On Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 09:00:39PM -0400, Kevin Stam wrote: > Aside from some typos, I'll have to dispute the inclusion of movie watching > and movie editing. Very much, actually. I've never had noticeably poorer > movie watching/viewing performance on OpenBSD as opposed to other > distributions. (Gentoo is my other, and neither work better then the other > for movie watching.) > > Now, if we're talking about things that involve "3d acceleration", like 3d > games or 3d animation, then I'd agree with your statement. But pretending > that OpenBSD can't even play a decent movie or two is just FUD. >
I did say "may be suboptimal" which was my experience comparing the open nv driver with the closed nVidia driver. Well, I haven't pulled Debian off my amd64 box with a nVidia EN7300GT card to put OpenBSD on it. One reason for that is that I'm on dial's and a reinstall of everything takes a few days. For that card, my choice of drivers seems to be the xorg nv driver or the binary blob nVidia driver as compiled by Debian in its non-free repository. I do know that I get a much better image quality when watching DVDs with the nVidia driver than with the nv driver. As I understand it, it is because the nv driver doesn't use the hardware to do (some?) of the conversion (mpeg, scaling, deinterlacing, whatever) when watching it full screen at 1600 x 1200 @ 85Hz on a 21" CRT Intergraph, with VLC. So, if you've had great movie experiences with OpenBSD, what video card do you use, what driver, at what resolution, full screen, deinterlaced (blend)? > On 10/11/07, Douglas A. Tutty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I've been evaluating OpenBSD as a desktop system while learning about it > > on my lesser (older) hardware. I've learned a lot and will continue to > > learn about OpenBSD but I don't think it will work as my primary > > desktop. > > > > Based on what I've learned here on Misc, I'd like to start a discussion > > about extending the answer to the OpenBSD FAQ # 1.10: "Can I use OpenBSD > > as a Desktop System?" While of course every potential new user has to > > evaluate OpenBSD for themselves, we could and I believe we should point > > out some of the more common tripping points found by people who end up > > not choosing OpenBSD for their desktop. > > > > As it exists right now it reads: > > > > # >8-- > > > > This question is often asked in exactly this manner -- with no > > explanation of what the asker means by "desktop". The only person who > > can answer that question is you, as it depends on what your needs and > > expectations are. > > > > While OpenBSD has a great reputation as a "server" operating system, > > it can be and is used on the desktop. Many "desktop" applications are > > available through packages and ports. As with all operating systems > > decisions, the question is: can it do the job you desire in the way > > you wish? You must answer this question for yourself. > > > > It might be worth noting that a large amount of OpenBSD development is > > done on laptops. > > > > # >8-- > > > > > > I think the following paragraphs would enhance the FAQ to provide > > the person new to the OpenBSD focus a heads up on some of the > > difficulties. > > > > # >8-- > > However, it is also worth noting that some desktop needs and uses are > > incompatible with the focus of OBSD. There are currently no video cards > > that provide full specs to create open drivers for all hardware > > function, most notably 3D acceleration. While more than adequate for > > most uses of the X-Window system, performance while watching movies, > > playing games, or graphic design, may be suboptimal or not possible > > depending on your hardware and expectations. The use of binary "blob" > > drivers would introduce the potential for unknown security breaches and > > is not going to be supported on OpenBSD. The work is ongoing in the > > larger open-source community to both create open-source drivers that can > > access the full hardware potential of the video cards that are > > available, and there is some work to create new video cards that will be > > fully open and high performance. It just doesn't exist yet. > > > > Similarly, flash plug-ins in browsers cause untested code to run on the > > computer and introduce the potential for unknown security breaches, and > > are therefore not supported, other than as it already exists for the Opera > > browser. > > > > It depends therefor on what is meant by "desktop". System > > administrators will likely be thrilled with OpenBSD on their desktop. > > However, a home user wanting an entertainment centre, a movie editor, a > > graphic designer, or a user requiring a multi-headed Computer Aided > > Drafting and Design system may find the trade-offs made for security are > > too steep to use OpenBSD as their operating system on such computers and > > may choose to use a less secure operating system. > > > > > > # >8-- > > > > Does this seem like a fair addition? > > > > Doug.
