https://wiki.debian.org/KernelModuleBlacklisting

However it's generally not enough to do this, as I recall that nouveau (unlike radeon and intel?) can still be loaded from userspace?  Meaning X will load it 'automagically' if it's installed.

Removing the xf86-video-nouveau xorg driver will prevent this, or creating an xorg.conf file which has a simple device section and loads another driver - e.g. vesa or the nvidia blob, will also prevent it.

https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix/

Sorry, for being rhetorical.  I'm just not a hardware person.  Luckily, onboard video works ootb here.

I grok that!

Sadly this thing doesn't have anything like that. I guess I'll have to drop an old G40 card in there (that is supported) and work from there. Although Lazlo's answer is a better solution long-term. Sometimes you just gotta blob!

The first thing I always do is edit /etc/default/grub and change

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="modprobe.blacklist=nouvea"

then

root@system# update grub
Generating grub configuration file...
Found linux image: Foo
Found initrd image Bar
done

This stops the nouvea driver from being loaded at boot time from the initrd image.  After a I have rebooted I can then install the binary nvidia drivers. 

If you are getting blank screens and/or stdout stops responding/updating during boot and are fine with keeping the nouvea drivers I would instead try changing /etc/default/grub like this (note that I have not done this with devuan, only gentoo so things might be different or not work at all):

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nouvea.modeset=0 vga=0x367"

and then run update-grub.  Note that setting the "vga=" to 0x367 should set your console resolution to 1920x1080 in 32bit color.  If you need other resolutions you can search the internet for your desired settings.

I hope that helps,

lazlo

Nouveau has long been playing catchup with nVidia (I'm on Pascal architecture and this entire series has caused trouble for the devs). Every time they crack it, nVidia pulls out a new line and they have to start over.

When I got this beastie it was the only solution for my 3D rendering (best I could afford) but it's been a major PITA where Linux was concerned for the best part of a year. I only noticed that recent versions of the Boot Repair Disk (I used that for when Windows breaks my bootloader) can boot without needing the "nomodeset" instruction.

This is honestly one of the reasons I prefer FreeBSD over GNU+Linux because it's more predictable and no one worships LT as if he were some sort of god. O/T really, but I often wonder if (or when) HURD had manages to make a workable, reliable system, we can drop the Linux blob for good. It's honestly getting far too big and far too BLOBby for me. RMS may have personal hygiene issues and he's as brusque as LT but he was right about GNU in the 1980s and what he said then is even more relevant today.

Which is, of course, why I'm trying Devuan...

My bad, I thought that was a given with Nouveau. The older versions didn't support the newer cards but (from experience) it looks like the latest version does unless someone is pulling a fast one with the nvidia driver blob?

I'm still in the dark about how some of this works but the best I can do right now is 800x600 using "nomodeset" which is obviously a bit a of a bind on a 1920x1080 display.

I'm trying to configure an everyday "live" bootable USB that I can used to free myself from the tyranny of SystemD. Now I don't know much about this, but I don't have a great opinion of Linus T (I think his fame has gone to his head) and I've been a bit of a GNU fanboy for a long time. Same with SystemD - it's too big and too in yer face to be good for us.

You can see where I'm going here... but right now I can't use any of the Devuan derived distros because I can't get video without a fight.