before people freak out

Story: No to proprietary video drivers - UbuntuTotal Replies: 15
Author Content
tuxchick

Feb 14, 2007
4:34 PM EDT
Users can still have all the proprietary bling they want. It's just not included in the default installation- you have to click an extra button later.

Though it sounds like it's just a matter of time until they are default.
bigg

Feb 14, 2007
5:55 PM EDT
Yes, Shuttleworth's blog makes it clear that this was only because Beryl is not ready, not because they changed their mind about non-free drivers.
jimf

Feb 14, 2007
6:46 PM EDT
> only because Beryl is not ready, not because they changed their mind

Yeah, now that's in character for Shuttleworth.
bigg

Feb 14, 2007
6:51 PM EDT
For anyone interested, here is the actual quote

"...when we reviewed the status of the free software applications that depend on that hardware functionality we found that they were not ready for inclusion by default in Feisty. Neither Compiz nor Beryl have the requisite stability and compatibility to be a default option in Feisty.

It was this which blocked the decision to enable proprietary video drivers by default, not an aversion to their inclusion....It is highly likely that Feisty+1 will see the inclusion of Compiz or Beryl by default, looking at their maturity and ongoing community involvement, and that will catalyse the decision to enable this hardware functionality by default too, even if that means using these proprietary drivers."
swbrown

Feb 14, 2007
8:31 PM EDT
The guy's an ass. There's finally major progress being made on Free 3D drivers, and even some 3D hardware with specs provided, and he's doing his best to remove the pressure to develop them or intentionally buy hardware they work with which rewards companies that do provide specs.
dinotrac

Feb 14, 2007
11:29 PM EDT
>There's finally major progress being made on Free 3D drivers, and even some 3D hardware with specs provided, and he's doing his best to remove the pressure to develop them

OK, there either is or there isn't major progress being made. Which is it?

If there is, it would seem Ubuntu's choices don't matter for squat, and all of you church ladies and chicken littles should go off, down a brew or two, and exhale slowly.
Sander_Marechal

Feb 15, 2007
3:11 AM EDT
One more reason I switched from Edgy to Etch :-)

PS: You wouldn't believe how much faster Etch is over Edgy.
bigg

Feb 15, 2007
3:51 AM EDT
> You wouldn't believe how much faster Etch is over Edgy.

Actually, I would, which is one reason I now also use Etch instead of Edgy.
dinotrac

Feb 15, 2007
4:06 AM EDT
> You wouldn't believe how much faster Etch is over Edgy.

Hmmm. You pique my interest.

The one thing that might get me to diddle around with Debian again after all these years is the possibility that it might be faster than what I'm doing now (OpenSuse 10.1 on X86_64) in a real and system-wide way.

Any idea why you see it fly? Is Debian's 64 bit release mature? Will it make cinelerra render faster?
SFN

Feb 15, 2007
4:43 AM EDT
"Neither Compiz nor Beryl have the requisite stability and compatibility to be a default option in Feisty."

"default option"

?
Sander_Marechal

Feb 15, 2007
5:23 AM EDT
Quoting:Any idea why you see it fly?


Not specifically, but Ubuntu comes with a boatload if stuff you don't need. Debian doesn't. That means more configuring afterwards but with a faster system as a result. Different kernels also contributes to this. Ubuntu has only 1 kernel for each majot arch (since Edgy) that can run anything under the sun. No more optimized 386, 686, K7 kernels etcetera. Just "386 generic". Debian still has the optimized kernels.

Quoting:Is Debian's 64 bit release mature?


It should be, but I'm running 32 bit on my AMD64 (Sorry, I need flash)

Quoting:Will it make cinelerra render faster?


Probably. Just try it and benchmark.
dcparris

Feb 15, 2007
4:14 PM EDT
I know that Etch runs faster than SUSE/OpenSUSE 9.2/10.0 and PCLOS on these old 450MHz Vectras. Even OOo loads fairly fast on KDE on these boxes. I admit I was ah-mazed. I still consider myself an Etch newbie, but I have run 3 of the 4 install modes (standard GUI and console, and expert GUI). I recommend one of the standard modes unless you have specific needs or are a control freak from a really hot place, or maybe just from Redmond. ;-) Heck, since I didn't realize that the GUI installer is not the default, I thought the console mode was Debian's idea of "graphical" - kind of like vi is "visual". :-D

The only thing I don't like is that customizing your HDD partition scheme is painstakingly slow - literally one step at a time. Yast lets you set the options for a given partition in one dialog; Etch makes you go through a separate dialog for each setting. :( Otherwise, it's fantastic.

If you're a KDE guy, just add "desktop, kde" at the install prompt. I didn't notice whether that causes KDE to replace GNOME, but I doubt it. DebCentral has an excellent tutorial on getting KDE instead of GNOME.
jimf

Feb 15, 2007
4:31 PM EDT
> causes KDE to replace GNOME

Actually it might, but, I'm not sure. I use so many gtk apps that I just remove the gnome desktop later, and, keep the rest.
swbrown

Feb 15, 2007
4:40 PM EDT
> OK, there either is or there isn't major progress being made. Which is it? If there is, it would seem Ubuntu's choices don't matter for squat.

What part of "remove the pressure to develop them" did you not understand? Without pressure on people to find a Free solution, which comes from the users annoyed their distro doesn't have 3D drivers, these things take ages, or never happen at all.

Why are we seeing sudden massively accelerated development into Free 3D drivers? Because tons of people, especially Ubuntu users as they're primarily desktop oriented, really want 3D desktop features but are getting blocked by difficult to install drivers due to distributions refusing to ship them. Why are we seeing sudden massively accelerated development into a Free flash player? Because there's no proprietary one for 64 bit systems and it's a major pain getting the 32 bit one running.

Want to know the secret to crippling Free Software? Relieve the pressure to develop it.
jimf

Feb 15, 2007
5:02 PM EDT
> Ubuntu's choices don't matter

I and many others looked at Shuttlesworth's Ubuntu with a lot of suspicion from the start. The good he's done has been more than tempered by his disregard for basic open source tenants. This is just another example of that disregard. Unfortunately he now has way too much influence in the Linux world, and, Ubuntu's choices 'do' matter...
bigg

Feb 15, 2007
5:46 PM EDT
What really gets me about this is that Shuttleworth is kicking Intel in the face. It sets a heck of a precedent. "Open your drivers and we'll include your competitors' proprietary drivers by default." God forbid that they should reward a company for being open source-friendly. This will be in the mind of any hardware company considering opening their drivers.

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