On Tue, 2004-11-23 at 10:09 -0600, Bill Gradwohl wrote: > I've been on this list since early FC1, and Nvidia issues appear to be a > major problem area. > I don't agree here. I have a couple of boxes with older Nvidia cards where I don't want/need the full 3D features, and the open-source "nv" driver works well. I also have one box where I *do* want the best graphics features possible, and I have previously used both the Nvidia installer and the Livna RPM packages to keep the driver up to date. No problems at all. On the other hand, I have a customer who bought a high-end ATI card and it took us a while to realize that by no support, they meant hell would freeze over before the thing would work. I have had other, equally unpleasant experiences. Yes, Nvidia *could* improve its Linux support. Yes, it *would* be better if they open-sourced the driver; and I hope someone else open-sources theirs to increase competition. BUT, and this is a big BUT, all of this is not the same as "Nvidia is screwing us, let's make sure they don't sell any cards." Let's not make Nvidia out to be the Evil Robber Baron here. Or, if you want to boycott Nvidia, then please point out any supplier of high-end cards that *does* open-source their driver and give us what we want. At this point, from where I sit, Nvidia is not by any means the worst offender. > If the Fedora Project were to put out a press release stating > their concerns the major publications would likely print it, and > purchasers could be better informed leading to fewer problems on this > list, happier end users, and lowered sales for Nvidia. > Do not give in to the Dark Side. Remember that what you want is better support, and to do that you vote with your dollars. Do not focus your primary goal on hurting Nvidia, since that gains you nothing and in fact loses you someone who does provide some support where others provide none. Convince people to issue that press release, but focus on the needs of the users. Focus on getting more support, on highlighting the number of people who use this. Make the manufacturers *want* to support us. And then, of course, actually buy the stuff that supports us. But if you want to go boycotting people, there are a lot of companies out there that provide a hell of a lot less support than Nvidia. Cheers, -- Rodolfo J. Paiz <rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
