NVIDIA publishes the open-source 2D driver code for the Tegra 2 and Tegra 3 SoCs

Nov 27, 2012 12:44 GMT  ·  By

NVIDIA recently released the open-source driver code for the Tegra 2 and Tegra 3. Given that Android is a Linux-based operating system and Linux developers are already working on optimizing performance with what display drivers they have, the new open-source driver seems like a very promising improvement for Android-based devices.

The DRM open-source driver was published by Terje Bergstrom, a Finnish bloke who used to work for Nokia.

In the release, he writes, “nvhost is the driver that controls host1x hardware. It supports host1x command channels, synchronization, run-time power management and memory management. It is sectioned into logical driver under drivers/video/tegra/host and physical driver under drivers/video/tegra/host/host1x. The physical driver is compiled with the hardware headers of the particular host1x version.”

Given this is something new for NVIDIA, the developers launched an Android developer pack containing various useful apps (for smartphones and/or computer).

If you are considering trying it out, you are welcome to do so on NVIDIA's Tegra Registered Developer Program. Just create an account, download the apps and get to work.

Most certainly, some of you will help NVIDIA get together a new update for the devices using Tegra 2 or Tegra 3 SoCs (system on a chip). Happy c0d1ng!