Yesterday, we reported on the statement several kernel developers had signed that urged hardware manufacturers to open up their Linux modules and drivers. "We, the undersigned Linux kernel developers, consider any closed-source Linux kernel module or driver to be harmful and undesirable," the statement read. Nvidia, which delivers probably the most prominent closed-source Linux driver, has reiterated its position concerning this matter.
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Member since:2008-06-25
Member since:2006-01-04
If you have an old NV card like the TNT2 you are just f--ked .. NO 3D for you in new distros .. even their closed source crap will not help you.
Nvidea does not have the power to support every card anymore .. this problem will only get worse.
So just do not buy Nvidia anymore.
This is something that is unlikely to happen with open source drivers ( just look at the old ATI 7500 cards .. their 3D support is excellent out of the box .. and I am sure this will be case for new cards too by the end of the year. )
Member since:2007-02-17
And if distributions refuse to include Nvidia drivers, why would anyone with an Nvidia card choose Linux?
Hot new hardware now includes mini-notebooks, such as the EEEPC, the MSI Wind, the Acer Aspire One and the not-yet-released Dell E. They all run Linux.
None of them will be including Nvidia graphics chips I would imagine ... they all would use either an Intel chip or perhpas now an ATI chip. Since these both have open source drivers and specification documentation made available (so that the open source drivers are no longer based on reverse engineering, but instead are based on actual hardware documentation) ... it means that the kernel can be updated, or Xorg can be updated, and the video driver updated at the same time just by a re-compile.
Therefore, either Intel graphics or ATI graphics is far more desirable for a Linux system than nvidia graphics.
Even Via Chrome graphics might become more viable for Linux than nvidia :
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjUyMg
Since there is a new and growing breed of machines for which an open Linux driver for all of the hardware is a necessity, nvidia will be missing out on a market opportunity here.
I know that nvidia's attitude on this topic lost me as a customer ... put it that way.
Member since:2007-09-06
some of us use more than the software license when making a choice. If nVidia can provide solid X modules and timely updates then that's fine with me. I don't buy the "we want to protect our IP" excuse but my end user need is functional quality not how it got there.
I'd love to see them release specs see if they can keep up with or contribute too community development. ATI of old couldn't keep up and wouldn't release specs so I voted with my wallet. The license is not the ultimate decision metric for me though.
Member since:2006-01-22
Member since:2005-11-11
"The new 48XX AMD cards are the best cards around PERIOD"
The only concern I have right now is how they perform in Wine. I've run across more than one report of an app (game, obviously) not running in Wine with AMD but running with nVidia. I don't recall which right now, or if they were even apps I use.
That wouldn't be enough to keep me from buying AMD for my next card though. They have been more willing to work with Linux lately, and should gain some share of the Linux market; hopefully enough to start getting possible situations with wine fixed where nVidia works and AMD doesn't.
Obviously some people are happy with the binary drivers. I was for years. But just as I refused to touch ATI before they got bought (when they were moving away from open source, and their closed source drivers sucked) I'm moving away from nVidia for something that I find better.
I'm voting with my wallet. Unfortunately nVidia doesn't seem to care too much for the Linux market so even if every Linux user voted the same way I doubt they'd change things up. But for whatever reason AMD did, and I only need one company to do so 
Member since:2006-08-02
Member since:2006-01-04
Nope,
the normal 4870 is better in every respect than the GTX 280 ..
( german: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Radeon-HD-4800-uebertrumpft-Konkurre... )
Member since:2006-01-01
The nvidia chip has a much more elaborate setup and many many more transistors.
I'd say the ATI chip design is very good for what it does. Its cheap to produce, sips power, stays cool, and its *scalable* by adding on die copies or on board copies.
Comparing price to performance its pretty obvious what most sane people would fork over money for.
Member since:2005-07-07
Member since:2007-09-06
The old ones sucked baddly. I ended up moving to nVidia GPU for the first time in all the machines I've built because of the Grief.
I'm glad to see AMD turning it around though and would buy an AMD GPU next time if the hardware compares too the 20+ processing channels, Array'd random object skinning and similar functions. We'll see, one of my magazine subscriptions has a simplified technical breakdown of nVidia's next generation GPU and it was the 8800 breakdown that provided the final reason to move away from ATI.
Member since:
2006-01-04
The new 48XX AMD cards are the best cards around PERIOD
And I have no probs with the AMD Catalyst drivers and from what I have heard Nvidia did not support Fedora9 and KDE 4.1beta2 has problems with NVidia cards too.
And AMD releases a new driver every month.
I think a lot of people are just ill informed or Nvidia/Intel users who complain about the AMD drivers.
The old ones might have sucked, but new ones are really nice.
The version 8.6 is excellent actually.
And soon open source drivers will be avail and ready for AMD cards ..
So why would any Linux user still choose Nvidia?