[Discuss] Recommend Video Card for Ubuntu 7.10

[Corey Burger]

On Nov 21, 2007 1:54 PM, Alan W. Irwin <irwin at beluga.phys.uvic.ca> wrote:
> On 2007-11-21 10:05-0800 Ronald Schouten wrote:
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I finally upgraded to Ubuntu 7.10 with my work computer and getting
> > dual monitor support working with the ATI video card I have is not
> > working.
>
> Just to clarify, dual monitor support worked before with your previous
> distro, but is not working now with latest Ubuntu?  If so, why not
> do a bug report to Ubuntu, and if you get no satisfaction for that
> go back to your old distro for a while until the bug gets fixed?

Very likely dual-head is no longer working because randr 1.2 replaces
all the hacky stuff that drivers used to do, but as per usual, the
proprietary drivers (and some of the open source ones) have not yet
caught up.

>
> >
> > I think I'll just buy a new card video card to solve the problem. Can
> > anyone recommend a reasonable video card that will support dual
> > monitors in 7.10 with no hassles? Or perhaps a resource to turn to?
>
> The problem is your choices are limited right now.  There are plenty
> of non-free drivers around for Nvidia and ATI, but I am not sure I would
> trust those for dual monitor.  That leaves just the free drivers.
>
> Intel is supposed to have great X.org support for the free drivers for their
> embedded graphics chipsets, but from what you have said you have a non-Intel
> MB?
>
> ATI used to cooperate with X.org (or its XFree86 predecessor), so old ATI
> video cards and chipsets (r200-based) have a well-supported free driver.
> Apparently, you can still buy r200-based cards, but maybe that is what you
> have already?
>
> Anyhow, ATI quit cooperating with the X community for a while so r300 and
> r400 based cards are not well supported.  There is a free driver for r300
> and r400, but it had to be reverse engineered.  Because of that anti-X
> stance AMD/ATI were losing a lot of Linux hardware sales so AMD/ATI are
> actively cooperating with x.org for their newer graphics chipsets (r500 and
> higher). But it will probably be a year at least before that free driver has
> matured, and the jury is still out on whether there will be any side
> benefits to help the reverse-engineering effort on r300 and r400.
>
> So if you had something that worked for an old distro, and assuming you have
> no access to Intel embedded graphics, then perhaps the best choice for now
> is to go back to your old distro and wait it out until the newer ATI support
> has matured or until the Ubuntu bug gets fixed. You could also buy a
> r200-based card (if you don't have that already).  That is _supposed_ to be
> well supported (which _should_ include dual monitor support), but you should
> google to make sure of that before you buy because I am just summarizing
> here what I have read (especially recent articles at
> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=home) about all the new exciting (from
> the free software point of view) developments at AMD/ATI. Hopefully, this
> background summary will help you speed up your own research before you buy,
> but it should not be a substitute for your own research.

ATI is providing specs, but the work is slow. Basically, we are
looking at 2D by the end of the year, 3D in 2008, late. That driver is
the radeonhd and, I will emphasize this, only supports r600 and later
(ie: the newest ATI stuff). I have seen nothing on getting the older
stuff out of them, although Alan points out that the reverse
engineering work on r300/400 stuff is maturing quite nicely now.

The other place to go for good drivers is Intel. However, Intel sells
no standalone cards, only integrated ones. That means you need to
basically replace your entire computer, as you need to either buy a
laptop with Intel or a desktop motherboard. That being said, the
latest Intel, 965 and 945 are very fast and because they support all
the new shiny features in Xorg, make Compiz Fusion a breeze to use. In
fact, even their older cards (such as the 915 in my laptop) are great
cards and do desktop 3D effects easily.

Conclusion: Buy Intel or wait. Sorry :(

Corey