Quoting Andy Sy ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > I dislike binary drivers just as much as the next Linux user, but I > have to say that while the points made here are very valid, in > practice, binary drivers do work and often work well.
Fair enough. > If a kernel upgrade breaks a binary driver, then the fault can go both > ways. If the kernel doesn't live up to its interfaces properly, even > an open source driver would have to be labouriously recoded to work > with the new one (and likely break compatibility with the older kernel > short of putting in ugly kernel detection kludges). But the point is that those _do_ get recoded. Kernel interfaces for drivers have changed numerous times, and the drivers that ship with the kernels were (and are, and will be) revamped accordingly. The licensing is what permits this, and existence of enough people who still care about that piece of hardware is what supplies motivation to do the maintenance work. > Nvidia's binary-only XFree and kernel drivers for its GeForce line are > much more functional than the wussy or more likely non-existent > support for the Radeon's 3D features in the open source XFree86 > drivers. There _is_ open-source support for 3D on Radeon. I believe it's limited to particular models, and isn't yet as mature as proprietary competition. This entire issue matters only for those who do a lot of 3D gaming or modelling on Linux. Which is a pretty specialised market. -- Cheers, "That article and its poster have been cancelled." Rick Moen -- David B. O'Donnel, sysadmin for America Online [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
