Best practice for enabling hardware support

davidak · May 29, 2020, 7:43pm

Hello!

While i investigated how to add hardware support using some udev rules, i found the syntax hardware.bladeRF.enable. It seems common, so i think that is how it should be done.

But enabling video drivers is different and quiet complex.

https://nixos.org/nixos/manual/#sec-x11-graphics-cards-nvidia

So could we just introduce this and use the full potential of NixOS as an expert system?

hardware.gpu.nvidia.enable
hardware.gpu.amd.enable
hardware.gpu.ati.enable
hardware.gpu.intel.enable

For example, WHEN hardware.gpu.nvidia.enable = true; AND nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;, the proprietary driver is used.

In addition, WHEN services.boinc.enable = true; THEN services.boinc.extraEnvPackages = with pkgs; [ linuxPackages.nvidia_x11 ocl-icd ];.

I tried that in my config: Add NVIDIA and AMD module · davidak/nixos-config@6a7c365 · GitHub

It should be possible for nixos-generate-config to detect hardware like GPUs and set them as metadata in hardware-configuration.nix. WHEN an NVIDIA GPU is detected, hardware.gpu.nvidia.enable should be set to true. The correct driver version for the Model should get automatically detected.

Discussion about that:

github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware

Identifying devices through DMI ID?

opened 02:36PM - 16 Jan 18 UTC

samueldr

The files under `/sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/` should allow most laptops, and pr…obably brand-name pre-built computers too. This could probably be used to detect available hardware configuration in some way, and the values could be used to help categorize the files in a way that is automatically searchable. Some of that information ([modalias](http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html)) is used in the udev hwdb to detect hardware and apply quirks to them. I have attached a dump of the data in different classes of machines I own. This will help kickstart discussion and discovery of the helpful attributes. * * * ##### Acer C720p (with MrChromebox's coreboot-based UEFI) ``` ~ $ (cd /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/ ; for f in *; do echo -n "$f="; cat "$f"; done) bios_date=07/14/2017 bios_vendor=coreboot bios_version=MrChromebox board_name=Peppy board_serial=cat: board_serial: Permission denied board_vendor=GOOGLE board_version=1.0 chassis_asset_tag= chassis_serial=cat: chassis_serial: Permission denied chassis_type=9 chassis_vendor=GOOGLE chassis_version= modalias=dmi:bvncoreboot:bvrMrChromebox:bd07/14/2017:svnGOOGLE:pnPeppy:pvr1.0:rvnGOOGLE:rnPeppy:rvr1.0:cvnGOOGLE:ct9:cvr: power=cat: power: Is a directory product_family=Google_Slippy product_name=Peppy product_serial=cat: product_serial: Permission denied product_version=1.0 subsystem=cat: subsystem: Is a directory sys_vendor=GOOGLE uevent=MODALIAS=dmi:bvncoreboot:bvrMrChromebox:bd07/14/2017:svnGOOGLE:pnPeppy:pvr1.0:rvnGOOGLE:rnPeppy:rvr1.0:cvnGOOGLE:ct9:cvr: ``` ##### ASUS TP300LA ``` ~ $ (cd /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/ ; for f in *; do echo -n "$f="; cat "$f"; done) bios_date=11/09/2015 bios_vendor=American Megatrends Inc. bios_version=TP300LA.205 board_asset_tag=ATN12345678901234567 board_name=TP300LA board_serial=cat: board_serial: Permission denied board_vendor=ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. board_version=1.0 chassis_asset_tag=No Asset Tag chassis_serial=cat: chassis_serial: Permission denied chassis_type=10 chassis_vendor=ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. chassis_version=1.0 modalias=dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrTP300LA.205:bd11/09/2015:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnTP300LA:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnTP300LA:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0: power=cat: power: Is a directory product_family=TP product_name=TP300LA product_serial=cat: product_serial: Permission denied product_uuid=cat: product_uuid: Permission denied product_version=1.0 subsystem=cat: subsystem: Is a directory sys_vendor=ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. uevent=MODALIAS=dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrTP300LA.205:bd11/09/2015:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnTP300LA:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnTP300LA:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0: ``` ##### Chuwi Hi10 Pro (HQ64) (cheap atom-based tablet) ``` ~ $ (cd /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/ ; for f in *; do echo -n "$f="; cat "$f"; done) bios_date=11/10/2016 bios_vendor=American Megatrends Inc. bios_version=5.11 board_asset_tag=Hampoo_reserve board_name=Cherry Trail CR board_serial=cat: board_serial: Permission denied board_vendor=Hampoo board_version=V103 chassis_asset_tag=Default string chassis_serial=cat: chassis_serial: Permission denied chassis_type=3 chassis_vendor=Default string chassis_version=Default string modalias=dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr5.11:bd11/10/2016:svnCHUWIINNOVATIONANDTECHNOLOGY(SHENZHEN)CO.LTD:pnHi10protablet:pvrHampoo_reserve:rvnHampoo:rnCherryTrailCR:rvrV103:cvnDefaultstring:ct3:cvrDefaultstring: power=cat: power: Is a directory product_family=CherryTrail CR -- Hampoo product_name=Hi10 pro tablet product_serial=cat: product_serial: Permission denied product_uuid=cat: product_uuid: Permission denied product_version=Hampoo_reserve subsystem=cat: subsystem: Is a directory sys_vendor=CHUWI INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY(SHENZHEN)CO.LTD uevent=MODALIAS=dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr5.11:bd11/10/2016:svnCHUWIINNOVATIONANDTECHNOLOGY(SHENZHEN)CO.LTD:pnHi10protablet:pvrHampoo_reserve:rvnHampoo:rnCherryTrailCR:rvrV103:cvnDefaultstring:ct3:cvrDefaultstring: ``` ##### Custom PC build using a P5N7A-VM motherboard ``` ~ $ (cd /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/ ; for f in *; do echo -n "$f="; cat "$f"; done) bios_date=04/29/2010 bios_vendor=American Megatrends Inc. bios_version=0519 board_asset_tag=To Be Filled By O.E.M. board_name=P5N7A-VM board_serial=cat: board_serial: Permission denied board_vendor=ASUSTeK Computer INC. board_version=Rev 1.xx chassis_asset_tag=Asset-1234567890 chassis_serial=cat: chassis_serial: Permission denied chassis_type=3 chassis_vendor=Chassis Manufacture chassis_version=Chassis Version modalias=dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0519:bd04/29/2010:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5N7A-VM:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion: power=cat: power: Is a directory product_family=To Be Filled By O.E.M. product_name=System Product Name product_serial=cat: product_serial: Permission denied product_uuid=cat: product_uuid: Permission denied product_version=System Version subsystem=cat: subsystem: Is a directory sys_vendor=System manufacturer uevent=MODALIAS=dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0519:bd04/29/2010:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP5N7A-VM:rvrRev1.xx:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion: ``` ##### HP Z420 Workstation ``` ~ $ (cd /sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/ ; for f in *; do echo -n "$f="; cat "$f"; done) bios_date=06/01/2016 bios_vendor=Hewlett-Packard bios_version=J61 v03.90 board_asset_tag=DUFFMAN board_name=1589 board_serial=cat: board_serial: Permission denied board_vendor=Hewlett-Packard board_version=0.00 chassis_asset_tag=DUFFMAN chassis_serial=cat: chassis_serial: Permission denied chassis_type=6 chassis_vendor=Hewlett-Packard chassis_version= modalias=dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvrJ61v03.90:bd06/01/2016:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPZ420Workstation:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn1589:rvr0.00:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct6:cvr: power=cat: power: Is a directory product_family=103C_53335X G=D product_name=HP Z420 Workstation product_serial=cat: product_serial: Permission denied product_uuid=cat: product_uuid: Permission denied product_version= subsystem=cat: subsystem: Is a directory sys_vendor=Hewlett-Packard uevent=MODALIAS=dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvrJ61v03.90:bd06/01/2016:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPZ420Workstation:pvr:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn1589:rvr0.00:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct6:cvr: ```

The syntax is already used in hardware.cpu.intel.updateMicrocode, but not for GPUs.

What do you think?