Does FreeBSD 6.0 fully support PCI-Express?

[Micah]

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> Micah,
> 
>   Would you please list a cite that the nv driver is open
> source?
 >
>      There is also another site here:
> 
> http://news.com.com/2061-10795_3-5762319.html
 >
> 
>   although I will admit this is 5 months old - please cite
> a more recent article where nvidia has reversed their policy?
> 
>   As Mike Harris eloquently said a couple years ago:
> 
> Nvidia doesn't release their technical specifications for their 
> hardware to *anyone*, not even under NDA (non-disclosure 
> agreements).  One might be tempted to think "well you have the 
> source code though right?", however the source code isn't enough.  
> None of the video hardware registers are documented, instead they 
> are programmed as a series of random "magic" numbers, so you have 
> absolutely no idea what the purpose of a given register is, that 
> is getting written seemingly random information into it in the 
> driver.  The driver is for all intents and purposes obfuscated 
> unless you have the hardware documentation which turns numbers 
> like 0x3432 into a useful name like NVIDIA_SUCH_AND_SUCH_REGISTER 
> with documentation of WTH that register actually does.
> 
> That's the long story, the short story is, that even though the 
> "nv" driver is open source, it is more or less supplied as-is and 
> the only way it gets updated is if Nvidia updates it, because 
> nobody outside Nvidia has the foggiest clue how their hardware 
> works.
> 
> So if a card isn't supported, that's unfortunate.  If 2D doesn't
> work, that's also unfortunate.  By reporting bugs that occur in
> the "nv" driver to http://bugs.xfree86.org, the bug report will
> get assigned to Mark Vojkovich, who is the official driver
> maintainer, working at Nvidia, who has access to pretty much
> every Nvidia card ever made, and the technical specifications to
> go along with them.  If he can't fix the bug, then more or less,
> nobody can.  Not without getting hired by Nvidia to work on the 
> 'nv' driver.  ;o)
> 
> Micah, if this has changed, please cite where.  I myself also happen to
> have a system with an onboard nvidia card so I really am interested,
> not just trying to flame-bait.

I think I understand your claim.  Source code with an open source 
license is not Open Source unless it is actively maintained by someone 
and has freely available specs.  Under that criteria, I guess NV isn't 
open source.

Later,
Micah