On Sun, 2007-10-28 at 15:59 -0600, Karl Larsen wrote: > Les Mikesell wrote: > > Karl Larsen wrote: > > > >>> > >>>> I was one who bought a new computer and until today could not tell > >>>> you had a particular nvitia video card. > >>>> > >>> > >>> If I was going to buy a new computer and wanted to run Linux on it > >>> I would at least google for "<new computer> Linux" > >>> to see what problems I was likely to meet. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >> I did. But it was the motherboard since the computer was a kit > >> from a supplier. what I got was many web pages that were thrilled > >> with how well it worked. And another thing you forget. At that time I > >> was not aware that nvidia was bad. I had never even heard of it. > > > > Nvidia isn't 'bad' in any normal sense. They just have not made > > source code available for their drivers available under GPL terms as > > some small fraction of users would like to demand. It it the fact the > > Linux will not provide a stable interface (so a working binary module > > continues to work) and the fedora project's policy not to cooperate > > with anyone with different terms than their own that make it difficult > > to use the combination. I'd guess that it's easier to change the OS > > than a motherboard chip... > > > Thanks Les. I realize that wanting Fedora to work even on computers > that use nvidia video cards is a lost cause with Fedora. I put > "linux,nvidia" in Goggle and I see all the other Linux brands are > providing the binary in their kit. ---- there's a lot of mis-information here xorg includes an nv module (for nvidia video) which is open source and part of xorg/fedora packaging. This driver does 2D. nVidia corporation also provides a binary only driver that is designed for specific kernel builds and since it is binary only, patent encumbered, restricted license, not open source, fedora packaging will not include that. Livna and other repositories will typically package it with a kernel-mod which sort of makes it painless for the user (the user must install the yum repository package for livna but that's about it). nVidia binary modules seem to work reasonably well but it is not necessary to use them at all. Any other Linux distribution that packages patent encumbered, restricted license, binary only modules into their base packaging and distributed with other GPL license software would likely be violating the GPL license, run afoul of patent restrictions in the US and would certainly be distributing software that they have absolutely no possible way to certify as safe and/or maintainable. Craig
