[SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

greenjeans · 2025-09-04 16:16:12

So I haven't used a machine with nvidia graphics in over 6 years, and when I did I used the proprietary drivers because I needed them at that time to run dual monitors. And now I don't have an nividia machine to test on.

A standard Devuan install (daedalus) already comes with libdrm-nouveau2 and xserver-xorg-video-nouveau, but do you also need the package firmware-nvidia-graphics to use nouveau?

Working on some Vuu-do updates, and just realized I hadn't included that firmware package. I stay away from the proprietary stuff as some of it conflicts with each other and I don't have a machine to test what works. But I want to be sure a user has at least nouveau to use if they have an nvidia machine.

Thanks!

greenjeans · 2025-09-04 16:50:30

Solved on IRC.

RedGreen925 · 2025-09-04 19:45:51

Solved on IRC.

And the solution was?

Altoid · 2025-09-04 20:20:46

Hello:

I once had a question about this.

TL;DR
It seems that, using nouveau, you do have to have firmware-nvidia-graphics installed, whether you need it or not.
Otherwise you get some bitching in dmesg.
ie: if you use nouveau but your specific Nvidia hardware is not on that list (~4.5mmb on disk), you obviously do not need those firmware files in your system.

I wrote:

No idea why the nouveau driver looks for firmware it clearly does not need.
Is it not aware of the installed hardware to check against the supported cards that need firmware?

See here: https://dev1galaxy.org/viewtopic.php?pid=51169#p51169

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2025-09-04 20:22:57)

greenjeans · 2025-09-05 14:54:34

And the solution was?

Sorry, I was rushing yesterday trying to get some stuff done before the windstorm hit. (I did not succeed).

The firmware package is not in Daedalus proper, it's in backports, which I forgot I had enabled. So technically nouveau should have some functionality without it. You may or may not get more by adding the firmware package.

fsmithred · 2025-09-05 19:30:28

In chimaera and daedalus, the nvidia firmware is in firmware-misc-nonfree. The version of firmware-nvidia-graphics in daedalus-backports probably has support for newer hardware and is meant to be used with the backports kernel.

My old GT218 works without the firmware, but as Altoid mentioned, there are a lot of complaints about missing firmware. I don't recall if I could see any difference when I finally installed the firmware.

Note: you can have two monitors with nouveau. The monitor settings in xfce, lxde and lxqt will let you configure two monitors. (maybe more - I never tried three).

greenjeans · 2025-09-05 21:36:12

Note: you can have two monitors with nouveau.

Cool beans, back in the day it didn't so I had to use proprietary stuff, I really don't miss flailing about in xorg.conf one bit.

Altoid · 2025-09-05 22:49:53

Hello:

fsmithred wrote:

... two monitors with nouveau.

Up to four (maybe more? if your card/s have the outputs/memory.

I use three 19" monitors @1280*1024 (3840*1024 desktop) fed from a pair of Nvidia Quadro FX 580 cards.

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3840 x 1024, maximum 8192 x 8192
--- snip ---
$

For a short time installed a fourth 15" monitor just to see if/how it worked, took it down for lack of space.
No serious problems save some artifacts in the centre monitor which the Nvidia driver did not have.

@greenjeans

greenjeans wrote:

... don't miss flailing about in xorg.conf ...

Yes, it was a hassle.
But once you got it down pat, it worked perfectly well.

To wit:
Once I managed to write up a properly working xorg.conf for the first Linux distribution I tried, first with two and then with three monitors (cannot recall which) it was just a question of transplanting it to all the other distributions I tried out without having to touch it: it just worked® in all of them, including my first Devuan (Jesse) and so on with Devuan till the demise of the 340XX driver in Chimaera.

The only problem I see with nouveau is that it seems impossible to see under the hood, so to speak.
ie: just what is the layout of the xorg.conf file I am using now?

That should not be so as the configuration file, if it exists, gets priority.

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (2025-09-05 23:08:32)

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#1 2025-09-04 16:16:12

[SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

#2 2025-09-04 16:50:30

Re: [SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

#3 2025-09-04 19:45:51

Re: [SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

#4 2025-09-04 20:20:46

Re: [SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

#5 2025-09-05 14:54:34

Re: [SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

#6 2025-09-05 19:30:28

Re: [SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

#7 2025-09-05 21:36:12

Re: [SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

#8 2025-09-05 22:49:53

Re: [SOLVED] Question about using Nouveau for Nvidia graphics

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