Non-free drivers (Re: Invitation to ubuntu developers)

[Tim Schmidt]

On 11/29/06, Matt Zimmerman <mdz at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> The drivers in question are installed by default, and have been since the
> very first release of Ubuntu.  The change under discussion is configuring
> the X server to use (one of) them by default.

Really?  According to the Ubuntu Guide for Edgy
(http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy#How_to_install_Graphics_Driver_.28NVIDIA.29),
you have to install nvidia-glx and nvidia-kernel-common before using
Nvidia's driver.  Sure sounds like it's not installed by default yet.

> I'm not presenting my own position on this, only clarifying the facts of the
> situation.  There is a very specific decision under discussion here, and it
> involves the interpretation of the language we've just discussed, and the
> selection of installed drivers to use by default.

Good.  Easy to do.  Install Free drivers by default, make non-free
ones super-easy to install (common customizations?).

Upstream will be happy, half the userbase will be happy, and the other
half should be happier than they have been.  The alternative is two
out of the three groups ending up less than happy.

--tim