when will we see the headline...
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tuxchick Feb 08, 2007 11:33 AM EDT |
"Canonical and Linspire team up with hardware vendors to develop free/open source drivers and codecs, and "open hardware" projects" |
| jimf Feb 08, 2007 11:45 AM EDT |
Well, nothing wrong with that... on the surface ;-) |
| bigg Feb 08, 2007 12:22 PM EDT |
Or how about "Canonical and Linspire team up to sell computers with only hardware that has open source drivers. Go to the website, click on the features you want, and don't worry about compatibility with Linux. Install any of the popular Linux distributions and everything will work out of the box, easier than Windows. If you need an accessory for an existing computer, click on what you want, and know it will be plug-and-play on Linux, easier than Windows." Well, we can always dream. |
| jimf Feb 08, 2007 12:26 PM EDT |
Hey bigg, if they can get the vendors to actually supply open source drivers, we would have that. That's what it looks like what the quote 'says'... Of course that assumes it's also what they mean ;-) |
| tuxchick Feb 08, 2007 12:36 PM EDT |
bigg's idea is totally possible. I don't know if you could have good 3D video, but you can have everything else- wired and wireless Ethernet, bundles with supported printers and scanners, SATA hard drives, good mobos, RAM, and CPU... Linspire could have done it already. That they haven't speaks more loudly than any number of press releases or CEO blogs. |
| bigg Feb 08, 2007 12:42 PM EDT |
I guess where I'm coming from is that I'm looking for a new computer. If you go to any of the sites (and even a lot of them in the database) you have to spend a lot of time looking for the right hardware. Even there I see a lot of companies selling preinstalled Linux with Linspire and ATI cards. That still requires using the proprietary drivers. It's not easy to find a computer with Intel graphics, for instance, that has the rest of the components I want. This is a big deal for me because my two office computers have Intel graphics and the new pclinux with beryl looks really nice. The 3-D stuff installs easily with Debian. My other computers have nvidia and that's a nightmare. It's been a huge PITA to find the right system subject to the constraint of having Intel graphics. It would be better to have the ability to buy those existing components that do have open drivers than to try to get vendors to open their drivers if they don't want to, or to build your own drivers. |
| jimf Feb 08, 2007 12:53 PM EDT |
Of course open source is, or should be, the goal. If Canonical's and Linspire's goal is to get vendors to release source, then the effort is, in fact, laudable. The question remains, if Distros like Canonical and Linspire 'insist' that the vendors release drivers as open source for inclusion, do they have enough clout to pull it off. Does Linux have enough clout at this point in history? |
| herzeleid Feb 08, 2007 1:04 PM EDT |
Quoting: tc: I don't know if you could have good 3D videoWhat??? Onboard intel chipset e.g. 945 or better with FOSS drivers does fairly well on the 3D front. Granted, it's not quite as fast as the current nvidia offerings, but it can handle the xgl eye candy, the cool 3D screensavers, and I'm here to tell you, it can play quake 3 arena quite nicely. There are also some lovely rumours that Intel will re-enter the standalone graphics adapter market - and we can look to even better performance. |
| Libervis Feb 08, 2007 1:05 PM EDT |
Just to note, yes, even 3D can be successfully supported out of the box, in addition to everything tuxchick mentioned. Besides Intel graphics, there are quite a few modern ATI graphics cards supported by free drivers. For example, I have Radeon 9600XT and it works great with free R300 drivers. :) Biggs idea is absolutely possible. Someone just has to go and do it. |
| jimf Feb 08, 2007 1:11 PM EDT |
> Someone just has to go and do it I wouldn't expect that Canonical or Linspire would be the ones to pursue that project. |
| Bob_Robertson Feb 08, 2007 1:11 PM EDT |
They may not have the clout to have the drivers written, but they _certainly_ have the clout and visibility to make hardware manufacturers very visible for _not_ providing those drivers. "Linspire/Ubuntu has found the following hardware vendors are not Linux compatible:..." |
| tuxchick Feb 08, 2007 1:15 PM EDT |
This is the kind of thing that makes me not like Linspire, and starting to have doubts about Canonical. Lots of talk, lots of excuses, lots of misleading guff about 'Linux NEEEDS all this closed, proprietary, low-quality poo! Really, it does! Because... it does!' They're not about supporting free software, but being the biggest Linuxes on the block. I wouldn't care, but they're not being honest about it. I was already thinking of retiring my 20" CRT monitor and treating myself to a perty widescreen LCD, which means I'll need a new DVI video card, which means I might even be open to a new mobo if that's what it takes to get good open-source 3D video. So Intel 945 and Radeon 9600XT are possible candidates- any other suggestions? |
| jimf Feb 08, 2007 1:25 PM EDT |
I think you'd be quite happy with a Radeon 9600XT. The xorg radeon driver has gotten very good. |
| herzeleid Feb 08, 2007 1:52 PM EDT |
Quoting: I think you'd be quite happy with a Radeon 9600XT. The xorg radeon driver has gotten very good.Is the crashing gone? Over the years I have been plagued with crashes and lockups using ATI cards with FOSS drivers. ATI stands out clearly in my mind, because I never, ever had the problem with Voodoo Graphics + FOSS drivers, I8xx and i9xx + FOSS drivers, nor with Nvidia cards + binary drivers. After getting burned so many times, I'm a little gun shy of trying ATI + FOSS driver again. Is it really, truly, 100% rock solid? Can I browse the web, read emails and play music or run 3D screensavers all day, then play graphics intensive 3D FPS all night, with uptimes of several hundred days, and never again fear a crash? If so, I'll shout out a Hallelujah. |
| tuxchick Feb 08, 2007 1:58 PM EDT |
nVidia won't hit uptimes of hundreds of days, why raise the bar that high for the others? |
| jimf Feb 08, 2007 2:14 PM EDT |
> If so, I'll shout out a Hallelujah. I run an ATI 8500 w/256mb using the xorg R200 radeon driver currently with xorg 7.1.1. I have no problems at all with stability... This thing is rock solid. On the other hand, whenever I tried to set up the propritary driver... can we say problems :( |
| bigg Feb 08, 2007 2:15 PM EDT |
> Is the crashing gone? Over the years I have been plagued with crashes and lockups using ATI cards with FOSS drivers. That's what I've heard about ATI cards. Maybe I can add the Radeon 9600XT to my list of possibilities. I'm going to buy my wife a laptop for her birthday, so it unfortunately needs to have Vista preinstalled, but it will be a dual-boot. She does not trust Windows for online banking, commerce, or anything else requiring security. Maybe pclinux because it looks good and she is comfortable with it. |
| jimf Feb 08, 2007 2:23 PM EDT |
The ATI 7000s are common in laptops. My compaq presario 1500 has one. Not the most game orented card on the block, but again, absoletely reliable performance under xorg radeon R200 driver. |
| Libervis Feb 08, 2007 2:27 PM EDT |
Well, R300 driver is formally still in beta, but from my experience it seems quite stable. Yes I could play 3D games like Nexuiz and OpenArena all night without a hitch. Working in normal desktop is completely unaffected and if you want a 3D desktop you can have that too, although at least on my system I got some lag when scrolling in xchat, firefox etc. Also, celestia still tends to freeze on my computer, but this happened even before I bought this ATI card so it seems the issue may be somewhere else. Overall I think R300 driver for ATI Radeon 9600 cards (also 9500 and X300 are supported too AFAIK) is quite stable for normal use. I don't have any significant issues. I'm currently using it with Ubuntu Edgy on 1280x1024 resolution on an LCD screen.. no issues. |
| herzeleid Feb 08, 2007 3:48 PM EDT |
Quoting: tc: nVidia won't hit uptimes of hundreds of days, why raise the bar that high for the others?LOL @ tc, I've got half a dozen nvidia-equipped linux boxes that beg to differ. |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!