Bad.

Story: Ubuntu to add proprietary driversTotal Replies: 14
Author Content
swbrown

Nov 18, 2006
9:17 PM EDT
"A large proportion of people using Ubuntu -- including 70%-80% of people with new computers -- need a non-Free driver for reasonable performance from their graphics card, wireless card, or modem, because there is no Free driver available, they had little choice in the matter."

And there never will be, if you do this.
richo123

Nov 19, 2006
7:41 AM EDT
The thing I find objectionable is that the main motivation is for what is referred to as "bling". I have beryl installed on my edgy box and never use it because it does not add to productivity. So why sell out on non-free drivers for the sake of "bling" when it is easy enough to install them anyway if you need 3d effects. Sounds like Canonical are getting jumpy about marketing to me....
incinerator

Nov 20, 2006
1:41 AM EDT
Aye, the author's argument sucks anyways. Actually, 70-80% of all GNU/Linux users could easily cope using the generic vesa driver instead. This would be fast enough as long as users won't run software that utilises opengl. It's amazing how many people embrace non-free nvidia and fglrx drivers so readily but never actually run software that produces 3d graphics.
rijelkentaurus

Nov 20, 2006
2:56 AM EDT
>It's amazing how many people embrace non-free nvidia and fglrx drivers so readily but never actually run software that produces 3d graphics.

It's sold as a must have, not unlike a 50" TV. Having watched multiple movies on a 7" portable DVD player, I can say that screen size is not as important as people are led into thinking. Same with these drivers.
herzeleid

Nov 20, 2006
5:36 PM EDT
Quoting: incinerator: This would be fast enough as long as users won't run software that utilises opengl. It's amazing how many people embrace non-free nvidia and fglrx drivers so readily but never actually run software that produces 3d graphics.
I don't know anybody like that, seriously. In my experience, trying to watch a dvd or an mpg file using xine or mplayer with the toothless "nv" driver was really choppy and awkward. Forget about trying to play quake 4. I needed the nvidia driver in order to get usable performance out of the machine for those activities. Sure, if all I did was open xterms and read mail in mutt, it wouldn't matter, but on my main workstation, I do a lot more than those simple tasks - and linux is the only OS I'm running, so the old "just use windoze for the fun stuff" routine doesn't cut it with me.
rijelkentaurus

Nov 20, 2006
5:55 PM EDT
>"just use windoze for the fun stuff"

Like viruses and spyware?
jimf

Nov 20, 2006
6:14 PM EDT
> Like viruses and spyware?

Naa... Just for the 'security' aspects ;-)
jdixon

Nov 20, 2006
6:22 PM EDT
> In my experience, trying to watch a dvd or an mpg file using xine or mplayer with the toothless "nv" driver was really choppy and awkward.

Works fine here. The video card is an older NVidia MX-440, from memory, and the video player is Xine.
helios

Nov 21, 2006
1:34 PM EDT
"...The video card is an older NVidia MX-440"

I think time will prove that the mx-440 was the absolute workhorse for Nvidia. I have several computers at work that have them and they outperform even the newest ones...nvidia that is, and using the 7174 driver. They completely chew up the ATI's as well performance-wise. I know we're talking museum pieces here, but sons-of-a-gun, it is a magnificent card. I am going onto ebay later and see if I can't find someone who is selling a boxful of them...they should be pretty cheap.

h
jezuch

Nov 21, 2006
1:51 PM EDT
Quoting:I know we're talking museum pieces here, but sons-of-a-gun, it is a magnificent card.


I even played Doom 3 on it! :)
cjcox

Nov 21, 2006
2:08 PM EDT
I can't believe you played Doom 3 on an mx440! Wow. Are you sure it wasn't plain ole Doom :)
Sander_Marechal

Nov 21, 2006
2:36 PM EDT
Meh, Doom III even works on old 3Dfx Voodoo 2 cards: http://www.3dfxzone.it/enboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1462
rijelkentaurus

Dec 06, 2006
5:30 PM EDT
For what it's worth:

http://rijelkentaurus.com/nv

This is a screenshot of the default driver installed by Feisty. It could change as more snapshots are released. I was never even asked anything during the install. We'll see.
tuxchick

Dec 06, 2006
7:07 PM EDT
ok, plain ole x.org nv driver. Not much bling there!
Sander_Marechal

Dec 06, 2006
10:10 PM EDT
> It could change as more snapshots are released

It will. The accellerated-x spec that covers default installation of binary drivers is still in the review stage. The binary driver default won't hit the Feisty beta's untill it has been fully approved.

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