On Sunday 03 December 2006 04:53, Neil Bothwick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote about 'Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: URGENT: No more fonts after xorg changes': > On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 19:10:27 +0000 (UTC), Duncan wrote: > > Of course, here, I purposefully bought an ATI Radeon 9200 series > > graphics card since it has free drivers. I couldn't legally run > > slaveryware even if I wanted to. > > Until Nvidia has decent free drivers, they > > don't get my money, > > There is no EULA that you *have* to agree to. Nvidia's driver are > free as in beer, but they are not open > source. This is because the code for some of the T&L stuff is licenced > from another company, and that licence doesn't allow Nvidia to > distribute the source. > > That leaves Nvidia two choices, distribute closed source drivers for > Linux, or remove that code from the Linux drivers
...or both (release a "free" version and a "full" version), or release specs so we can write our own drivers (we don't need to know anything patentable or even trade-secret-able, just how to talk to the hardware) or a half-dozen other options. There's no duality here, just nvidious deciding to only provide shackles (free of charge, woohoo!) and "everyone" deciding to put them on. NB: I use the nvidia driver; I don't like it, but I do use it since I do occationally play games that require accelerated 3d. -- "If there's one thing we've established over the years, it's that the vast majority of our users don't have the slightest clue what's best for them in terms of package stability." -- Gentoo Developer Ciaran McCreesh
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