On Sunday 25 February 2001 07:42, Zeljko Vukman wrote:
> I am wondering if Mandrake 8.0 will include driver for Matrox Millenium 450
> dual head graphic card? Or is it XFree problem?
> Driver for Linux can be downloaded from Matrox site.
It's not an XFree problem. Matrox explicitely gives permission to
distributors like Mandrake to ship the driver. However, Mandrake has a
policy to not ship binary drivers.
I raised this issue a few months back when I got my new system with the G450
card and the response was less than satisfactory...
The bottom line is that people with these cards get screwed. Users like you
and me that are experienced (or we shouldn't be playing with Cooker in the
first place) are ok since we know to go get the driver. Those that aren't
that savvy should not use Mandrake since they'll basically have an unusable
system with the stock driver and Mandrake refuses to ship a working driver.
To make matters worse, if you do install the driver yourself and then do an
upgrade to XFree, your driver will be overwritten and the hang is so severe
that you can do nothing but power off - you can't switch to an alternate
console of use any of the wonderful contorted keystrokes to exit X. You
better not be in run level 5 in inittab or you'll be really, really screwed
unless you're an expert and able to go through a recovery.
I find it amazing that Mandrake will ship Netscape, binary only, when there
is a good GPL alternative (Konqueror) but will not ship a freely
distributable binary-only driver for which there is no alternative short of
replacing the hardware.
--
Ed Wilts, Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
