nVidia OK for 2D [LWN.net]

nVidia OK for 2D

Posted Sep 6, 2007 2:43 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165)
In reply to: nVidia OK for 2D by drag
Parent article: LCE: Linux, hardware vendors, and enterprise distributors

Yes, the Intel drivers are nice enough, but the hardware device they are driving steals memory bus cycles from the CPU to refresh the screen, and thereby slows down all CPU operations, all the time. An nVidia card with dedicated memory, however much you and I may hate its drivers, doesn't slow down the main CPU just by being on. As far as I know you can't buy a machine with Intel graphics that doesn't steal bus cycles. I'd like to be proven wrong.

So, (1) there may be rock-hard practical reasons to choose other than Intel graphics, and (2) having chosen nVidia, you're not obliged to use the proprietary nVidia driver. The really Free "nv" driver works great for most practical uses, including all of mine.

(One exception: if I'm running two X servers, on two VTs, suspend/resume gets very confused, but I don't know whether to blame the nv driver.)

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nVidia OK for 2D

Posted Sep 6, 2007 10:52 UTC (Thu) by jond (subscriber, #37669) [Link]

I'd be interested to see some benchmarks of e.g. kernel compiles comparing the performance when you use the intel or the nvidia graphics.

nVidia OK for 2D

Posted Sep 6, 2007 15:57 UTC (Thu) by bfields (subscriber, #19510) [Link]

I know nothing about graphics cards, and I'm entirely willing to believe as you say that there were good reasons for choosing the ones they chose. But I'm still left wondering why he said that:

Dell has taken care to put together hardware which is entirely supportable with free drivers to ship with Ubuntu pre-loaded.

I find it hard to believe that "hardware which is *entirely* supportable with free drivers" was such a high priority, when you can find hardware (even among the hardware that Dell already sells, with other OS's!) that has obviously more complete Linux driver support.

nVidia OK for 2D

Posted Sep 10, 2007 2:54 UTC (Mon) by mdomsch (subscriber, #5920) [Link]

In fact, yes, we do carefully choose what hardware to sell in systems sold with Linux. Free drivers make it easier to develop, test, debug, and fix than non-free drivers. We intentionally made sure that Intel video chips, with their completely free drivers, are available in all the systems told, though one can choose to buy the nVidia cards if you wish. Likewise for wireless - we include the Intel wireless solutions in the notebooks because of their excellent support of open source drivers. The only closed-source driver provided is for the modem in the notebooks, which is present though relatively few people use modems any more.

See http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_7.04 for technical details on Dell's offerings.

Thanks,
Matt
Dell Linux Technology Strategist, Office of the CTO

nVidia OK for 2D

Posted Sep 10, 2007 16:39 UTC (Mon) by bfields (subscriber, #19510) [Link]

We intentionally made sure that Intel video chips, with their completely free drivers, are available in all the systems told, though one can choose to buy the nVidia cards if you wish.

That's not what the ordering system says: I go to dell.com, choose "home and home office", then "open source pc's", and "shop for ubuntu" (from the "Helpful Links" sidebar on the left), and I get this page. The two desktops listed are "Inspiron Desktop 530 N" and "XPS 410N". The 530N gives a choice of "128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8300GS" or "256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3". The 410N only offers the former.

If that's a mistake, I'm happy to hear it! Let me know how to order one with the Intel hardware....

nVidia OK for 2D

Posted Sep 18, 2007 2:52 UTC (Tue) by mdomsch (subscriber, #5920) [Link]

I need to post a correction. I was mistaken about the XPS 410n, it does only come with nVidia graphics, not Intel as I believed.

As for the Inspiron 530n, Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty doesn't have drivers for the Intel 82G33/G31 Express Intel Graphics Controller that is available in that system with Windows; so for the current product offering with Feisty we had to restrict (meaning not sell) that controller when sold with Ubuntu; Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy is expected to have those drivers. We'll revisit the list of supportable hardware if/when we announce plans to deliver Gutsy.

I apologize for the confusion my earlier comment caused.
-Matt