[Cialug] Buying a new PC

[Daniel A. Ramaley]

I just recently built a new machine to replace my 9-year old former 
machine. I put nVidia in it and so far have not been disappointed with 
that choice in any way other than the slightly dirty feeling i get when 
running proprietary software. But, i am hoping to make this machine 
last nearly as long as my previous one. And somehow i doubt nVidia is 
going to keep their driver working with the latest Linux kernel for 8 
or 9 years. So, i'm really hoping that in the next 2-3 years either 
Intel releases a standalone graphics card (currently Intel is only 
available built-in to the motherboard) or ATI finishes opening up. Some 
ATI documentation has been released, but there is hopefully more to 
come. If Intel or ATI have an open solution on the market before the 
bus technology that my motherboard uses becomes too obsolete to find 
anything to plug into it, then i'll replace the graphics card. I 
suppose it is always possible nVidia will open up too, but i am less 
hopeful for that possibility.

On Monday 01 October 2007 10:40, Brandon Griffis wrote:
>As was said.  Intel currently provides the best support.  However,
> they also don't have a common comparable card to nVidia or ATI (IMO).
>  nVidia still writes propritary drivers for their cards, and they
> *mostly* work (some cards still report the wrong refresh rate to
> xorg).  I have all nVidia and until 2 weeks ago would have said
> nVidia hands down, but I have also heard that ATI is planning to
> completely open their spec (which could lead to much better open
> source drivers for their cards in the near future).  Honestly though,
> until that actually happens I'd probably still recommend nVidia.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Ramaley                            Dial Center 118, Drake University
Network Programmer/Analyst             2407 Carpenter Ave
+1 515 271-4540                        Des Moines IA 50311 USA