Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

going to get a nice shiny new Radeon HD 2400 Pro

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • #1

    going to get a nice shiny new Radeon HD 2400 Pro

    I might need a new video card soon, so I went through the following process to shop for one:

    Step 1: who is the company that best supports Open Source, open information, Free Software at the moment? It's AMD/ATI. Okay.

    Step 2: what video cards are for sale by that company at my favorite retailer/system builder?

    http://kc-computers.com/ATI-Radeon-p-1-c-9028.html


    Step 3: out of these cards, which ones have the least hardware built in to them to facilitate DRM? Hm. This I'm not so sure about. I don't know much about the topic. I remember from chatting on this forum that I learned about the new "DisplayPort" connector, which is DRM-enabled, so I would prefer a card that doesn't have that. Let's see what else I can learn:

    DRM
    http://www.eff.org/issues/drm
    Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies attempt to control what you can and can't do with the media and hardware you've purchased. Bought an ebook from Amazon but can't read it on your ebook reader of choice? That's DRM. Bought a video game but can't play it today because the manufacturer's "authentication servers" are offline? That's DRM. Bought a smartphone but can't use the applications or the service provider you want on it? That's DRM. Bought a DVD or Blu-Ray but can't copy the video onto your portable media player? That's DRM. Corporations claim that DRM is necessary to fight copyright infringement online and keep consumers safe from viruses. But there's no evidence that DRM helps fight either of those. Instead DRM helps big business stifle innovation and competition by making it easy to quash "unauthorized" uses of media and technology. DRM has proliferated thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), which sought to outlaw any attempt to bypass DRM. Fans shouldn't be treated like criminals, and companies shouldn't get an automatic veto over user choice and innovation. EFF has led the effort to free the iPhone and other smartphones, is working to uncover and explain the restrictions around new hardware and software, has fought for the right to make copies of DVDs, and sued Sony-BMG for their "rootkit" CD copy-protection scheme. Learn more about our efforts through the links below.

    DRM.info | Digital Restrictions Management
    http://drm.info/

    We oppose DRM. | Defective by Design
    http://defectivebydesign.org/


    Hm. Okay, I'm still not informed about the DRM/closed-source features of modern video cards.

    Ah, this article by Michael Larabel is useful:

    Radeon vs. RadeonHD Drivers In H1'08 - Phoronix
    http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon_vs_radeonhd&num=1
    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite


    It sounds like I want to avoid AtomBIOS and stick to the "radeonhd" driver when possible. Okay,

    Step 4: out of these cards, which ones are best supported by the radeonhd driver?

    radeonhd
    http://wiki.x.org/wiki/radeonhd#head-cc89624fd96105127892119323e209b3d80e137d


    Hm, here are a few more notes from Phoronix news about ATI cards and AtomBIOS or DisplayPort:

    Radeon Driver Gets R500 TV-Out Support - Phoronix
    http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjI2NQ
    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

    ATI Radeon HD 3400, 3600 Series (Linux Status) - Phoronix
    http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=975&num=1
    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite


    Okay, it looks like the winner is definitely the "ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 256MB PCI-E". As a bonus, this is the oldest card sold by kc-computers.com, which means that it is likely to be better-supported by the drivers, and it is the cheapest, which is always nice.

    Regards,

    Zooko
    Tags: None
Previous template Next
Working...
X