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1. Embed this notice
   Linux ☑️ (linux@linuxrocks.online)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 21:27:27 JST Linux ☑️

   NVIDIA still refuses open sourcing drivers - Red Hat has been developing open NOVA -driver for the Linux kernel ✅

   NVIDIA drivers on Linux here is a co-op scenario:

   ◉Userland: Vulkan / OpenGL handling (these drivers wished be opened)
   ◉Kernel side: framebuffer / computations (these are open now)

   NVK (Vulkan) is also progressing (part of Mesa) - eventually replacing Nouveau (the original open solution for NVIDIA).

   👉 https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2025-March/495080.html

   #NVIDIA #NOVA #Linux #drivers #kernel #opensource

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 21:27:26 JST 翠星石

     in reply to
     @Linux Of course nvidia still refuses to comply with the GPLv2-only, as it's not like any Linux developer has sued or permanently terminated their license.
     
     No, that driver isn't even fully source-available, as it fails at least section 2 of the "osd": https://opensource.org/osd
     
     ¼ of the driver (NOVA) runs on the main CPU and the other ¾ of the driver runs on the GPU as proprietary software, which is clearly malicious as it is digitally handcuffed to prevent you from replacing it.
     
     As you can see, most of the driver currently is composed of a proprietary peripheral software loader (warning: unholy abominable rust code);
     https://lab.vern.cc/gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/nova/-/blob/nova-next-6.15-2025-03-09/drivers/gpu/nova-core/firmware.rs
     
     
     Nouveau is free software up to the 780 Ti, as it implements free peripheral software for cards, as well as free VBIOS init (although for newer cards it doesn't as the digital handcuffs prevent that).
   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 21:45:38 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • 翠星石
     @Linux I decided to punish myself by reading the rust code and what the hell did I just read?
     
     All those lines to do the equivalent of the below in C;
     
     #define VERSION "535.113.01"
     int load_malware()
     {
     return proprietary_malware_load("nvidia/chipset/gsp/fw-"VERSION".bin");
     }
     
     You can clearly see that the above is correct and contains no errors, but good luck working out if that many lines of rust is correct.
     
     
     Rewrite everything in rust for TEN TIMES THE LINES and therefore TEN TIMES THE BUGS and therefore TEN TIMES THE VULNERABILITIES.
     
     You can make something so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies (with bugs eliminated over years until there are none left), and you can make something so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies (with bugs eliminated over decades and there still being bugs) and rust does the latter.
   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 21:47:24 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • 𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙
     @sally @Linux I just enjoy freedom posting every time I see a proprietary post.
     
     Replacing windows with GNU/Linux does means that things are less proprietary and the user actually has a chance at user freedom (provided they actively work towards it, rather than actively away from it).
   • Embed this notice
     𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙 (sally@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 21:47:25 JST 𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙𝅙

     in reply to

     • 翠星石
     @Suiseiseki @Linux
     
     Do you expect any truth from an account that claims replacing Windows with Linux means user freedom?
   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 22:32:21 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • Nico198X
     @nico198x @Linux AMD is worse, as less things are free software.
     
     There is no free VBIOS init or free peripheral software for AMD or ATI cards and you can only use such cards without proprietary peripheral software with nasty hacks that leave you with no 3D acceleration or no ACPI S3 suspend (while 3D accel without proprietary periphery software even on handcuffed nvidia cards works via Nouveau).
     
     
     Half of AMDGPU is in Linux, the other half runs as proprietary peripheral under a proprietary license that states; "No reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly of this Software is permitted." (you're not allowed to find the malware).
     
     AMD also offers the proprietary "AMDGPU-PRO" driver, which has an even more DEGENERATELY PROPRIETARY license that explicitly denies all 4 freedoms (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms);
     "You may not:
     ...
     1. modify or create derivative works of the Software;
     2. distribute, assign or otherwise transfer the Software;
     3. decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise reduce the Software
     to a human-perceivable form (except as allowed by applicable law);
     ...
     6. use, modify and/or distribute any of the Software so that any part becomes
     subject to a Free Software License."
     
     As far as I'm aware, even nvidia isn't so depraved to deny freedom as hard as trying to deny the user the ability to write free software while using a graphics driver.
     
     
     As far as I'm aware, AMD cards up to the rx 580 don't handcuff the peripheral software or VBIOS, but the later cards do.
   • Embed this notice
     Nico198X (nico198x@linuxrocks.online)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 22:32:27 JST Nico198X

     in reply to

     @Linux basically why i went #AMD years back. so much more Open friendly

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 22:48:59 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • MX Linux
     @MXLinux @Linux >A win for regular users on Nvidia for sure.
     Those users will lose as they won't have freedom - they will just have the convenience of not even realizing that proprietary software is running (and will likely largely assume that they're running all "open source").
     
     Both of those driver's are proprietary software.
   • Embed this notice
     MX Linux (mxlinux@linuxrocks.online)'s status on Monday, 10-Mar-2025 22:49:05 JST MX Linux

     in reply to

     @Linux Maybe in not that distant future GSP equipped NVIDIA cards can "just work" out of the box nicely on basically every distro. A win for regular users on Nvidia for sure. NOVA appears Red Hat's attempt to create a driver that only working with GSP and "Turing" GPU cards while leaving Nouveau to the previous cards.

     Nvidias open kernel driver seems to work in parity with the closed source one: https://www.phoronix.com/review/nvidia-555-open

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Wednesday, 12-Mar-2025 19:04:10 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • Nico198X
     @nico198x For AMDGPU, the driver in Linux is only half of the driver, as if you just install that and modprobe it, it's nonfunctional.
     
     You need to install the other half of the driver too, which for each line of cards consists of several programs that are extensions to Linux, except those programs happen to run on microprocessors in the GPU;
     https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENSE.amdgpu
     https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/amdgpu
     
     It's a popular lie to claim that such software is "firmware", but such programs lack any firmness as they're software (although to differentiate it between software that runs on the main CPU, I refer to it as peripheral software, although loading a proprietary program on the main CPU or an auxiliary CPU are equally ethically tainted).
     
     Furthermore, to use AMD cards, the BIOS (or UEFI) needs to execute a Option EEPROM stored in the VBIOS chip to init the card, and no free init software exists for that.
     
     Meanwhile Nouveau up to 780 Ti is 100% free software, including peripheral software and free Option EEPROM init software (there is also Vulkan support for the 700 series and later, although it's written in Rust, thus it's unusable).
     
     
     AMD could easily become the superior option by releasing the source code and the installation information of their derivative works under the GPLv2-or-later, or a compatible license (they could even partially continue their copyright infringement by continuing to withhold the sources of the hardware accelerated encoding and decoding software (at least there some excuse when it comes to patents for that part), as it's not like you need hwdec) and init tables for each GPU (so they can be inited without needing to run any Option EEPROM), but they won't.
   • Embed this notice
     Nico198X (nico198x@linuxrocks.online)'s status on Wednesday, 12-Mar-2025 19:04:11 JST Nico198X

     in reply to

     • 翠星石

     @Suiseiseki @Linux i probably don't understand your point.

     what is the "other half" of amdgpu?

     i don't need any peripheral software, if you're talking about Adrenalin.

     AMD's work on AMDGPU and Vulkan alone makes it far and away the superior option, imo.

   • Embed this notice
     Nico198X (nico198x@linuxrocks.online)'s status on Wednesday, 12-Mar-2025 19:12:46 JST Nico198X

     in reply to

     • 翠星石

     @Suiseiseki interesting! thanks for the info and taking the time!

     翠星石 likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Wednesday, 12-Mar-2025 20:04:32 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • MX Linux
     @MXLinux I don't have my own depiction of freedom - any driver or other program that doesn't respect all 4 freedoms (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms) is not free.
     
     MX GNU/Linux is proprietary software, as if you extract the MX-23.5_x64.iso and then extract "antiX/linuxfs' [sic] you'll find lots of proprietary software that denies the user freedom under; lib/firmware and also under "usr/bin/ddm-mx", there appears to be an unlicensed script (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#NoLicense) that installs proprietary software, plus there's probably a lot more proprietary software.
     
     It appears you distribute a less proprietary than usual version of the kernel, Linux (as you use Debian's version and Debian removes much of the clearly GPLv2-infringing proprietary software from Linux, although it seems they don't really bother with suspicious arrays that probably contain software and it still recommends that the user install proprietary software) - sadly you don't use the fully free GNU Linux-libre.
     
     >is not possible in means of a working system for great many use cases yet.
     You write that, but I go to the most proprietary intel system and try Trisquel GNU/Linux-libre it and install no proprietary software and it works fine with full speed 3D acceleration?
     
     Even on a proprietary Intel system with a Nvidia GPU, Trisquel works fine too with 3D acceleration, although Trisquel can't do anything about nvidia sabotaging the fans so they won't spin up without a handcuffed proprietary program, thus you get idle clocks (which works fine for the Church of Emacs and web browsing and simple games, but is not great for proprietary games).
     
     
     Loading proprietary software onto a system is a convenience, or an act of power (in the case where it is automatically forced onto the users, with the intention of them not even realizing that they are running proprietary software), not something that furthers freedom.
     
     What is harming free software is relentless ruinous compromises, where more and more proprietary software keeps being put it (and never taken out until it becomes totally obsolete), rendering what should be a free system more and more nonfree; https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/compromise.html
   • Embed this notice
     MX Linux (mxlinux@linuxrocks.online)'s status on Wednesday, 12-Mar-2025 20:04:33 JST MX Linux

     in reply to

     • 翠星石

     @Suiseiseki You seem to have your own depiction of freedom. Even MX Linux is not 100% free in your view. The demands for freedom of your understanding (or rather ideology) is not possible in means of a working system for great many use cases yet.

     Your ranting about these things all over the place that we all are aware in these circles is most possibly not helping but rather harming Linux and free software movement.

     Phantasm likes this.