Re: HARDWARE: Open-Source-Friendly Graphics Cards -- Viable?

[David Lang]

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004, Timothy Miller wrote:

> Sure, SOME companies release specs so that we can develop 
> open source drivers, but those cards tend to be prohibitively expensive, 
> slower than their cheaper counterparts from ATI or nVidia...

Tim, I think this is the key problem. with the current ATI/nVidia cards 
beign in the $50 range (with other cards on the market for as low as 
$30) are you really going to be able to come up with a card that's price 
competitive? (completely ignoring the performance question)

as for your other question of if an open approach could be viable (after 
all nobody does it today so doesn't that proove it isn't)

this is where there is a significant disagreement. the Linux folks think 
that such openess would be very viable and the companies are just pursuing 
a legacy approach, but the companies are scared to open things up becouse 
they don't believe that they would remain viable.

since nobody has done this yet (for video cards anyeay) there is no proof 
one way or the other.

David Lang

--
There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.
 -- C.A.R. Hoare
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