“Pete’s Open Source Journal on Driver Heaven, said that it has been five months since products have been released, but ATI is still unable to supply Linux drivers for the products.”
Thank you Pete! I’m glad this is making news. I realized this sad fact back a couple years ago when I was first getting into Linux. ATI just has crappy Linux drivers.
After reading the Digg discussion, I can see people just don’t really get it. Yes, Linux is 5% (or less depending on how you count) of the desktop market. But as Pete said. Linux users aren’t usually your average computer user. They’re the power users, server administrators, network administrators, etc. They may only be 5% of desktop users, but they’re arguably the most important and have a larger sphere of influence when it comes to purchasing decisions.
Think about it. Say I’m an IT manager at a company and we just got the budget to buy new laptops for our department. Yay! Chances are, we’re going to use Linux somewhere in our company and while Windows to Linux connectivity isn’t that bad, Linux to Linux is still better. What laptop am I going to choose, the ATI one or the nVidia one? Unless I get a screaming deal on something else, probably nVidia. You might say well that’s just an example. But I know
I saw the arguement that since Linux doesn’t run any CAD or 3D games, ATI doesn’t need to care. It doesn’t matter that I wouldn’t be running any 3D apps in this type of setting because ATI’s current Linux drivers don’t support nonstandard resolutions. Most laptops today have widescreen panels with, you guessed it, non-standard resolutions.
Think about this from a developers standpoint. Would I develop an app or a game for Linux knowing full well all my ATI users are going to have sub-par performance? No way! Of course some do, thankfully (Unreal Tournament, I’m looking at you).
This goes beyond just supporting Linux gaming though. What’s holding people back from converting to Linux completely? Software/Drivers is #1. People want their games and office and productivity and they really don’t care what OS it runs on, just that they can use it. It’s the same as TV shows. People don’t care what network they’re on, they just want to watch their shows. If ATI offered a decent Linux driver, that’s one less hurdle people have to overcome. nVidia somehow does it and does it well, why can’t ATI? Pete mentions in his article that if they cared, they could even make Linux drivers a bragging point.
I hope this article and bloggers like myself light a fire under ATI’s butt because I think they are just as capable of making a Linux driver as nVidia is. And it’s just one more piece of the Linux desktop puzzle.
You are so right. I had been a fan of ATI products, ever since I switched to Linux (~6-7 years ago) I found out very quickly that the ATI drivers didn’t work. Since then, I’ve chosen not to voluntarily buy an ATI card (one exception: my IBM Thinkpad has an ATI Radeon Mobility).
Anyway, good to see another Jared that likes Linux
Thanks for the comments Jared. Sounds like we’re on the same page. You’re situation sounds exactly the same as mine. About 3-4 years ago, I got into Linux and after hassling with ATI drivers, I swore that my next card would be nVidia for just that reason. I haven’t yet bought a new card, but guess what, I’ve only got eyes for nVidia at this point.