Re: Recent video-related commits: summary wanted

[Roy Bixler <rcbixler%nyx.net@localhost>]

On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 05:02:30PM +0100, Patrick Welche wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 04:54:11PM +0100, Gerard Lally wrote:
> > Thanks for the information Roy. I'm probably slow to understand this but
> > is this DRM a supplement to the {nvidia,nouveau,radeon} driver or a
> > replacement for it?
> 
> I see it rather as DRM/KMS (I'm not acronym compliant) is a necessary
> prerequisite for "new" intel, etc., drivers to work.

That's my understanding as well and it makes sense.  After all, if the
kernel defines its own interface for graphics functionality, then
other graphics-related software like the X Server would want to use
it if only to interact better with the kernel.

I am kind of curious about the Nouveau vs. NVidia drivers.  Both
target NVidia GPUs and Nouveau was started as a reverse-engineering
effort due to NVidia driver licensing issues.  On one of my systems,
I'm using the NVidia X server under NetBSD 6 and 7 without any real
problems.  I've also had fairly good luck with the Nouveau driver
under Linux on the same hardware.  Does anyone have any idea which
direction NetBSD 7 will take regarding NVidia graphics drivers?

-- 
Roy Bixler <rcbixler%nyx.net@localhost>
"The fundamental principle of science, the definition almost, is this: the
sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment."
-- Richard P. Feynman