[linux-audio-user] AMD64 question

[Dave Phillips]

james at dis-dot-dat.net wrote:

>> 3) The MSI box says it includes an nVidia nForce3 chipset, which I 
>>assume means that there's an audio/video chipset on the mobo. I'll 
>>probably disable the audio, and I have a gForce AGP video card to put in 
>>the machine. Question: Am I better off using the integrated video or 
>>should I use my card instead ? (Btw, I use the kernel nv driver, not 
>>nVidia's binary driver).
>>    
>>
>
>Use the better of the two.  I'm guessing this will be the card, but
>check the specs.  Xorg will be able to use it to reduce the processor
>load for X stuff.
>
>But why use the nv rather than nvidia module?  If you don't like a
>tainted kernel, then that's fine.  If that's not the problem... why not?
>  
>
I'm glad you asked. As a matter of personal (moral/ethical/philosophic) 
preference, I'd rather use the open-source solution than the locked-up 
binary *unless* I have a compelling reason to do otherwise. In past I've 
used nVidia's driver for exactly two purposes: Quake and Pd. :)  Well, I 
can't play Quake worth a damn anyway, and my experiments with GEM and Pd 
were just experiments. I'm not currently working with Pd or anything 
else that wants accelerated 3D, so I'm working with the kernel driver.

It's also a shame that 3D support under Linux should be so woeful. IIUC 
it's worse than the audio hardware situation.

>> 7) Am I correct to assume that this system runs in a 32-bit more as 
>>well as the 64-bit ? How do I determine which mode I'll run in ?
>>    
>>
>
>It just does it.  Don't worry about it :)  The only thing I even
>noticed any oddness with was the codecs for mplayer et al.  Even then,
>it was just WMV (eugh!) that wouldn't work, so I also installed an x86
>binary of mplayer, which worked fine.
>  
>
That's all cool. I like easy. :)

Best,

dp