the nvidia dance.)

That depends on what Nvidia's response was when you asked them how
long it will take them to build a driver that is compatible with FC4.

I assume their response to such inquiries will be "no response", and
rightfully so.  They don't support beta OS releases.  They wait for
an OS to actually be released first, so they have a stable base to
test their drivers on, like most companies would.  Once FC4 is
released, they will no doubt rebuild their driver on it, and begin
their internal QA testing procedures, and fix any bugs/glitches in
the driver that are discovered, as well as adjusting the driver in
whatever ways they need to adjust it for it to work with the FC4
kernel et al.

In other words, more or less the same procedure that has happened
in every previous OS release, and will happen in every future OS
release for every Linux distribution out there that they intend
to provide driver support for.


> I wish I didn't need the binary driver, but I have a laptop, and have
> found no other way to drive a second monitor ('twinview"), which I
> need to do when I give presentations. Sadly, this why windows is still
> on one of my partitions.

Install an OS release that Nvidia actually supports, such as
FC3 (or Windows if you prefer), and be happy.  If you want to use
FC4, you really have no choice but to wait until Nvidia provides
a driver that they support on FC4.  In some cases, you can get
lucky and find they've released a newer driver that unofficially
happens to work on newer OS builds, but that's the exception and
not the rule.

The same rules apply for ATI proprietary drivers, winmodem drivers,
or any other proprietary kernel modules.  They'll work when their
respective vendors decide to support the new OS release, and fix
and rebuild their drivers, and generally not until that time.

Hope this helps understand the process more clearly.

Take care,
TTYL