On 31 January 2014 06:44, Daniel Baumann <[email protected]> wrote: > On 01/31/2014 12:54 AM, Corey Velan wrote: >> Is the rationale for using non-free video drivers to get better >> performance (resolutions, etc)? Or are there some graphics cards where >> the open source drivers simply won't work? > > both. > >> When open source drivers don't work, what are the symptoms? Would the >> screen just remain black >> or are there other symptoms? > > both; depending on the card/the driver, the vesa xorg failback works or > does not work. > > or in other words: it depends and if you want a specific answer you'll > need to give specific information (what system built/configured how, > which hardware, etc.).
And sometimes the vesa driver works but the non-free Radeon driver shows a black screen. This is because the Radeon driver relies on BIOS for everything and the BIOS part that is meant to be used by the driver is obviously bogus on many boards, especially ones with early Radeon IGP chipset. Note that the Radeon driver is not in the non-free section of the Debian archive but there is almost no hardware on which it would work without a non-free firmware blob and non-free BIOS blob. Thanks Michal -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/CAOMqctQ384azN9+So8GVeEbDNvScs5OFyGoPiocuG_wQ=j6...@mail.gmail.com
