What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ???

raul_assis · 07-09-05, 05:08 AM

[This post is for Nvidia driver developers and managers]
Nvidia staff,
I'm waiting since February for your company to develop drivers that support FreeBSD for AMD64. Since FreeBSD is the best desktop operating system since it inherits directly from UNIX and AMD64 is around for almost 2 years I'd expect proper support for this combination. I will ask the exact same question to ATI staff. Since I'm planning a graphics card upgrade for the next 6 months, wichever comes first to develop this driver will conditionate my purchase decision.

**Thunderbird** · 07-09-05, 05:49 AM

Please don't start a sort of flamewar. As you might know the main reason Nvidia supports Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris is not that they like us *nix users so much. The reason mainly is that big customers (Hollywood, medical companies, ..) all wanted drivers. Personally I think that right now there's not much demand from big customers for drivers and that's why it likely isn't a high priority at the moment. (note I don't know if this is the real reason nor do I know what Nvidia's plans are)

arokh · 07-09-05, 08:16 AM

Who decided that FreeBSD is the best desktop system? And since when did you need 64 bit on the desktop? I bet there's not a single reason for you needing it.

Of course, nvidia should support it, and they probably will at some point, but as the above poster suggests, big customers decide what is prioritized.

cjcox · 07-09-05, 02:16 PM

Given that Linux is considered to be a "minority" market... and that Linux users out number (conservatively speaking) FreeBSD uers about 5000 to 1.... I'd say you need to be a LOT more patient with Nvidia, who DOES tend to support FreeBSD.

LubosD · 07-09-05, 04:33 PM

Is there any commercial native software for FreeBSD AMD64 which uses OpenGL?

Spyke · 07-09-05, 05:03 PM

Most FreeBSD users are alike, they hate Linux, yet use Linux-libs so they can have their game of doom3. Doesn't make sense at all. I hope NVIDIA don't cater to you A64 users after what came from the mouth of *BSD users as of late about Linux.

uOpt · 07-10-05, 10:13 AM

Nice thread

What I can say is that within the FreeBSD camp AMD64 is gaining share rapidly.

What I would really like to see is an improvement of the source layer around the binary core parts of the NVidia drivers that is flexible enough to use the same binary core on Linux and FreeBSD.

Once there, you can have the FreeBSD people hack away at the source envelope as they see fit.

FreeBSD people did some amazing things along the same lines in the past. Making the Linux binary of vmware run seems to be about the same complexity as this project.

07-09-05, 05:08 AM	#1
raul_assis Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 17	What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ??? [This post is for Nvidia driver developers and managers] Nvidia staff, I'm waiting since February for your company to develop drivers that support FreeBSD for AMD64. Since FreeBSD is the best desktop operating system since it inherits directly from UNIX and AMD64 is around for almost 2 years I'd expect proper support for this combination. I will ask the exact same question to ATI staff. Since I'm planning a graphics card upgrade for the next 6 months, wichever comes first to develop this driver will conditionate my purchase decision.

07-09-05, 05:49 AM	#2
Thunderbird Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Netherlands, Europe Posts: 2,105	Re: What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ??? Please don't start a sort of flamewar. As you might know the main reason Nvidia supports Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris is not that they like us *nix users so much. The reason mainly is that big customers (Hollywood, medical companies, ..) all wanted drivers. Personally I think that right now there's not much demand from big customers for drivers and that's why it likely isn't a high priority at the moment. (note I don't know if this is the real reason nor do I know what Nvidia's plans are)

07-09-05, 08:16 AM	#3
arokh Registered User Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 287	Re: What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ??? Who decided that FreeBSD is the best desktop system? And since when did you need 64 bit on the desktop? I bet there's not a single reason for you needing it. Of course, nvidia should support it, and they probably will at some point, but as the above poster suggests, big customers decide what is prioritized. __________________ Asus A8N32-SLI : AMD64 3700+ @ 2.85GHz : 2GB PC4000 OCZ Platinum EB : 2x 7800GT SLI

07-09-05, 02:16 PM	#4
cjcox Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 110	Re: What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ??? Given that Linux is considered to be a "minority" market... and that Linux users out number (conservatively speaking) FreeBSD uers about 5000 to 1.... I'd say you need to be a LOT more patient with Nvidia, who DOES tend to support FreeBSD.

07-09-05, 04:33 PM	#5
LubosD Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 451	Re: What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ??? Is there any commercial native software for FreeBSD AMD64 which uses OpenGL?

07-09-05, 05:03 PM	#6
Spyke Foxie Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 618	Re: What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ??? Most FreeBSD users are alike, they hate Linux, yet use Linux-libs so they can have their game of doom3. Doesn't make sense at all. I hope NVIDIA don't cater to you A64 users after what came from the mouth of *BSD users as of late about Linux. __________________ Gaming: Intel i7 980X @ 4GHz \| ASUS Rampage III Extreme \| GTX 480 3Way SLI @ 900Mhz \| Koolance VID-NX480 \| Corsair Obsidian 700D Corsair H70 CPU Cooler \| EK-FB RE3 \| Corsair AX1200 \| Black Ice SR1 360 \| 240GB OCZ Revodrive X2 SSD \| Windows 7 Ultimate 12GB Corsair Dominator GT @ 8-8-8-24-1T DDR3-1600 \| Onkyo TX SR-707 \| 70" Sharp Aquos LCD \| KEF Audio 5.1 C3/C6LCR/C7 Workstation: Intel i7 920 D0 @ 4GHz \| ASUS Rampage II Extreme \| GTX 480 @ 800Mhz \| Koolance VID-NX480 \| Lian-Li V1200B \| Corsair HX1000 EK NB ASUS HP \| Watercool HeatKiller 3.0 \| Feser Extreme X-360 \| 2x160GB Intel X25-M SSD RAID0 \| 4x2TB WD20EARS RAID10 12GB Corsair Dominator @ 8-8-8-24-1T DDR3-1600 \| Creative X-Fi Titanium \| Pioneer DVR-212D \| Gentoo Linux Dell 3008WFP \| JohnBlue JB3 \| CityPulse DA2.03e II DAC \| KingRex T20U w/ Modded Auricaps & PSU \| Glow Audio Sub One Server: Quad Socket Opteron 8356 (16 cores) @ 2.3GHz \| Supermicro H8QMi-2 \| Supermicro 2U Chassis \| Redundant 1200W PSU 32GB 2GBx16 DDR2-667 ECC \| 4x 300GB Cheetah SAS RAID10 \| Adaptec 5805 512MB w/BBU \| Colocated \| Gentoo Linux

07-10-05, 10:13 AM	#7
uOpt FreeBSD cheering section Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 609	Re: What are you doing Nvidiaaaa ??? Where is the AMD64 driver for FreeBSD ??? Nice thread What I can say is that within the FreeBSD camp AMD64 is gaining share rapidly. What I would really like to see is an improvement of the source layer around the binary core parts of the NVidia drivers that is flexible enough to use the same binary core on Linux and FreeBSD. Once there, you can have the FreeBSD people hack away at the source envelope as they see fit. FreeBSD people did some amazing things along the same lines in the past. Making the Linux binary of vmware run seems to be about the same complexity as this project.

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