14 DAY TRIAL // The debate that has sparked around Mir and its use with the other flavors of Ubuntu has also raised another interesting question regarding the Legacy support.
As you well know, a lot of the Linux users out there don't actually have new hardware. A lot of them are relying on old PCs and components. Legacy support is a very important part of any new technology.
One such user has asked this particular question on the Ubuntu devel-list.
“I have to ask because I do not know: will MIR support old abandoned video > cards? So If I have an older graphics card that works well now, will the > MIR maintainers be supporting that graphics card into the future?” said Karl Anliot.
The response arrived very quickly. “Mir uses the free drivers that X does currently and Android drivers. So if you card is currently supported in X (i.e. intel, ati, nouveau) then it will continue to work (if those drivers are continued to be maintained),” stated Robert Ancell, technical lead at Canonical.
There you have it. If they can get the proprietary drivers to work with Mir, then the new display manager might stand a chance.