No subject

>maybe because in the Linux/mythtv world almost everyone has given up =
with
>ATI and by far a majority of nvidia users?
----
>That said, I would certainly love to buy an AMD/ATI video card and use
in->kernel open source drivers, but I don't think they're quite ready.
----
>If you want HW assist Nvidia is only choice.
>If you are doing everything in software (CPU) then others maybe fine.
----
>If you care about Free Software and the philosophy behind it, this is a
>very significant downside.
----
>But as it stands at the moment, you have to decide which is more =
important
>to you. Your philosophical ideals, or your technological needs.
>Personally, I prefer to use Open-Source wherever I can. But when there =
is
>no reasonable alternative, I use Closed-Source products to "bridge the
>gap".
----

These quotes really sum up my position.

I started out building my first MythTV box with ATI after looking at the
impressive specs of the 780G AMD/ATI chip and nearly gave up with Myth
altogether.  The open source drivers were just so basic compared to the
proprietary ones, and even the proprietary ones just didn't work - the
system would lock up randomly.  After 2-3mths, I finally gave in and =
bought
a real cheapo Nvidia card (=A320), doing everything through software, =
and the
machine has been totally different - reliable and something I can be =
proud
of.

I'd love to be using an open source driver, and I don't really care =
whether
it's NVidia/ATI/Intel/whoever.  However (especially with ATI) the open
source drivers aren't anywhere near ready, and from what I remember =
reading
there are two camps of developers who disagree about using the video =
cards
AtomBIOS and so refuse to share data with each other (!).
While this stupidity goes on, I say fair play to NVidia for being unlike =
a
lot of hardware manufacturers by recognising the market in Linux and =
HTPCs
and providing a rock-solid and reliable driver for us to use - and for =
that,
I'm happy to choose their cards by preference.

MG