[wplug] Nvidia vs. ????

Robert E. Coutch robert.coutch at verizon.net
Mon Sep 20 21:40:02 EDT 2004


The problem is the desktop freezing at random times.
I can still ssh into the machine and restart X.

I've been to several Linux forums as well as Nvidia's and Giga-byte's 
websites. Not to mention googling.

I've messed with BIOS settings, kernel boot options, kernel modules and 
XF86Config for several weeks now.

I didn't want to bore you all with my story.

I'm running SuSE 9.1 with kernel 2.6.5-7.108-default.
The motherboard is a Giga-byte 7VT600-RZ with 4/8x AGP slot.
The video card is a PNY GeForce 4 MX 420 AGP (Nvidia).

I'm down to my last 3 options now.

1 - Reinstalling the latest Nvidia driver one last time ( I just did this 
tonight).

2 - See what happens with another Distro (Fedora Core 2, Mandrake 10, etc)

3 - Purchase an ATI 9200 card and use the open source 2D/3D drivers and hope 
for the best.

On Monday 20 September 2004 04:53 pm, Carl Benedict wrote:
> What exactly is the problem?  What kernel version are you running?
>
> I use the proprietary NVIDIA drivers.  Although I don't like to do that,
> it seems to be the best option in some cases for getting full
> functionality out of your hardware.  It's hard to play ET/UT2K4/Doom3
> without these drivers.  I am running a GeForce FX 5200, which I believe
> is newer than your card, so your MX420 should be supported.
>
> <OPINION!>
> The X drivers will ALWAYS be behind the proprietary drivers unless (1)
> hardware vendors embrace open-source and release their source/specs to
> the OSS community. or (2) some really talented folks gobble up new
> hardware for the sole purpose of creating OSS drivers and do so very
> well.
>
> The 2d support in the X "nv" driver seems very solid.  If I did not want
> to use hardware acceleration and other hardware-specific features for my
> card, I would simply use that driver.  My experience has been that the
> OSS drivers that claim to have hardware acceleration and other
> functionality are still behind the proprietary drivers, which would only
> make sense.  I don't think an OSS driver would meet my requirements for
> speed for 3d-related things (at least not yet).
>
> YMMV
> </OPINION!>


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