No Closed Video Drivers For Next Ubuntu Release

lisah writes "Ubuntu's next release, Feisty Fawn, is due out in April and, according to company CTO Matt Zimmerman, proprietary video drivers failed to make the cut for the default install. Zimmerman told Linux.com that although the software required for Composite support is not ready for prime-time and therefore will not be included in Feisty, Ubuntu hasn't given up entirely on including video drivers in future releases. '[T]he winds aren't right yet. We will continue to track development and will revisit the decision if things change significantly.' Ambiguous or not, the decision to exclude proprietary drivers for now should satisfy at least some members of the Ubuntu Community. In other Feisty Fawn news, the Board also decided to downgrade support for Power PC due to a lack of funding." Linux.com and Slashdot are both part of OSTG.

nope, you can't read this

[Anonymous Coward]

01110100011010000110100101110011001000000110110101 10010101110011011100110110000101100111011001010010 00000110100101110011001000000110000100100000011000 10011010010110111001100001011100100111100100100000 01100010011011000110111101100010001000000111010001 10100001100001011101000010000001111001011011110111 01010010000001110011011010000110111101110101011011 00011001000010000001101101011011110110010000100000 01110100011011110010000000101011001101010010000001 11011101101001011101000110100001101111011101010111 01000010000001100001011100110110101101101001011011 10011001110010000001110001011101010110010101110011 0111010001101001011011110110111001110011

Re:more than just desktops,

[dinivin]

Or, it could be because installing ATI drivers (for those of you out there who've done it know this) is an absolute pain in the ass on Ubuntu.

What's so difficult about:

% sh ./ati-driver-installer-8.33.6-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/6.10
% dpkg -i *deb

Re:more than just desktops,

[G3ckoG33k]

"What's so difficult about:

% sh ./ati-driver-installer-8.33.6-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/6.10
% dpkg -i *deb"

How about:

# sh ./ati-driver-installer-8.33.6-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/6.10
# dpkg -i *deb

These names kill me.....

[Chineseyes]

for the next few releases I suggest nibbling nymphs, fighting phallus, and nasty necrophiliac.

Re:nope, you can't read this

[Anonymous Coward]

01001001001000000111011101101111011101010110110001 10010000100000011011010110111101100100001000000111 10010110111101110101001011000010000001100010011101 01011101000010000001110111011100100110111101110100 01100101001000000111010001101000011010010111001100 10000001100011011011110110110101101101011001010110 11100111010000100000011010010110111001110011011101 00011001010110000101100100

Re:nope, you can't read this

[markov_chain]

Is it a sailboat?

Only on Slashdot...

[StressGuy]

can a string of 0's and 1's get modded as funny...every day...it gets a little closer to the day I'm sitting in a rocking chair on my front porch yelling at kids to get off my lawn....

Re:nope, you can't read this

[Minwee]

It's not a sailboat, it's a schooner.

Re:more than just desktops,

[Anonymous Coward]

followed by:

* X locking up randomly
* not being able to switch to console and back
* hours of googling
* lots of fun reading stupid posts by idiots claiming 'it works' just because it did for _them_
* upgrading the kernel (by a patch-level) to find that breaks the driver
* more hours of googling
* endless tweaking of xorg.conf to get feature x working again
* X locking up constantly ...
* rolling back to the free driver

Yes, clearly those drivers are ready for mainstream use. ... if you want bleading edge, be prepared to bleed.

So it is.

[aug24]

I don't know which is sadder... that he posted it, that you worked it out or that I trust /.ers so little that I had to do it too to check you weren't winding me up.

Justin.

Re:These names kill me.....

[aug24]

Sorry, but sticking with the traditional alphabet it's clearly going to be Gobbling Girlfriend next.

Ubuntu adoption will go through the roof ;-)

J.

Re: I can.

[nbritton]

I can read your message just fine, my reply:

01100111011101010111011001100110001000000111101001 11001001100110011001100110111001110100011100100010 00000111011001100110001000000110111000100000011100 10011000010111000001100101011011000110001101100111 01110010011100010010000001101111011101100110000101 10111001100101011011000010000001101111011110010110 00100110111100100000011001110111010101101110011001 11001000000110110001100010011010000010000001100110 01110101011000100110100001111001011100010010000001 11101001100010011100010010000001100111011000100010 00000010101100110101001000000110101001110110011001 11011101010110001001101000011001110010000001101110 01100110011110000111011001100001011101000010000001 10010001101000011100100110011001100111011101100110 00100110000101100110

Re:This is the Aqua and Aero "equivalent" ?

[jalefkowit]

For instance, could I write a plugin for either desktop that would make my windows "wobble" when moving them around? Or explode in a shower of sparks when closed?

That's correct; unlike proprietary systems, Linux has no mechanism to protect you from your own bad taste.

Re:more than just desktops,

[Risen888]

Sure it isn't difficult to type that line, but it looks confusing and intimidating to the average person. And that answer is always slightly condescending too, implying someone is an idiot for not knowing the obvious solution.

I think you are being condescending in your assumption that the "average person" is too stupid to handle it. They aren't, of course, they're just trained to think they are, because it makes them better consumers. [Insert obligatory story about grandma/kid sister/roommate not pissing themselves when faced with a CLI]

Linux will not succeed anytime soon on the desktop market, because the geeks who make it don't respect the non-geeks who would use it.

Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't realize we were making it for them. I'll pass that memo up the chain.