On Wed, Oct 03, 2001 at 12:57:55AM +0000, David Johnson wrote:
> Take a look at NVIDIA's linux driver website.
> http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=linux Is that confusing to a
> non-technical user or what? Is the average user going to know the
> difference between "Redhat 7.1 SMP Kernel" vs "RedHat 7.1, one CPU,
> uniprocessor kernel" vs "RedHat 7.1, enterprise kernel"? Sorry, but that is
> rediculous.
Indeed. But this isn't the "fault of linux". It happens because nvidia's and
kernel devlopers' ideas on how to do this don't mix.
> If you guys really want to see Linux become a gaming platform go out and
> solve these issues.
I could equally claim "nvidia should solve the issues".
I don't think it is necessary for the manufacturers to develop drivers. A lot
of open source developers would be more than happy to get cool hardware before
it gets officially released, sign a NDA and release a driver when the thing
gets marketed. This has been done and it seems to work. And I am surely more
happy when I sign a NDA with ATI and fix the problems myself than to complain
to nvidia that their drivers crash (although I must confess nvidia is doing
pretty well considered their drivers are closed source).
> Develop the driver infrastructure so that the kinds of things above don't
> happen.
<rant>Turn everything to open-source so that the kinds of things above don't
happen.</rant> Matter of perspective.
> Develop the driver infrastructure that makes it easy for the hardware
> manufacturers to develop drivers and support their users. That is how you
> will take Linux to the next level and make Linux a viable desktop/gaming
> platform.
I would agree to this, but my experience says it is more efficient not to plan
into much details in the beginning, rather try to design a flexible scheme so
you can add new stuff later when need arises. A lot of open-source development
follows this path.
I think this flexibility and ability to adapt is one of the main linux'
strengths and I don't want to kill it in the name of gaming. Sure I want more
linux games, but I want it to be done "the right way" (TM), which means that
there would be a possibility for a normal guy like me to have access to
souce-code to the drivers, even under NDA. I don't think I need source-code to
games, if the manufacturer provides support. If a game crashes and I get
fragged, big deal. But if a driver crashes and the box freezes I'll be very
angry because all the stuff I run at that time gets killed.
Oh no now I've done it again. I should stop this and actually do something
creative :-) So I'm gonna sleep now and will do some programming tomorrow.
> David
Bye,
Peter Surda (Shurdeek) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, ICQ 10236103, +436505122023
--
There's no place like ~
PGP signature
