[Wlug] linux eye candy / video card recommendation sought

[Clint Moyer]

I could not get Beryl to work with my Radeon 8500. I think if you look 
through the online documentation, the minimum recommended ATI card is a 
Radeon 9200.

I ended up buying a used Nvidia GF6600 and it works very well. Enough so 
that I bought a 2nd one for another box. You can find a brand new GF6200 
256M for about $60 online. I should think you can find one used for 
around $40 or less. These are all 3 or 4 generations old, so hardcore 
Windows gamers have them to unload.

As far as "out of the box" goes, you're not going to find it. A default 
Linux installation will use an open source driver, but you'll need the 
closed source drivers from either ATI or Nvidia to make Beryl 
functional. The ATI driver is a PITA. Nvidia does a better job. That 
said, you can google detailed instructions to install either on your 
distro of choice.

Clint


Andrew Perry wrote:
> I heard on the Linux Action Show podcast about the
> Beryl project, which seems to offer linux users
> both eye candy and improved functionality through
> a 3D user interface.
>
> They say that Beryl will run acceptably with 256 MB
> and an ATI Radeon 7500, Geforce 3, or equivalent or 
> better video card (seems like these are all a few
> years old, which is great for my budget.)Since my linux machine has 512 MB RAM but only
> on-board video, I found a used $20 Radeon 7500 on ebay
> and will try Beryl out. [Side note: I bought an
> "afordable performance pc" for linux from madtux.com
> for about $200, and am generally satisified but for
> the power supply which sounds like a snowblower. Very
> minimalist interior. Space for 6 HDD's, for example.]
>
> My question: In case the Radeon 7500 isn't up to the
> task, or for future expansion, are there any
> particular low-cost video cards that anyone would
> recommend which are very well supported under linux ?
> By "very well supported", I mean that it should work
> "out of the box" with all of the major distros, at
> least if this is possible.
>
> I'm sure that avid gamers would want only the best in
> video cards, but there are probably a lot of folks
> like myself who would like a pretty good video card
> for linux with no hassles.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -Dr. Andrew B. Perry
> Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College
> Schoo Hall Room 123
> 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109
> Work Phone (413)748-3193
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