Proprietary or open source NVidia drivers?

[Bruce Korb]

On 10/13/10 11:50, Greg Woods wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-10-13 at 19:55 +0200, Valent Turkovic wrote:
>> I would like to ask any NVidia Fedora users do you use open source or
>> proprietary NVidia drivers?
> 
> I generally use the proprietary Nvidia drivers.

I *must* use the proprietary driver.

>> Why do you use driver that you use? 
> 
> Because it supports capabilities that the nouveau driver does not, in
> particular VDPAU. The nouveau support for 3D is also spotty at best (or
> was the last time I tried it).

Because it works at all.  I have a dual head  with two 1680x1050 monitors.
The open source stuff that the distros keep trying to install
only light up one monitor at 1280x1024.  Every install I must remember
to squirrel away the config or I'll get to spend countless hours
reconfiguring because the native driver from NVidia is not really supported.

>> What are the benefits and disadvantages to both of them?
> 
> nouveau: it's free software, no restrictions.

No benefit to me at all.  It does not work.

> nvidia: not free (as in speech) but it works better for my needs and is
> at least free (as in lunch).

No need for the "better" qualification at all.

>> If you use proprietary drivers how do you install them? 
> 
> I have always downloaded the pkg.run

It's the only way it can be gotten to work reliably.