Nvidia OpenGL Display Driver for FreeBSD

Nvidia OpenGL Display Driver for FreeBSD is a freely distributed, native and proprietary graphics driver created by Nvidia to support the OpenGL and GLSL technologies on FreeBSD and other BSD-based operating systems. This version is compatible with both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of FreeBSD.

What Nvidia GPUs will the OpenGL 3 and OpenGL 4 support?

On Desktop computers, officially supported Nvidia GPUs by the OpenGL 3 technology include the GeForce 9 series and GeForce 8 series, the GeForce 300, 200 and 100 series, as well as the ION and ION LE series.

On Workstations, the OpenGL 3 technology supports the Quadro FX series, NVS series, Quadro NVS series, Quadro G-Sync series, Quadro Plex series, Quadro Blade/Embedded Graphics Board series, S-Class systems, as well as the M-Class and C-Class processors.

On the other hand, the OpenGL 4 technology supports numerous Nvidia graphics cards from the GeForce 700, 600, 500 and 400 series, as well as many other GPUs from the Quadro series.

Installing Nvidia OpenGL Display Driver for FreeBSD

To install the Nvidia OpenGL Display Driver on your FreeBSD or a similar BSD operating system, install the kernel headers, download the tar.gz file that corresponds to your computer’s hardware architecture from the Downloads section above and save it on your Home folder.

In an X11 terminal emulator, execute the “tar xzf NVIDIA-FreeBSD-x86_64-xxx.xx.xx.tar.gz && cd NVIDIA-FreeBSD-x86_64-xxx.xx.xx & make install” command on 64-bit systems or the “tar xzf NVIDIA-FreeBSD-x86-xxx.xx.xx.tar.gz && cd NVIDIA-FreeBSD-x86-xxx.xx.xx & make install” command on 32-bit systems, as root, where xxx.xx.xx is the version number of the driver.

What about Linux and Solaris?

The GNU/Linux and Solaris operating systems are also supported by the Nvidia OpenGL Display Driver product. You can search and download them from the Linux section of Softoware, just search the website for the Nvidia OpenGL Display Driver or Nvidia OpenGL Display Driver for Solaris.

What is new in this release:

• Fixed a regression that reduced OpenGL performance on headless X server configurations.
• Fixed a memory leak that occurred after destroying a GLXWindow which still has the current context attached to it.
• Fixed a bug which caused EGL pbuffers to be created with both a front and back buffer, instead of a back buffer only, as is required for EGL.
• Added a new kernel module, nvidia-modeset.ko. This new driver component works in conjunction with the nvidia.ko kernel module to program the display engine of the GPU.
• nvidia-modeset.ko does not provide any new user-visible functionality or interfaces to third party applications. However, in a later release, nvidia-modeset.ko will be used as a basis for the modesetting interface provided by the kernel's direct rendering manager (DRM).
• Reduced flickering and delays when transitioning into or out of G-SYNC mode. As part of this change, monitors that have G-SYNC indicators in their on-screen displays will now always report that they are in G-SYNC mode. The OpenGL G-SYNC visual indicator can be enabled in nvidia-settings to determine when G-SYNC is actually being used.
• GLX protocol for the following OpenGL extension from OpenGL 3.0 has been promoted from unofficial to ARB approved official status:
• GL_EXT_draw_buffers2
• GLX protocol for the following OpenGL 3.0 commands:
• BindBufferRangeNV
• BindBufferBaseNV
• BeginTransformFeedbackNV
• EndTransformFeedbackNV
• GetTransformFeedbackVaryingEXT
• TransformFeedbackVaryingsEXT
• which are part of the following extensions:
• GL_NV_transform_feedback
• GL_EXT_transform_feedback
• has been promoted from unofficial to ARB approved official status.
• With the above changes, GLX protocol for OpenGL 3.0 has been promoted from unofficial to ARB approved official status.
• Added a new system memory allocation mechanism for large allocations in the OpenGL driver. This mechanism allows unmapping the allocation from the process when it is not in use, making more virtual address space available to the application. It is enabled by default on 32 bit OpenGL applications with Linux 3.11+ and glibc 2.19+. Memory allocated this way will consume space in /dev/shm. Setting the environment variable __GL_DevShmPageableAllocations to 2 will disable this feature

What is new in version 352.09 Beta:

• Added the ability to configure the swapping behavior for quad-buffered stereo visuals. The driver can be configured to independently swap each eye as it becomes ready, to wait for both eyes to complete rendering before swapping, or to allow applications to specify which of these two behaviors is preferred by setting the swap interval. This setting can be adjusted in the nvidia-settings control panel, or via the NV-CONTROL API.
• Fixed a regression which caused the GPU fan status display to disappear from the nvidia-settings control panel.
• Added reporting of ECC error counts to the nvidia-settings control panel.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented OpenGL sampler objects from being properly deallocated when destroying OpenGL contexts.
• Fixed a bug that caused GLX_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB to incorrectly report sRGB support in 30 bit-per-pixel framebuffer configurations.
• Added support for G-SYNC with sync-to-vblank disabled. This allows applications to use G-SYNC to eliminate tearing for frame rates below the monitor's maximum refresh rate but allow tearing above the maximum refresh rate in order to minimize latency.
• When G-SYNC is active and sync-to-vblank is enabled, the frame rate is limited to the monitor's maximum refresh rate.
• GLSL gl_Fog.scale is now +infinity when gl_Fog.end equals gl_Fog.start. Previously, the value 0 was used, but this broke certain applications such as the game XIII running on Wine (Wine bug #37068).
• Enabled G-SYNC by default when Unified Back Buffer (UBB) is disabled.
• Updated the NVIDIA GPU driver to avoid using video memory already in use by vesafb.
• Fixed a bug causing loss of stereo synchronization in certain Quadro Sync framelock configurations.
• Fixed a rare deadlock condition when running applications that use OpenGL in multiple threads on a Quadro GPU.
• Fixed a bug which caused truncation of the EGLAttribEXT value returned by eglQueryDeviceAttribEXT() on 64-bit systems.

What is new in version 340.23.03 Beta:

• You will need any one of the following Fermi, Kepler or Maxwell based GPUs to get access to all the OpenGL 4.5 and GLSL 4.50 functionality:
• Quadro series: Quadro K6000, Quadro K5000, Quadro K4000, Quadro K2000, Quadro K2000D, Quadro K600, Quadro 6000, Quadro 5000, Quadro 4000, Quadro 2000, Quadro 2000D, Quadro 600, Quadro 410
• GeForce 700 series: GeForce GTX TITAN Z, GeForce GTX TITAN Black, GeForce GTX TITAN, GeForce GTX 780 Ti, GeForce GTX 780, GeForce GTX 770, GeForce GTX 760, GeForce GTX 760 Ti (OEM), GeForce GTX 750 Ti, GeForce GTX 750, GeForce GTX 745, GeForce GT 740, GeForce GT 730
• GeForce 600 series: GeForce GTX 690, GeForce GTX 680, GeForce GTX 670, GeForce GTX 660 Ti, GeForce GTX 660, GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST, GeForce GTX 650 Ti, GeForce GTX 650, GeForce GTX 645, GeForce GT 645, GeForce GT 640, GeForce GT 630, GeForce GT 620, GeForce GT 610, GeForce 605
• GeForce 500 series: GeForce GTX 590, GeForce GTX 580, GeForce GTX 570, GeForce GTX 560 Ti, GeForce GTX 560 SE, GeForce GTX 560, GeForce GTX 555, GeForce GTX 550 Ti, GeForce GT 545, GeForce GT 530, GeForce GT 520, GeForce 510
• GeForce 400 series: GeForce GTX 480, GeForce GTX 470, GeForce GTX 465, GeForce GTX 460 SE v2, GeForce GTX 460 SE, GeForce GTX 460, GeForce GTS 450, GeForce GT 440, GeForce GT 430, GeForce GT 420, GeForce 405
• The extensions listed below are part of the OpenGL 4.5 core specification, but they can also be used in contexts below OpenGL 4.5 on supported hardware:
• ARB_clip_control
• ARB_conditional_render_inverted
• ARB_cull_distance
• ARB_derivative_control
• ARB_direct_state_access
• ARB_ES3_1_compatibility
• ARB_get_texture_subimage
• KHR_robust_buffer_access_behavior
• KHR_robustness
• ARB_shader_texture_image_samples
• ARB_texture_barrier
• KHR_context_flush_control
• These new ARB extensions are also provided:
• ARB_pipeline_statistics_query
• ARB_sparse_buffer
• ARB_transform_feedback_overflow_query
• KHR_blend_equation_advanced
• These additional extensions are also provided:
• EXT_polygon_offset_clamp
• NV_uniform_buffer_unified_memory

What is new in version 325.05.14 Beta:

• Quadro series:K600, K5000, K4000, K2000D, K2000, 6000, 600, 5000, 410, 4000, 400, 2000D, 2000
• GeForce 700 series:GTX TITAN, GTX 780, GTX 770, GTX 760
• GeForce 600 series:GTX 690, GTX 680, GTX 670, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 660, GTX 650 Ti BOOST, GTX 650 Ti, GTX 650, GT 645, GT 640, GT 630, GT 620, GT 610, 605
• GeForce 500 series:GTX 590, GTX 580, GTX 570, GTX 560 Ti, GTX 560 SE, GTX 560, GTX 555, GTX 550 Ti, GT 545, GT 530, GT 520, 510
• GeForce 400 series:GTX 480, GTX 470, GTX 465, GTX 460 v2, GTX 460 SE v2, GTX 460 SE, GTX 460, GTS 450, GT 440, GT 430, GT 420, 405
• The extensions listed below are part of the OpenGL 4.4 core specification, but they can also be used in contexts below OpenGL 4.4 on supported hardware:
• For OpenGL 4 capable hardware:
• ARB_buffer_storage
• ARB_clear_texture
• ARB_query_buffer_object
• For OpenGL 3 capable hardware:
• ARB_enhanced_layouts
• ARB_multi_bind
• ARB_texture_mirror_clamp_to_edge
• ARB_texture_stencil8
• ARB_vertex_type_10f_11f_11f_rev
• These new ARB extensions are provided:
• For GeForce 6xx and above capable hardware:
• ARB_bindless_texture
• ARB_seamless_cubemap_per_texture
• For OpenGL 4 capable hardware:
• ARB_compute_variable_group_size
• ARB_indirect_parameters
• ARB_shader_draw_parameters
• ARB_shader_group_vote
• ARB_sparse_texture
• These new NV extensions are provided:
• NV_blend_equation_advanced
• NV_bindless_multi_draw_indirect
• NV_gpu_program5_mem_extended

What is new in version 325.05.13:

• This release provides beta support for OpenGL 4.4 and GLSL 4.40 on capable hardware.

What is new in version 325.05.03:

• Quadro series:K600, K5000, K4000, K2000D, K2000, 6000, 600, 5000, 410, 4000, 400, 2000D, 2000
• GeForce 700 series:GTX TITAN, GTX 780, GTX 770, GTX 760
• GeForce 600 series:GTX 690, GTX 680, GTX 670, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 660, GTX 650 Ti BOOST, GTX 650 Ti, GTX 650, GT 645, GT 640, GT 630, GT 620, GT 610, 605
• GeForce 500 series:GTX 590, GTX 580, GTX 570, GTX 560 Ti, GTX 560 SE, GTX 560, GTX 555, GTX 550 Ti, GT 545, GT 530, GT 520, 510
• GeForce 400 series:GTX 480, GTX 470, GTX 465, GTX 460 v2, GTX 460 SE v2, GTX 460 SE, GTX 460, GTS 450, GT 440, GT 430, GT 420, 405