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Ask NVIDIA Interview
A reader writes: "There's a pretty lengthy interview with NVIDIA, which covers many interesting current topics, including the Xbox, BeOS support, Mac support and the NV20." And they covered more quality control - that's been my major problem with the cards.
And for anyone who runs anything other than (or in addition to) windows and linux, then just about any other card is better, since it will probably work.
Besides, even assuming the drivers wouldn't crash my machine willy-nilly, I have better things to do than fight my package system to manually graft in these ridiculous drivers into what is otherwise a well- and tightly integrated system.
As always, it depends on what you have and what you do, but for me, their drivers are not an option.
--
Change is inevitable.
Change is inevitable.
Progress is not.
And from my vantage point, as a BSD user who doesn't play the 'Open Source or Die' game,
I see it as follows: I can't use NVIDIA cards for 3D. Period.
I really wish the 'L33n00x !z k3w1' crowd would realize that Linux is not the only free OS out there.
Carmack has said himself that when the next Doom game comes out in a test release, it will be nVidia only for Linux.
That doesn't really sound like Carmack. From his postings to slashdot,
he sounds like he supports interoperability through OpenGL,
'course it may be that only NVIDIA cards support necessary OpenGL extensions, or it'll be NVIDIA only in just the test release.
Regardless, my next card will prolly be a Matrox.
Yeah, the 3D is pokey compared to NVIDIA's, but Matrox 2D quality supposedly can't be beat,
and the 3D drivers are open.
If I bought a GEForce, I'd essentially be buying an overpriced, inferior 2D card.
--K
Why should I? As a user of Linux who does not play the "Open Source Or Die" game with my hardware and drivers, please give me a good reason as to why I should do this! From my vantage point, I see it as follows:
- Currently, the nVidia driver is one of the fastest around. Could it be faster if it was open? Sure, I believe that fully, but it is pretty damn fast.
- As a every day user of Linux who doesn't download the latest Enlightenment or KDE beta or XFree86 release, I can stand to be behind in my releases to keep compatible with my windowing server.
- Carmack has said himself that when the next Doom game comes out in a test release, it will be nVidia only for Linux.
- He then goes on to add that he himself will start working on the drivers for the ATI cards to bring them up to speed so it can play his game decently.
- Sorry, but since this demo is probably a year away, and since JohnC typically knows his s#!t, he believes that nVidia is the best solution right now. From posts here to Slashdot, he seems to know his stuff.
- I am not saying that he endorses nVidia for their driver practices or anything, this is stuff I have walked away with from things he has said.
So, as a gamer who would like to see the best performance out of my gear, and basing my current opinion off of things I have read, please convince me otherwise. I believe, though, most users of Linux feel this way and just want their stuff to work.Bryan R.
Bryan R.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, or $12.50 as seen on eBay.....
Agreed.
By the wording of NVidia's answers I have been left with an overwhelming feeling that any answers from developers have been significantly mangled by their marketing and/or PR department.
Reading the aritcle I was disappointed at how curt they were with answering potential "meaty" developer questions.
What does NVidia wish to achieve with the interview?
Generate interest in their products for future purchase.
Who reads Sharky Extreme?
Hardcore computer users.
Do the responses from the interview generate more (buying) interest in Sharky Extreme readers?
No. I can't speak for all, but I feel Nvidia side-stepped many of the questions and I was un-impressed with the quality of answers.
I love their products, but find their PR representatives doing them a disservice.
Matrox couldn't really be considered to be on par with ATI and nVidia...their G400/G450 design isn't looking so flash compared to the others...open source drivers can buy you only so many warm-fuzzies, when you're getting the FPS crap smacked out of you by your 12 year old next-door neighbour's closed-source driver 64MB GeForce2 Ultra.
We should really be more concerned with the developments of ATI and Matrox. Their 3D drivers are open source and are part of XFree4. NVidia has chosen to ignore DRI and stay closed source.