[Gllug] Desktops with preinstalled linux

[Nix]

On 23 Nov 2009, general stated:
> Nix wrote:
>> They do recommend nvidia all over the place but it's easy to avoid it
>> (nvidia avoidance is probably a reflex in anyone posting here).
>
> Really? I posted a Q here a few months ago soliciting compatible 3D
> graphics card advice and don't recall getting many suggestions at all,
> let alone a strong preference for ATI.

That may have been too long ago. ATI support is coming on by leaps and
bounds now: if you use the right slightly-bleeding-edge bits you have
working free software 3D support on all but the very oldest ATI cards
(we're talking >10yrs here, too old to *do* useful 3D really).  It's
still a bit buggy and not everything works (no shaders yet, for
instance), but things like oolite and compiz and textured video work for
me now (HD 4870). And it'll only get better from here.

Even r800s are being implemented and they don't even exist yet :)

(Note: this is all assuming kernel modesetting. 3D support is unlikely
to ever be implemented for non-KMS. Why bother writing new code for an
obsolescent and decidedly unpleasant-to-implement architecture?)


(This is all radeon driver stuff, not radeonhd. I used the 'pick
whatever card clued X developers are working on' technique which served
me well when I got my Radeon 9250 back in 2001... this time I picked
Michel Dänzer and Dave Airlie as prototype developers.)
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