| Weekly edition | Kernel | Security | Distributions | Search |
| Archives | Calendar | Subscribe | Write for LWN | LWN.net FAQ |
Debian on AMD64
Debian on AMD64
Posted Dec 2, 2004 9:46 UTC (Thu) by harisri (guest, #4662)Parent article: Debian on AMD64
I am shocked to see lwn.net editors using Binary Only NVidia drivers!
I know there are only very few cards with Open Source drivers (such as Radeon etc..), but this I will tell you: NV driver holds the record for most bug reports in LKML. If it crashed the 32 bit kernel often, in 64 bit kernel I am sure it will crash the kernel twice as fast :).
As a website reporting on Open Source community, you would rather promote the hardware with Open Source drivers I would have thought. But hey..
Hopefully with Tech Source folks stepping up to the task, and maybe, just maybe, Intel will realise that there is a market for their AGP/PCI-E stand-alone video cards, the future looks promising for full Open Source 3D support in Linux.
Hari.
(Log in to post comments)
Binary-only drivers
Posted Dec 2, 2004 13:42 UTC (Thu) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]
Um...which LWN editor is using such a driver, please?We certainly do not tell our authors what software to run on their systems, and do not believe that we should.
Binary-only drivers
Posted Dec 3, 2004 0:30 UTC (Fri) by harisri (guest, #4662) [Link]
Oops. I apologise. I was quick to judgement. I did not realise third party editors contribute articles in lwn.net. I just scrolled down the page and saw a name of an editor from lwn.net and I assumed it was he/she who published the article. Indeed I was ignorant.
But now I understand that this is no lwn.net editor's computer.
Thank you.
Hari.
Binary-only drivers
Posted Dec 3, 2004 1:38 UTC (Fri) by ladislav (guest, #247) [Link]
Actually, the writer of this article doesn't use the binary NVIDIA driver either. If you look at the machine specs, you will notice that the graphics card is a lot older and perhaps underpowered compared to the rest of the system. Besides, I am not a gamer, so I don't have much use for 3D acceleration and other such features and the "nv" driver in XFree86 is perfectly adequate for my needs.
That said, wouldn't you find it strange if the article pretended that binary-only applications for Linux don't exist? You might not want to use them, but there are many people who do, so it seemed rather logical to mention them, especially because of platform-specific issues. Besides, these applications give an interesting indication about the state of the AMD64 computing - for example NVIDIA makes 64-bit binary drivers, but others don't (a recent post on the Opera forums by an Opera representative seemingly rejected the platform althogether as not really interesting in terms of numbers). So just because you stubbornly refuse to install any non-free application on your system, I don't think you can reasonably expect others to do the same.
While on this subject, let me pick your brain. Let's say I'd want to replace my existing graphics card with a different one that doesn't rely on binary drivers. Which card would you recommend? Thank you for your advice.
Binary-only drivers
Posted Dec 3, 2004 5:24 UTC (Fri) by dberkholz (subscriber, #23346) [Link]
ATI FireGL 8800, or as a cheaper alternative, the Radeon 8500.
Binary-only drivers
Posted Dec 3, 2004 10:46 UTC (Fri) by harisri (guest, #4662) [Link]
While I may agree to Binary Only on user-space, not on kernel-space. I have been reading LKML for quite many years to understand it is taboo as far Kernel developers are concerned, and I will have to agree with them.
As for a good 3D capable card with open source driver, any ATI Radeon up to 9200 is a good choice. I am using ATI 7000 myself, and I have been very happy with it, though I am considering a 9200 SE when the current one fails :).
For more information please refer to: http://dri.sf.net
Thank you and good luck!
Hari.
PS: It is such a shame that ATI have not published the specs for Radeon 9[5678]00 cards (or newer) so that open source DRI drivers could be produced. Hopefully they soon will.
nVidia Drivers
Posted Dec 2, 2004 15:33 UTC (Thu) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285) [Link]
Most of the nVidia driver bugs that you see on the kernel lists are caused when the kernel changes interfaces and it takes time for the nvidia driver to catch up.
My personal experience is that the nVidia driver does not crash. I run it on three systems: two desktops and a AMD64 laptop.
nVidia Drivers
Posted Dec 3, 2004 4:03 UTC (Fri) by loening (subscriber, #174) [Link]
I've had good experiences with the nVidia drivers themselves, all my issues have been because I'm running Fedora and the kernel interfaces change every couple months...
Still, I'd pay twice as much for a card with half the power that had open source drivers, just to avoid the hassle factor of having to deal with proprietary binary modules...
Debian on AMD64
Posted Dec 9, 2004 20:45 UTC (Thu) by msk (guest, #24125) [Link]
What do you suggest, other than nVidia, that provides the same level of performance and XvMC support? When I rebuild my Mythbox, I'd be interested in something that performs as well (preferably fanless, since it wasn't obvious that the FX 5200 I'd purchased had a fan), provides the same features (including HDTV-size output, for future growth) and has completely free drivers.