NVIDIA Linux 7664

At around 2:30 this morning, NVIDIA posted their latest Linux drivers, 7664, for IA32, AMD64, and Solaris x64. New features include OpenGL 2.0 support, Xinerama + OpenGL support, GPU clock manipulation, support for Quadro G-Sync, and support for the GeForce 6200 AGP. You can check out the drivers here, read the readme here, or go to the forums here. Not too many people over at the forums have used and commented on it yet, but as they wake up to find new drivers, the comments should start pouring in.

One thing people will certainly be commenting about is the removal of support for "legacy" GPUs. NVIDIA, up until this date, has always had a "unified driver architecture", meaning that the same driver executable download would work for everything from a GeForce 256 up to a GeForce 6800. They have had this feature for as long as they have been making video cards, on both the Windows and Linux platforms. These latest Linux drivers, however, have taken out support for RIVA TNT, RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro, RIVA TNT2 Ultra, Vanta/Vanta LT, RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro, Aladdin TNT2, GeForce 256, GeForce DDR, Quadro, GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro, GeForce2 Ti, GeForce2 Ultra, Quadro2 Pro.

For once, I'm lucky to have a lower end "MX" card, as my GeForce 2 MX 400 is still in the supported list, while the higher end GeForce 2's have been sent to the driver scrap yard. I did a check on the Windows drivers for NVIDIA, and all their cards are still supported, so it looks like Linux is the only place where they have defined these legacy cards. Will Windows drivers hit the chopping block next? Will my GeForce 2 MX still be supported in the next round of driver releases?