Doing More For An Open NVIDIA

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Doing More For An Open NVIDIA

Following the open letter to NVIDIA at OpenTheBlob.com that takes aim at NVIDIA's lack of a reliable open-source driver, now out is a letter geared for NVIDIA's board partners (ASUS, Dell, BFG Tech, etc). This happens to be based off of a strategy I discussed before for frustrated ATI customers prior to the new driver code-base...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NjM4Nw

[stan]

System76 has already been asked to drop NVIDIA, but they still only sell NVIDIA discrete cards instead of ATI/AMD:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=688040

[Svartalf]

System76 has already been asked to drop NVIDIA, but they still only sell NVIDIA descrete cards instead of ATI/AMD:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=688040

It's not that they need to drop NVidia. Right at the moment, NVidia's the only company with credible devices for performance work under OpenGL under Linux. Shortly, AMD will be a credible resource for that- when it is, then they can drop 'em.

It doesn't do any good to ask them to cut their nose off to spite their face.

[Licaon]

i used the form on the ASUS site, got a sort of generic answer that my request way forwarded to the proper person

but Gainward just said " we will update your suggestion to NVIDIA about Linux drivers." :)

[alchark]

I have just received an answer from ASUS support saying that their corporate policy is not supporting Linux on their notebooks and that they will thus not be able to help with the issue :(

[Moustacha]

I have just received an answer from ASUS support saying that their corporate policy is not supporting Linux on their notebooks and that they will thus not be able to help with the issue :(

Surely they kid. Have they looked at their product range lately?

[alchark]

Well, it looks rather strange for me, too, but that is what they replied:
Здравствуйте!

Спасибо за обращение в службу технической поддержки ASUS.

Мы не поддерживаем установку Linux на всех наших ноутбуках - такова корпоративная политика.
Поэтому, боюсь, мы Вам не сможем помочь.

-------------------------------------
С уважением,
ASUS, Служба технической поддержки
...which stands for:
Hello!

Thank you for your inquiry to ASUS technical support.

We do not support installing Linux on all our laptops - that is the corporate policy.
So, I am afraid that we will not be able to help you.

Regards,
ASUS technical support

[Svartalf]

Well, it looks rather strange for me, too, but that is what they replied:

...which stands for:

Which is very whack, considering that they have the eeePC and they're not changing that it supports Linux anytime soon. Seems to me that the right hand doesn't know what the left one's doing. :D

If I wanted to be a smartarse, I'd respond back with "what is running on the eeePC, then?" but it'd be a waste of time, I suspect. :D

[alchark]

Well, if we approach it formally, they do not claim that they do not support Linux on any of their laptops. Rather, they do not support it on all. Anyways, this is a strange point for them to make. Do they really believe in Windows' superiority that much?

[deanjo]

Do they really believe in Windows' superiority that much?

No. it would have to do more with the added costs of supporting more then one OS, let alone the many distro's of linux, each with their own quirks. Trying to support all of them would be a financial and logistical nightmare as issues seen on one distro is not present on another.

[alchark]

Well, as for me and my U3S, everything works excellently except for a built-in GPS module (which I have not tried to investigate into very much, though). There is not much to be done to let Linux work on their hardware for ASUS, as far as I can see. If an issue is present in some distro and is absent in others, it is a problem of the distro, not the hardware manufacturer, imho.

[deanjo]

Well, as for me and my U3S, everything works excellently except for a built-in GPS module (which I have not tried to investigate into very much, though). There is not much to be done to let Linux work on their hardware for ASUS, as far as I can see. If an issue is present in some distro and is absent in others, it is a problem of the distro, not the hardware manufacturer, imho.

Right but you have to have the support staff that is trained and knowledgeable in these things which would require them to stay cutting edge and in the current know to make such a determination. With windows it is easy to determine what maybe a hardware/software issue as you have rather static OS that a "known good" configuration is easily fallen back on to make such a determination. Which is easier? Shooting at a static target or skeet?

[alchark]

Strictly speaking, I have been warned by the "Supported OSes" section on their site that only states "Windows Vista" :) And yes, I understand perfectly that claiming Linux-compatibility has its costs (presumably large). On the other hand, the issue that we are discussing here is not associated in an obvious way with any direct costs to ASUS other than just contacting nVidia with the FOSS driver request. Both companies could have gained better Linux-users' attitude if ASUS managed to bring the request to nVidia's attention and the latter responded.

[deanjo]

And yes, I understand perfectly that claiming Linux-compatibility has its costs (presumably large).

Extremely large, many countries have consumer laws that if you advertise a feature your legally liable for that feature. Not to mention having the support structure there to undertake such an offering.


On the other hand, the issue that we are discussing here is not associated in an obvious way with any direct costs to ASUS other than just contacting nVidia with the FOSS driver request. Both companies could have gained better Linux-users' attitude if ASUS managed to bring the request to nVidia's attention and the latter responded.

The people that are most concerned about that are coders. Coders, even in the linux world, still makes up a small percentage of end users (although it being percentage wise greater then windows). The majority of end users simply want stuff to work, and still to this day Nvidia's blob offers the best end user experience in linux. If you want FOSS drivers for nvidia, the way to get it is simple, have a competitor not only match Nvidia's performance but exceed it enough that it starts taking over Nvidia's reputation as the best performing card for linux.

[alchark]

The majority of end users simply want stuff to work, and still to this day Nvidia's blob offers the best end user experience in linux.
What about out-of-box experience with Linux? Many distros can not include non-free drivers in their default configuration for legal reasons. That is what end users WILL notice and suffer from.

[Svartalf]

If you want FOSS drivers for nvidia, the way to get it is simple, have a competitor not only match Nvidia's performance but exceed it enough that it starts taking over Nvidia's reputation as the best performing card for linux.

Yep. That would be the case. Now that AMD has released most of the needed info, all we need to do is have Gallium3D support show up quickly on the parts as that'll be the way to that position to harry NVidia with FOSS drivers. :D

[deanjo]

What about out-of-box experience with Linux? Many distros can not include non-free drivers in their default configuration for legal reasons. That is what end users WILL notice and suffer from.

Most distro's have a easy simple way of installing the drivers. One click installs are easily found. Just like windows for which people are already accustomed too. You don't see people running away and screaming because they have to install the latest and greatest drivers. What happens if I buy a card that happens to be newer then the drivers found on the distro? I still have to connect to the net and update everything.


Svartalf, ATI/AMD's efforts still have a long way to go before they match Nvidia. They not only have to match the single card video performance, but now they also have to be able to compete with SLI, Cuda and Physix.

[Svartalf]

Svartalf, ATI/AMD's efforts still have a long way to go before they match Nvidia. They not only have to match the single card video performance, but now they also have to be able to compete with SLI, Cuda and Physix.

I won't argue that. But...have you read up on what Tungsten's doing with Gallium? If you have, you might want to think about what everything but SLI/Crossfire means in that context. It's the only sticking point in the picture I paint. If you've not read up, I suggest a bit of light reading might be in order... :D

[deanjo]

I won't argue that. But...have you read up on what Tungsten's doing with Gallium? If you have, you might want to think about what everything but SLI/Crossfire means in that context. It's the only sticking point in the picture I paint. If you've not read up, I suggest a bit of light reading might be in order... :D


Yes I've read it, fact still remains, Nvidia has working solutions now. Gallium is still more or less a paper launch in it's infancy that has a long way to go as well to become a defacto standard. I remember seeing much of this type of hype when openAL was announced as well but it took Windows Vista to bring it into the limelight.