Are Open Source Graphics Important to You?

Story: Interview With The Open Graphics Project's Timothy MillerTotal Replies: 23
Author Content
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 18, 2006
2:49 PM EDT
Are Open Source graphics important to you?

Is there something that you think is important about it?

Scott
perseis

Aug 18, 2006
3:26 PM EDT
It was the magic of the graphics in Linux that I liked. I guess the "Linux-y" look that finally persuaded me to capitulate to my husband and take a closer look at Linux. I have much catching up to do and have promised my husband I would do more in and for the community. The XGL thing is fascinating, and I think that this KDE 4 thing is going to be a big deal grahically. Will it make linux more appealing?

OK guys, its a woman's mind and keen insight that first attracts you, right?
jimf

Aug 18, 2006
3:38 PM EDT
> Are Open Source graphics important to you?

That is such a loaded question. Please define... Hardware? Software?

> its a woman's mind and keen insight that first attracts you, right?

Well, ahh... Amongst other things :D
Sander_Marechal

Aug 18, 2006
4:13 PM EDT
> Are Open Source graphics important to you?

I program games, so yeah.
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 18, 2006
4:54 PM EDT
What is it about OS graphics that makes you want to program games?

Is the open architecture hardware that you write software for?

Or the Open Source software you work with? that makes this important to you?
jimf

Aug 18, 2006
5:15 PM EDT
Maybe this will help...

For the work I do with graphics, cad, and such, I need superior 2D graphics (all else is illusion). So instantaneous redraw, color, and absolute precision are optimal. Of course I want to see better hardware and drivers (preferably open). Eyecandy is fine, but, gaming is not something I'm very interested in... Understand, I'm not opposed to gaming, it's just not my thing.

Right now I'm still looking to the software apps development for the best immediate improvement for me.
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 18, 2006
5:20 PM EDT
Yes!,

See..OK How do I word the question then to get that answer out of people?
jimf

Aug 18, 2006
5:55 PM EDT
Probably a series of questions. I'm assuming that everyone would 'prefer' an open source solution :

Do you use a GUI desktop and how important is that to you?

How do you use graphics in Linux?

Is gaming important to you?

Is visual multimedia important to you?

-------- there are other questions that you could ask Scott, but, you get the drift.
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 18, 2006
6:11 PM EDT
Your so good to me...;-)
Sander_Marechal

Aug 18, 2006
10:49 PM EDT
> What is it about OS graphics that makes you want to program games?

Nothing. I used to program games for Win32 as well, and MS-DOS before that. I just like making games as a hobby (I would not want to do it for a living). But given the choice I rather program for an open platform. Some day I'd really like to get back in high-end 3D. Having open hardware and open graphics software will probabely make that easier to do (stability and feature wise)

> Or the Open Source software you work with? that makes this important to you?

Also not really. I moved to Linux because I was tired of Windows' problems and began to appreciate Free software. I didn't switch because I could make better games on Linux or something.

> Do you use a GUI desktop and how important is that to you?

Yes and very. I am reasonably proficient with the CLI but I like doing things the easy way. Usually all that I want is read the web and my e-mail. GUIs make this easy.

> How do you use graphics in Linux?

Mostly GUI. I don't play a lot of games, I prefer programming them. Graphics and eye candy are still important to me though. The games that I am currently programming are relatively simple 2D games. I haven't made the jump to high-end 3D yet (I used to do 3D on Win32). That's a matter of chance though. Creating a game starts with a great idea for one. I had the idea for gnome-hearts before I had the idea for a simple, fun 3D game.

> Is gaming important to you?

As in playing commerial titles, no. I don't have time to play much games, most commercial titles suck and they're waaaay overpriced. The last games I played a lot was Diablo II and Darkstone back in my Windows days.

> Is visual multimedia important to you?

Yes. I like visual design (though I suck at creating it myself). I also like watching (short) video's on my PC. Never movies or anything. I have my TV for that.
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 19, 2006
7:41 AM EDT
What is it about OS graphics that makes you want to program games?

Or the Open Source software you work with? that makes this important to you?

Do you use a GUI desktop and how important is that to you?

How do you use graphics in Linux?

Is gaming important to you?

Is visual multimedia important to you?

Thank You sander.

and to finally answer perseis, Women are the most beautiful creatures in the universe. :-)
dinotrac

Aug 19, 2006
8:41 AM EDT
>OK guys, its a woman's mind and keen insight that first attracts you, right?

Absolutely...after all, you can't tell anything about her looks the first time you see her, right?
jimf

Aug 19, 2006
9:07 AM EDT
In the land of the blind....
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 19, 2006
9:23 AM EDT
Just making a statement, guys..calm down. :-)
jimf

Aug 19, 2006
9:30 AM EDT
Just yanking your chain Scott :D
Teron

Aug 19, 2006
11:15 AM EDT
Ho-humm...

Though I normally have little to nothing against proprietary software (as long as they don't have too overt screw-you clauses in the licence *cough* 'doze *cough*), there's something about the concept of a closed kernel module in a free operating system that irks me. If there was a company whose products rivalled ATI/Nvidia and which released it's drivers under a free software licence, my next machine's graphics card would come from that company.
dinotrac

Aug 19, 2006
1:05 PM EDT
Teron -

That's not a bad line to draw.

Userland programs seem different to me from closed OS drivers. I would rather use nVidia's driver than to have crippled video performance and actually am grateful that nVidia bothers to make a decent linux driver available. However, give me a good video alternative with free drivers and I'm there.
dcparris

Aug 20, 2006
9:10 AM EDT
> Userland programs seem different to me from closed OS drivers. I would rather use nVidia's driver than to have crippled video performance and actually am grateful that nVidia bothers to make a decent linux driver available. However, give me a good video alternative with free drivers and I'm there.

That's about where I am, although I do without the non-libre drivers currently. I prefer libre drivers.
jimf

Aug 20, 2006
10:39 AM EDT
I have the last ATI card with a lot of memory that runs with a stock xorg driver. While it gives me pretty crappy open gl, the 2D performance is superb, so, I'm nicely supported in what I need to do. Multimedia runs just fine too, so overall, I'm not missing anything except bragging rights.

Considering that the proprietary driver from ATI has proven to have it's own install problems, I'm happy with the situation. By the time I have to shop for a new card, I'm hoping that I'll have a selection of FOSS choices.
herzeleid

Aug 20, 2006
12:26 PM EDT
> Do you use a GUI desktop and how important is that to you?

Naturally I use a GUI desktop - doesn't everyone? If a linux user claims not to be using a GUI, that indicates that he/she is using a GUI on some other OS for their day to day computing.

> How do you use graphics in Linux? multimedia, gaming, web - all the usual suspects.

> Is gaming important to you? It's not the most important thing, but it is fairly important, for the reason that, an OS which doesn't provide the oomph required for gaming, will lose out to one which does, all else being equal.

> Is visual multimedia important to you?

naturally - presenting visual multimedia is one of the most common tasks of computers today.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 21, 2006
4:35 AM EDT
@Scott, somehow my reply to your questions ended up above your questions. I smell a forum bug here :-)
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 21, 2006
4:53 AM EDT
yeah, its a Scott Bug, don't worry though its not a critical one. :-)
Bob_Robertson

Aug 21, 2006
6:48 PM EDT
I use a GUI because I like multiple windows of relatively small type. I also like a graphical web browser and WYSIWYG OpenOffice. I've been using the GUI for general work since Windows 2, MacOS7, and OLWM on Linux in 1995. I used the open nv driver on my present hardware (2003 vintage) until I found out that in order to run some games, I needed to use the closed nVidia driver.

So I re-set all the fonts, window sizes, things like that because the nVidia driver has a greater functionality, like reporting the actual dots per inch back to xorg instead of just defaulting to 75x75. The nv driver also only displays 16 bit colours, rather than the 24/32 that the nVidia driver does, and I like that very much. The "blue swirl" Debian kdm login background is a smooth colour gradient, rather than pixelated like a bad Japanese porn cartoon.

If nVidia were to open their driver, I would very much prefer to use it. At this point, I'm taking the pragmatic standpoint that while it is closed, it is also at least very standard. If I need to do debugging, I can switch back to the nv driver and run something other than KDE so that my settings don't get reset.

Maybe that's another of the Linux distribution vs. Windows attributes that is undervalued: I can choose my GUI, or no GUI, as I wish at any time, depending on the job at hand.

At this point, I used the nVidia driver because it fits my needs best. If it were a choice between that and an open driver that had the same functionality, I would switch to the open driver as fast as I could edit xorg.conf.

Is free software worth being inconvenienced? Yes. I've actually turned down contract work because their proprietary software wouldn't install under WINE and they had no Linux native version.
TPuffin

Aug 22, 2006
10:02 AM EDT
Yes, I use a GUI. (Though I usually have at least one console up too.)

Yes, I play games. Commercial games. 3D games, 2D games, lots of eye candy and also sparser stuff. New games, old games. Don't care much for consoles because they're too limited. Games are the primary reason I still use that Win thing at all when I'd rather be running a free OS. Games are what got me interested in programming in the first place. Gaming LAN parties taught me a lot about networking.

Yes, visual multimedia is important to me. I'd like to see better support Quicktime and Flash, but that's not as important as being able to create my own good quality stuff if I choose.

Yes, I run with proprietary binary driver blobs (nVidia). I feel much the same way about that as Teron above.

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