this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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Yeah fuck this.
... What's a translation layer?
Got a Windows app you want to run on Linux? Wine and Proton are well known translation layers.
I guess Graphics Cards are similar. CUDA is basically the NVIDIA equivalent of .exe I think.
Cuda is an Nvidia specific method for using a graphics card to do computation (not just graphics), like physics simulations.
Translation layers would let you use software designed for other graphics cards to work with Cuda, or to let Cuda software work on other graphics cards
So nvidia designed something and they don't want other companies to use it?
CUDA was there first and has established itself as the standard for GPGPU ("general purpose GPU" aka calculating non-graphics stuff on a graphics card). There are many software packages out there that only support CUDA, especially in the lucrative high-performance computing market.
Most software vendors have no intention of supporting more than one API since CUDA works and the market isn't competitive enough for someone to need to distinguish themselves though better API support.
Thus Nvidia have a lock on a market that regularly needs to buy expensive high-margin hardware and they don't want to share. So they made up a rule that nobody else is allowed to write out use something that makes CUDA software work with non-Nvidia GPUs.
That's anticompetitive but it remains to be seen if it's anticompetitive enough for the EU to step in.
I guess I'm missing who owns/developed Cuda, then. Like, why does Nvidia think they can disallow anyone else from using Cuda if Cuda was made and broadly used as the API before Nvidia.
CUDA was developed and launched by nvidia. The predecessor was lead by the same person and developed in the open, as opposed to CUDA.
Less that they don't want other companies using it and more so they don't want other other companies translating it into something they can use.
Basically, translating an instruction manual from German to Spanish.
No one is breaking any copyright laws or IP to do this. It's the same how Steam created Proton to run Windows games on Linux. It's translating code from one language to another that's readable.
If Linux becomes the dominant gaming platform for gaming (not gonna happen, wish it would tho), there is no reason for a "Proton for Windows" could/should emerge.
Hey now. That all depends on how popular Steam Deck handhelds keep getting and if future versions of windows keep getting worse and more ad intrusive like windows 11 has done. Gaming on Linux has gotten much easier and at some point the chunk of people on Linux will be high enough (it's gone from 1.6% in 2019 to 4% now) that devs will decide its worth it to make Linux compatible games. I have a desktop at home that still works as a pretty good gaming rig at home, but win 11 isn't supported by my processor. Once win 10 stops getting support it will be running Linux only. A lot of preventing a full switch over now is the anti cheat software some major studios use on their online games that won't run on Linux.
/useless rant.
Oh, I drive Linux only. I have Windows 10 running Atlas playbook on standby but hasn't been booted in months.
I think the entry barrier for installation/setup is what will be what stops Linux fully taking over. If OEMs start loading a very user friendly Linux on their "normal" desktops/laptops (Best Buy, Amazon, etc.), then I can see Linux being the majority.
With all that said, I want Linux to be the majority and running on everyone's computer. I'm just being a realist at this point in time.
The clear answer. Thank you