Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Thu 21st Sep 2006 08:54 UTC, submitted by brandon
ATI has released the 8.29.6 version of its proprietary Linux drivers, with the announcement that the 9000, 9100, and 9200 IGP and Mobility Radeon chipsets are no longer supported by the new version. Radeon 8500, 9000, 9100, 9200, and 9250 devices are also dropped from support. Thankfully, these models are supported in 2D/3D mode by the open source DRI driver.
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RE: Need for open source drivers
by halfmanhalfamazing on Thu 21st Sep 2006 11:51
in reply to "Need for open source drivers"
Member since:2005-07-23
----------6. There's a real danger that graphics companies may decide to stop supporting Linux (eg. under pressure from Microsoft) - then what?-----------
I can't see that happening. there's more linux users worldwide than there is mac users.
You think there's a real danger that graphics companies may decide to stop supporting apple?
As we're seeing, they'll drop older card support, but that's wholly different. As long as they decide to provide the specifications to the DRI it's not that big of a deal. Any (of todays)distros I've seen has 3d support out of the box for R200 and below class chips. That's what we want anyways.
RE[2]: Need for open source drivers
by bsantos on Thu 21st Sep 2006 12:40
in reply to "RE: Need for open source drivers"
Member since:2006-01-08
RE[2]: Need for open source drivers
by Sphinx on Thu 21st Sep 2006 14:12
in reply to "RE: Need for open source drivers"
Member since:2005-07-09
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2006-08-08
There's a lot of disharmony between the goals of Linux and companies producing graphics cards like:
1. Linux supports almost every CPU ISA, even ARM, MIPS, SPARC, HP-PA. Proprietary binary drivers usually support only x86, AMD64 and sometimes Power PC.
2. Linux aims to be the first system available for new computing platforms, while most hardware producers suffer from "chicken or egg" problem when it comes to release drivers for new platforms.
3. Linux should support a lot of legacy hardware, while hw makers like forcing upgrades to users.
4. Linux is about building open-source code base, binary, proprietary drivers are about preventing anyone to get code.
5. These graphics cards are not that much different from each other. It makes sense to have a single, common codebase for part of the drivers common for many cards.
6. There's a real danger that graphics companies may decide to stop supporting Linux (eg. under pressure from Microsoft) - then what?
7. Quality may suffer with binary drivers. Reliability data for them is not published. Producers are not obliged to support users by eliminating existing errors.
9. It's profitable for driver producers to include spyware into their products (getting usage data etc.).