Re: Open Source Supported Graphics Cards
On Mon, Aug 07, 2006 at 08:07:23AM -0400, Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 07, 2006 at 12:49:02PM +0100, Alan Chandler wrote:
> > I am planning on building myself a new computer from scratch, probably based
> > on the new Intel Core 2 Duo chips, and am seeking opinions on the best
> > graphics chipset/card that I should use. Basic criteria are as follows
> >
> > 1) Must be open source driver (under linux)
> > 2) Some 3D capability - but not necessarily the fastest, but expect to run
> > the following in the future (not particularly tried any of these yet)
> > - Flight Gear
> > - Blender
> > - KDE4
> >
> > I currently am running a Gigabyte Radeon 9200 - which seems just about ideal
> > as it has the R200 chipset which seems fully supported. I would have liked
> > to carry it over to my new machine. Unfortunately
> > a) It has an AGP interface - newer motherboards seem to be PCI-E
> > b) My favoured Hardware Supplier (http://www.dabs.com) don't seem to stock
> > any graphics cards with this chipset as its far too old.
> >
> > My current exploration around this subject doesn't seem to get a very clear
> > opinion. Most reviews seem to concentrate on ATI or Nvidia chipsets, with
> > the requirement that I would then have to choose the binary drivers from
> > these two manufactures. This is something I would like to avoid.
> >
> > Looking for alternatives at the dri.sourceforge.net web site, the chipsets
> > with full support, mainly seem to be the older ones, with possibly Intel
> > and Matrox offerings. Not sure I understand the detail - but this seems to
> > mean a motherboard with an intel chipset, or get a Matrox G5500 separate
> > card. What are don't really know is will these be sufficiently performant
> > for the tasks I need it for.
> >
> > What can this list advise?
>
> Of the modern graphics chips, the Intel chips are the best supported in
> open source as their complete drivers are in the Linux kernel and in X.
> The other two choices, nVidia and ATi, both require proprietary drivers
> to get any semblance of decent performance.
Last I heard, Intel had announced their intention to make their own
video drivers open source in order to have a competitive advantage over
nvidia and ATI, but they hadn't yet done it. I also heard that at that
time the Intel chips were available on motherboards, but not on plug-in
cards.
Has the situation changed?
-- hendrik
Reply to: