Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

Hi,

I'm looking at getting a video card, and I want to know what video card
that has 3D acceleration to get. Normally I'd ask on -users but as the
subject says I want to know what video cards will still have
acceleration when the non-free firmware is removed from the kernel,
which is supposed to happen for squeeze.

I had heard that the ATI cards, which would normally be my first
choice, have non-free firmware in the driver, which may be removed. Is
this true, and if so what accelerated cards will have have acceleration
once non-free firmware is removed.

I can delay purchase (easily), if the answer to this is not yet known.

Thanks,

Daniel

P.S. I *am* subscribed to the list but would appreciated CC's anyway.

--
And that's my crabbing done for the day. Got it out of the way early,
now I have the rest of the afternoon to sniff fragrant tea-roses or
strangle cute bunnies or something. -- Michael Devore
GnuPG Key Fingerprint 86 F5 81 A5 D4 2E 1F 1C http://gnupg.org

Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

On Wed, 2009-02-25 at 16:28 -0500, Daniel Dickinson wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking at getting a video card, and I want to know what video card
> that has 3D acceleration to get. Normally I'd ask on -users but as the
> subject says I want to know what video cards will still have
> acceleration when the non-free firmware is removed from the kernel,
> which is supposed to happen for squeeze.
>
> I had heard that the ATI cards, which would normally be my first
> choice, have non-free firmware in the driver, which may be removed. Is
> this true, and if so what accelerated cards will have have acceleration
> once non-free firmware is removed.
>
> I can delay purchase (easily), if the answer to this is not yet known.

The kernel team has separated out the radeon firmware as part of the
firmware-nonfree package in non-free. So, if you run with non-free
enabled and install the firmware-nonfree package, radeon cards will
continue to behave as expected.

William

Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:28:39 -0500
Daniel Dickinson <cshore@bmts.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm looking at getting a video card, and I want to know what video
> card that has 3D acceleration to get. Normally I'd ask on -users but
> as the subject says I want to know what video cards will still have
> acceleration when the non-free firmware is removed from the kernel,
> which is supposed to happen for squeeze.
>
> I had heard that the ATI cards, which would normally be my first
> choice, have non-free firmware in the driver, which may be removed.
> Is this true, and if so what accelerated cards will have have
> acceleration once non-free firmware is removed.

Development of open source drivers is moving quite fast these days. So
I would expect decent 3D acceleration in open source drivers at the
time Squeeze is release. Best to ask on xorg@lists.freedesktop.org.

Cheers,
harry

Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

On Wed, 2009-02-25 at 16:28 -0500, Daniel Dickinson wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking at getting a video card, and I want to know what video card
> that has 3D acceleration to get. Normally I'd ask on -users but as the
> subject says I want to know what video cards will still have
> acceleration when the non-free firmware is removed from the kernel,
> which is supposed to happen for squeeze.
>
> I had heard that the ATI cards, which would normally be my first
> choice, have non-free firmware in the driver, which may be removed. Is
> this true, and if so what accelerated cards will have have acceleration
> once non-free firmware is removed.
[...]

The firmware used for 3D acceleration in the r128 (ATI Rage 128), radeon
(ATI Radeon) and mga (Matrox G200/G400/G550) drivers is non-free and
will be moved from the linux-image packages into a new firmware-linux
package starting with Linux 2.6.29.

The free drivers for Intel and Nvidia graphics hardware should support
3D acceleration without the need for non-free firmware. I'm not sure
that any of the free graphics drivers have great 3D performance though.

Ben.

Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

On Mar 10, Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> wrote:

> The firmware used for 3D acceleration in the r128 (ATI Rage 128), radeon
> (ATI Radeon) and mga (Matrox G200/G400/G550) drivers is non-free and
> will be moved from the linux-image packages into a new firmware-linux
> package starting with Linux 2.6.29.
Do you know about any 3D card having a free firmware? Because I know
none.
The difference is that these cards do not waste on-board flash for it
and have it uploaded by the host.

> The free drivers for Intel and Nvidia graphics hardware should support
> 3D acceleration without the need for non-free firmware. I'm not sure
I am quite sure that this is not correct.

--
ciao,
Marco

Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

On Tue, 2009-03-10 at 08:46 +0100, Marco d'Itri wrote:
> On Mar 10, Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > The firmware used for 3D acceleration in the r128 (ATI Rage 128), radeon
> > (ATI Radeon) and mga (Matrox G200/G400/G550) drivers is non-free and
> > will be moved from the linux-image packages into a new firmware-linux
> > package starting with Linux 2.6.29.
> Do you know about any 3D card having a free firmware? Because I know
> none.
> The difference is that these cards do not waste on-board flash for it
> and have it uploaded by the host.
>
> > The free drivers for Intel and Nvidia graphics hardware should support
> > 3D acceleration without the need for non-free firmware. I'm not sure
> I am quite sure that this is not correct.

Indeed it is not correct.
I can't speak for ATI(AMD) or Intel (I believe Intels are free but
unsure about 3D).
I can, however, speak for Nvidia. There is a long history of
non-cooperation between NVidia and the Free Software community.
Currently there is a Free implementation of a driver for NVidia cards
called "nv"[1] which only supports rendering 2D. However the
"Nouveau"[2] is a Free implementation for 3D support for some cards.

[1]: http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/nv
[2]: http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/


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Started: Tue Mar 10 18:54:50 EST 2009

Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

On Mar 10, James Collier <james.collier412@gmail.com> wrote:

> Currently there is a Free implementation of a driver for NVidia cards
This is not relevant, we are not discussing drivers.

> /************************************************** *********************
Please try to keep your .signature to a sensible size.

--
ciao,
Marco

Accelerated video cards and non-free firmware
 

On Tue, 2009-03-10 at 08:46 +0100, Marco d'Itri wrote:
> On Mar 10, Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > The firmware used for 3D acceleration in the r128 (ATI Rage 128), radeon
> > (ATI Radeon) and mga (Matrox G200/G400/G550) drivers is non-free and
> > will be moved from the linux-image packages into a new firmware-linux
> > package starting with Linux 2.6.29.
> Do you know about any 3D card having a free firmware? Because I know
> none.
> The difference is that these cards do not waste on-board flash for it
> and have it uploaded by the host.
[...]

Yes, that's what I meant.

Ben.