Linus to Nvidia: F-k You!

[Aeni]

Linus Torvalds says “f–k you” to NVIDIA | Ars Technica

I'm actually not surprised ... Nvidia drivers have been a bitch to work with, not just by professional developers, but open source communities, hobbyists and various niche communities (emulators, for example) And even their recent drivers have seen a lot of problems, as I've kept track of issues posted to SE's forums (FFXIV), many problems being posted by Nvidia owners.

I hope the Taiwanese owners realize that keeping everything closed is only going to hurt them in the long run.

[Raydeus]

Re: Linus to Nvidia: F-k You!

*coughphysxcough*

[DakAttack]

Re: Linus to Nvidia: F-k You!

Everybody has driver problems. Here, at work, we see a lot with Radeon drivers. Elsewhere? Who knows?

[Armando]

Re: Linus to Nvidia: F-k You!

Everybody has driver problems. Here, at work, we see a lot with Radeon drivers. Elsewhere? Who knows?

The issue isn't whether their drivers work or not, though. As of about half a year ago, most articles I found online reported more problems or lower framerates with Radeon GPUs than GeForce GPUs on the latest compositing window managers for Linux. I haven't had any problems with Nvidia's drivers on the Asus gaming laptop I bought last Summer.

The issue is their lack of support if you have problems on Linux. I get that it's not the most popular OS around, but like Linus pointed out they do have a strong presence in Android phones and it seems a bit douchey to me to be in the hardware business but only want to play nice with certain OS.

On that point, I'd be interested in seeing reliable stats on Linux adoption these days; it seems to be getting more popular lately. There were so many orders for Raspberry Pis when it launched at the end of February that some of the buyers had estimated shipping dates of August. Plus, Valve has expressed some concerns about the direction Microsoft is taking with Windows 8 and is working on porting Steam to Linux. Apparently they already have Left 4 Dead 2 up and running. It's not even true that you can't find good games on Linux any more thanks to the Humble Indie Bundles.

[Aeni]

Re: Linus to Nvidia: F-k You!

Linux has permeated computing in more ways than many people will even realize. Nevermind the fact that it has been a staple foundation in modern day iOS environments (both desktop and mobile) but that it's manage to undermine Windows penetration into consumer electronic devices. As for the OS as the "Linux" we know, it's found it's niche as a on-disk, at-boot OS aka non-installation OS. You can run Linux off a CD/DVD without ever needing to install it in the traditional sense and that allows it to be quite portable. There's also new mini, HD capable Linux computers on devices as small as a USB memory stick you can purchase for as little as $39, and that seems to be a trend amongst the hobbyist markets (however, it can gain traction in a couple of years when the "big players" can pick up on this)

[Armando]

Re: Linus to Nvidia: F-k You!

I always keep a USB drive with Ubuntu on me. Came in handy any time someone had problems with Windows.

There's also new mini, HD capable Linux computers on devices as small as a USB memory stick you can purchase for as little as $39, and that seems to be a trend amongst the hobbyist markets (however, it can gain traction in a couple of years when the "big players" can pick up on this)

The Raspberry Pi is one of those. It's not the size of a USB stick, but it's as small as a credit card, has HDMI output and has general purpose IO pins so you can use it like an Arduino to control other electronics. The cheaper version is worth only $25 (plus shipping), while the one with ethernet and extra USB ports is $35. I'm still waiting for the demand to die down to order mine.

I brought up the issue of stats because I always see some factoid thrown around about how Linux only makes up 1% of the desktop market when someone tries to dismiss the viability of catering to Linux users. But I've seen that same number being thrown around for years so I'm not convinced about its credibility these days. It's also obvious that Windows numbers are going to be inflated if you take into consideration company computers instead of just personal computers.

[Aeni]

Re: Linus to Nvidia: F-k You!

I always keep a USB drive with Ubuntu on me. Came in handy any time someone had problems with Windows.The Raspberry Pi is one of those. It's not the size of a USB stick, but it's as small as a credit card, has HDMI output and has general purpose IO pins so you can use it like an Arduino to control other electronics. The cheaper version is worth only $25 (plus shipping), while the one with ethernet and extra USB ports is $35. I'm still waiting for the demand to die down to order mine.

I'm looking to purchase this as well and training myself to program in Ruby (I've played around with it and personally I love it) and maybe eventually figure out a way to hack up a intermediary device to take an ordinary USB attached hard drive into a media server, say, for PS3 or other consoles. More of a hobby, not doing this for any monetary gain (Cause you know, I could just save the trouble and go out and get something someone hacked up already, which I incidentally already do with a open sourced PS3 media server program for my desktop PC)

I brought up the issue of stats because I always see some factoid thrown around about how Linux only makes up 1% of the desktop market when someone tries to dismiss the viability of catering to Linux users. But I've seen that same number being thrown around for years so I'm not convinced about its credibility these days. It's also obvious that Windows numbers are going to be inflated if you take into consideration company computers instead of just personal computers.

Microsoft has the enterprise market in the palm of their hands so I don't actually consider that population in my discernments either. Not to say that isn't an important figure; but we are talking about personal computing here and not business computing, so I completely agree with you, Armando.