NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M

[Frank Cox]

On Sat, 23 May 2009 09:36:56 +0200
François Patte wrote:


> 1- My lab in my university has contracts with companies and I have to
> choose in a panel of offers. For computers, it is Dell and Dell's offer
> is with nvidia graphic. What can I do?

Are you a student, a research assistant, a scientist, or a professor?    Your
approach and your "power" may differ depending on your position in the pecking
order at your university, but basically you can make the case that proprietary
software is making your job more difficult than it needs to be.  For example,
if you use a supported Intel video chipset (and ATI, now) there is no need to
do anything at all when you install Fedora or Centos on a computer.  The video
just works right off the bat, and there are no "outside" drivers to worry about
at all. There's also less to deal with when upgrading a kernel after the initial
installation is long over and done with.

I'm sure you can make a persuasive case to the powers-that-be in your world, if
you want to.  Comments in this mailing list should provide you with an
excellent start toward a presentation.

> 2- I am not a computer scientist, I use computers (like many people) and
> I do not want to waste a lot of time to find out how to configure new
> hardwares I have never seen before. I know how to configure nvidia
> graphic cards because we have many computers with nvidia. All cards, up
> to now, are from Geforce series and I did not know if Quadro series were
> supported by fedora OS.

See above.  There's less involved in setting up and maintaining a supported
Intel or ATI video chipset than there is with any Nvidia chipset.
 
> 3- Many times we have to deal with hardwares using proprietary drivers,
> nvidia is among them.

But there are excellent alternatives to Nvidia that provide even better and
more painless support!  Why ride the second-class bus?

> This is not the case for all hardware
> manufacturers: who had never experienced a modem or lan or wifi card not
> working on his laptop?

Irrelevant in this instance -- we can discuss supported modems, lans and wifi
cards in another thread if you have questions.

> 4- Why not believe that one day nvidia will make open sources drivers?

Sure -- when they do that then their cards may or may not be worth looking at.
Until then, though, why ride the second class bus?

Once again, I'm sure you can make a persuasive case for using open-source video
chipsets in your lab if you wish to do so.  If you require assistance with
getting the ducks in a row, so to speak, I'm sure that many folks on this
mailing list will be pleased to help you.

-- 
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com