[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: nVidia is OS?



On Sat, Apr 05, 2003 at 05:28:21PM +0000, mike808@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
> Steve, what's the beef with nVidia?
[...]
> Is it that the drivers themselves are not OS?

That's part of it.

> I trust them to make quality drivers.

I don't.  While some people have had success with them, a lot of other
people have had major problems.

> Is it that it modifies your kernel? How is that different from running
> say a 2.5 kernel or with AC patches?

I do neither.

> Is any distro vendor officially cancelling or not providing support for 
> kernels with nVidia drivers installed?

I don't know of any vendor that will provide support for nVidia's
drivers.  They aren't part of the product they ship.

It's really simple...  I decided a long time ago that I don't want to
have anything to do with hardware that has no open-source drivers.

If you want to see how hardware companies can do things right, look at
ATI.  At one point, they were funding DRI development, and now they at
least provide specs while also providing a closed-source driver for
anyone who needs performance or features that the open-source drivers
don't provide.  (Sure, I'd rather they just had people working on
XFree86, but if they really don't want to hand out *their* source, the
way they handle it is a good compromise.)

Intel is an even better example.  They have people actively working on
the Linux kernel drivers for their network cards.

Last I checked, nVidia wasn't releasing any specs, so my only choices
are to be tied to their closed-source drivers, or to just avoid their
hardware.  I avoid their hardware.

Steve
-- 
steve@silug.org           | Southern Illinois Linux Users Group
(618)398-7360             | See web site for meeting details.
Steven Pritchard          | http://www.silug.org/

-
To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
"unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.