• Jin
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    112 hours ago

    Why now? Does it actually do something?

    • @[email protected]
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      52 hours ago

      Must prevent them from training drone operators on PC’s with Nvidia. Of course there’s no other way they can get those drivers. The program is operated by 10yo sim players. They won’t be able to use Tor or VPNs or proxies. This is a very smart plan to optimize manpower, but Nvidia is smarter. Smarrrrt!

      • @[email protected]
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        156 minutes ago

        If, I have learned anything from YouTube it’s that if a multi trillion dollar international mega conglomerate doesn’t want you to have it, no matter how impossible it may seem they can stop you from getting it they just need enough market incentives.

        This could just be one small step in a much larger plan or it could be placating the United States government whose to say.

    • @[email protected]
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      156 minutes ago

      Most sanctions, aside from ones aimed at individuals, are going to have indirect effect. That is, they will produce pressure on Russia in aggregate, and that means that they’ll impact the typical citizen.

      But that being said, there have been a lot of sanctions applied, and…the impact on Nvidia drivers isn’t, I think, really a huge one relative to those. Like, things like cutting off access to all kinds of electronics parts and payment system access and stuff are going to be, I’d say, a lot more impactful to a typical person in Russia, even if the impact is secondary.

  • @[email protected]
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    83 hours ago

    The smart ones will be unaffected as nouveau, as distributed through package managers, remains unaffected.

    And the really smart ones don’t even have nvidia hardware to begin with.

    • Something Burger 🍔
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      32 hours ago

      Nirav Patel

      He used to work at nVidia, so this is very possible it’s him. They do look very similar.

  • @[email protected]
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    124 hours ago

    They should give access to one last update that displays “Fuck Putin” on your screen at all times

  • @[email protected]
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    587 hours ago

    Pretty much for form I suppose, there are other ways to get those drivers.

    I’ve been in a few online games with RU players and it struck me as so weird to be playing a game with someone from a nation we are basically at war with. Major WWI Xmas football vibes.

    • kamen
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      156 hours ago

      I feel that many Russians are against Putler’s regime, but are (rightfully so) too afraid to speak up.

    • @[email protected]
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      24 hours ago

      there are other ways to get those drivers.

      Not only will they have back doors, but they’ll be screening for shittier updates and working on hacks that liberate the hardware from proprietary software updates.

      Beginning to feel like the good old Internet Wild West over on the eastern internet.

    • @[email protected]
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      435 hours ago

      Be that as it may, this is very much part of the intent of the sanctions. Creating popular dissent and dissatisfaction within Russia due to Putin’s insistence on carrying out a war of aggression is very much by design. This is the Second Cold War. We’re in it.

    • GHiLA
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      12 hours ago

      Nvidia is a western lie, comrade. You don’t need it.

  • @[email protected]
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    6 hours ago

    Oh nyoo, they’ll have to use the open source ones!!
    Haven’t the common folk been through enough?

    /s
    (And the open sauce nVidia drivers got actually completely viable, great effort & results)

    • @[email protected]
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      5 hours ago

      They could still just download the official drivers straight from the NVIDIA website with a VPN. Or from a mirror without one.

      Did NVIDIA stop selling videocards in Russia? The article doesn’t mention it.

      • @[email protected]
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        24 minutes ago

        Did NVIDIA stop selling videocards in Russia?

        kagis

        https://www.pcmag.com/news/nvidia-to-stop-all-product-sales-to-russia

        Nvidia Stops All Product Sales to Russia

        March 5, 2022

        So, yes, though I don’t think that it matters a huge amount, since companies are just gonna re-export them out of China or Kazakhstan or wherever. I mean, it’s not like the hardware has some kind of region-locking. It’s a piece of consumer hardware, sold and resold anonymously all over the place. It’s not some kind of specialized military hardware with four end customers and tight control over the movement of the product.

        kagis

        https://hardwaretimes.com/nvidia-loses-just-2-of-its-revenue-as-offices-are-shut-down-in-russia/

        In October [2022], NVIDIA officially shut down all its operations in Russia as sales of both data center and consumer graphics cards were wrapped up. At the time, around 240 employees worked for the Santa Clara-based company. These folks were given the option to either relocate abroad or look for other jobs.

        Furthermore, NVIDIA hardware has been banned from sale via official channels.

        Fortunately for Team Green, the Russian Federation represented a minor market for its wide portfolio. Disclosures from the Q3 2022 earnings report indicate that the Federation accounted for just 2% of its revenue and 4% for the gaming business.

        Although channel partners are forbidden to sell the latest GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards, Russian gamers can still procure them from the grey market.

        It’ll probably add cost and some risk of getting ripped off and no manufacturer’s warranty, but I would be surprised if someone who wanted a new GPU couldn’t continue to get ahold of one in Russia, given enough funds.

        EDIT: Does make me wonder about Windows-side driver updates. Like, people here are talking about Linux. Windows requires driver signing, and I don’t know if those signatures are region-specific.

  • andrew_bidlaw
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    35 hours ago

    There aren’t many uses where discrete v-cards are needed now and where integrated won’t be enough. Machine learning, content editing, engineering and science, mostly. So besides making purchased v-cards less effective or useless, it aims at top consumers, industry, may it be media or production facilities, including MIC. Ah, and gamers, the most opressed minority.

      • andrew_bidlaw
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        121 minutes ago

        Intel and AMD chips can support youtube and office apps themselves alright. It is 90% of casual PC usage for home setups and office usage. V-card drivers and discrete v-cards are not required for most people. Is that wrong?

      • @[email protected]
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        128 minutes ago

        Yeah, I was gonna say…GPUs have to be more significant today for general compute than they’ve ever been.

        Okay, yeah, maybe you don’t need one for CAD acceleration in 2024, but that has to be a vanishingly small thing compared to parallel compute on stuff like AI work.

        • andrew_bidlaw
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          119 minutes ago

          How many people even do CAD? Most users use Word\Excel\Browser of choice.

          I point out they hit the minority of users who are needed to be hit with that, those who produce weapons and propaganda, those who need advanced graphics to render stuff.