Nvidia Removed Linux Driver Feature For Feature Parity With Windows

RemyBR writes "Softpedia points to a Nvidia Developer Zone forum post revealing that the company has removed a specific Linux feature as of the v310 drivers due to the Windows platform. A BaseMosaic user on Ubuntu 12.04 noticed a change in the number of displays that can be used simultaneously after upgrading from the v295 drivers to v310. Another user, apparently working for Nvidia, gave a very troubling answer: 'For feature parity between Windows and Linux we set BaseMosaic to 3 screens.'"

Thus:

[Zanadou]

"We have altered the deal; pray we do not alter it again."

QA

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet it's just for the test cases.

nouveau

[Sqr(twg)]

All this time I've been pissed at the nouveau [freedesktop.org] drivers that came as default with my linux distribution. "NVIDIA's drivers are working perfectly" I thought. "Why the hell are you building something not as good, just to make it open source?"

Now I know.

Re:NVIDIA -- fuck you!

[VortexCortex]

Yeah, well, If Linus had listened to RMS about binary blobs then he wouldn't be giving the finger to NVIDIA, eh? Fucking hypocrite, IMO.

Re:Thus:

[mcgrew]

What deal? The only deal would be between Nvidea and Microsoft, who I'm sure paid a princely sum to hide one of Windows' various deficiencies.

MS must be sacred shitless of Linux, especially since Linux-Android is kicking its ass in the phone and tablet market. MS has a long way to go to match Linux's and Linux's distros' feature sets.

The real reply

[EmagGeek]

"In order to sell more video cards, we set BaseMosaic to 3 screens."

Re:I smell a lawsuit...

[datapharmer]

Not really so. We ran a comparison before our last server purchase for a larger client and AMD won the performance per dollar ratio for virtualization with the dl 385 g7. I'm also about to make a large desktop refresh purchase for a cost conscious company and the amd offerings from various suppliers offer more bang for the buck. They are mostly using standard office applications, and in a couple cases light adobe work (photoshop, Indesign etc) and for the price even on the more heavily utilized computers we can add a dedicated graphics card and more ram for the same price or less than buying an intel based box. Given that the ram is more expandable on many of the amd chipsets and the raw cpu power just isn't that important any more for the 90% use case it makes sense to have a homogenous environment, so intel is likely out of the picture completely.

In a car anaology, if you are a racecar driver you need a racecar, but as a car manufacturer don't rest on your laurels and think you can charge more just because you have a really fast ferrari. Most people are happy with a slower but reliable toyota with the power window and cruise control at a fraction of the cost.

Re: And this why communism doesn't work

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Free nouveou is communism. Binary blob is dictatorship

Re:Thus:

[L. J. Beauregard]

Now ask again why we need antitrust laws with teeth.

Thanks nVidia

[turgid]

I've been running accelerated 3D graphics on Linux thanks to nVidia since 2000. And thanks to Linus' pragmatism

In an ideal world, nVidia would provide their drivers as Open Source for the FOSS crowd, and one day they might if they can get the IP issues sorted out.

I am a supporter of Linux and the FSF and I admire and support the efforts and ideals of both. However, these are ideals not physical reality. I choose FOSS wherever possible. I don't run Windows and abandoned MS when Win95 came out. I've done just fine without them (thanks for Slackware, Pat).

I dare say that there are millions of (not very clever) people in the world who would have dismissed Linux and Free Software in general as "rubbish" had they not been able to see it do fast, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics like the commercial OSs. You know what people are like...

Then we had the support for Linux from ATi, not to be left out, and later intel who have very generously provided much data and open source code.

Without nVidia's contribution and pioneering support of Linux, we'd be in a much darker place today and Linux would be not nearly as popular with the average user.

I've been using nVidia graphics cards on my own PCs (all Linux) since 1999 and I've never been disappointed. I'm on my 5th or 6th card now (lost count). And I've never had trouble integrating their driver with Slackware or anything else...

Just a happy customer here, not an employee or shareholder.

Re:Thus:

[ColdWetDog]

They've got Balmer, we don't need antitrust laws.

Re:NVIDIA -- fuck you!

[redback]

The world needs RMS and people with his viewpoint.

But you cant force everyone to live in their world.

Re:Thus:

[mgiuca]

I'd love to know whether that's a real quote from the Windows logo rules. Unfortunately, a Google search for the text returns only one result: this comment. [Citation needed]

Re:Thus:

[Raenex]

This is not a quote. It is an implication; that behind closed doors, between vendors, there is an "arrangement" MS requires, and if they refuse to comply --- MS has the stick of refusing logo certification to their product ---- if nVidia doesn't get the Windows Logo; then neither do any of the hardware builders or OEMs using nVidia components; therefore, they are likely to ship someone else's hardware instead, so they can get the logo.

In other words, you made up a phony quote that looks like it's copied straight from a real policy and got modded to +5 Informative, when instead it's just speculation on your part.

Re: nouveau

[Anonymous Coward]

Starting to? He looked insightful from the start to anyone with similar insight. What you mean is that it's taken decades for you to start realizing some of the things he's been preaching for so long.

Or perhaps, some of RMS's decades-old insights have become obvious now.