[SLUG] How do I tell if Linux supports my intended graphics card?

[Stephen O'Neill]

john at johnallsopp.co.uk wrote:

>So. How do I tell whether this card has a fully supportive Linux
>driver or not?
>
I understand very little about display driver gubbins. But, as I 
understand it the drivers only become an issue if you want hardware 
accelerated display, or as you said to use other features of the card.

If no hardware driver exists then you will use software 3D which will 
use your cpu and not the gfx chip. However you will still get a display. 
This bit I don't know about - is there an open standard for an os to 
communicate with a gfx card on a basic level without needing vendor 
specific instructions? The reason I presume there is is because that bit 
always just seems to work.

If you want to use the s-video then I'm not too sure. I have an ATI card 
for which there is a linux driver which allows me to use the s-video. 
Without that driver I don't have a clue how I'd have achieved it.

 From my experience Nvidia are number 1 for linux driver support. ATI 
fall quite a bit behind but are improving, as for the others, well...

Steve

		
___________________________________________________________ 
To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com