On 07/06/2011 03:21 PM, C wrote:

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 20:28, LLLActive@GMX.Net wrote:

...

I seem to have some problems with openSUSE 11.4 and graphics cards. Mine are relatively old nVidia (GeForce GT 220) and ATI's (Radeon X550/ RV370/SapphireX550 Silent).

The nVidia card is suspect, I think an onboard memory problem. It freezes up irregularly. I want to replace it.

[snip]

...

Well, I'm fed up with these cards.

Please suggest the best fully supported Video card for openSuSE 11.4 and other Linux and future versions.

Budget?

I'd stay away from anything called ATI. They are nothing but trouble from the get-go... especially if you want to play a game via Wine (or Crossover) once in a while (ATI are well known not to work well, if at all, with Wine gaming). The proprietary driver is cumbersome (more so than the nVidia one), and they are infamous for dropping Linux driver support for cards that are hardly considered old.

I've got a nVidia GTX260, and it works flawlessly in openSUSE 11.4. The GT 200 is a very slow low end budget OEM card, so def not representative of what decent nVidia cards are capable of.

So... short of it is.. buy a decent nVidia card, and you should (in theory) be trouble-free in Linux.

But with an nVidia card one is for now stuck with the proprietary blob which is not always trouble free either. The open source ATI driver is I think a bit father ahead than the nouveau driver for the nVidia cards. Al, you might want to check with the upstream projects status, http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/GalliumHowto, http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/ATIRadeon. Of course if you do not care about including binary blobs in the kernel nVidia as a good choice. Unfortunately for graphics there are still issues w.r.t. availability of open source drivers. I have three boxes with nVidia cards and it works, but I am not happy about the binary blob and am a bit nervous every time I update the kernel. HTH, Robert

C.

-- Robert Schweikert MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU SUSE-IBM Software Integration Center LINUX Tech Lead rschweikert@suse.com rschweikert@ca.ibm.com 781-464-8147 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 22:15, Felix Miata wrote:

On 2011/07/06 21:21 (GMT+0200) C composed:

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I'd stay away from anything called ATI.

I do sort of the opposite. For me the Intel and ATI FOSS drivers are superior to NV FOSS drivers. I find dependence on proprietary drivers inconsistent with Linux distro philosophy, and an unnecessary complication at installation and update times. I spent money on a NV card for the last time 6-7 years ago. The few I use made since then were free.

ATI is a no-go zone if you want to play games via Wine. If you're only working on your basic desktop applications, then an Intel or lesser video card will do the job... basically any current or even older video card. It's all about what you want to do... and as you also noted.. budget. If you want to get mired down in the whole FLOSS vs blob drivers thing... then... Intel is the easiest route/solution... no futzing about, but the trade-off is a card who's performance is... poor overall. C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 20:28, LLLActive@GMX.Net wrote:

...

I seem to have some problems with openSUSE 11.4 and graphics cards. Mine are relatively old nVidia (GeForce GT 220) and ATI's (Radeon X550/ RV370/SapphireX550 Silent).

The nVidia card is suspect, I think an onboard memory problem. It freezes up irregularly. I want to replace it. [snip]

...

Well, I'm fed up with these cards.

Please suggest the best fully supported Video card for openSuSE 11.4 �and other Linux and future versions.

Budget?

I'd stay away from anything called ATI. They are nothing but trouble from the get-go... especially if you want to play a game via Wine (or Crossover) once in a while (ATI are well known not to work well, if at all, with Wine gaming). I also had some problems - I also tend to nVidia. What happened to cards

On 06/07/11 21:21, C wrote: like Matrox etc. ? All seem to use either nVidia or ATI chips.

The proprietary driver is cumbersome (more so than the nVidia one), and they are infamous for dropping Linux driver support for cards that are hardly considered old.

I've got a nVidia GTX260, and it works flawlessly in openSUSE 11.4. The GT 200 is a very slow low end budget OEM card, so def not representative of what decent nVidia cards are capable of.

So... short of it is.. buy a decent nVidia card, and you should (in theory) be trouble-free in Linux.

C. I see what you mean with budget!

I am looking at something similar to what you have a GTX260 (about 165 Euro - $240) or a "Nvidia Geforce 8600GT Card with 2048MB TC DDR2 * 2GB PCI-Express , DVI, VGA , Direct X 10 , (8600 GT). It has to be 1 slot thick, because other cards are next to the PCIe. Most of the middle size cards are 2-3 slots for the huge heat sinks and fans. I will try it; can return it if it does not work. It cost 60 Euro ($87). I'm not a gamer, but like some power for videos. The openSuSE HCL does not show much on nVidia; the page is in a makeover. I ended up on this page: http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers :-) Al -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On 07/07/11 00:13, C wrote:

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I also had some problems - I also tend to nVidia. What happened to cards like Matrox etc. ? All seem to use either nVidia or ATI chips. You can still find other brands of video cards around, but... there seem to be just three that are "winning" right now in the market - nVidia, ATI and Intel. Intel because it's cheap and easy, especially for laptops and nettops... and the other two in the battle for which is the better high performance card for gaming. The other cards are

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 23:45, LLLActive@GMX.Net wrote: pretty much relegated to niche markets.. hard to find, expensive, and specialized.

...

I am looking at something similar to what you have a GTX260 (about 165 Euro - $240) or a "Nvidia Geforce 8600GT Card with 2048MB I've been using my GTX260 for a couple of years now and it's been trouble free. I blow the dust out of the card every 6 or 8 weeks, and it's been humming along in my main machine (which is on 24x7) without a hiccup. I use it for gaming and for regular desktop stuff. The 8600 and 8800 cards are also excellent... especially considering you are not so into the gaming side.

C. Well, what do you know, I found a very interesting site for ATI here: http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:ATI_drivers

I first installed the 1-click install to get it to work at all. The standard used to be just a blank screen after booting. Once I got it running with the quick and simple 1-click driver, I changed the repo to the one given in the "The Easy Way (GUI)" (linux.ioda.net). I then just installed the fglrx drivers and they replaced the "lesser quality" drivers. Can't say anything yet about the performance, but it looks very good, a top quality display. I'll get the 8600GT on Friday. I will compare then. :-) Al -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Am 07.07.11, 08:27 +0200 schrieb C:

This is my pet peeve with ATI cards. I've got 2 computers with ATI... both are small format bookshelf to nettop size with onboard ATI.. older unsupported ATI (and they do not have enough room/slots to install a new/replacement vid card). They work OK using the FLOSS drivers, but I cannot use the HDMI output on either one... the HDMI out simply doesn't work with the FLOSS and 3D support was not very impressive last time I tried it (I think that was openSUSE11.1 time.. maybe it was 11.0). The cards used to work great when the card was supported by the fglrx binary driver... I had full HDMI, OpenGL... everything was awesome... and then it all went away. There was a looooong set of discussions on this mailing list about ATI and getting the fglrx driver working on newer kernels.

Would a openSUSE version with long term support help with keeping the ATI binary drivers working? kind regards Kai-Uwe Behrmann -- developing for colour management www.behrmann.name + www.oyranos.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org