mm-sources -- conflict with nvidia driver

plutek

greetings!

i am installing gentoo on an hp zd-7140us laptop (with nVidia GeForce FXGo5200 video), using the mm-sources kernel (2.6.10-rc1 with andrewmorton's patches), but am finding that neither the gentoo ebuild of theNvidia driver (nvidia-glx), nor the linux driver distributed by nVidia(v 1.0-6111) is compatible with that kernel.

has anyone here successfully used nVidia under this kernel? if so, iwould be delighted to have some details.failing that, is there some collective wisdom out there about how toconstruct another kernel (preferably 2.6), patched for low-lat etc,which IS compatible with the nVidia drivers?

many thanks in advance.

-p

plutek · Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:43 pm Post subject:

btw... i did try applying the first patch from this thread on kerneltrap:

http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/4022

it did not work.

-p

gun26 · Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 2:13 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately, when it comes to 2.6.10-rc1-mm1 (and newer, most likely) it's more complicated than that. Take a look at the last couple of pages of this thread to see why: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=216985
What this boils down to is that Nvidia is going to have to do some rewriting of their drivers to make them work. It appears that the Linux kernel developers are pushing Nvidia to make their drivers GPL'ed. For now this is an mm-sources problem but it could end up a mainstream kernel sources problem a few versions from now. Nvidia has some decisions to make, and I have no idea which way they'll go, given their closed-source development model until now and the small size of the Linux market.

plutek · Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2004 2:32 pm Post subject:

thanks, gun26!

yes, i ran into your recent discussion about this while searching other threads.
interesting that hp, who has a generally linux-positive stance, has chosen to use Nvidia product. i sure hope this goes favourably for us!

-p