Thats why i ll never buy ATI again

[sapo]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24976

While i m suffering with the poor performance of my 9800pro on my ubuntu... they are "busy" doing this...

to hell ATI!

[Knome_fan]

A company putting more resources into an OS that has about 90% market share than into an OS that still is a niche player when it comes to this company's key market.

How extremely evil...

[sonny]

I love my Nvidia card... although Nvidia doesn't put Linux users as first priority they DO take us into account when it comes to drivers.

[BWF89]

A company putting more resources into an OS that has about 90% market share than into an OS that still is a niche player when it comes to this company's key market.

How extremely evil...
That's what I thought when I read the article.

[sapo]

I love my Nvidia card... although Nvidia doesn't put Linux users as first priority they DO take us into account when it comes to drivers.

i always HAD nvidia... i had the following videocards;

Voodoo 3 - Glade ruled!
geforce 2 MX200
geforce 2 MX400
geforce 4 MX440
geforce 4 TI 4400 ViVo

never had problems with those... but this year i ve bought an 9800pro...

And believe me.. i ve paid the double of the price that i sold my Ti4400, it have the same (or even worst performance on linux) dont have vivo...

So.. i should have stayied with my TI 4400 ](*,)

But this week i m gonna sell this 9800pro and buy i 6600GT.. already decided that... and i ll never buy ati again!

my new pc are gonna be a NF4 ultra Mobo with 6600GT and a A64 Venice :grin:

[asimon]

A company putting more resources into an OS that has about 90% market share than into an OS that still is a niche player when it comes to this company's key market.

How extremely evil...

This is not about evil corporates. It's just that if you use 95% of your time Linux then an ATI card may just not the best choice.

I don't buy ATI cards not because I think ATI is evil (I do not), but because of the pragmatic simple reason that NVIDIA has better Linux support.

[sonny]

my new pc are gonna be a NF4 ultra Mobo with 6600GT and a A64 Venice :grin:
That sound really cool... :grin:

[Knome_fan]

This is not about evil corporates. It's just that if you use 95% of your time Linux then an ATI card may just not the best choice.

I agree, that was exactly my point, however the OP was very emotional about ATI making a bussiness decison.



I don't buy ATI cards not because I think ATI is evil (I do not), but because of the pragmatic simple reason that NVIDIA has better Linux support.
That's exactly what I'm doing, however as you say this has nothing to do with ATI being evil or wishing ATI would go to hell. If they don't support the OS I use or don't support it properly, I won't by their product. Simple economics.

[sapo]

This is not about evil corporates. It's just that if you use 95% of your time Linux then an ATI card may just not the best choice.

I don't buy ATI cards not because I think ATI is evil (I do not), but because of the pragmatic simple reason that NVIDIA has better Linux support.

But i think that for a company as large as ATI that paid millions to support HL2... what would be the cost to hire some programmers JUST to code linux drivers... or the price of those programmers are gonna break the poor and small company? :roll:

[sonny]

But i think that for a company as large as ATI that paid millions to support HL2... what would be the cost to hire some programmers JUST to code linux drivers... or the price of those programmers are gonna break the poor and small company? :roll:
The price is relative low... but it all boils down to: They don't care about Linux users.

[sapo]

The price is relative low... but it all boils down to: They don't care about Linux users.

hehe Thats the point i was trying to get at ;)

[sonny]

hehe Thats the point i was trying to get at ;)
hehehe... :cool:

[BWF89]

Thanks for the advice. I'll never buy a computer with an ATI card that I plan to run Linux or any Un*x system on.

[DJ_Max]

This has been known, or at least somewhat acknowledged that ATI doesn't care too much for Linux.

[az]

The price is relative low... but it all boils down to: They don't care about Linux users.

Er, Nvidia has never released specs, nor open source drivers for their cards. At least ATI have released specs when requested.

You can argue that although Nvidia provide binary drivers, they do not support linux or open source as well as ATI since there is no chance for anyone to create an free and open source driver for Nvidia stuff.

[sapo]

Er, Nvidia has never released specs, nor open source drivers for their cards. At least ATI have released specs when requested.

You can argue that although Nvidia provide binary drivers, they do not support linux or open source as well as ATI since there is no chance for anyone to create an free and open source driver for Nvidia stuff.

But at least they work to improve linux drivers... i bought the card, they dont charge for the drivers... i m happy if it works and have a good performance.. being open source for me isnt the first priority when i buy a VGA, and i DOUBT that someone out there buy a vga card cause it have open source stuff or specs...

[DJ_Max]

ATI releasing specs hasn't made their support for the Linux drivers any better. Nvidia currently provides better drivers, and that it. It doesn't have to be open source, nor does it make it better, as you can see in this case.

[sonny]

But at least they work to improve linux drivers... i bought the card, they dont charge for the drivers... i m happy if it works and have a good performance.. being open source for me isnt the first priority when i buy a VGA, and i DOUBT that someone out there buy a vga card cause it have open source stuff or specs...
Well open source and specs are an important point, perhaps not first but they are surely important, and Azz is right to a point... because although ATI has open source drivers, I don't see any dev making ATI drivers, so there's have to be a limitated license, or ATI would be the preferred video card in the Linux world, when we see it's not.

Nvidia surely doesn't support OS, but they support Linux users, and has done quite more than ATI has at the time.

[poofyhairguy]

A company putting more resources into an OS that has about 90% market share than into an OS that still is a niche player when it comes to this company's key market.

How extremely evil...


Vista has 0% of the market.

I recenty bought a 6600 GT, WAY worth it for Linux.

[Curlydave]

A company putting more resources into an OS that has about 90% market share than into an OS that still is a niche player when it comes to this company's key market.

How extremely evil...

Exactly. No reason to get upset, ATI's doing nothing wrong here. The majority of computer users, and the vast majority of gamers use Windows as their primary OS, so this makes sense for ATI.

[sapo]

Exactly. No reason to get upset, ATI's doing nothing wrong here. The majority of computer users, and the vast majority of gamers use Windows as their primary OS, so this makes sense for ATI.

This can make sense for ATI.. but dont make any sense for me... i ve paid the same price as a windows user for my ATI card.. they didnt give me a discount cause i m not going to use their drivers :roll:

btw.. i ll sell this vga to some windows user and return to nvidia.. and i have a Nforce2 mobo.. the next will be a nforce 4 :-P

[Curlydave]

This can make sense for ATI.. but dont make any sense for me... i ve paid the same price as a windows user for my ATI card.. they didnt give me a discount cause i m not going to use their drivers :roll:

btw.. i ll sell this vga to some windows user and return to nvidia.. and i have a Nforce2 mobo.. the next will be a nforce 4 :-P

I'm also a slightly peeved ATI user. I have an x800 pro which works like a dream in Windows, but blows in Linux. The performance is unnaceptable, and I can't even turn on basic things such as Vsync, Anti-Aliasing and Antistropic Filtering. Sure, I'd love good ATI drivers, but I still understand where ATI is coming from. How many gamers with ATI cards use Linux? A VERY small proportion. Sure you'll see some people here such as you and I, but that's because this is a Linux forum.

[sapo]

I'm also a slightly peeved ATI user. I have an x800 pro which works like a dream in Windows, but blows in Linux. The performance is unnaceptable, and I can't even turn on basic things such as Vsync, Anti-Aliasing and Antistropic Filtering. Sure, I'd love good ATI drivers, but I still understand where ATI is coming from. How many gamers with ATI cards use Linux? A VERY small proportion. Sure you'll see some people here such as you and I, but that's because this is a Linux forum.

Think about..

An ATI happy customer tells his friends that ATI is good and maybe some of them are gonna buy an ATI..

But an unhappy customer (thats me) are gonna scream to the whole world "ATI SUX"...

Btw.. thats a small proportion.. they can just ignore me.. but i ll make sure to not recommend ATI to anyone.. cause i m evil :-x

[Curlydave]

Think about..

An ATI happy customer tells his friends that ATI is good and maybe some of them are gonna buy an ATI..

But an unhappy customer (thats me) are gonna scream to the whole world "ATI SUX"...

Btw.. thats a small proportion.. they can just ignore me.. but i ll make sure to not recommend ATI to anyone.. cause i m evil :-x

Fair enough.

[az]

Nvidia surely doesn't support OS, but they support Linux users, and has done quite more than ATI has at the time.


And if the wind changes tomorrow and Nvidia get sold/bought/merged and the linux driver guy gets fired, every single linux user with an Nvidia card will be stuck using the 2.6.12 kernel until someone reverse engineers the card and provides drivers half as good as the DRI ones for ATI.

The wind does not always blow in the same direction.

[poofyhairguy]

And if the wind changes tomorrow and Nvidia get sold/bought/merged and the linux driver guy gets fired, every single linux user with an Nvidia card will be stuck using the 2.6.12 kernel until someone reverse engineers the card and provides drivers half as good as the DRI ones for ATI.


False. The free nvidia drivers are not that bad. Not as good as the best OSS ATI drivers, but the most modern ATI card with open specs is a weak 9200.

If Nvidia went away, the momentum towards Nvidia in the community (more people have those cards because of compatibility) would drive the free project.

Just like whats happening with the new OSS ATI drivers (for cards newer than 9200).

[Curlydave]

One thing I need to mention: It should be more widely adveratised that ATI cards have crappy Linux drivers. I had a choice of getting a 6800GT or an X800pro. I went with the x800 because it came out a little sooner. It's a great card in windows, but I didn't forsee getting Linux in the future. If I had known this, then I definitely would have gotten the nvidia.

[az]

False. The free nvidia drivers are not that bad. Not as good as the best OSS ATI drivers, but the most modern ATI card with open specs is a weak 9200.

If Nvidia went away, the momentum towards Nvidia in the community (more people have those cards because of compatibility) would drive the free project.

Just like whats happening with the new OSS ATI drivers (for cards newer than 9200).


There is no hardware acceleration in the free "nv" X driver. How long do you think it would take the ocmmunity to come up with something that could drive the card's 3d capabilities?
All I am saying is that in the time it would take to develop, everybody would be stuck using an old kernel so that they could make use of the old binary dirver.