[elrepo] Latest nvidia release [310.19] drops support for older 6xxx and 7xxx series cards

[Phil Perry]

On 19/11/12 17:17, Steve Cleveland wrote:
>
> On 11/19/12 8:25 AM, Phil Perry wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've just released the latest nvidia drivers (version 310.19) to the
>> testing repositories.
>>
>> I just wanted to note that this latest release drops support for older
>> 6xxx and 7xxx series cards.
>>
>> These older cards are now only supported in the legacy 304.xx driver
>> series. I've just promoted the latest 304.64 driver release to the main
>> elrepo repository.
>>
>> As my test box has an nvidia 7600GS card I am no longer able to test our
>> nvidia releases as we release them. To this end, we are either seeking
>> testers for these packages or a hardware donation of a supported nvidia
>> based card (8xxx or above).
>>
>> If you have older 6xxx or 7xxx based hardware, do not attempt to update
>> past version 304.xx. If there are subsequent releases to the 304.xx
>> legacy branch then we can consider renaming these releases to
>> nvidia-304xx in line with that of the other 96xx and 173xx legacy
>> releases.
>
> To me, it is important that there is an nvidia-304xx release. My current
> setup detects the model of card and installs the appropriate driver
> package. I can hardcode the 304.xx release package for those models of
> cards to get through the install, but I'd have to change code several
> other places to make sure they don't get updated to a newer release
> (I've relied on a standard yum update to this point). I've really liked
> the current way of keeping the packages separate and I'd like that to
> continue.
>
> - Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the feedback - duly noted!

So presumably you'd like to see us fork and rename the current 304.64 
release immediately rather than waiting for any subsequent updates to 
the 304.xx driver from nvidia? I guess this also makes sense for new 
installs on older 6xxx/7xxx hardware once the 310.xx series driver 
(currently in the testing repo) hits the main elrepo repository.

Also, I'd be interested to hear how you detect the model of card at 
install time? I would love to add some form of detection to the package 
but unfortunately I fear that's not realistically possible as the yum 
transaction to install/update the package is already under way by the 
time the preinstall scripts are executed - unless anyone has any ideas?

I'd also like to hear from any users of the other 96xx and 173xx legacy 
releases as I've received very little feedback on these and will update 
them if I can find some users who can test them.

Phil