[off topic(slightly)] New hardware compatibility

[Mike A. Harris]

Fulko.Hew at sita.aero wrote:
> Although slightly off topic, who best to comment on new hardware
> compatibility, than new software testers!
> 
> I need to buy a new, replacement laptop and am looking at the
> Dell Inspiron 9400.  But I'm concerned with the compatibility/driver
> issues especially w.r.t the video and audio support.
> 
> For video, this machine can have either the onboard Intel 950,
> ATI x1400, or NVidia GeoForce Go 7900 GS at resolutions of either
> 1920x1080 or 1680x1050.
> 
> Does Xorg therefore FC6 drive these resolutions on these video chips?

The ATI x1x00 chips do not have native open source driver support,
so one must either use the proprietary ATI driver, or the 'vesa'
driver.  Not sure about the Nvidia card.

Intel onboard graphics is the way to go nowadays if you want to use
open source drivers with a reasonably full feature set, which are
supported by both the hardware vendor and the OS vendor, and have
future commitment as well.  Intel has even recently created a new
website just for Linux video support.




-- 
Mike A. Harris * Open Source Advocate * http://mharris.ca

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