3D Support for NVIDIA

[Robin Laing]

Sam Varshavchik wrote:
> Dean S. Messing writes:
> 
>>
>> Sam Varshavchik:
>> <snip>
>> : If you want hardware-accelerated 3D, yes. Or, you'll have to install 
>> : Nvidia's binary blobs. But if you do that, and if afterwards you 
>> have : problems with the kernel crashing, you'll have to remove 
>> Nvidia's non-free : drivers, and reproduce the problem without them, 
>> before anyone will help : you.
>> <snip>
>>
>> Nonsense.
>>
>> I've run nothing but nvidia's binary drivers for the past 5 years
>> under SuSE, Mandrake, and now Fedora and received all kinds of help.
> 
> Good for you.
> 
> Sadly, not everyone is as fortunate, or as lucky, as you are. A Google 
> search will uncover plenty of horror stories of bricked x.org or kernels.
> 
> If you take a roll of the dice and it works, great. If not, you're boned.
> 

Pick me, Pick me.

I fought with the nVidia driver for my FC7 install.  I tried the nvidia 
blob (required to file a bug report), the Livna and the freshrpms.  All 
had their own issues and all caused the same problems.  Of course the nv 
drive caused problems as well, just not as bad.

In my testings, I had to rebuild and replace my xorg.conf files as each 
install affected it one way or another.  Times leving me with no X at 
all.  The issues were enough to make me thing about dropping FC and 
going to Ubuntu.

This was when I found out that the xorg probing wasn't working properly 
on my computer and I had to manually enter all my hardware settings.  It 
was nothing to find that all my manually entered settings were gone 
after an install/upgrade.

I have stuck with the freshrpms version of drivers as they seem to work 
with the least headaches in my case.

As the issue was visible in both nv and the nvidia drivers, I submitted 
a bug report but again was made to feel that I didn't know what I was 
talking about.  I don't know the inner workings of the kernel or xorg 
but I did know that my machine was locking up with xorg at +98%.  FWIW, 
this has happened with an ATI video card using the stock xorg driver on 
fc6 as well.  Exact same symptoms and strace outputs.

Again, there was a lot of buck passing.

For Linux to get and maintain growth in the public and commercial eyes, 
the developers have to work together to make these issues disappear.  It 
would be great if all software was opensource but that isn't going to 
happen in a world of get rich with IP plans in the works.  I am going to 
look at ATI in the future because of AMD's opening of their drivers.

-- 
Robin Laing