ubuntu-x-swat team mailing list archive

[Geoffrey Morrison <gbmorrison@xxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Bryce! I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 for everything now. It's more
compatible than 8.10, and, especially, 9.04 (a disappointment). It's OK
to close this bug report--I've moved "onward and upward." (Hardware
improvements necessitate OS upgrades. I really prefer the newest
upgrades--given that drivers work well.) I've noted this: I likely could
have gotten functionality, given the right collection of settings from
the installation menu and in the BIOS. 

(You may have noted this, Bryce. Concerning the clunky BIOS: Mainboard
mfrs. are mulling over whether to keep the familiar 16-bit BIOS opposed
to better 64-bit (?) firmware which incorporates far better driver
capability--before the OS boots. Of course, Apple loves this and has
already implemented it; many other hardware manufacturers and vendors
like the idea, too (it offers a common platform for which to write
OS-independent drivers). I think the proposed new firmware would be more
easily and safely upgradeable. As for myself, I indicated strong assent
on the relevant Tom's Hardware forum thread--I explained to gamers and
other "Windows heavy hitters" the frustration of driver incompatibility
in MAC and Unix-based PCs (a major reason why Steve Jobs and Apple were
pushing this). Gamers generally don't like the new firmware idea--they
bring up the familiar, tired old saw of "If it ain't broke, don't fix
it." And, they don't desire to look up new settings and features.) 

As for Linux, I did note that ATi (and likely nVidia) won't allow
install of newer releases of fglrx for newer distros with familiar
legacy AGP video cards (say Radeon 9800XT, 9600XT, etc.). This mimics
the driver policy concerning Windows releases. Of course, I'm aware that
this doesn't concern you since you work for open source. I imagine that
the open source drivers for such cards are far more functional than they
used to be. Fglrx may no longer be essential in such cases. 

Currently, I'm not using my legacy nVidia cards for anything. Other than
Radeon-card "satellite" systems, I am using a VIA C7 system (with
onboard unichrome) for my office sys--this works "like a champ" for
office functions and decent surfing--and, all without proprietary
drivers! 

(The mini-ITX board from VIA/AMD (Geode) was intended to be compatible
with unix/Linux. VIA really preferred that such users use unix/Linux
instead of Windows--less overhead, "baggage," etc.=improved
performance--less complaints! As an added bonus, builders could use such
systems with super-efficient DC power supplies (these are very similar
to familiar rectifier blocks with an added 20-pin mainboard connection)
for "green" PCs and for 12V in cars. Currently, such silent (and,
solid-state) power supplies still are likely limited to 90W or so. One
can't run dual-core with that; so, gamers can't achieve their dream of a
"green Swiss-Army knife" systems with such power limitations. 

Later, I was on a forum intended for heavy-hitter African-American PC
users--they called the board "S__tty." After I mentioned that the board
could be easily configured for DC power in a car or truck--suddenly,
others on the forum thread became "shocked"--motionless and silent! (I
think they thought that the board was only intended for HTPC.)) 

Thanks again, Bryce!

On Tue, 2010-02-23 at 05:04 +0000, Bryce Harrington wrote:
> Thank you for reporting this issue about xserver-xorg-video-nv. Starting
> with Lucid, Ubuntu is transitioning to using the -nouveau video driver
> by default instead of -nv. The reason for this change is because
> upstream development for the -nv driver has been quite slow.  We are
> quite pleased with the upstream development speed for -nouveau, and hope
> this will translate into swifter bug fixes as well.
> 
> Because of this, I'm closing this bug report at this time. I'm marking
> it wontfix because what you describe is probably a valid issue, but we
> do not have further plans to work on it in Ubuntu. If you would still like
> to see this issue investigated, I would encourage you to file it
> upstream at http://bugs.freedesktop.org/.
> 
> 
> ** Changed in: xserver-xorg-video-nv (Ubuntu)
>        Status: Confirmed => Won't Fix
>

-- 
Installed 9.04 over 8.10--X fails--gives garbage for (AGP bus) ATi or Blank for NV. Xorg.conf can not init correctly.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/370890
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