x11-drivers/ nvidia-drivers & Kernel Version Compatibility ?

Perdignus · n00b Joined: 29 Mar 2013 Posts: 42

Hi,

Does anyone know of a list that shows the compatibility between kernel versions and x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers releases?

Thanks,
Perdignus.

bobbymcgee · n00b Joined: 12 Apr 2018 Posts: 55

there is no real hard requirement. the ABI of xorg-server is what changes relatively frequently. if you have a problem, its probably config related or a one off.

gerard27 · Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:48 pm Post subject:

Did you search Gentoo for info?
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/NVidia/nvidia-drivers/de
It depends on the age of the card.
Gerard.
_________________
To install Gentoo I use sysrescuecd.Based on Gentoo,has firefox to browse Gentoo docs and mc to browse (and edit) files.
The same disk can be used for 32 and 64 bit installs.
You can follow the Handbook verbatim.
http://www.sysresccd.org/Download

bobbymcgee · n00b Joined: 12 Apr 2018 Posts: 55

age of card matters for which drivers to use, but i cannot remember a major break in years assuming you're relatively up to date. maybe i'm wrong. it's always sort of cat and mouse though because of linus' rage for nvidia, but nvidia's driver people still keep up. minor breakage is frequent, major is not.

ct85711 · Veteran Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 1791

I do recall several times where the current nvidia-drivers (the actual current, not the stable branch, which can easily be months behind, if not a year) did not work with the newest kernel versions. A lot of those breakages are to be expected, considering you have a driver that was released long before the new knerel gets released. Even on those breakages, usualy by the second week, nvidia devs have a patch available on their forums/nailing list to address it.

There has been breakages between xorg and nvidia drivers too, not as common but does happen once and a while. From what I have seen, xorg's API tends to be fairly stable so big breakages don't happen too often. Even then, the few times it does happen; it is usualy a case of nvidia-drivers being released long before xorg updated and haven't got a new version out addressing the issue.

In short, the main area you'd find a breakage is with the kernel, and that can easily be addressed by not updating immediately to the newest kernel (assuming you are using unstable branch). Mixing stable branch nvidia-drivers and unstable branch kernel is asking for breakage.

bobbymcgee · n00b Joined: 12 Apr 2018 Posts: 55

ct85711,

nvidia-drivers are coded to not compile against an incompatible xorg-server so the end user is not likely to ever experience it, so in a way I agree with you, but I'd bet the kernel/driver interface is more stable overall, too lazy to research further so i'll digress though.

ct85711 · Veteran Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 1791

bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

bobbymcgee · n00b Joined: 12 Apr 2018 Posts: 55

satanail · n00b Joined: 18 Feb 2018 Posts: 21

Not long ago, I was wondering why do people complain about nvidia.... But recently I got this very strange behaviour, where bbswitch can't stop my nvidia on boot... then unplugging/plugging my charger turns it ON, I have to stop it again... If i spam cat /proc/acpi/bbswitch to check it's status if on battery, my laptop lags hard for 2-3 seconds and it turns ON itself, blacklisting the module doesn't work... I dunno but I feel like if I see some nvidia dev I'd humiliate him so hard...