I’ve used Linux with Nvidia graphics cards for many years, then switched to AMD a few years ago. Back then, with distributions like Fedora, Arch, or Ubuntu LTS, there was a risk of losing the graphical interface after some updates.
I have a friend with a GTX 1060, and I noticed that you offer specific images for older Nvidia cards.
My questions are:
does this issue still happen?
Since Nvidia’s support for older cards is ending soon, what will happen when the drivers reach their end of life?
Will the images continue to receive updates with new kernels?
We will build it as long as Nvidia allows it to be built. At which point the legacy driver can no longer be built or can no longer be built with the latest kernel all Nvidia proprietary images will be dropped and never brought back.
Hey, appreciate the clarification! Just asking on behalf of a friend who’s still using a GTX 1060 — if/when the legacy drivers stop building with newer kernels, is there any chance of keeping an image around with a compatible LTS kernel?
Not expecting long-term support or updates, but even a “frozen” image could help people extend the life of older cards a bit more smoothly.
Also, would there be any kind of heads-up when that point is getting close? Just trying to figure out what kind of transition folks should plan for — switch to Nouveau, different hardware, or even a different distro.
A frozen image would be a security nightmare, you would not get any updates of any kind. The most likely outcome is that we put nagware on there to make them as obnoxious to use as possible and then gut their existence from every facet of this project, or that the base images get an alias assigned to them meaning every user will just update to an image without NVIDIA drivers.
I have no idea what kind of warning we’ll have, that is completely out of our control. Obviously we will telegraph to the best of our ability.
Yeah this is dependent on what Nvidia wants to do, we have our images building now and have no plans to drop them but ultimately the manufacturer chose this path.
Worst case if they drop support your friend may need to use Ubuntu LTS or some other distro that has a fixed release cycle on this stuff and then leave it on extended support or something.
Thanks to both of you for the detailed replies — really appreciate the transparency and the heads-up about how things will be handled going forward.
Just as a small tip in case it’s useful: Ubuntu currently offers the nvidia-server-535 package, which appears to be a kind of LTS driver branch. It might be something worth keeping in mind, especially for folks with older cards who are trying to stretch their hardware a bit longer without jumping to Nouveau or buying new GPUs right away.
Thanks again for all the work you’re doing with UBlue — it’s a really solid project!
