[ILUG] [comp.os.linux.hardware] Graphics card fully supported by Open Source drivers!

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Conor Wynne (weeboy at conorwynne.com):

> "almost all users" obviously does not include gamers. 

I absolutely agree.  Thank you for making my point for me.  

3D gamers and a small contingent of people doing certain sorts of
scientific imaging really do need 3D for what they do -- complete with
loudmouthed demands that only the newest, shiniest, and fastest could
possibly do -- but you would think from the incredible amount of noise
they make on Linux forums that they were incredibly numerous and their
desires vital to the well-being of Linux.  And of course neither is the
case.

> When I am buying a card, I really couldn't care less what the 2D perf
> is like, they are pretty much all the same these days.

And there, of course, you have the traditional, all-powerful gamer
myopia:  The cards you favour have pretty terrible image quality
compared to an actually _good_ card, but they have high frame rates 
at high bit densities, which is all you care about.

> Matrox cards are pants for 3D games.

Et voila.  Case in point.  Thank you again for so ideally illustrating
my point.

> But as gamers will be (primarily) home users, I dont think that
> argument works in this scenario. 

Guess what?  Kernelspace bugs and unmaintainable systems don't notice
what type of building they're in.  

Or, if you're saying I don't deserve a long-term reliable and
maintainable system in my house, you're simply mistaken.

> In a production environment,...

Pretty much all of my environments are production environments.  Your
mileage may differ.

> And how does the riva280 perform in 1280*1024*32bit*24bit and full
> details in the latest 3D games? Thats a question, I would like to know
> as I am planning to buy a new card for chrimbo.

Given that you have special needs and share their interests (as I most
certainly do not), I'd suggest you go ask the DRI people.
http://dri.sourceforge.net/

> What card should I go for? 

I'm sorry, do I _look_ like a consumer electronics buyers' guide?  Did I
volunteer to give you free personal product advice that you could then,
at your option, either summarily ignore or follow and then complain
about?  Make up your own damn mind.

-- 
Cheers,     Founding member of the Hyphenation Society, a grassroots-based, 
Rick Moen   not-for-profit, locally-owned-and-operated, cooperatively-managed,
rick at linuxmafia.com     modern-American-English-usage-improvement association.