NVIDIA Licence Update (Linux Exception) 32
(startx) writes "I don't know how long this has been the case, but with the latest NVidia driver update comes a new installation method, which unifies the installation process almong all Linux distributions. Just for kicks I re-read the licence, and it has a new section labeled "2.1.2 Linux Exception" Basically GNU/Linux users are now free to redistribute the driver file. Not only this, but the FAQ section of the README file says you can redistribute in whatever form necessary, stating distributions are welcome to include it as a package as well. Woohoo!"
All ready now (Score:1)
FREE BEER FOR ALL (Hey it might happen)
Debs (Score:2)
Great (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Great (Score:2, Informative)
Well, Mandrake has a policy against including software that's not Open Source in the main distro (they made an exception for Netscape back in the day, though). However, PLF [zarb.org] (the repository for patent or license-encumbered Mandrake packages) could be a place to find them, in which case it's just a urpmi away.
Re:Great (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Great (Score:2, Informative)
Gentoo (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Gentoo (Score:2)
Moo (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Moo (Score:2)
Don't fool me ... (Score:1)
Re:Don't fool me ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Excellent! (Score:3, Insightful)
I applaud nVidia for their continuing support for Linux.
Like many others, I would be happier if the drivers were open-sourced, but realise that there is so much licensed technology in these cards, that getting permission from all the IP holders would be impossible, even if nVidia wanted to release the source.
Well done, nVidia.
Doesn't seem to be an April Fools Day Joke...Yet. (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm with everyone else who thinks we should check the nvidia website in a few days.
If this isn't a joke, then I certainly applaud nvidia for taking a step in the right direction so you can install Linux on an nforce/nforce2 system and have to muck with driver code patches to get sound/lan/video working right.
And yes, I double checked... the license also applies to the nforce drivers!
Say what you want about nvidia fumbling on the FX cards, ATI
Good one, guys! (Score:2)
No Reverse Engineering. Customer may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the SOFTWARE, nor attempt in any other manner to obtain the source code.
Whew! That really had me going for a second 'til I realized what day it was!
Haha!
Not quite fully automated install yet.... (Score:1)
Er, silly question here, but why doesn't the NVIDIA installer do all this ? The NVIDIA installer on Windows certainly doesn't expect the e
Re:Not quite fully automated install yet.... (Score:3, Insightful)
My guess they do it because they're afraid they may hose the config file. Let's face it, text config files can be problematic. One has to go to the effort of creating parse routines (easy in perl, but not it C), many of the files have their own format, and there is always the risk of misparsing part of it. Then to change one setting, the most simple way is often to just rewrite the entire file. Not an easy task, and an error in any step may hose the entire thing...
The M$ registry sucks, but at least it ha
Re:Not quite fully automated install yet.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Since most installs are done via shell script or makefile, it's not like this would be that hard to program-- sed or perl are likely to be involved and this isn't tough for either of them. I know it's not as simple as s/nv/nvidia/, but it's not that hard to make sure you only change the right lines and nothing else.
The real problem is finding the right config file to change. Are they in
Text config vs binary (Score:3, Interesting)
So everyone has to have either sed or perl installed? Different developers will make different choices. If it is done this way, everyone will probably need both, plus awk, plus [insert a bunch of programs here]. In fact this is the current state of most open source project. That is a lot of stuff, especially for those workstations who don't do any development.
Also a lot of programs are starting to use XML (even worse). For config files, it has all the disadvant
Re:Text config vs binary (Score:1)
FreeBSD driver (Score:1)
They seem to have a clue (Score:4, Insightful)
I was pleasantly surprised back when I got my new computer with a TNT2 that they provided nice (in my experience) fast 3D drivers. They haven't subscribed to the whole open-source/free software philosophy, they're just being smart. Giving source for their drivers may have some benefits, may have some costs, may not be possible for legal reasons. Giving away binary drivers makes sense - you're quite likely to influence a linux user's video card purchase with decent drivers. Making people download it from their website, or install it differently from any other package is just a pain in the ass and doesn't gain them anything.
There's no altruism here, just common sense. What's surprising is that so many big hardware manufacturers make things so hard.
Re:They seem to have a clue (Score:2)
I had already made up my mind to buy ATI next time around but if this .run file makes things easy enough then I will stick with Nvidia. Every time RH updates the kernel I have to fiddle around to recompile nvidia and cisco vpn k
From the README (Score:2)
Sounds pretty nice!