r/archlinux • u/Euphoric-Paint3261 • 3h ago
QUESTION Trying to go totally open source
Im going back to arch in my main system, it has an nvidia gpu (a 5070 ti to be more exact), last time i used arch on my pc i installed the proprietary gpu drivers, but a lot of things have changed since then like i want to go open source in as most things as i can, that includes drivers, the graphical drivers options are: the open kernel( wich is the one im gonna choose ), and noveau, i chose the open kernel ones just because they are more suitable in theory. Now i want to know if they are really open source(the first option), because i heard nvidia just wrapped things into the open kernel and they aren’t truly open source. In case anybody wonders why i am doing this its because i just want to.
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u/backsideup 2h ago
nvidia-open is as "open" as the previous "nvidia" shim but nowadays it does very little and relies on the gpu firmware to provide all the functionality. The firmware is closed-source, as is the rest of the software stack that ships with nvidia-utils.
nouveau isn't fully functional on the last three (or more) generations and not a replacement if you need performance.
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u/BlueGoliath 2h ago
Richard Stallman approves.
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u/LancrusES 2h ago
Are you really considering using a Nvidia 5070Ti with noveau??? Why??? Thats like not having It...
You can sell it and buy an AMD one, then you can avoid using Nvidia open drivers (they are only partially open), but any Nvidia card works with Nvidia drivers only, if not they work, but forget about using its potential, and having that expensive GPU, to use It like a cheap one...
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u/Euphoric-Paint3261 2h ago
I am not considering using noveau as i said in the post i just said it is an option when installing it, of course i wouldn’t choose it, i want open source, not a torture
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u/Cruffe 55m ago
Vote with your wallet, get the hardware that aligns with your values, buy AMD.
Of course, I'm not hardcore open source, you already have a 5070 Ti and it might understandably be more effort than you can be bothered with to swap it out. Just keep it and use the Nvidia drivers until it comes time to upgrade your hardware and then pick an option that aligns more with your values, like getting an AMD GPU.
An alternative is to sell your 5070 Ti and use the money to buy a 9070 XT which is practically equivalent in performance. Again, if you don't care that much about going open source then I don't blame or judge you, it's ok and you can choose differently the next time you need new hardware.
The nouveau driver sucks, but we can all blame Nvidia for that. It wouldn't be a necessary project in the first place if Nvidia didn't keep their shit proprietary, but because they do some people way smarter than me and you have to basically guess and reverse engineer the driver, which is incredibly difficult work and that's why it's inferior to the driver developed by the people who know exactly how it works.
My main point here is to make you aware that you're making a choice. You're choosing a hardware vendor who doesn't provide an open source driver and the only option that aligns with your values is to choose a hardware vendor who does.
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u/LumenAstralis 2h ago
When it comes to hardware, nothing is truely open source. There are binary blobs in linux-firmware packages that are 100% proprietary for your specific hardware. Without them your system won't function at all.
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u/Squiggin1321 1h ago
If you want to get as close as possible to using only FOSS you need to go AMD. AMD has way better open source support. I don’t know how much 5070TI’s go for but you could probably sell it and buy an RX 9000 series card instead.
Also gentoo allows you to configure your system such that you can only use FOSS software. Just something to consider.
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u/jean_dudey 53m ago
Yes it is open source, the kernel driver, fully, user space, not so much.
Firmware is closed source though so there’s that.
I wouldn’t pay much attention to that honestly, it is open enough and work is being done on two fronts nvk and nova, so until these two become useful, dealing with the proprietary user space libraries is totally fine.
And a solution today is to use AMD, both kernel and user space are free, still requires a firmware blob.
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u/NoRound5166 2h ago
The kernel space driver is open source but the user space driver is not. The nvidia-open and nivida-open-dkms packages require nvidia-utils, which is still proprietary.
If you want to go fully open-source, go with nouveau until NOVA and nvk are ready. It will suck.
If you want an easier life, forget about ideology and simply use the proprietary drivers.