Gareth Hughes wrote:
>
> Mark Allan wrote:
> >
> > So do we give up on open source drivers completely? I'm willing to bet
> > that there is some way to generate sufficient revenue to fund the DRI. I
> > don't know what it is, but it would be worth throwing some ideas around
> > rather than throwing our hands up and saying "oh, well."
>
> Good luck. Let us know if you come up with anything.
Well, I was kind of hoping to ignite a brain-storming session where
people in-the-know could comment on what went wrong w/ VA's model and
others could throw ideas around in an attempt to figure out a model that
would work. Ideas are cheap and easy to discuss. Implementing the ideas
is where it gets tricky.
> > It would be extremely unfortunate if we have to rely upon in-house
> > developers writing binary-only drivers for Linux. With a company like
> > NVIDIA, it really isn't that big of a deal, as they have excellent
> > drivers under both Windows and Linux. But ATI and Matrox both have poor
> > Windows drivers. I have to assume that any Linux drivers from these
> > companies would be even worse.
>
> This is a fair point.
>
> > Is open source absolutely essential? Personally, I would rather have
> > binary-only drivers written by the likes of Brian, Gareth, Keith, et.
> > al. than binary-only drivers written by some faceless unknown.
>
> Since I now work for NVIDIA, you can put their closed-source driver in this
> basket (not to say the GL group here isn't totally amazing already).
Despite the fact that NVIDIA gets (unfairly, IMO) hammered for not
releasing source, there are at least a few people who remember the
significant contributions that NVIDIA employess have made to Linux 3D.
Guys such as Dave Schmenk and Terrence Ripperda, and now Gareth Hughes -
all of whom were major contributors to the Utah GLX project, amongst
other things. BTW - props to whoever enabled the cursor shadow in the
latest drivers ;)
Despite the fact that I have been very pleased w/ the NVIDIA drivers,
the prospect of having only a single vendor to choose from makes me
very, very nervous.
> > 3D is becoming increasingly important for general PC use. In the past,
> > the domain of 3D has been primarily for DCC and games. In the future
> > (and not that far in the future), 3D will be pervasive throughout the
> > GUI. Without good 3D support, Linux is dead.
>
> Some are saying that Linux on the desktop is already dead...
Depends on your definition of "desktop". Linux is *very* much alive as
desktop workstations in the scientific computing industry, as well as in
some DCC segments. Thanks to NVIDIA hardware and drivers, we've been
able to almost completely replace our overpriced, underperforming IRIX
boxes w/ Linux machines.
Cheers,
Mark
------------------------------------------------------------
Mark B. Allan NASA Ames Research Center
QSS Group, Inc. Neuro-Engineering Lab
650 - 604 - 0537 (office) Mail Stop 269-2
650 - 604 - 0461 (lab) Moffett Field, CA 94035
650 - 604 - 3594 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/ic/ne.html
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