Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 17:24:10 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 17:24:10 -0500 Received: from server0027.freedom2surf.net ([194.106.33.36]:5824 "EHLO server0027.freedom2surf.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 17:24:09 -0500 Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 22:34:59 +0000 From: Ian Molton To: hps@intermeta.de Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Why is Nvidia given GPL'd code to use in non-free drivers? Message-Id: <20030105223459.2811226c.spyro@f2s.com> In-Reply-To: References: <20030102013736.GA2708@gnuppy.monkey.org> <20030103212631.GD24896@work.bitmover.com> <200301031627.52561.dpaun@rogers.com> Organization: The Dragon Roost X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.8.6 (GTK+ 1.2.10; i686-pc-linux-gnu) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2283 Lines: 63 On Sun, 5 Jan 2003 21:24:47 +0000 (UTC) "Henning P. Schmiedehausen" wrote: > Without Microsoft, there wouldn't be 2,4 GHz 32/64 bit microcomputers > with 512 megabytes of main memory, 120 gigabytes of hard disk space > and 1600x1200 pixels 32 bit resolution > Face it. Microsoft Software is, what made the breakthrough to really > put a powerful machine in every home and allow the 2-5% of the owner > base which are Linux users to get really cheap commodity hardware. BULLSHIT. it may have happened that way, but if M$ didnt do it it would STILL have happened. I was using 1600x1200 desktops on my Acorn RISC PC about a year, perhaps 2 years, before that sort of resolution was available on the majority of PCs. Before that I was using an ARM 2 and 3 based A410 which literally blew away all desktops available at the time (286, 386) in terms of performance. Even today, My A410 can play a game of DOOM at nearly 486 speeds, in truecolour! This hardware had a british designed processor (ARM) and no INTEL or such chips in sight. Windows never ran on it. Yet my 15 year old A410/1 remains one of the most useful machines in my house today, alongside an AthlonXP1800+ which, 15 years later, *STILL* doesnt have a DTP solution thats as easy to use as Ovation Pro or Impression Publisher were on the A410. Only a week ago I used the A410 to draw a PCB layout for an audio amplifier, using software which was supplied IN THE MACHINES ROM, along with the OS. I shall use the A410 to print the layout at 1200dpi onto transparent film, too. Not bad for free software on a 15 year old machine Oh, and the same 15 year old machine can manage a (doublescanned) 1600x600 screenmode too, using dual ported RAM, at negligible speed penalty. So dont give me this crap that only M$ could provide the sub 500ukp PC with bells and whitles. All M$ have done is force us all to use turbocharged versions of a jumped up washinmachine control microprocessor, and repeatedly upgrade it to keep up. No thanks. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/