Hi all,

> We could setup a pedition on netbsd.org and then sending it to nvidia.
> I don`t understand why they don`t compile their working FreeBSD driver
> for NetBSD.

> We should all join up together (NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD) for REAL 3d
> support on this platforms. You payed money for GPU features but cannot
> use them.


All open source projects should join forces indeed, but NOT to go and
beg for closed-source binary device drivers but to put pressure on ven-
dors to release proper documentation for their hardware!

Sadly, all projects (except OpenBSD) have now developed a hot love
affair with closed-source drivers. This will make it harder and harder
in the future to get vendors to release documentation.

How "bright" this binary future is can be seen in FreeBSD's nvidia-BLOB
Makefile. That says it all! Here are a few excerpts:

# Newer releases from NVidia do not play nicely with FreeBSD prior to
# 5.3.

# Starting with version 7667, NVidia has dropped support for numerous
# "legacy" GPUs.

# 			ATTENTION!! ACHTUNG!! VNIMANIE!!
#
# This very Makefile is already overly complicated, thus support for
# multiple versions of NVidia releases is going away once we stop caring
# for ports on 4.x versions of FreeBSD.  This also applies to "legacy
# GPUs" support.  Those poor souls^W^Wproud owners of RIVA's and
# Vanta's, frankly, should consider buying a modern gfx card.


The last sentence is especially "interesting!"


Some further reading can be found here:
http://lwn.net/Articles/159313/
http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/281/


How all of this can be desirable for any project is beyond me.


I didn't want to offend anybody, I just expressed my opinion.

Cheers,
Joerg