Re: NVIDEA GeForce2

On Sun, Jan 18, 2004 at 01:01:36PM -0600, Ryan Underwood wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Jan 18, 2004 at 12:52:18PM +0100, Sven Luther wrote:
> > > 
> > > >   Any distribution with XFree86 v4.x or later will work fine with a Geforce 2 
> > > > as long as you use NVIDIA's drivers.  Unfortunately, using NVIDIA's drivers 
> > > > can be more complicated than using a driver that comes with XFree86, but if 
> > > > you want to use 3D-accelerated, OpenGL software then its worth the trouble.
> > > 
> > > The nVIDIA site has instructions on how to install the drivers.  It was
> > > pretty clear and simple to do.  (The instructions on TV-OUT were less
> > > so, however.)
> > 
> > Notice that, from reading debian user mailing list, almost all people
> > complaining about troubles with X, mostly are having trouble with the
> > nvidia proprietary drivers. So saying that they are pretty clear and
> > simple to install is probably very far from the truth.
> 
> Fortunately, though, Debian provides nvidia-glx and nvidia-kernel-source

Yeah, but maybe not for long, since there is a motion going on for
debian to remove its non-free archive.

> to mitigate that problem somewhat.  Unfortunately very few newbies have
> heard of these packages and tend to go directly to NVIDIA's site.

Yeah, but even with the above packages, there is often compatibility
problems. I don't remember the details, but the proprietary drivers not
working, while free driver being ok.

And naturally, Nvidia doesn't build powerpc binaries, despite Apple
shipping many hardware with nvidia chips. I would have been tempted by a
12" powerbook for example, but never will buy it because it has an
unusable nvidia chip (no sleep, no 3D, ...).

Friendly,

Sven Luther