Non-opensource drivers

[Karoliina Salminen]

> > About possible reasons for wanting one but not the other, an example:
> > what if 2D graphics work with the open source driver (and you don't need
> > 3D), but WiFi requires a binary driver?  Some people want to be as pure
> > as practical, but not more pure than that...  ;-)
> >
> >
>
> I myself prefer to use a nice little limit to using proprietary drivers:
> use them if the computer is not usable without them.

Exactly. And on the other hand, Windows->Linux end users don't use
Ubuntu because of ideology but because it is a good operating system.
And if e.g. the 3D or even graphics mode don't work without closed
source drivers and if they are not installed by default, the
Windows-user will go back to Windows right away and flames all over
the place in the Internet that Linux sucks, just because he don't have
the expertise to install them by himself. They don't care other than
if they have a product that works or does not work.

> example: if I boot my computer and the open source graphic driver
> renders it useless, I go on to the closed source driver. But I don't
> setup the closed source driver just for desktop bling's sake. the
> keyword: usability... I'm not gonna use the desktop bling as long as the
> open source drivers don't provide it (though I really would like to use
> it).
>
> anyone booting to Linux will want to see a nicely working system.
> anything more should be left to the user's choice of philosophy. that
> is: set up the working drivers for them, and let them choose if they
> want more at the expense of their (and, well, our) freedom...

I use our living room Linux PC for using with X-plane flight simulator
( http://www.x-plane.com ), the coolest flight simulator out there
which also has a Linux version. The GPU is of course nVidia because
enormous performance is a requirement and not just a recommendation to
use this sim. So it goes like this:
1. no open source driver for my card
2. that sucks ideologically, but no problem, there are many things
that are worse than this
3. ok, no problem, I'll use the binary driver and can use the Linux
for playing the game and don't need to install Windows to run the
Windows-version of the game (which by the way also requires closed
source drivers).
And this is what I have basically done. I don't want to use impaired
product for ideological reasons, I choose my hardware based on the
specifications, e.g. there is a definitive difference if I get 60 fps
or 5 fps in the X-plane - the 5 fps is nowhere near any simulation, it
is a slideshow. So my choice is nVidia and remains as it is, currently
I have only one Geforce 7800 in the watercooled tower with
SLI-motherboard and 64 bit dual core processor, but we are planning
for a 30 inch ultra high res monitor and Geforce 8800. The X-plane is
slow on my current machine and no, even with it I am not getting 60
fps (at the current small 21 inch panel which has only 1600x1200
resolution), it drops below 15 fps now and then, so 2 x Geforce 8800
GTX in SLI would not be any overkill and another issue is that some
Intel graphics hardware with open source drivers can't even compare to
the performance the Geforce provides, so using open source drivers is
out of the question even if it sucks that I need to use the binary
drivers. The difference in my case to an average user is that I can go
and download the binary drivers by myself and setup them by myself
even if they weren't installed by default but a fact is that an
average Joe the Linux-convert would convert back to WIndows if he
couldn't run his X-plane out of the box without some hacking that he
can't do. The choice basically is: 1) keep only open source drivers
and don't provide closed source drivers and continue having Linux as
niche operating system since majority has the freedom to choose
Windows as it works better with their hardware 2) include drivers that
the end users want to use and get wider acceptance for Linux with
sacrificing some of the ideology. Ok, there is option 3: every
hardware manufacturer open sources all their drivers and everybody is
happy. The option 3 is a nice goal, but it is rather utopistic.

Best Wishes
Karoliina Salminen
http://www.karoliinasalminen.com/blog