# Possible to skip Nvidia driver on PC w/multiple monitors?



## scrappywan (Jul 24, 2019)

My desktop PC has an Intel i5-4690k on an Asus UEFI Motherboard with an Nvidia GTX970 GPU. It has 3 monitors connected through said GPU. Normally I run Windows but I'd like to boot into a FreeBSD 12 desktop environment more often from my other hard drive. The problem I regularly run into is that FreeBSD package updates tend to break my Nvidia driver/Xorg configuration. Also, I believe that Nvidia's driver prevents this desktop from resuming correctly from its suspend state (blank display upon resume). 

So my question boils down to whether or not it's possible run all 3 monitors on FreeBSD 12 through my Nvidia GPU video ports while not having to worry about using the Nvidia driver.

Thanks.


----------



## shkhln (Jul 24, 2019)

scrappywan said:


> The problem I regularly run into is that FreeBSD package updates tend to break my Nvidia driver/Xorg configuration.



That means you are doing something _really_ wrong.



scrappywan said:


> Also, I believe that Nvidia's driver prevents this desktop from resuming correctly from its suspend state (blank display upon resume).



I know it is quite fashionable to blame Nvidia for every single issue, but this time it is not really their fault.


----------



## scrappywan (Jul 24, 2019)

shkhln said:


> That means you are doing something _really_ wrong.


Let me rephrase that. I've done two updates I can remember that broke my graphics. First time because the driver package wasn't built to the version of FreeBSD I was on at the time so I had to install the Nvidia driver from ports to fix it. Yeah, it's not a huge deal, but still frustrating. And now my graphics broke again when I updated FreeBSD + packages which I have not yet taken the time to figure out. But as far as doing something _really_ wrong? I don't believe I've done anything not outlined in the handbook.


shkhln said:


> I know it is quite fashionable to blame Nvidia for every single issue, but this time it is not really their fault.


Not really blaming Nvidia as much as I just want a reliable FreeBSD desktop environment. If that can happen using the Nvidia driver then all the more power to me. I really don't care. Otherwise, I'd rather simplify my desktop setup to avoid hassles when running updates in the future.


----------



## shkhln (Jul 24, 2019)

Well, there is only one alternative driver you can use (xf86-video-vesa) and it is _also_ broken at the moment. That's just the nature of FreeBSD/Linux desktop, I am afraid.



scrappywan said:


> And now my graphics broke again when I updated FreeBSD + packages which I have not yet taken the time to figure out.



Why don't we focus on that?


----------



## SirDice (Jul 25, 2019)

scrappywan said:


> So my question boils down to whether or not it's possible run all 3 monitors on FreeBSD 12 through my Nvidia GPU video ports while not having to worry about using the Nvidia driver.


Quick and simple answer, no. Only the NVidia driver provides multi-monitor support.


----------



## scrappywan (Jul 25, 2019)

SirDice said:


> Quick and simple answer, no. Only the NVidia driver provides multi-monitor support.


Thanks. That is what I needed to know.


----------

