# nvidia/ati drivers without Xorg

## Jamesbch

Hello,

I was wondering if it was possible to install the nvidia or ati driver without emerging the whole packages about Xorg and xorg-server itself? I don't need them because I would like to only use the kernel module and the SDK for OpenCL applications. Is there a way or an explication why they force these drivers to directly depends on Xorg-server ? I am not very aware of these dependencies but do the driver not only need the kernel and no X libs to run at minimum? Moreover GPU OpenCL applications doesn't require Xorg to run (I can start my application alone), so what's the problem? I hope I explain my point of view clearly.

I mean all of these packages: http://pastebin.com/kyGYHnvK

Thank you  :Wink: 

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## Irayo

I could be wrong, but my experience is that at least the X server does need to be running in order to use OpenCL on a graphics device.

If ATI's stream SDK is installed and you list OpenCL devices from a console, you see only the computer's CPU (if supported).  However while X is running it detects your real graphics devices.  At least this has been my experience.

However, if you want to try to install the ATI drivers without the X dependencies, you can emerge it with -O (--nodeps):

```
       --nodeps (-O)

              Merges  specified  packages  without  merging  any dependencies.

              Note that the build may fail if the dependencies  aren't  satis-

              fied.

```

Or you can download the driver install files directly from AMD and perform by hand the same steps that the ebuild does.

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## Jamesbch

In practice I've tested with an ATI and a Nvidia and the first require Xorg to run and the second doesn't. But both need Xorg to be installed on the machine because otherwise the corresponding driver won't install if I remember correctly.

On my nvidia (GTX 285) I can start my application without Xorg running and the card is detected and stable all the time.

On my ATI (6870) however the card only appears when I start Xorg and launch commands in it (DISPLAY=:0). I've found that I can start Xorg by hand without actually anything in it. I can start commands from the SSH with the DISPLAY env variable. But I found that ATI is less stable because I've had to restart/reboot several times when the OpenCL program and driver won't exit with a kill -9.

I will investigate the thing when I have more time. I hope my post will help people. Thank you for your answer.

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