Could tthere be an update iso distribution

[alan]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006, Jonathan Berry wrote:

> On 3/16/06, sean <seanlkml at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>> On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 17:05:59 +0100
>> Klaasjan Brand <fedora at kjb.dds.nl> wrote:
>>
>>> Maybe at last someone will reverse engineer the nvidia hardware and
>>> build an open source driver? :)
>>
>> Just to be clear, there already is a perfectly good open source
>
> Umm, the nv driver is far from being "perfectly good," sorry.  Most of
> the time it works for 2D, yes.  As you mention below, it does not
> support 3D at all.  Also, for me, the nv driver does not even support
> simple 2D OpenGL programs for some reason.  Especially right now
> OpenGL support is essential since I am taking a class that involves
> writing OpenGL programs.

It is also a pain having some programs not run at all or function weirdly 
due to lack of OpenGL support.

>> nvidia driver that should be used by the _vast_ majority of people
>> saddled with nvidia hardware.   Only those playing 3d games under
>> Linux or driving multiple displays need to even consider the
>
> Consider?  No, they *must* use the nvidia driver in those cases.
> There is nothing to consider.

There is a lot more than just games that use OpenGL.  3d modeling needs 
it.  Anything that needs to display 3d or 2d graphics quickly. Does the nv 
driver even support hardware acceleration?

>> proprietary driver.   Way too many people end up installing the
>> binary albatross just for everyday desktop use, which is nuts.
>
> That may be true, but when I spend a not insignificant amount of money
> on a nice video card, I expect to be able to use all of the
> functionality.  At least nVidia does a decent job of supporting their
> hardware and providing Linux drivers that most of the time work (and
> usually work *very* well).  That cannot  be said of some other video
> chipset manufacturers...

*cough* *cough* *ATI* *cough*

Actually it is not nuts to run it on a regular desktop.  People want 
hardware acceleration.  They want eye candy.  They want it fast.

Take a look at the Kororaa live CD and you will see what can be done when 
you have hardware acceleration and OpenGL.  One of the reasons that 
Windows seems much more responsive is that they have access to hardware 
acceleration and use it when possible in their video drivers. X does not. 
Not because they can't, but because most hardware acceleration methods 
require a proprietary driver.

http://www.kororaa.org/

It may not be good situation, but it is the situation we are in.

-- 
"George W. Bush -- Bringing back the Sixties one Nixon at a time."