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Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2015 13:28:36 -0600 (MDT)
From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To: Erik Lauritsen <eriklauritsen@yandex.com>
cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Poor support for graphic cards
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On Tue, 15 Sep 2015, Erik Lauritsen wrote:

> Hi
>
> Why does FreeBSD has such poor support for graphic cards?

Because few people were available to do the work of porting X and X 
drivers.

> I would never consider using a Nvidia card with a closed source driver 
> so I need something other than Nvidia. I have looked at the wiki for 
> supported cards and the list is very small.

AMD cards up to the 6000 series work, 7000 has some support for some 
cards.  I'm using a 5750 right now.

Intel video up to the 3000-series processors (non-Haswell) is supported.

I have not tested Nvidia cards because they do not support open drivers.

> Is that because people are simple recommended using Nvidia cards with 
> their closed binary driver so it is not considered "that important", 
> or is it because of a lack of developers or something else?

Lack of developers, definitely.

> It makes it almost impossible to run FreeBSD on a desktop with video 
> watching capabilities.

It seems usable here.