[GLLUG] Fwd: Linux Accelerated Graphics

[Marr]

On Wednesday 20 October 2010 23:56:02 Charles Ulrich wrote:
> There was a
> time I knew everything about the latest gear coming out... now I have
> to spend a good number of hours getting back up to speed on the
> various CPUs/GPUs/memory every time I need a new machine.

I feel your pain, Charles... I'm in the same boat! There was a GLLUG member 
named Tim Schmidt who gave a great presentation many years ago (at Atmosphere 
Annealing, when GLLUG was meeting there) on the varied CPU tech of the day. I 
really miss presentations like that. Where are you, Tim? :^)

> I'm partial to AMD/ATI because they are at least *trying* to get
> functional open source drivers for their hardware whilst nVidia won't
> raise a finger to help open source developers.

This is why I'd like to start "voting with my wallet" and supporting ATI. I've 
read some random things from time-to-time that make me a little leery about 
buying ATI just yet, but I haven't seriously investigated ATI 
hardware/software quality lately.

>After some googling, I'm left with
> the impression that the ATI's proprietary drivers can be a bit more
> troublesome than nVidia's. I guess I'll find out for myself in the
> near future.

Please keep us posted on your results. I for one would be very interested and 
appreciative.

> Regarding
> video cards, I don't play many games, but it's nice to have the power
> there when I want to fire up a flight sim or some random shooter.

Same here. These days, I really only ever boot Windows to run Microsoft's 
FS2004 flight sim. But when I do, I make a nice 4-head setup -- very realistic 
and therefore immersive, with left/center/right cockpit window views and a 
full-screen GPS (or 'chase plane') view up top. My setup uses 2 nVidia GeForce 
7600GT PCIe cards. I'd really like to be sure a pair of ATI cards could work 
as well. But I'm probably in the wrong forum for that discussion. ;^)

Regards,
Bill Marr