NVidia launches Linux drivers

NVidia, the leading graphics chip maker, has released a new set of hardware drivers for the GNU/Linux operating system, including a number of improvements to speed and compatibility.

Until last year, Linux users could look forward to hours of tweaking, or even writing drivers themselves, to get graphics hardware working on the platform. Last year, however, nVidia started releasing OpenGL-compatible drivers that work across various platforms, including Linux. These drivers were the fruits of a collaboration effort with SGI, which created the OpenGL standard, used widely by games developers and graphics card manufacturers.

The new drivers released today (release 1.0-1512), work with a range of nVidia graphics processors, including TNT, GeForce and Quadro. In particular, they improve support for nVidia's mobile chipset GeForce2 Go as well as for multi-thread support for multi-processor systems. They also add support for Toshiba 3000-series laptops, according to nVidia.

Linux, developed on the open-source model, is widely used in universities and servers, but is gaining a foothold in workstations and desktops as well.

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