Opinion: NVIDIA drivers are a BAD Thing [tm]

[Gene Heskett]

On Wednesday 19 May 2004 12:10, Jonathan Gardner wrote:
>On Tuesday 18 May 2004 12:05 pm, alan wrote:
>> Until a vendor that makes a fast 3d video card decides to open
>> source drivers, we are pretty much stuck with the situation. 
>> (Unless someone wants to reverse engineer the chipset.)
>>
>> I don't see it happening soon.
>
>Apparently you've never heard of ATI. Their Linux drivers are all
> open source and it appears that they are actively cooperating with
> the community and trying to push X and Linux integration forward.
> While they aren't disclosing trade secrets they aren't at liberty
> to disclose, they are giving enough information legally that the
> developers can figure out those secrets or develop their own
> solutions.

Hummph!  When did they start putting links to downloadable stuff for 
linux on their web page?  I, after seeing that so-called press 
release a couple of years ago, bookmarked the page and checked it 
ocasionally. A few months later when I was playing space patrol in my 
mozilla bookmarks, I wiped it because there had not been any links 
visible up to that point, so its been a year or more since I looked.

Based on that experience, methinks their 'support' is more PR than 
fact.  Particularly when you waste your $10 (daytime LD rates here in 
the states) on hold listening to elevator muzak waiting for tech 
support as I related way back then, and basicly got told by someone 
who almost doesn't speak english that "we don't support linux".  If 
they in fact do, somebody forgot to tell tech support.  My opinion of 
ATI has not changed.

>I have been using ATI cards for several years, and as long as I use
> older hardware (7000 series nowadays), Linux works fabulously with
> them, even 3D acceleration. Today, you can buy ATI cards for cheap
> from Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers. I think they pay ATI for
> the right to either make the chip themselves or to sell the card
> with their chipset on it. They sell well because frankly they are
> more than sufficient for business machines and my home linux
> network.

/sarcasm-rant mode on
Good for you Jonathon.  Did you write your own drivers?  I'm sorry, 
but they burnt me to the tune of about 200 dollars the last time I 
entered their territory.  Part of that was for a commercial driver 
that was supposed to drive that card, bought from the same x.org that 
everyone is so friggin enthusiastic about now that XFree86 has 
licensed themsleves out of business.  When it didn't work (ati had 
changed the chipset without printing a new box to sell it in), they, 
x.org, refused to refund my money since I did indeed have a copy of 
the code.  The fact that it didn't work wasn't worth a bucket of warm 
spit to them.  I'm still surprised that Keith Packard, whom I respect 
greatly, ever connected with these people.

Yeah, I'm gonna be a virtual thorn in ATI's side, they deserve it.
/sarcasm-rant mode off

>--
>Jonathan Gardner
>jgardner at jonathangardner.net

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
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by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2004 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.