Operating Systems > Linux and UNIX
Useless ATI drivers (fglrx)
piratePenguin:
--- Quote from: H_TeXMeX_H ---Well, I've never actually gotten the DRI drivers to work, so I wouldn't know how good they are. Do they come standard in most distros ... or do you have to install them yourself ? If so, is there an easy way to install them ?
--- End quote ---
Since the ATi driver is only coming along, it hasn't been enabled in many not-new distros. Ubuntu 6.06 had it setup by default, which was nice. I could just install bzflag and play! I was amazed. No going to ati.com or nvidia.com to download what Ubuntu can't distribute of theirs.
The drivers would still have come along since then (June 1st), I added these two lines to my sources.list so I get pretty-new ones:
--- Code: ---deb http://xgl.compiz.info/ dapper aiglx
deb http://xgl.compiz.info/ dapper main
--- End code ---
(I would've followed the compiz on AIGLX tutorial on the ubuntuforums to add them lines)
WMD:
The free DRI driver for ATI cards only works with older cards.
piratePenguin:
--- Quote ---The current free 2d driver can't even bring up X with the latest ATI cards.
--- End quote ---
Looking at http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/ATIRadeon :
--- Quote ---R500 series chips (X1300, X1800 etc) do not have a Radeon 2D core, so are only supported by the vesa driver (no acceleration).
--- End quote ---
Looking at http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/R300_20Benchmark things must be going pretty alright in the X700LE direction too.
--- Quote from: WMD ---The free DRI driver for ATI cards only works with older cards.
--- End quote ---
I see that now.. Well I know I'll hopefully never buy another card without workable free drivers, that rules out NVIDIA completely and only the ATi cards in the higher-end which I shouldn't feel much need to touch anyhow. Eventually, it'll be my turn to laugh anyhow, when I get 3d acceleration outta the box on every half-decent OS (something people with Intel graphics cards already enjoy). You'll never get it with the non-redistributable drivers (and not on my OS for sure ;)).
On the legal thing, see http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog/2006/08/why_binaryonly_linux_kernel_mo.html
There's nothing illegal about what NVIDIA's doing (I've no idea what way fglrx is distributed - never installed it in my life thankfully), but people packaging drivers linked to the kernel have to apply the GPL terms to the package. Recently, Novell stopped redistributing non-free modules:
http://news.com.com/Novell+bans+proprietary+Linux+modules/2100-7344_3-6100659.html
RaZoR1394:
My 7900gtx is a dream. Drivers work perfectly in both Windows and GNU/Linux. Temperature is much lower (30C on idle and 34C on load), more Cedega games and features work, It's much faster, doesn't lockup in GNU/Linux when logging out, control panel is very useful etc, composite and XVMC works and it doesn't randomly lockup the comp like my ATI card did.
Sure if the free radeon drivers work ok then sure older cards may be fine. However last time I tried with my 9800xt the performance was awful. So if you want to game higher end in GNU/Linux then ATI is a no-go.
H_TeXMeX_H:
--- Quote from: piratePenguin ---I'll hopefully never buy another card without workable free drivers, that rules out NVIDIA completely
--- End quote ---
Well, I have a question (ok, many questions):
Why do you not want non-free drivers ? I mean say the nVidia drivers went open-source tomorrow ... would you instantly change your mind just cuz they're free ? What would you do if the nVidia drivers were free ? How would you take advantage of this ? I mean would you try to modify the driver code ? or something else. What benefits would open-source nVidia drivers offer to YOU over the current proprietary licencing ? As I said before you CAN access the source code for the nVidia drivers and even modify it yourself, you just can't redistribute it modified or not. I just don't see the benefits open-source nVidia drivers would offer you and how you could take advantage of them in a meaningful way, that you cannot do now.
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