this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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Nvidia bans using translation layers for CUDA software (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 8 months ago by quinkin@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[โ€“] General_Effort@lemmy.world 45 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You can use graphics cards for more than just graphics, eg for AI. Nvidia is a leader in facilitating that.

They offer a software toolkit for developing programs (an SDK) that use their GPUs to best effect. People have begun making "translation layers" that allow such CUDA programs to run on non-nvidia hardware. (I have no idea how any of this works.) The license of that SDK now forbids reverse engineering its output to create these compatibility tools.

Unless I am very mistaken, Nvidia can't ban the use of "translation layers" or stop people making them, as such. This clause creates a barrier to creating them, though.

Some programs will probably remain CUDA specific, because of that clause. That means that Nvidia is a gatekeeper for these programs and can charge extra for access.