ATI video comes out of the closet
Dave Ihnat
dihnat at dminet.com
Sat Sep 8 01:21:50 UTC 2007
On Fri, Sep 07, 2007 at 11:32:27AM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
> While I agree that there is a potential for cases you can't compare,
> there is a large overlap that you can: the case where all the components
> are designed to operate together and the OS is aware of them.
Ah--I'm not aware of that situation in a PC-based world. Every vendor uses
components from third-party providers, even if they're branded for the vendor.
> And how does that differ conceptually from buying a system integrated by
> Dell, HP, etc. and pre-loaded with an OS?
Totally. Dell, HP, etc. buy third-party cards and component systems, and
generally use the drivers from those vendors. Apple pretty much rolls their
own, AFAIK.
> The issue is why an end user should encounter any such problem. The
> fact that you _can_ build a windows or linux box out of an experimental,
> never-tried-before combination of parts and software doesn't mean it is
> a good idea if you aren't a design engineer looking for a new problem to
> solve.
It happens _all_ the time in the PC world. People trot into Best Buy,
Circuit City, CompUSA--well, not there so much, any more--and numerous
on-line vendors, and buy all manner of cards and peripherals; no single
vendor will have tested all the permutations end-users come up with.
Good idea? Prolly not. Reality? Absolutely.
> Yes, and my experience over the last 5 years has been that the Windows
> versions are more dependable than the fedora versions. I'm sure there
> are individual exceptions to that, but I just don't see fedora as a
> bastion of stability here - or in a position to claim that they have the
> only approach to drivers that can work.
And why should anyone ever EXPECT Fedora to be stable? Fer Ghu's sake,
it's the experimental, bleedin' edge release for RedHat. I could NEVER
suggest Fedora to a client, or even to someone who doesn't have "playing
with dynamite" on their resume as a favored past-time.
Fedora will have the latest'n'greatest, coolest stuff in the FOSS world.
And it's *going* to break; face it.
That's why it's on my laptop and test system, and not on my server.
> The Vista approach deserves to fail for the same reasons DRM does, but
> the driving force has to be consumer reaction. If something is
> difficult to use, don't use it.
Oh, that's a different world'o'argument.
Cheers,
--
Dave Ihnat
President, DMINET Consulting, Inc.
dihnat at dminet.com
773/550.0929
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