On 22 Feb 2002, Poluvex wrote:
> > On Fri, 22 Feb 2002, Aedan McGhie/Scotland wrote:
> > > I was toying with putting a better video card in my Linux box since
> > > the wean finds an 8MB card doesn't play his Windows games smoothly
> > > enough.
> > >
> > > Are there any of Priceless's current offerings I should dodge or will
> > > any old AGP card be fine.
[snippity snip - complaining about nVidia]
> > lockups.
> >
>
> I'd argiue with that, cause, as well as redy binary packages, there is
> nVidia source code package aviable. Just look to www.nvidia.com.
Well, yes and no.
The GLX tar-ball contains binary-only drivers. The GLX "source rpm" is
basically the same as tar-ball with some .spec file to put things in the
right places.
The kernel drivers consists of some wrapper C code and a close-source
object file (Module-nvkernel) you link against, specifically:
[paulm@akela paulm]$ tar -tzf NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314.tar.gz
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/Makefile
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/README
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/makedevices.sh
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/nv.c
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/nv.h
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/nv_ref.h
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/nvrm.h
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/nvtypes.h
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/nv-linux.h
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/os-interface.h
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/os-interface.c
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/os-registry.c
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/nv-ids.h
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/Module-nvkernel
[paulm@akela NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314]$ file Module-nvkernel
Module-nvkernel: ELF 32-bit LSB relocatable, Intel 80386, version 1, not
stripped
Selected bits from NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2314/Makefile:
[...]
> LINUX_MODULE=Module-linux
[...]
> OBJECTS=nv.o os-interface.o os-registry.o
[...]
> RESMAN_KERNEL_MODULE=Module-nvkernel
[...]
> all: install
>
> # always 'clean' before build
> install: clean package-install
>
> # allow installation without a clean rebuild, for package installation
> package-install: NVdriver
[...]
> NVdriver: gcc-check $(LINUX_MODULE) $(RESMAN_KERNEL_MODULE)
> ld -r -o $@ $(LINUX_MODULE) $(RESMAN_KERNEL_MODULE)
> size $@
[...]
> $(LINUX_MODULE): $(VERSION_HDR) $(OBJECTS)
> ld -r -o $@ $(OBJECTS)
[... etc ...]
So, although there are files you have to compile (all the files mentioned
in OBJECTS), the "bulk" of the driver (ie all the important hardware
driving software) is close-source.
> I've GF2MX 400 nVidia video card, and I'm able to use its full 3D
> acceleration under Linux
Good, I'm happy for you (no sarcasm, I am happy it works! :^)
> I'm not using Windows either at home or work, I play games on my Linux (
> UT, Q3, and nomber of games from Loki ) and my nVidia GF works just
> perfect.
If it works for you, great. It's just it didn't for me.
I'm just annoyed that I bought some hardware and I can't use it fully. I
have no way of doing anything about this, other than to explain to people
_why_ I'm annoyed and suggest they might like to look to another supplier.
I felt I wasn't being unreasonable with my comparison between nVidia and
other manufacturers (their cards tend to be faster, but that might not
matter if the game is CPU/memory limited). How strongly you feel about the
issues around close vs open source drivers are something of a personal
choice. If you run a standard distro kernel then everything should work
fine, but bear in mind Linux was never designed to be binary backward
compatible.
But _personally_ I like to have the option do play with the software and
change things ... that's (one of the reasons) why I prefer Linux to
Windows.
BTW, are you running a "stock" RedHat, Mandrake or SuSE kernel? I'd be
quite interested if you got the nVidia driver to work with a custom kernel
... which version of the kernel and nVidia driver did you use?
Cheers,
Paul.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Millar yo-yo, n. :
Particle Physics Theory Group Something that is occasionally
Department of Physics and Astronomy up but normally down.
University of Glasgow, (see also Computer)
Glasgow G12 8QQ, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scotland +44 (0)141 330 4717
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