NVidia or ATI - which has better Linux support?

Tue Aug 30 18:10:36 UTC 2005

On Tue, Aug 30, 2005 at 10:52:29AM -0400, Steve wrote:
> A friend of mine is looking at getting a new computer, so I'm trying
> to help him make some choices. So far he is still using windows, but I
> suspect (hope) he'll cross over to Linux in the near future.
> 
> In selecting hardware, I want to recommend things that are
> "Linux-friendly". Specifically for video... I use an Nvidia chipset
> AGP card and find it has great Linux compatibility/support. I do not
> know much about ATI anymore though, as I don't use ATI cards anymore.

ATI's drivers are no where near the quality of the nvidia drivers, and
support for new cards can be a long time in coming (nvidia will tend to
release new linux drivers at the same time as the windows drivers with
support for all their cards, including mobile chips, which ati just
about refuses to support at all).  Nvidia even has drivers all the way
back to win98 for all their cards (including new ones).  Win95 driver is
limited to the GF6 generation last I checked.

> This person is not into 3D-gaming so he does not require the fastest
> 3D accelerated video. However I'm pretty sure he would require Video
> In, Video Out (VIVO) as he has a camcorder as well as being a big
> movie fan.

I don't have much experience with video in/out.  I am quite sure the
nvidia drivers support output.  No idea about input.  Must people that
want video in tend to get a bt484/878 based card or one of the
PVR250/350 series cards with the ivtv chip on them.

> Can anyone give me any impressions of NVidia vs. ATI cards with these
> features in Linux? As well, any observations of which company seems to
> be more committed to Linux?

Well I know I won't be buying and ati card for a long time if I can help
it.  Maybe some day when they support all their chips in their drivers
AND they write reliable drivers, I will consider it.  I am still bitter
about the Rage II/Win 98 driver fiasco.

Lennart Sorensen
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