Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 20, 2006 9:38 UTC (Thu) by lacostej (guest, #2760)
Parent article: Some notes on Linux and free drivers

It's time to vote with our money.

I plan to replace my laptop within the next months. I want an open source driver for my card, and I am ready to pay more even if I don't get to play 3d games (which I never play anyway).

Are there any card with open source drivers?

What about Intel? Is their GMA 950 card coming with free drivers ? Is it good enough? I've yet to find a powerfull laptop with 2G memory and an at least 15" screen, a resolution > 1014x768 with such a card. Any advice?

And when I find my dream machine, I will call every single other vendor and tell them why I didn't pick theirs.

Intel graphics cards

Posted Apr 20, 2006 10:45 UTC (Thu) by shane (subscriber, #3335) [Link]

I asked for the Intel graphics chipset on my latest company laptop, because I knew Intel has been good about supporting open source (actually, I also asked for the Intel wireless card for the same reason). PCI reports it as:

Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics 
Controller (rev 03)

It works okay, although I'm using the VESA mode right now. It looks fantastic (better than Windows, and I don't know why that is), but doesn't support console blanking, so I'll be trying a more recent X.org release soon.

As far as performance... I don't know. 2D performance is fine, but when I boot into Windows to play Civilization IV, it's just too slow. But that's okay, because I shouldn't really be playing games on my company laptop anyway. ;)

Stuff to avoid

Posted Apr 20, 2006 10:50 UTC (Thu) by davidw (guest, #947) [Link]

At the risk of being a bit repetitive for people who have seen it before, have a look at the Linux Incompatibility List:

http://www.leenooks.com

That's stuff that you shouldn't buy!

Remember, it's a wiki so that anyone can update it if they find hardware that doesn't work, or (hopefully), things that now have free drivers.

Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 20, 2006 14:34 UTC (Thu) by tetromino (guest, #33846) [Link] (6 responses)

The ONLY modern graphics card with open-source, halfway-decently performing OpenGL drivers is Intel's GMA900 series (i915, i945, etc). And, quite frankly, Intel's graphics are dog-slow compared to any Nvidia or ATI card. If you go with open-source Intel, you will be able to play Quake III, but nothing more modern. Neverwinter Nights, for example, is barely playable on an i915 -- and it's quite an old game.

Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 20, 2006 15:27 UTC (Thu) by lacostej (guest, #2760) [Link]

That's OK for me. I will then buy a laptop with an Intel graphic card AND let the manufacturers know the reason of my choice, not only the one I buy from, but the ones I don't buy from.

If 10000 persons do the same, I think that will send a clear message to the manufacturers.

Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 20, 2006 15:32 UTC (Thu) by yodermk (subscriber, #3803) [Link]

To clarify for those of us who don't regularly follow graphics hardware, is this stuff significantly better than the Radeon 92xx? Is there a PCI express version or only available on Intel motherboards?

Will it run Novell and RH's new OpenGL X environments reasonably well?

(I plan to get a monster AMD64 system within the next year and REALLY hope there's a solution to this by then!)

Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 20, 2006 15:51 UTC (Thu) by yokem_55 (subscriber, #10498) [Link] (1 responses)

For me, if you are already using a proprietary piece of software such as a game, it isn't that far of a jump to be accepting of a proprietary graphics driver. This is precisely why the binary only drivers have managed to be accepted for so long: their users are already comfortable with using non-free games and thier related software, and if those games require a non-free driver, so what, you've already squandered your quibbles?

Now that XGL and company are gaining traction, the requirment for a good 3d graphics driver is expanding to those that aren't playing proprietary 3d games and only seek to use free software, and thus the level of protest is increasing.

Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 20, 2006 20:44 UTC (Thu) by yodermk (subscriber, #3803) [Link]

Nah, huge difference between closed source games and drivers. The kernel and its drivers need to be open source for numerous reasons, as pointed out in the articles. Games are purely user space, and if they are broken, the only consequence is that the game itself doesn't work. Closed source user space apps do not taint the kernel, nor render obsolete your hardware.

I'm willing to buy closed source software in some cases. I'm NOT willing to use closed source drivers.

Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 24, 2006 9:00 UTC (Mon) by shapr (subscriber, #9077) [Link] (1 responses)

Cool, this I will buy.
I can stand slow open source drivers much better than I can stand binary only drivers.
Because I can fix the first problem...

Some notes on Linux and free drivers

Posted Apr 29, 2006 2:35 UTC (Sat) by zealot (guest, #37421) [Link]

Cool, this I will buy. I can stand slow open source drivers much better than I can stand binary only drivers. Because I can fix the first problem...

The open source drivers are not slow, the hardware is (with respect to 3D performance). At the moment you have to choose between fast hardware with binary-only drivers and slow hardware with open source drivers. That's the dilemma.

I like to play fancy-looking games on my computer from time to time, so I have no choice. If I had the choice between open- and closed-source drivers, I'd use the one that works better. If I used an open-source driver and found a bug, I'd try to fix it (with the help of kernel developers). It's as simple as that.