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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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State of the Nvidia open source driver in late 2023? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi all,

I'm in the market for a new big desktop replacement gaming laptop, and looking at the market there are almost exclusively Nvidia powered.

I was wondering about the state of their new open-source driver. Can I run a plain vanilla kernel with only open source / upstream packages and drivers and expect to get a good experience? How is battery life, performance? Does DRI Prime and Vulkan based GPU selection "just work"?

The only alternative new for my market is a device with an Intel Arc A730M, which I currently think is going to be the one I end up buying.

Edit 19/11: Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Since the reactions were quite mixed - "it works perfectly for me" vs "it's a unmaintainable mess that breaks all the time", I'm going to err on the side of caution and look elsewhere. I found a used laptop with an AMD Radeon RX 6700M, which I'm going to check out the coming days. If not, I've also found Alienware sells their m16 laptop with an RX 7600M XT, which might be a good buy for me (I currently still rock an Alienware 17R1 from 2013 with an MXM card from a decomissioned industrial computer in it).

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I REGRET buying an nvidia adapter when I had the opportunity to buy an AMD/Radeon adapter.

During the pandemic, I purchased an GeForce GTX 1650. It's an older, Turing hardware-based card, so you'd think the driver support would be pretty mature, right? It has been NOTHING but problems.

On nouveau, it's stable, but 3d acceleration just doesn't work right. Under the nvidia open source driver, it corrupts the screen after boot and locks up entirely second later. Under the proprietary driver, it freezes on boot a good amount of the time.

Now, once I get it booted, it's solid as a rock. I've gotta crank the engine over five or six times every time I DO boot, though. If I had it to do over again, I'd definitely have stuck with AMD.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Sounds similar to my most recent Nvidia experience.