tricky
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| purplewizard Dec 22, 2006 5:35 AM EDT |
I admit I have nvidia drivers and logically cards. I want free drivers and to be able to use nvidia cards if they are the best. I don't however want to pay extra to develop drivers that the manufacturer should do if it wants me to use their cards. So I think donations to this are a bad thing and we should just all try moving to a supplier who actually supports free software. So I keep my eye on ATI and others for the next machine I build. I don't play games or do anything fancy so should be fine with the others. Plus in the long run a charity developing the commercial drivers for nvidia reduces their costs and means more of the money you spend on their card can be a subsidy to the Windows world of driver development. I really don't want to help that any more than I can help. |
| swbrown Dec 22, 2006 7:17 AM EDT |
Neither ATI nor NVIDIA are likely to Free their drivers any time soon, as a large portion of their existing drivers are targeted cheats for benchmarks, as we're reminded of every so often when the illusion fails. Like how NVIDIA precalculated the clipping planes used in 3dmark 2003's 'game test 4' and had its driver detect it and substitute the precalculated data. Or how ATI was detecting "quake3.exe" running and would disable features in the game you had enabled to make it appear like it was faster than the competition. |
| DarrenR114 Dec 22, 2006 7:37 AM EDT |
swbrown: Don't forget also that the dirty little secret in the video driver world is that opening the drivers will reveal hardware weaknesses that could be exploited by the marketing of the competition. Or so I read in an article a couple of years, or so, ago. |
| Iain Dec 29, 2006 5:21 AM EDT |
It's worth getting open-source 3D drivers going so that older computers can convert to Linux. My Nvidia MX 440 works terribly with the open-source 2D NV drivers. I have to run the gauntlet of installing Nvidia's buggy binary drivers to get 2D going properly. |
| bigg Dec 29, 2006 7:32 AM EDT |
Just curious, is there anything useful about this Compiz/AIGLX,... stuff? I have it on my Debian Etch box, extremely easy to set it up, but don't have any idea how it is anything other than "cool". And after 30 seconds, anything other than "annoying". Or am I missing something? Is this really a good use of resources? Is it more important than, say, making CUPS user friendly? |
| azerthoth Dec 29, 2006 7:42 AM EDT |
Eye candy is pretty much the end of it. I get all the eye candy I want or need by using fluxbox and using aterm in transparent mode then toggling window decorations off. |
| swbrown Dec 29, 2006 7:50 AM EDT |
> Just curious, is there anything useful about this Compiz/AIGLX,... stuff? One is that the OS/X-like expose functionality is to die for in terms of functionality. Try it out (I think it's F12 by default), it makes using any desktop without it an absolutely miserable experience from that point on. :) There'll likely be many more extreme functionality enhancements in the future once the code churn dies down a bit so mere mortals can work on it. E.g., Sun's looking-glass desktop effect where windows tilt when moved to the edges of the screen rather than get cut off will likely be making a showing in Beryl sometime soon if not already, and if it doesn't already have it, per-window zooming would be outstanding for doing software presentations or maybe even spreading an application's window across a large multihead display panel without having to pay the price of actually rendering at that extreme resolution (you'd just scale+split the lower res texture). We've got some massive 10x10ish display wall and if I resize my app normally, the performance (obviously) absolutely tanks. As for AIGLX, it allows for 3D rendering in applications as well as use on the desktop unlike XGL (which should now be considered deprecated). For those of us embedding 3D in our apps (I use gtkglext for visualization and other things, and it (or something very similar) should come standard in GTK 3.0) it's an extremely nice thing to have. Also, but this is likely future work, you used to not be able to synchronize on vertical sync in windowed 3D (same is true for Windows), but with the entire desktop composited, I assume it's quite possible. |
| jimf Dec 29, 2006 8:24 AM EDT |
> anything useful about this Compiz/AIGLX,... stuff? Obviously, there's a group of people that think it's what people want. But, flash for it's own sake has little to do with aesthetics, and, is a pretty poor excuse for an interface. Pardon if I don't see any value here. Yes, we need decent 2-3D FOSS drivers. Accepting the proprietary stuff just delays and draws resources away from real task of developing free ones, as does pushing projects like Compiz/AIGLX. Imagine if those developers worked on decent free drivers... I insist on a good looking desktop, but, I've never had a problem getting that with stock xorg ati drivers ( http://jimfarnsworth.com/linux/thumbs/wallpaper/desk-mountai... ). So, I have little empathy for those working on weird eyecandy and mostly unusable schemes to get that. The whole thing reeks of 'Windows think'... |
| dcparris Dec 29, 2006 8:32 AM EDT |
I'm all for supporting the development of FOSS drivers, especially since the HW vendors have proven they have no interest in providing them. As a community, we have often had to do it on our own. No reason to stop now. Keep hacking! |
| swbrown Dec 29, 2006 9:16 AM EDT |
> Obviously, there's a group of people that think it's what people want. But, flash for it's own sake has little to do with aesthetics, and, is a pretty poor excuse for an interface. Pardon if I don't see any value here. Please hit F12 in Compiz/Beryl for the best example available of functional improvement. :) Your attitude might change instantly. It really is a massively functional feature that you need 3D compositing to make possible. It ends drag+drop hell, and the whole "Dude, where's my window?", in a very natural way. |
| jimf Dec 29, 2006 9:45 AM EDT |
> It ends drag+drop hell, and the whole "Dude, where's my window?", in a very natural way Lol, I rarely use d&d anyway and windows are alt-tab, soo.... Solution for a non issue, I don't think so. |
| Sander_Marechal Dec 29, 2006 10:50 AM EDT |
> Lol, I rarely use d&d anyway and windows are alt-tab, soo.... Solution for a non issue, I don't think so. My thoughts exactly ... untill I started using it. Expose functionality is great. I switched back to regular 2D now (XGL was/is just too buggy -- especially when you use multiple Xorg displays) but I really miss my F12. |
| bigg Dec 29, 2006 11:51 AM EDT |
Well, I'm using Compiz and AIGLX on Debian Etch, and F12 don't do nothing. So I guess in my case I got nothing to lose. |
| Sander_Marechal Dec 29, 2006 1:13 PM EDT |
Bigg, check your compiz settings. IIRC some compiz releases used F10 instead. Or maybe you have it remapped. Look into the settings for the "scale" plugin. You'll want to map F10 and/or F12 to the initiate and initiate_all_screens settings. Also, make sure you disable all the mouse corner hotspots. It's damn annoying. |
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