[Gllug] Graphics cards + open source or contributed drivers?

Chris Bell chrisbell at overview.demon.co.uk
Wed Nov 12 17:58:01 UTC 2003


On Wed 12 Nov, John Hearns wrote:
> 

> On a Linux group, I'm surprised not to find more discussion on the
> philosophy of closed-source drivers.
> I once heard Alan Cox speak quite eloquently on the subject.
> 
> And if I'm allowed to have a little bit of a rant (and I hope Huw
> doesn't take this as anything aimed at him), we should discuss what's
> happening now that Linux is definitely 'mainstream' and 'enterprise'.
> I've said it on other lists, and I'll say it again, 'we' started using
> Linux as it is open source - if you have an itch, you can scratch it.
> 
(snip)
> 
> OK, coming to drivers.
> Huw's comment is quite right - his company needs the performance of
> a closed driver to get their job done, and get the work out the door.
> I won't say for one minute they shouldn't use them for some high-horse
> reason of principle, which would be stupid.
> 
   Thanks for the responses. My reason for asking was that I am trying to
put together a box for someone else to do some video editing with reasonable
ease, and must replace the old display card. It will need to display good
quality video whether analogue or digital, straight or compressed, but that
would probably not stress most modern cards with sufficient memory. The most
unstable part of the system will probably be the intended user, so the less
hassle the better.

-- 
Chris Bell


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