Re: OpenBSD on the desktop

[Aaron Suen <warr_(_at_)_myria_(_dot_)_szcat_(_dot_)_lan>]

On Sun, Sep 05, 2004 at 04:01:44PM -0400, Jd wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm about to purchase a new desktop, and I was wondering what decent 
> graphic card is supported by openbsd.  The hardware comppability page 
> isn't too specific (VGA-compatible and SVGA display adapters (including 
> PCI and AGP cards) (vga 
> <http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=vga&arch=i386&sektion=4>).) 
> 
> Since nvidia seem to be a little annoying with there drivers, I assume 
> that an nvidia card won't work.  What about ATI?  Any other decent cards 
> out there that will work?  Please keep in mind that I do occasionally 
> like to enjoy a warcraft3 game, so I need something decent; nothing 
> fancy, but decent.
> 
> Thanks alot,
> 
> Jd

If you're running OpenBSD on the desktop, just go and buy a cheap card like
a Geforce 2 MX-200 (what I'm using).  You won't get any 3D acceleration with
anything on OpenBSD (at least, I never have...) so any fancy 3D capabilities
are wasted.  Older cards don't usually run as hot, so they're more stable
for me.

If 3D gaming is a priority for you, you might want to try FreeBSD.  It's only
a stone's throw from OpenBSD (at least considerably closer than any Linux
I've ever seen) and XFree86 has DRI and native support for many vidcards.  I
have 3D accel working great on my Radeon 7500 using the native (not written
by ATI) drivers.

-- 
=====================================
=> Aaron G. Suen
   Tuesday, September 7, 2004
http://suen.ed.psu.edu/~asuen/
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