Slashdot Mirror
S3 Graphics Responds About Linux Support
V!NCENT writes "Phoronix has an update on S3's Linux driver state: 'We are doing an internal build of the Chrome 500 Linux driver to incorporate some of the additional hardware features and upgrades (over the Chrome 400 Series GPUs). If you want to test the Linux now, the Chrome 400 Series drivers also support the Chrome 500 Series since it is a unified driver architecture.'" (This after the beef that Phoronix raised about S3's failure to deliver on promises of better Linux support for the 500 series.)
as Bruce Perens famously said at Linux SF Con 2006, Linux is only free if your time has no value
Three years is a long time in computing years. Too bad you're missing out on everything linux has to offer nowadays. Enjoy your vendor lock-in, and don't forget, Microsoft wants you to pay the tax again in a year or so.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
These days, its sad if a hardware manufacturer doesn't support Linux. There are plenty of people literally begging for the specs of hardware so they can write clean, proper and free Linux drivers. If you are going to make low-end hardware as S3 does, you better make sure that Linux compatibility is one of the first things on you list.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
God I get really angry sometimes at comments like this. People assume that their own experiences are all that counts.
My experiences:
* My Intel X3100 (965GM) graphics chipset runs faster and supports OpenGL 2 in Windows instead of running far slower and only OpenGL 1.4 in Linux. So, it's faster and more capable. I can even do things like force aspect ration when running at a lower resolution, something I can't do with these drivers in Linux.
* My old Canon inkjet printer provides more information in Windows. I can bring up a window showing the ink levels so I can have a rough estimate as to when I should go out to get more cartridges. I can also force a manual clean of the heads if necessary, something I cannot do with the generic drivers in Linux.
* My Realtek HD audio audio chipset has a really dodgy volume ramp-up in Linux. From about 0% to 50% it is fairly steady, but quiet. From 50% onwards it seems to change the amount of volume that is increased per each percentage tick. It's not linear. Very annoying since I end up lacking the fine-grained volume control that I can get with the drivers in Windows. A change in a volume tick in Windows at the higher levels is subtle, but in Linux it's much more noticeable. Might not sound like a big issue but it is when the volume doesn't work like your brain thinks it should!
* My webcam in Windows has additional controls such as horizontal mirroring of the image, automatic gain control, etc. I am not presented with such functions in Linux due to the primitive development of webcam drivers.
So in short - if you ignore what DOESN'T work very well in Linux, well then no wonder a lot of people try it, find it lacking and go back to Windows. Things will never improve in ignorance.