radeon driver heading in wrong direction :-(.

[Kevin Kofler]

Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> Suppose I am a newbie for computers, and I decided to buy the
> latest&greatest in available hardware

Then you're already making a mistake. The latest hardware isn't always the 
best. Especially not when it comes to driver support. It's just a big waste 
of money.

> So when I get to choose a graphics card for my new shiny desktop machine,
> which of the two do you recommend to work better in Fedora?
> 
> (1) ATI Radeon HD 5970, or
> (2) nVidia Quadro FX 5800

Neither. They're both complete "no go"s.

> There are no open source 3D drivers for either of these two cards, right?

Right, thus they are both not an option.

> Ok, now go back and reread my initial comment above. I still don't
> understand recommending ATI.

I don't recommend just "ATI", I recommend ATI <= Radeon HD 4xxx. Or Intel 
GMA integrated graphics (except the Poulsbo/GMA500, but that one isn't 
likely to end up in desktops anyway, it's a netbook chip) if you're getting 
a new motherboard anyway.

> So, which of the two vendors supports its hardware better for Linux
> platforms? Mind you, I did not say "supports open source cause and free as
> in speech stuff", i said "supports its *hardware*".

"Supporting" hardware with binary-only proprietary drivers is not (properly) 
supporting the hardware under GNU/Linux, a Free Software operating system.

> And where are the specs for the card (1) above? Where is that famous Free
> as in speech support from ATI when it comes down to non-obsolete hardware
> like that? They are just a bunch of hypocrites who claim to support the
> whole "Free" idea, but only when their technology secrets become obsolete.
> And you are falling for that, and persuading others to follow.

I'm not, I recommend Intel above ATI. But ATI is still worlds better than 
NVidia! There's a wide range of models already having working 3D support in 
Free Software, thanks to specs having been released. NVidia didn't release 
ANY specs to the Nouveau project, not even for their "legacy" models they 
won't even support with current drivers anymore (just with poorly-maintained 
"legacy" branches which lag behind in support for current kernel and X.Org 
versions and which will never get features like support for the latest 
XRandR specs which are required to work properly in modern KDE).
 
> You are basically listing hardware that is either inferior in performance
> or is going to become obsolete in a year.

Hardware which also saves you money, it's certainly much less expensive than 
the "latest&greatest" (which is actually not that great as it requires 
proprietary drivers)!

        Kevin Kofler