On 07/04/10 08:38, Jon Farmer wrote: > Hi > > I have been asked by a charity I work with to recommend some new PC to > replace some of their older machines. They are keen to give Ubuntu a try > after hearing me evangelize about it. > > I am looking for the install process to go as smooth as possible and the > one area I am unsure of is the video display card. So can anyone > recommend a card that will work out of the box. I am looking for 3D > acceleration.
If it just for the Compiz effects and user interface then almost any modern chipset should work just fine and "out-of-the-box". There are (were) some issues with one of the intel chipsets (gma950?) but I am not sure if that has been fixed. My personal experience has been with Nvidia mainly. And although the driver is binary and closed source, they do, at least, seem to update it regularly and it generally *just works*. ATI have been making big moves toward supporting linux and also open sourcing much of the driver code. They just recently announced a new driver that will support the brand new OpenGL 4.0 specification simultaneously across Windows and Linux. The long and short is that for most modern systems with a built-in GPU you should be just fine. It might be worth just posting a link to a machine you like of just so anyone can comment and in case there is a "gotcha". You might want to recommend some of the newer ION based systems using the Intel Atom Dual Core processor and Nvidia embedded GPU. These are just fine for "normal" desktop use and use much less power than traditional PC h/w so will save the charity a shedload in running costs over the years. HTH Alan -- The Open Learning Centre http://www.theopenlearningcentre.com -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
