Hun-Speak

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December 14, 2001 -- The Path to Linux
Part II: The NVIDIA XFree86 4.x Drivers

One of my main uses for my computer is to play games. I think just about anyone who reads this site on a regular basis does the same thing. So if I was going to transition to Linux from Windows, I needed to be able to play games. While it is great that people like Loki and Hyperion are porting games to Linux, that id goes out of their way to make Linux binaries for their games, and that the XFree86 4.x windowing system opened the door for better gaming in Linux, none of this does anyone any good if there aren't good drivers available.

For the longest time, drivers for NVIDIA cards in Linux worked (to put it charitably), but that's about all you could say for them. They offered nowhere near the features or the performance of their Windows counterparts. I'm told that the code that NVIDIA had released was so obfuscated that maintaining or improving them was nigh unto impossible.

Then on April 25, 2000, NVIDIA released their own drivers for XFree86 4.x (click here for our news item about it). About a week later I got them working and it's been great ever since. Games like Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament run every bit as well for me under Linux as they do under Windows. Serious gaming is no longer a dream, it is a reality.

NVIDIA has come under fire from some free software folks (Richard Stallman and his ilk) because NVIDIA released these drivers as binary-only and didn't give over the source code. For some, this is simply unacceptable. If they can't get the source, they won't use it. If you really want to (although I can't imagine why you'd want to), you can search Slashdot for NVIDIA to read some of the flames. NVIDIA counters that they can't release the source due to various intellectual property agreements they've signed. Suffice it to say, that has not satisfied many.

I, like most computer users, take a far more pragmatic approach. If it works, and works well, I'm going to use it. The NVIDIA drivers work great and they're easy to install, so I use them. I applaud NVIDIA for sinking time and money into producing these drivers. If more companies would show similar enthusiasm (hello, Creative!), Linux gamers would be far better off. If you are a gamer and you have an NVIDIA-based card, get the drivers and start playing!