Nvidia provides binary Linux drivers and has open sourced some drivers such as the nv X driver and other utilities that work with the proprietary driver, including the installer, config and settings.The company is a leading provider of graphics cards and software for the desktop and embraces a cross platform strategy.
“NVIDIA supports Linux, as well as the Linux community and has long been praised for the quality of the NVIDIA Linux driver. NVIDIA’s fully featured Linux graphics driver is provided as binary-only because it contains intellectual property NVIDIA wishes to protect, both in hardware and in software,” the company said in a statement released today, in response to Linux kernel developers’ criticism of vendors that produce only closed source drivers.
More than 100 Linux kernel developers signed off on a letter dated June 23 maintaining that closed source drivers are “harmful” to end users because it cuts them off from additional support and upgrades they might enjoy from the community. NVidia’s closed source ways was highly publicized and criticized in an essay published by the chairman of the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board Chair.
But in an email to this reporter, Nvidia shot back, noting that its own kernel development team supports Linux users and “NVIDIA doesn’t expect Linux kernel developers to debug issues in NVIDIA’s kernel module.”
NVIDIA won't release open-source Linux drivers
Posted on Wednesday, June 25 2008 @ 2:20 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck