I have made the conscious decision that I want to only use Free software from the main repository. I fully understand the implications of this etc etc. At present the only non-free software II have are the nvidia drivers and a few games. So the first step is to no longer use the nvidia driver, I understand 3d games will no longer be available to me. This is not a problem i have my PlayStation for gaming.

Now here is the problem. I have 3 drivers available at present, I have the nvidia driver which is non-free, I have the nv driver which is free and will give me accelerated 2d graphics and then I have the vesa driver which is free but slow.

If I use the nvidia driver the video image is nice, the fonts look nice as does the entire screen. Everything looks bright and clean, no jagged edges. If II use the nv driver things are a different matter. Fonts look rather jaggeed and the video does not look nearly as nice as it does if I use the nvidia driver. If I use the vesa driver the fonts look pretty much as they do with the nvidia driver as does the video in general, except for a slight blur. However the problem with the vesa driver is is pretty slow.

Now ideally I would use the nv driver, however I would rather use the nvidia driver then that, even though it goes against what I am trying to do. The nv driver is really hard on the eyes Is there a package I can install that will make the nv driver better, clean fonts, non jagged video etc? I am using the standard font everybody uses, Bit Stream Vera Sans so this is not and issue and anyway the general video is not that good either.

Does anyone have any solutions or recommendations? Are there any special settings in my /etc/X11/xorg.conf that I need to have to make the nv driver work nicely.

Running Debian testing fully up to date.

Thanks in advance

Michael.

Using nv module, I improved the image a little by selecting correct HorizSync and VertRefresh for my monitor, and taking the refresh rate the highest possible for the modeline selected. Improved enough to use it all the time (right now 1400x1050 @ 85 Hz).

Cheers, I tried that and it sorted it out pretty much. I needed to add one extra line about screensize to the monitor section to increase the resolution slightly, its apparently something to do with kde.

I used the following guide:

Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 or /etc/X11/Xorg.conf (if you switched to Xorg) Add to the Monitor section: DisplaySize 325 260 if you are using 1280x1024 resolution or DisplaySize 260 195 for 1024x768. For other resolution calculate the numbers using this formula:
Screensize multiplied by 25.4 and divided by 100 (eg: 1024 x 25.4/100 = 260 and 768 x 25.4/100 = 195)

That is admirable.