Quoting Liam Bedford (lbedford at lbedford.org):
> It's getting pretty hard to get a machine without needing proprietary
> drivers to enable full
> functionality at this point:
> radeon 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
> nvidia (anything)
I think not. My recollection is that XFree96 4.3.0 supports these for
2D (regular video) just fine. All the yelling and screaming is from the
MS-Windows-fixated 3D gaming wankers.
> winmodems
If present, ignore them. After all, that cruddy hunk of
semiconductor-doped plastic cost only about 1 Euro and change.
Above and beyond that, if you need a modem, buy a real one.
> wireless cards
If winmodem-like and built into the motherboard (Centrino, Atheros),
then see my comment about "winmodems", supra.
> proper chipset/processor speed stepping support etc (though at least
> most of those are open, and you don't need the centrino binary only
> module).
Yes, and, if not, the functionality is non-essential.
> I'm not entirely sure that's all the truth. How do you deal with
> hardware/software like the madwifi stuff which claims there's no FCC
> approval if they don't obfuscate some of the code?
In the short term, don't buy them. In the longer term, tell the FCC to
get stuffed. ;->
> I know Paul Jakma has been vociferous about non-free video drivers..
> but I wonder how one is supposed to act?
Well, I buy video cards for Linux boxen based in part on their open-source
driver support status. Works for Me.<tm>
> I have two options if I want to play Unreal Tournament 2004 on my laptop:
> use proprietary drivers
> use windows
I'm not a gamer, but, if I were, I perhaps naively would expect that
dedicated gaming systems (e.g., Playstation 2) are an order of magnitude
better, anyway. I expect my computer to do computing. I don't mind
that it's not a good 3D-gaming box any more than I mind it being almost
entirely useless for slicing bread. (There's that sharp edge in the
back, though.)
--
Cheers,
Rick Moen This space for rant.
rick at linuxmafia.com
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