New Nvidia Drivers 180.37

[deanjo]

New drivers up for nvidia on the ftp. Here are the release notes.

Release Highlights:

• Fixed a problem that caused signals to be blocked in some applications.
• Fixed a problem that could cause Xid errors and display corruption in certain cases when OpenGL is used to render to redirected windows, for example when Java2D is used with the -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true option.
• glGetStringi(GL_EXTENSIONS, i) no longer returns NULL in OpenGL 3.0 preview contexts.
• Fixed a problem that caused the screen to flicker momentarily when OpenGL applications exit unexpectedly on GeForce 6 and 7 series GPUs.
• Fixed an X server crash when an X client attempts to draw trapezoids and RenderAccel is disabled.
• Improved recovery from certain types of errors.
• VDPAU updates:
  
  • Fixed corruption on some H.264 clips.
  • Update documentation.
  • Fixed VC-1 decoding on 64-bit platforms.
  • Improved handling of invalid H.264 streams.
  • Fixed a problem that caused surfaces to be marked as visible too early when the blit presentation queue is in use.

The 180.37 NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver Set for Linux/x86 is available for download via FTP.
The 180.37 NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver Set for Linux/x86-64 is available for download via FTP.

Please see the README (x86, x86-64) for more information about this release.

Please note: This NVIDIA Linux graphics driver release supports GeForce 6xxx and newer NVIDIA GPUs, GeForce4 and older GPUs are supported through the 96.43.xx and 71.86.xx NVIDIA legacy graphics drivers. GeForce FX GPUs are supported through the 173.14.xx NVIDIA legacy graphics drivers.

Please also note: If you encounter any problems with the 180.37 NVIDIA Linux graphics driver release, please start a new thread and include a detailed description of the problem, reproduction steps and generate/attach an nvidia-bug-report.log file (please see http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=46678 for details).

[deanjo]

They also updated the 71 series for the old stuff.

71.86.09 For Riva TNT, TNT2, GeForce, and some GeForce 2 GPUs

Release Highlights:
Changes since 71.86.08:

• Fixed a bug that could trigger kernel BUG() failures when stress testing setup/teardown paths.

Changes since 71.86.07:

• Added the ability to run distribution provided pre- and post- installation hooks to 'nvidia-installer'; please see the 'nvidia-installer' manual page for details.
• Fixed a problem that prevented X from starting on 2.6.29-rc1 with an error like the following:
  X:6500 map pfn expected mapping type write-combining for d0000000-d0500000, got uncached-minus
• Fixed a server crash triggered by Kopete's new message popup when a composite manager is enabled.
• Fixed a problem that caused nvidia-installer to remove Compiz's libglx.so.
• Added "nvidia-uninstall" as a shortcut for "nvidia-installer --uninstall".
• Improved compatibility with newer kernels.

Changes since 71.86.06:

• Improved compatibility with recent Linux 2.6 kernels.
• Fixed a bug that resulted in AGP FW/SBA settings and overrides being applied incorrectly when using the Linux kernel's AGP GART driver.

The 71.86.09 NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver Set for Linux/x86 is available for download via FTP.
The 71.86.09 NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver Set for Linux/x86-64 is available for download via FTP.

Please note: If you encounter any problems with the 71.86.09 NVIDIA Linux legacy graphics driver release, please start a new thread and include a detailed description of the problem, reproduction steps and generate/attach an nvidia-bug-report.log file (please see http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=46678 for details).

[deanjo]

Little interesting tidbit from AaronP on how driver releases are handled now.

I should clarify the status of the various releases. I think I confused people with the current releases thread, which I'll update to make things clearer.

Our officially sanctioned current release is still the one listed at http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html. In the past, these were the only drivers available. We started posting FTP prereleases, which don't go through as much testing as the official releases, because we want to get updates to users faster. The FTP prereleases I marked as "stable" (i.e. not beta) happened after an official stable release on nvidia.com. These prereleases contain fixes for problems found since the official stable release, but still don't go through the complete testing cycle. In retrospect, that was a mistake and I shouldn't have used the word "stable." In the future, I'll stop labeling prereleases from the stable branch as "stable" and instead list three drivers:

1. Current official release: The driver currently on nvidia.com
2. Current prerelease: The latest FTP driver from the stable branch
3. Current beta release: The latest FTP driver from what will become the next release cycle

Hopefully that will reduce the amount of confusion. As usual, we take customer feedback seriously and are open to suggestions.

[criminallawyer]

nVIDIA ForceWare 180.37.04 With OpenGL 3.1 Support FreeBSD was presented for free download to install, add, update, setup nVIDIA Display and Video. please check your digital device manufacturer nVIDIA, device category Display and Video, device model, operating system, driver version according to nVIDIA ForceWare 180.37.04 With OpenGL 3.1 Support FreeBSD.
Version:180.37.04 Release:24 Mar 2009Update:25 Mar 2009License:Free Driver File Name:NVIDIA-FreeBSD-x86-180.37.04.tar.gz File Size:17.83 MbEnvironment:FreeBSD Category Display and Video Drivers Vendor:nVIDIA Drivers Subcategory:nVIDIA Display

[shae marks]

Same question has been posted on http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15829

Software setup:
- Mandriva Linux 2009.0
- Kernel: Linux 2.6.27.19-desktop-1mnb i686
- KDE 4.2.1 with 3D Effects turned ON
- Desktop resolution: 1600x1200@85Hz
- Running KTorrent, only upload
- Running Kopete with 2 accounts online, no chat window open
- 3 plasmoids on desktop + Panel

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[Invitation1]

Also, I am moving sgfxi to sync with the new offiicial nvidia driver release methods, but I'll use stable/preview, whichever is latest, for current stable, and I'll use beta for beta (-B).

This was just clarified by nvidia, and the distinction between prerelease and actual betas was made... well, it was made distinct, and I've seen no real issues with users running the preview stuff, the beta install option will stay beta.

This puts all their latest drivers as current stable using this new method, with no current betas.

Unless someone has real issues with this, which I seriously doubt they will, this is how sgfxi will now do it, largely following nvidia's methods, except for putting previews as stables, which is what all 2.6.28 kernel users were using anyway for the last month or so without much issue.

Ok, that's it, have fun.
Invitation Letter

[Kano]

Well the definition of beta is not that critical in case of Nvidia. I prefer em over the stable/preview series because they are usually released more often. Also for some legacy chips it does not seem that there will be updated stable drivers at all.