NVIDIA News Archives

Prior to NVIDIA porting CoolBits over to Linux back in 2005, the only way to overclock your NVIDIA graphics card was using NVClock. NVClock has been developed as a third-party open-source utility by Roderick Colenbrander and hosted at SourceForge and LinuxHardware.org. NVClock is accessible via the command-line as well as Qt and GTK interfaces. In addition to just overclocking the core and memory frequencies on NVIDIA graphics cards, NVClock also allows for some graphics cards to do pipeline soft-modding, enabling temperature sensors that have been disabled, OpenGL tweaks, and fan-speed adjustment. However, it looks like this project has faded away and that we may never see the final release of NVClock v0.8.

In addition to sharing that we are approaching a point in the Nouveau development where a stable 2D release with EXA and X-Video support is in sight, the Nouveau Companion 30 also mentioned that the NV50 work is "seriously understaffed." Fortunately though, today there were nine git commits for the xf86-video-nouveau driver that improve the state of open-source NV50 support. These commits include code cleanups for the NV50, a new wrapper, and a few renamed functions. You can checkout the latest Nouveau source-code from the git repository at FreeDesktop.org.

Yesterday NVIDIA had introduced their Enthusiast System Architecture, or ESA for short, which is designed to be an "open" technology geared for computer enthusiasts to monitor and control in real-time various PC components. NVIDIA hopes that ESA will become an industry standard for real-time monitoring and controlling of such devices as PC power supplies, motherboards, and even water cooling systems (along with many more PC peripherals). A number of companies, such as Dell and ASUS, have already pledged to adopt this standard. Among the many variables that you'll be able to keep track of through the "Enthusiast System Architecture" are internal air-flow dynamics, voltage/current fluctuations for power supplies, and adjusting the pump speed for a water cooling system. This royalty-free standard is built closely around the USB HID class specification, but will NVIDIA be supporting the Enthusiast System Architecture on Linux?

We reported last week after the launch of the GeForce 8800GT graphics card that a new NVIDIA Linux driver is imminent. This new 8800GT-supportive driver didn't make it onto the Internet last week, so it looks like the new Linux (and likely Solaris and FreeBSD) driver will be released this week. This graphics driver is considered a high priority item by NVIDIA. Once this driver is released, we hope to deliver GeForce 8800GT benchmarks shortly after the software launch.

Yesterday the Santa Clara folks released the GeForce 8800GT graphics card. This PCI Express 2.0 compliant graphics card supports 112 stream processors, has a core clock of 600MHz, shader clock of 1500MHz, and a reference memory clock of 900MHz. The NVIDIA 8800GT also packs 512MB of video memory. NVIDIA has designed the GeForce 8800GT to deliver "awesome power" at a price of under $300 USD.

NVIDIA's Aaron Plattner has pushed out a new update for their open-source 2D "nv" driver. This driver, not to be confused with Nouveau or their binary blob, removes unused headers and fixes two GeForce 8 series (G80) bugs. The first G80 bug corrected is for un-wedging hardware if the BIOS left it stuck and the second one fixes LVDS detection on certain laptops. This new version is xf86-video-nv and is at version 2.1.6. The release announcement for this 2D driver is available on the X.Org mailing list.

It was just yesterday that we at Phoronix told you to be on the lookout for a new NVIDIA Linux driver. Well, a new Linux driver is now available. The NVIDIA 100.14.23 display driver features improved hotkey switching support for some Lenovo notebooks, improved modesetting for Quadro GPUs, fixed a problem with Compiz after VT-switching, and improved interaction with Barco and Chi Mei 56" DFPs. The improved mode-setting affects the Quadro FX 370, FX 570, FX 1700, NVS 320M, FX 570M, FX 1600M, NVS 290, NVS 140M, NVS 130M, NVS 135M, and FX 360M. We do not yet know if the NVIDIA 100.14.23 display driver fixes any of the issues that were brought up in the 100.14.19 display driver. Once we know more information or have benchmarks to share, we will pass them along. If you need technical assistance, stop by the Phoronix Forums. The NVIDIA driver can be downloaded from the NVIDIA website.

It was exactly a month ago that NVIDIA had released the 100.14.19 binary display driver for Linux and Solaris. While this release had corrected the GeForce 8 performance problems, this release wasn't entire positive as some bugs were left unfixed and some new issues had appeared. However, if NVIDIA sticks to their release cycle, we should have a new NVIDIA Linux display driver out very soon. This week is almost over, but next week is a likely target for NVIDIA's next Linux display driver release. NVIDIA has yet to cooperate and tell us anymore details, but once learning any we will pass them along. Meanwhile, AMD's October Linux driver -- the much anticipated fglrx 8.42.x -- should be out within a couple of days.

Last week NVIDIA presented the new 100.14.19 Linux display driver, but NVIDIA had also quietly released two new legacy drivers. The NVIDIA 71.86.01 and 96.43.01 releases basically offer X.Org 7.3 compatibility and support for the latest Linux 2.6 kernels. A few other fixes also made their way into these two legacy Linux driver releases. The NVIDIA 96.43.01 driver corrected a TV-Out corruption problem on some GeForce 4 GPUs, notebook problems with incorrect EDIDs, and power management support on some GeForce 4 notebooks. Both the 71.86.01 and 96.43.01 releases do also fix a nvidia-installer bug. These software releases are designed for their older generations of graphics processors that are not supported by the new mainstream Linux binary graphics driver. The FreeBSD and Solaris legacy drivers have also been updated as well. However, the mainstream FreeBSD driver remains at 100.14.11 instead of 100.14.19. As always, grab these latest drivers for your hardware out of your distribution's package repository or from NVIDIA's website.

It has been 80 days since the last NVIDIA Linux display driver was released. The NVIDIA 100.14.11 display driver was released back on June 21 and now we are in the middle of September... This is a very long time without a new driver release considering that there are a number of serious bugs and regressions in this release. Last year the average time between NVIDIA releases was calculated and the number was 70 days. This year we have had even more driver releases than in the past and we've went basically the summer without a new binary release from NVIDIA. We were told that there would be a new NVIDIA binary release this past Thursday, but obviously that didn't happen. Perhaps this week? A new NVIDIA display driver is imminent and will hold X.Org 7.3 support and is expected to correct a number of the GeForce 8 problems. With this extended time between releases, NVIDIA could have a surprise or two in the driver too. We'd also expect that new NVIDIA legacy releases will come about for X.Org 7.3 support and fixing some of the bugs on the older NVIDIA hardware. This week is already very busy with the X Developer Summit going on where AMD will be releasing their new ATI R500/600 open-source driver as well as the specifications and it's very likely that the new NVIDIA 100.xx.xx series driver will meet the world in the coming days. What do you hope NVIDIA's new driver adds or fixes? Tell us in our NVIDIA forum.

X.Org 7.3 is being released today and with that said there will be issues for those of you who immediately jump on the X.Org 7.3 bandwagon and depend upon the proprietary display drivers. For NVIDIA users, there will be a compatibility issue with the ABI for X.Org 7.3. The latest mainline drivers (i.e. 100.14.11) will not run unless you pass the -ignoreABI argument. The NVIDIA legacy drivers will run without the ABI option.

It's going on two months since NVIDIA last released a new driver for Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD (v100.14.11). However, be on the lookout for a new NVIDIA driver for their alternative operating systems in the near future. A talkative penguin says the new driver could be out as soon as this week but with X.Org 7.3 coming out later this month, it's safe to assume the driver for sure will be released within the next four weeks. As far as the changes go you can expect to see a number of GeForce 8 fixes, including the performance problems that have recently plagued this flagship series. This may also mark the end of the NVIDIA 100.14.xx series. Find out more on the Phoronix Forums.

For those of you using the NVIDIA 100.14.11 display driver with the Linux 2.6.23-rc2 kernel, a community written patch is available so that the driver can install and function properly. NVIDIA's next driver to come out later this month or in September will integrate the Linux 2.6.23 kernel fixes. There is also another patch available to use a Xen 3.0 Linux kernel with the NVIDIA 100.14.11 driver.

In addition to the Linux 100.14.06 graphics driver, NVIDIA has also made available an updated 100.14.06 Solaris driver for x86 and x64. The changes for the Solaris driver are the same as the Linux and FreeBSD versions: improved notebook support and fixed assorted minor bugs. The Solaris 100.14.06 driver can be downloaded directly from NVIDIA. Discuss this driver in the Phoronix Forums.

If you've been planning on using a NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT or another GeForce 8 family GPU for a HTPC/media center, think again. NVIDIA has no definite plans on supporting XvMC with their Linux display drivers for the GeForce 8 series. The lack of XvMC, or X-Video Motion Compensation, support in the GeForce 8 series is not a bug but NVIDIA's Ken Spencer has stated: "There are no definite plans at this time to provide XVMC support for the 8000 series graphics cards". You can see more information at NvNews and discuss this lack of support in the Phoronix Forums.

This morning NVIDIA has rolled out the latest GPU in the GeForce 8 series, the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra. The new Ultra GPU is slated to be 10 to 15% faster over the current flagship GeForce 8800GTX. The GeForce 8800 Ultra is equipped with 768MB of video memory, 128 stream processors, 612MHz core clock, and 2160MHz effective memory clock. Product availability is scheduled for May 15 with a price tag of approximately $829 USD. The current NVIDIA Linux and Solaris display drivers do not support the GeForce 8800 Ultra, but you can expect new display drivers surfacing later this month. Head on over to NVIDIA's Press Room for the G80 Ultra press release.

Hitting the web moments ago was a new NVIDIA Linux display driver. However, this happens to be the legacy driver and not the mainstream driver that everyone has been on the look out for. This new legacy driver at version 1.0-7185 supports interaction with newer Linux kernels, improved compatibility with newer versions of X.Org, and new NVIDIA artwork. The new NVIDIA mainstream Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris driver should be available through nZone shortly (perhaps tomorrow). For more information on the 1.0-7185 driver see the 32-bit and 64-bit pages.

This morning NVIDIA introduced the GeForce 8500 and 8600 series graphics cards. These cards are the budget DirectX 10 components to the higher-end GeForce 8800 GTX / GTS. The NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS is coming in at about the $200~229 USD price point while the 8600GT will be selling in the $150 range and the low-end 8500GT coming in at $89. These new cards support PureVideo HD technology, Scalable Link Interface (SLI) on the 8600 series, Shader Model 4.0, and much more. All of these products should be on sale at your favorite online retailers starting May 1. Phoronix will be covering the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 / 8600 series shortly under GNU/Linux and Solaris. There is no new NVIDIA Linux driver out today, but you can expect a new release shortly. The press release for these new graphics cards is available from NVIDIA Corporation.

NVIDIA has stated over on NvNews that the next Linux display driver will introduce a new naming convention. With the 1.0-9XXX series coming to an end we once believed that NVIDIA would continue the series with the 2.0-XXXX driver. However, NVIDIA's Andy Ritger has stated that the series will continue with 100.XX.XX. With periods being the delimiter, the 100 signifies the major release series followed by the remaining digits being used for NVIDIA tracking. This version format will apply to the release number, filenames, and libraries. After the introduction of the Linux 100.XX.XX series, this version format will be back-ported to the existing NVIDIA 1.0-9XXX and 1.0-7XXX series. Expect a new driver out soon! Discuss this in the Phoronix Forums.

Moments ago NVIDIA had released the 1.0-9746 display driver for Linux users. New in this display driver is simply support for the GeForce 8800GTS and 8800GTX. These cards were previously only supported by the 1.0-9742 Beta display driver available at nZone. A 1.0-9746 NVIDIA display driver is also available for Solaris and FreeBSD, which also have the GeForce 8800 series support. The NVIDIA 1.0-9846 display driver is available for x86 and x86_64. You may also be interested in the Phoronix NVIDIA AYiR 2006 article or our 8800GTS / 8800GTX Linux Preview. If you've tried out these new 1.0-9746 display drivers, be sure to share your thoughts on the Phoronix Forums.

Coming out of the NVIDIA camp this afternoon is a new display driver. The release highlights for version 1.0-9631 include fixing an OpenGL crash on some GeForce 3 and GeForce 4 GPUs, fixing an X server crash on some full screen OpenGL applications, and improved interaction with newer kernels. The Solaris and FreeBSD NVIDIA drivers have also been updated to 1.0-9631 (with the same changes except for the kernel alterations). The latest NVIDIA Linux/Solaris/FreeBSD drivers can be downloaded here. The drivers can be discussed on the Phoronix Forums.

NVIDIA is today announcing the GeForce 8 family by launching the 8800GTX and the 8800GTS. We have a Linux preview covered here, and feel free to discuss the NVIDIA G80 GPU over at the Phoronix Forums. NVIDIA will be releasing new 1.0-9XXX Linux display drivers over at nZone today, so be sure to grab them! We'll have more NVIDIA coverage coming up as the day progresses.

As promised, NVIDIA is today releasing a new Linux display driver. The changes aren't too extensive from what we had mentioned in the beta candidates and other articles. The change-log and download links can be found over at the forums.

As promised in this article, NVIDIA has provided launch-day support for the new GeForce 8800GTX and 8800GTS in the GNU/Linux display drivers. These drivers are beta and at version 1.0-9742. The Solaris and FreeBSD drivers have also been updated to add preliminary support for the GeForce 8 series. These NVIDIA Beta display drivers can be found for x86 and x86_64.

NVIDIA has now updated their website with the product pages for the GeForce 8 Series and the nForce 600 Series For Intel (600i). Additional Phoronix coverage of the GeForce 8800 products and nForce 600i Chipsets will be available soon.

NVIDIA Corporation has today released NVPerfKit, which is a set of tools for debug and profile OpenGL and Direct3D applications. This program does allow access low-level performance counters on NVIDIA GPUs. NVPerfKit has been around for a while, but today's version 2.1 release now supports 32-bit and 64-bit Linux. More on NVIDIA's NVPerfKit can be found on its project page.

Yesterday afternoon NVIDIA finally pushed out the first official 1.0-9XXX series Linux display driver. This driver contains no significant enhancements beyond what was found in the 1.0-9625 Beta display driver last month. Our coverage of the 1.0-9625 display driver can be found here. A thread to discuss these new drivers can be found over at the Phoronix Forums. The download page is over at NVIDIA.

NVIDIA has today introduced the GeForce Go 7950GTX GPU. This mobile GPU encompasses 24 pixel shader engines, a core speed of 575MHz, 512MB of video memory onboard, and more. This NVIDIA notebook GPU was introduced at DigitalLife 2006 in New York, NY. NVIDIA's press release for the Go 7950GTX can be found here.

NVIDIA has issued a public Beta display driver for Linux (x86 and x86_64), Solaris, and FreeBSD. The changes have been highlighted here. Most notably is support for GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap. The NVIDIA 1.0-9625 display drivers can be found at nZone.

NVIDIA has today unveiled the GeForce 7900GS and GeForce 7950GT. The 7900GS uses 256MB of video memory while the 7950GT uses 512MB; both of these new NVIDIA cards are SLI supportive. The prices for these cards start at $199 USD and $299 respectively. NVIDIA's press release can be found here. After NVIDIA delivers Linux-supportive drivers for these new cards (1.0-9XXX), we will likely be delivering GNU/Linux results for the NVIDIA GeForce 7900GS 256MB and 7950GT 512MB.

Roderick has passed along word that the second Beta is now out for NVClock. There are quite some hefty improvements from added GeForce 7 support to rewriting the core back-end and more. Be sure to check it out over at Linux Hardware. This third party NVIDIA Linux utility can be discussed in our Forums.

A thread has been opened up on the Phoronix Forums for speculating over the release date and possible features in NVIDIA's next Linux display drivers (1.0-9XXX series). It looks as if it will indeed be an August or September launch, and will contain X.Org v7.1 support, but we are still working on nailing down other likely additions. Feel free to share your thoughts or ideas.

NVIDIA has provided their first Linux legacy driver release. This driver is designed solely for older cards where support has been dropped from their official latest Linux display drivers. New in this release is installation problems on newer distributions, compatibility with the latest 2.6 kernels, improved 64-bit 2.6 stability, improved power management on newer kernels, and install NVIDIA OpenGL headers by default. More on this legacy release is at NVIDIA.

There has been some discussion in the community that NVIDIA SLI is capable of running on Intel's i5000XL Greencreek Chipset, and that ATI CrossFire could even run on the Intel Chipset with its dual PCI Express x16 slots. The Greencreek is designed to be a premiere workstation Chipset for use with Intel Xeon Dempsey and Woodcrest processors. However, using the Tyan Tempest i5000XL, we threw in dual PCI Express x16 NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards to see if Scalable Link Interface was really possible. Using nvidia-xconfig --sli=AFR, the SLI option was added to the xorg.conf, however, upon rebooting we were unsuccessful in our attempts of using SLI. The NVIDIA x86_64 1.0-8762 Linux display drivers were unable to enable SLI on the Greencreek. Though the next NVIDIA Linux driver release (1.0-9XXX) may bridge support for this Chipset, at this time we were unsuccessful in our attempts. If we learn any additional information on this matter, we will be sure to pass it along. Below is the error from the X.Org log. (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "SLI" "AFR"

In just a few hours from now NVIDIA Corporation will be doing a hard-launch of several new GeForce 7 products. These new products will include the NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT, 7900GS, and 7950GX2. As we had exposed yesterday, it does raise the question as to whether we will see new NVIDIA Linux display drivers this morning. While we will not be delivering any launch previews this morning or reviews of the new products, we do anticipate that some will arrive at our testing facilities shortly. In the mean time before the launch of the products, we have begun to receive advance press releases from some of NVIDIA's partners. Below are two Biostar GeForce 7300GT products. Throughout the days, and in the coming days, we will be sharing more information, as well as our usual Linux coverage.

Announced today by NVIDIA is EPP memory, or officially known as Enhanced Performance Profiles. Corsair has already issued a press release stating the immediate adoption of Enhanced Performance Profiles. More on this is at NVIDIA. SANTA CLARA, CA�MAY 15, 2006�NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced the results of a collaborative memory development effort called Enhanced Performance Profiles, or EPP, which allows consumers to easily expose new, advanced performance memory settings built into high performance memory DIMMs for even higher levels of overall PC system performance. In addition, NVIDIA also announced today that Corsair Memory, the worldwide leader in design and manufacture of high performance memory, is the first memory vendor to announce support for the new EPP specification, and is expected to have new EPP-based memory DIMMs available in the channel later this month.

Tomorrow, May 15, NVIDIA is expected to launch the GeForce 7900GS, 7300GT, and 7950GX2. However, it does raise the question as to whether we can expect new Linux drivers to accompany this green hardware. Up to this point, our sources at NVIDIA have remained mute on the matter, however, if there were to be a driver release this week from the green it would partially align with their usual 4 month/3~4 week release cycle. In the past NVIDIA has provided some same-day Linux support, primarily with the NVIDIA GeForce 7800GTX 256MB G70 part. At this point, however, a driver release this week from NVIDIA is nothing more than a professional speculation. The next NVIDIA Linux display drivers out aren't expected to contain anything more than new hardware support and bug fixes. ATI is also quickly approaching with their monthly drivers. Upon seeing any signs of an impending NVIDIA Linux driver release, we will be certain to pass along the details.

With NVIDIA's 1.0-8756 Linux display driver having come out exactly one month ago, it should be about time for another driver release. For a while now, NVIDIA has been on the approximate 4 month/3~4 week release cycle for their Linux and Solaris (occasionally FreeBSD will be added to the mix) display drivers. Of course, the 4 week release cycle in between the major releases generally only contains an improvement or two, and then bug fixes for problems introduced in the last major release. However, this time around it seems that NVIDIA's Linux display driver launch may be pushed back a bit. According to a source, the next Linux driver installment may not be introduced until Computex Taipei of this year. The buzz this year at Computex Taipei will certainly be AMD's Socket AM2 among other things, and it just so happens that new Linux drivers from the green may occur during this Taiwan show. The Phoronix coverage from Computex Taipei 2005 is available here. ATI of course has yet to come out with its May refresh from the Linux and Windows display drivers. We hope to soon acquire more information on details related to the upcoming NVIDIA Linux drivers.

For those pondering whether to use Forcedeth or Nvnet for use as the ethernet driver within Linux on NVIDIA-based systems, there is an active discussion going on over at NvNews Forums. The points brought up so far include NVIDIA engineers working on the open-source Forcedeth project, netio benchmarks, and various other real-world comments.

Not only has ATI Technologies come to the table with their new FireGL workstation cards today, but NVIDIA has also unleashed a new professional graphics solution. The Quadro FX4500 X2, as NVIDIA has called it, utilizes dual GPUs each with 512MB of video memory. Its memory interface is 256-bit and the memory bandwidth is 33.6GB/s. Other features include two dual-link DVI-I connectors, a stereo connector, and SLI, SDI and G-Sync capabilities. If NVIDIA is continuing in their approximate 4 month/3 week release cycle, we should expect to see new NVIDIA Linux drivers within a couple of weeks from this point -- and we certainly do expect support for the NVIDIA Quadro FX4500 X2 in the upcoming release. More details for the Quadro FX4500 X2 are available at NVIDIA.

SANTA CLARA, CA�APRIL 18, 2006�NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today unveiled the new NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 Series of graphics processing units (GPUs), which enable gamers to experience vivid, extreme high-definition (XHD) games on notebook PCs�a dream come true for gamers that demand performance and portability. The entire NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900GTX and GeForce Go 7900GS press release can be viewed here.

Today NVIDIA has unleashed the Linux and Solaris 1.0-8756 display drivers. No FreeBSD drivers to compliment this release are out at this time. Our initial impressions with the NVIDIA 1.0-8756 drivers are available here.

With the new Linux (and Solaris) driver release just hours ago, this serves as the inaugural release for 2006 (unless of course, counting the 1.0-8183 display drivers). This NVIDIA 1.0-8756 release fits in line with NVIDIA's Linux release cycle that has become pretty much standard -- being an approximate 4 months/3 weeks/4 months, with the previous 1.0-8178 release falling towards the end of the December. This also means we should anticipate another driver release towards the end of April or early May. The next minor release may coincide with the X.Org 7.1 launch. After that, we are likely to see no major releases (at least those made available from nvidia.com) until September or October of this year. Of course, this is simply a general overview and the release cycle is always capable of changing. The upcoming minor release should also mark the end of the 1.0-8XXX series. Presently the NVIDIA Linux drivers are at 1.0-8756 while the Windows ForceWare are officially at 84.21 (WHQL). In this time until the next major release, we are anticipating that the 1.0-9XXX series will make its premiere. When the Rel80 1.0-8XXX launched, there were a great deal of attention grabbing features implemented for the Windows drivers, and a handful for Linux and Solaris. Some of the highlights included Scalable Link Interface (SLI) support as well as the nvidia-xconfig utility. When the NVIDIA 1.0-7XXX drivers were introduced, they were also home to a great deal of changes. Of course, NVIDIA isn't in the mood to squeal all the details early, however, we have a few conservative speculations as to what the 1.0-9XXX series may hold in store for alternative OS users. For one, the NVIDIA installer is long over-due for an overhaul. If you will recall, the installer in its current form was initially delivered with the 1.0-4349 drivers on March 31, 2003. While ATI began offering their display drivers as RPMs, with their v8.14.13 release last year they turned to a new graphical installer option. This new installer not only made it unnecessary to drop to stop X in order to run the installer but it also features the capabilities of generating distribution specific drivers. In fact, almost with each new release additional distributions are added -- ATI has done any EXCELLENT job with getting distribution vendors to join their Beta program and to provide installation compatibility. With that said, we imagine NVIDIA will finally take on ATI with a graphical (likely GTK based) installer in the Rel90 drivers. NVIDIA also has room to make improvements with its NVIDIA Settings utility. While nvidia-settings may be more robust than fireglcontrolpanel (at this present time), the Linux drivers are of course a long way from catching up with the Windows options. Both companies do, however, have viable text-based configuration utilities. On top of that, the OpenGL GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap extension will be finalized shortly to allow for Fedora Rendering Project AIGLX compatibility. While NVIDIA appears to have no large incentive for improving the quality of its SLI support, the 1.0-9XXX series may be home to a couple of multi-GPU related changes. If NVIDIA does stand by their four month escapades, the 1.0-9XXX drivers should also contain support for new GPUs and products to be released later this summer. Today's 1.0-8756 release also contained improved power management support on recent kernels, while ATI has largely been leading the way with Linux mobile advances. ATI had begun by porting PowerPlay to Linux, as well as other power-saving features, and they will likely continue to implement additional advancements for mobile users. One feature that many users had also hoped to make their way into 1.0-8756 drivers was H.264 hardware support and other NVIDIA PureVideo features. Depending upon how ATI plays their Linux cards with Avivo, additional video and display options could likely find their way into the 9X series. Finally, the NVIDIA Linux 1.0-9XXX series will likely bring to the table a few other features, more information is to come. It is important to reiterate that the information today has not been officially confirmed by NVIDIA, however, these are relatively safe speculations as to what features will make their way into NVIDIA's next Linux software installment due out later this year.

Over at NvNews Linux Forums (the hang-out for NVIDIA representatives attempting to help its users) netllama -- or better known as Lonni J Friedman -- of NVIDIA's Linux department has finally decided to state a better release time-frame than their soon statements. According to the message, it is safe to say the driver will be available by April 15. As we had mentioned numerous times, they have been aiming for an early April release -- and this latest public word seems to definitively say the driver will be out this week, or next week. Next week of course is the second week of the month, or ATI's usual monthly driver release period for both Windows and Linux. For reference, netllama's post is available here.

With our continual investigation of NVIDIA's private Beta drivers (1.0-8751) for Linux graphics solutions, we have yet another small detail to share. Back on August 1, 2005 we had reported to NVIDIA a bug that would cause CoolBits from operating on Xinerama-enabled systems. When one NVIDIA graphics solution is installed and Xinerama is enabled to drive two display heads, and then attempting to alter the X configuration with Option "Coolbits" "1" would result in CoolBits not activating. When NVIDIA reproduced our bug, they opened up the issue as bug 181974 so their development team could look into such a problem. Well, precisely 35 weeks later or 245 days and three public driver releases, this bug has yet to have been addressed. With NVIDIA's TwinView enabled for a multi-headed display, CoolBits is known to work fine but we have just confirmed this morning that the 1.0-8751 drivers still are unable to run CoolBits when Xinerama is activated. While this issue isn't a problem for most consumers, it is another bug that has yet to be addressed almost a year later. The next Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris public driver release is expected soon.

As we have been sharing time and time again in our news posts and articles that NVIDIA's inaugural Linux driver release for 2006 is just around the corner -� or should we say the first release geared towards consumers --- seeing as there was the unmentioned 1.0-8183 release earlier this year that were simply targeted for Hewlett-Packard's workstations until Phoronix had made public this discovery. While we had these NVIDIA Beta drivers for some time now, and have had the privilege of sharing the discovered information since the GeForce 7900 launch, we still have yet to come across the official change-log. However, if you will dig back into some of our previous 1.0-8751 related articles, many of the changes and new features can be spotted. While we have yet to be officially addressed as to the public launch date for NVIDIA's upcoming Linux (and likely Solaris/FreeBSD) drivers, we have a few remaining thoughts to share today. Our last non-confidential briefing on this matter with NVIDIA has yielded that the drivers are still anticipated for an early April release and that the development process for these drivers should have ended at the end of March. What does this mean? Likely we will see these new NVIDIA drivers come about within this upcoming week. Or rather the week of April 2nd to the 9th. With last week's launch of the NVIDIA Quadro FX 350M, 1500M, and 2500M it simply reinforces that new drivers will be imminent in order to officially support these new workstation GPUs. Tracing back the origins of NVIDIA's alternative OS drivers all the way back to 1.0-1251 -- seeing as NVIDIA has no clear strategy unlike ATI's monthly period -- the Linux drivers are most often released on Thursday, followed by Wednesday and Monday. Upon hearing or discovering additional information we will be sure to share it with our readers. For those wearing red, the April emancipation will be the first driver this Spring -- which may prove to be beneficial if you have been tuning into some of our past articles.

While we have been covering the NVIDIA and NVClock updates for almost the past month now when it comes to primarily the GeForce 7900 support, we have a few details to pass along today when it comes to new code merged into the NVClock SourceForge CVS public server in roughly the past week. To begin, a few init script table tokens were added for some GeForce 7 series GPUs and the performance table parsing was re-done. Other changes include adding several new GeForce 7 device IDs, basic support, and F73373S support. Additional NVClock code changes are expected to occur soon. No word yet when other features may be added. Well, with it being the start of April -- NVIDIA's Linux display drivers can be anticipated for a launch at anytime now (come on, just a little bit more waiting :), for real). NVClock CVS information is at SourceForge.

With the discovery yesterday of the NVIDIA Linux 1.0-8183 display drivers on HP servers, we have now had some time to complete a few tests that are designed to distinguish any performance differences between these drivers in just a few of our traditional array of Linux gaming and workstation benchmarks. The NVIDIA Linux drivers used were the latest official ones supported by the green folks at this time -� 1.0-8178 -� and then these newly discovered 1.0-8183 drivers that were built late February and finally the 1.0-8751 drivers. The 1.0-8751 drivers at this time are not publicly accessible, however, we at Phoronix have managed to obtain these drivers for media coverage. These 1.0-8751 Beta drivers were built in early March and contain support for the new GeForce 7 solutions as well as other enhancements, which we have been documenting at Phoronix since we got our hands on them. Look forward to NVIDIA's next official driver step to come in early April �- unless of course a delay ends up taking place. The system configuration used for these miniature tests was a Fedora Core 4 installation with the 2.6.15 x86_64 SMP Linux kernel. The hardware components consisted of an Intel Pentium D 820 processor running at 2.80GHz, 2 x 512MB DDR2-667, Western Digital 160GB SATA2 hard drive, eVGA e-GeForce 6800GT 256MB PCI Express, Swiftech CPU water cooling, and a Tyan Tomcat i7230A S5160. The Tyan i7230A is based upon Intel's E7230 MCH + ICH-7R Mukilteo Chipset. The tests simply used for this short testing extravaganza was Enemy Territory (traditional Railgun demo) and SPECViewPerf v8.1 with the 3dsmax-03, catia-01, and ensight-01 sets. Additional testing will be performed upon the official release of these updated NVIDIA drivers. ================================ Enemy Territory v2.60 (Railgun) 800 x 600 ================================ 1.0-8178: 66.9 1.0-8183: 66.8 1.0-8751: 66.5 ================================ Enemy Territory v2.60 (Railgun) 1280 x 1024 ================================ 1.0-8178: 63.2 1.0-8183: 63.2 1.0-8751: 63.2 ================================ SPECViewPerf v8.1 3dsmax-03 ================================ 1.0-8178: 4.328 1.0-8183: 4.326 1.0-8751: 4.336 ================================ SPECViewPerf v8.1 catia-01 ================================ 1.0-8178: 3.300 1.0-8183: 3.301 1.0-8751: 3.309 ================================ SPECViewPerf v8.1 ensight-01 ================================ 1.0-8178: 7.189 1.0-8183: 7.210 1.0-8751: 7.196 It looks as though any performance benefits have taken a back seat to appending new features and largely addressing existing bugs. Of course, these benchmarks today only stress a small portion of the available Linux testing areas and only on a single system setup. Upon these new official drivers, as always, we will continue our investigation to see how the new drivers shall fair overall and in different environments. If any readers encounter any other changes in these 1.0-8183 drivers, feel free to report them to us using our contact page.

As we had delivered this news in our NVIDIA 1.0-8183 Display Drivers article, it seems as though Hewlett-Packard is presently offering NVIDIA display drivers with a version of 1.0-8183. This version is in contrast to the presently available 1.0-8178 drivers that have been floating around the Internet since last year. These Linux display drivers can be found from navigating Hewlett-Packard's driver section and searching such a workstation as the xw9300. There are x86 and x86_64 driver pages available. The downloads for x86 and x86_64 drivers are in RPMs. However, following the above-linked article, will go through the extraction process to get an end product of the 1.0-8183 Linux display drivers with the universal installer. As these x86/x86_64 1.0-8183 Linux display drivers are freely and publicly available from Hewlett-Packard's website, we have mirrored the .run files here at Phoronix. These files can be obtained from the above hp.com links and then extracting the RHEL 3/4 package. Phoronix.com provides absolutely no form of support or warranty on these hosted files and are intended to run at YOUR OWN RISK, and are not officially supported by NVIDIA Corporation. The download links are listed below as well as the MD5 sum of the compressed file. NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8183-pkg1.run 3fd345b4517cddb7c7f137e7620e01f3 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-1.0-8183-pkg2.run c576a5ad17e7c9822db4033ee653fe14

Here at Phoronix we have been covering the Scalable Link Interface support under Linux since its launch with the inception of the 1.0-8174 display drivers back on December 5, 2005. While this NVIDIA SLI support can still be considered very much rudimentary compared against the Microsoft Windows support with the ForceWare drivers, which were introduced back on November 9 of 2004, there is no clear sight for how it will ultimately fair in the world of Linux. According to some information we have obtained from our sources and research, NVIDIA's motives for Linux SLI may largely dissent from the public opinion. In this article today, there are a few comments we would like to share about the big green manufacturer and their outlook on alternative operating systems. This article in its entirety can be read HERE.