Daniel Stone is announcing the avalability of the first AMD/ATI specs – chips RV630 and M56 apparently. The specifications are released without an NDA.
Daniel Stone is announcing the avalability of the first AMD/ATI specs – chips RV630 and M56 apparently. The specifications are released without an NDA.
Wow, that was quick. Looks like this had been planned for a while
Just checked it out and r630 is hd 2400 pro. I hope they will also release the specs for the higher end models, becaus in that case I am definately going to buy one of those, even if they are notorious for their power hunger and lower performance compared to similar priced nvidia ones.
And M56 series seem to be the X1600 ๐ I’m sure there are plenty of laptop owner’s (like me) who are waiting for this… I can smell the eyecandyness of native AIGLX coming !
For those who don’t know,
RV630: Radeon HD 2400 series
M56: Radeon X1600 series.
The M56 also seems to be called RV530, or at least based on it. I don’t really understand the relationship.
I’ve long criticised ATi for their Linux support, and it’s fantastic that this looks set to change. This is especially good now that we have actual evidence that it’s not just an empty promise. I hope AMD/ATi continue to release specifications, and I will support it by ensuring that all future hardware I buy has an AMD/ATI graphics processor instead of nVidia; and if you want to support graphics on Linux, I’d suggest you do the same
.
RV630: Radeon HD 2400 series
M56: Radeon X1600 series.
The M56 also seems to be called RV530, or at least based on it. I don’t really understand the relationship.
M stands for mobile while RV530 is the desktop version. I’m not really sure how many differences there are between the mobile and non-mobile chips as far as creating drivers go.
I am not completely convinced, especially being that most people do not know what to do with these specifications – but they seem to be downloaded in a hurry as it is.
The final judgement will certainly be the code that AMD releases and what the community can do with it.
Well, gfx drivers coders will certainly find this to be a goldmine. 500+ pages of detailed specs is certainly enough to write excellent OpenGL support.
Even if AMD can’t release any driver software whatsoever due to 3rd party licensing, this information is certainly enough to enable enthusiasts to do the heavy lifting if they so desire.
First off, this is only the 2D specs. 3d is coming later. And the OSS driver is due in a week or so according to /.
It’s even less than that – I had a quick scan through and all this stuff will let you do about 3 things. 1 – run VGA mode, 2 – setup your own video modes and memory timings, 3 – run video overlay surfaces and hardware mouse cursors.
I couldn’t find any HW acceleration of blit,fill etc stuff in there at all.
Mind you, it’s a start.
What difference does it make make if most people know what to do with them. The point is to allow those that _do know_ to write drivers.
AMD is not releasing code, only specs. But they’re working with novell to creeate good drivers, AFAIK.
I don’t see how you can’t be “convinced” – the specs are out there, and they’re certainly much better than nothing.
Edited 2007-09-12 21:40
“The final judgement will certainly be the code that AMD releases and what the community can do with it.”
Actually, it’s not up to ATI anymore to provide code, though they will still provide binary drivers. It’s up to OSS coders to take those specs and really shine
“Actually, it’s not up to ATI anymore to provide code, though they will still provide binary drivers. It’s up to OSS coders to take those specs and really shine”
I hate the word actually. AMD do not have to do anything!? the fact that they are making good on their promises many including myself is a positive step.
I personally would like *greater co-operation* on a unified open-source driver. The “you open-source programmers work on your driver…we will work on our binary one”, is not really positive…
…its just more positive than those who write the open source drivers working without specifications.
So would I but for the moment, this is a good first step.
Who knows? If the OSS community starts a good Linux driver project, they may get ATI engineers helping out with any questions and maybe even code.
I have the feeling that the current proprietary driver codebase is ment to be replaced by a strong opensource community release in the future. Once most of the work is done, all that remains is tweaking to get a high performance and stable 3d driver. I would think that ATI would very much want to be involved with that.
It doesn’t require “most” people to know what to do with the specs. It just needs a small group, and that’s what we as an Open Source community already have.
You where not paying attention… they will not release driver code, they are enabling other people to develop drivers.
I’ve been trying to figure this out and am ashamed to say that all these driver numbers are confusing me. Does anyone know if any of this opening of specs will do anything for us radeon xpress 200 users? Or could someone please point me to a list of cards whose specs are being opened (if such a thing exists)?
I’ve been trying to figure this out and am ashamed to say that all these driver numbers are confusing me.
I dont blame you
I wish they could just use one model number, and just apply a “L” behind the laptop version.
I’m guessing they’re too embarrased about radeon xpress 200 to actually release specs for it.
And my Radeon 9800 Pro (R360) ?
Same as my 9600, apparently no specs for those. Supposedly they are fairly well supported by the open source driver.
Also the binary drivers coming up are supposed to work much better on R300 chips as well.
“Same as my 9600, apparently no specs for those. Supposedly they are fairly well supported by the open source driver.
Also the binary drivers coming up are supposed to work much better on R300 chips as well.”
Allegedly these will follow.
They are well supported, but suspend doesn’t work. At all. I’m not happy about it.
I’m waiting for this and hopefully the first drivers will arrive soon (especially for FreeBSD).
If Amd/Ati pulls this out and it works I will be the first to get rid of my nvidia 6200 TC GPU and but a Ati one instead.
I have this very nice TFT monitor I can’t use on my adm 64 system in the way I want it because the nv drivers keeps freezing so I’m stuck with the vesa driver:-(
The blurb says that AMD provided a whole CD of specification data so far, so expect more stuff.
Yes, but it was a CD containing 12MB.
Thanks AMD!
My next video card is not Nvidia.
Either Intel or ATI.
VIA is a mixed bag.
Via did well with the release of the Unichrome driver, but have blown it since with their lack of support for further development. Most of the new Via Unichrome chipsets are not fully supported because of a lack of details from Via & S3.
S3 are even worse in this regard with no open Deltachrome or Gammachrome drivers at all. It’s very poor, especially as the previous generation (Savage) was so well supported.
Most wanted PDFs ever???
๐
EDIT: not that much, as the link is not dead but only very slow.
Edited 2007-09-12 21:35
I took a look at the specifications. Only 2D stuff in there. I hope that they will release specifications for 3d as well.
Yeah, they already said it earlier that they’ll provide 2D specs first, 3D specs a bit later. But then again, you don’t need those 3D specs yet anyway since you don’t have a working 2D driver either yet. First 2D, then 3D.
There is a torrent for the files here:
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3804798
I will wait and see how the drivers progress over the next six months or so and they probably purchase an AMD 2000 HD series card to replace my trusty Geforce 6150 onboard in my MythTV box. ๐
The binary drivers are out, I’m crying like a bitch, it’s just so beautiful even on my trusty 9800 pro. I thought I would never see this day for 4 years.
does it have AIGLX and Randr 1.2 support?
AIGLX is supposed to come with next months drivers. I doubt it has the new Randr support either, but I don’t know for sure.
Only 2D stuff for now (banks, modes, overlay, etc)
No mention of 3D
It’s awesome that AMD is doing this.
On the other hand, people should be patient. Graphics drivers don’t write themselves, and they can take an enormous amount of development work to get right. It’s probably going to be awhile before we have substantial improvements ready for mass consumption.
If you’re a seller, you want sell your goods. If your goods are not supported by a growing market os exotic operating system, then you’ll gonna loose market share. So what’re gonna do if you do not plan to focus development teams on these OS ? Then just open the specs, let the coders do, and sell your goods. And sell it even more as the competition have close-sourced politic (Via/S3) either because they don’t focus on this market (earn enough with embedding the video chip on a mini-itx MB) or because you’re too lazy to figure out. However the consumers will make the choice ! And with the upcoming Compiz integrated by default to major Linux distro, you’d better be ready to have drivers supporting the new desktop, otherwise prepare to be the laughing stock of competitors !