This is the open-source version of the kernel module needed by the proprietary binary nvidia driver. It is provided as an alterative to the nvidia-kernel SBo script that builds the modules from the binary Nvidia package. Note that it CANNOT be installed with the nvidia-kernel package, but you will still need the nvidia-driver package from SlackBuilds.org. To build the package for a kernel different from the running one, start the script setting the KERNEL variable as in KERNEL=4.6.3 ./nvidia-open-kernel.SlackBuild A default config file is placed at /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf to make sure that X loads the nvidia module. If you need to make changes, move that file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and edit the copy. You do not need this file at all if you have a proper and complete xorg.conf. The xf86-video-nouveau-blacklist package from /extra is required. NOTES (quoted from the Nvidia driver README) "The open flavor of kernel modules supports Turing and later GPUs. The open kernel modules cannot support GPUs before Turing, because the open kernel modules depend on the GPU System Processor (GSP) first introduced in Turing. "Most features of the Linux GPU driver are supported with the open flavor of kernel modules, including CUDA, Vulkan, OpenGL, OptiX, and X11. We eventually intend for the open kernel modules to replace the proprietary kernel modules. "The following features will only work with the open kernel modules flavor of the driver: o NVIDIA Confidential Computing o Magnum IO GPUDirect Storage (GDS) o Heterogeneous Memory Management (HMM) o CPU affinity for GPU fault handlers o DMABUF support for CUDA allocations "The following features are not yet supported by the open kernel modules: o G-Sync on notebooks o Preserving video memory across power management events Use of the open kernel modules on GeForce and Workstation GPUs should be considered Beta quality in this release and no longer requires setting of the "NVreg_OpenRmEnableUnsupportedGpus" nvidia.ko kernel module parameter. The open kernel modules are suitable for broad usage, and NVIDIA requests feedback on any issues encountered that are specific to them." After installation, you will need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. I am happy to report that ffmpeg hardware video encoding via h264_nvenc and hevc_nvenc now WORKS with this module.