[geeks] A Real OS? (was: Re: my capitalization.. etc.)

[Eric Dittman]

> > Who said kernel-mode drivers?  I never did.  I said drivers
> > for XFree86.  nVidia doesn't have them for *BSD.
> 
> Cerberus /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers % ls nv*
> nv_drv.o*
> Cerberus /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers % uname -a
> FreeBSD Cerberus 4.3-RELEASE FreeBSD 4.3-RELEASE #0: Sun Aug 26
> 13:57:43 EDT 2001     wazm at Cerberus:/usr/src/sys/compile/CERBERUS
> i386
> 
> There are XFree86 drivers for Nvidia cards for *BSD. However, I believe
> there is some sort of issue around acceleration support.

Yes, the nv driver doesn't have much acceleration support.
The nvidia driver provided by nVidia does.

> > The lack of drivers is an OS issue.  If the *BSD groups can't
> > convince the vendors of the demand, the drivers will never get
> > written.
> 
> There are petition efforts for hardware for which people want
> information/drivers for.

Good luck on nVidia.  They won't even provide information to
XiG under an NDA.

> > The primary point is an operating system that can be used is
> > superior to an operating system that can't be used no matter
> > how better written the kernel in the unusable operating system
> > is.
> 
> There are lots of very nice operating systems that are significantly
> nicer in design than what has been mentioned on this list. Many of
> these exist as academic projects whose ideas end up in some "popular"
> operating system. Superiority is a ridiculous notion in this sense.
> There are plenty of embedded operating systems that perform real-time
> functions where usability is not a concern. My point is simply is use
> what is right for the job. Allegiance to an operating system is fickle,
> and causes people to be prone to undue prejudices when someone might
> actually get something write. (Some of the *BSDs were at one time
> notable for keeping legacy code even when better implementations had
> been written.)

You've got that right.  I'd switch from Linux to *BSD now if
my hardware were supported, mostly to get away from the GPV.
I was in the process of migrating from Linux to Tru64 for my
main desktop system when HPaq announced that Tru64 would be
killed in favor of the inferior PHUX.  At that time my plans
changed from Tru64 on a PWS500au to Solaris on an Ultra 2.
I'm still getting up to speed on Solaris so I'm still using
Linux on my main desktop system.

This is opposed to my main server system, which is OpenVMS.
-- 
Eric Dittman
dittman at dittman.net
Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/