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In other words...

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  • In other words...

    From the interview with Bridgeman, I did some reading between the lines...

    We are hoping that the open source driver settles around the "80% of the value with 10% of the code" sweet spot.
    and
    However, we believe that the open source community will be able to develop open source solutions to satisfy the majority of user's needs.
    Which means...we still want you to pay 100% of the price!

    We are concentrating on supplying information, answering questions, and providing sample code as a way of saying "we think this is a good approach".
    Which means.."warmer, warmer, no...colder, whopps really cold." At the same time, we the buying public wait, wait, and wait.

    The Catalyst Linux driver (fglrx) will focus on released and stable OS distributions, offering ISV-certified support for workstation users and providing a feature and performance upgrade for consumer users.
    Which means...My onboard RS690 chipset still misreports itself as a x1200 instead as an x1250 with also features much less than what we'd find on the Windows drivers.

    Question: What's the timeline for making shader core information available to the open source community? ATI response: We expect to start providing information in the first quarter of 2008.
    Which means...that I have neither the patience nor the ability to wait on ATI as I build systems for my customers. ATI/AMD cannot exepect me to pay full price for a card with less than 100% of the features listed. In 2008, I have no choice but to switch to another graphics vendor.

  • #2
    one thing i do not like is :

    (...) and providing a feature and performance upgrade for consumer users. (...)
    performance upgrade over radeonhd?

    it would seem that something important about 3d/2d is going to be left out of the docs. something that will give fglrx the upper hand (and i'm not thinking about proprietary stuff that cannot be included in the docs).
    Last edited by yoshi314; 03 December 2007, 05:25 PM.

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    • #3
      Meh I've seen on these forums that the only reason they continue fglrx development is to make Big Brother happy with stuff about Digital Restriction Management.

      I imagine radeonHD will have onpar/better performance than fglrx. Currently I get better video playback/2d performance with avivo or radeonHD in fedora 8 than I do with fglrx. Avivo was developed without specs and is alpha software; RadeonHD has specs but is still basic. I suppose if you use the narrow-band grade of performance as f.p.s. you might be disappointed AMD might have an edge there writing for their own chips(though you never know... I wouldn't be surprised if it was a small/insignificant lead)
      However when you think of the benefits of the open source driver non-related to performance it should be excellent:
      • * Out-of-box support for modern AMD graphics chips w/o the use of VESA.
        eventually out-of-the-box:
        * xrandr support
        * 3d support (with linux-centric gl developers so things like AIGLX get written in on time.
        * more I am not thinking of off the top of my head


      In my experience the only problems I've ever had is when I have to use some binary blob to do something.
      ipw3945 was a pain, had issues with NetworkManager, etc. etc...
      iwlwifi works out of the box, never had to configure a thing.

      I am imagining that fglrx/radeonHD will share a similar relationship once radeonHD gets enough specs.

      I wouldn't bother reading between the lines. They are releasing specs. It takes time to go through legal hoops.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by The_Monkey_King View Post
        ATI/AMD cannot exepect me to pay full price for a card with less than 100% of the features listed. In 2008, I have no choice but to switch to another graphics vendor.
        Yeah, go buy an..

        ..
        ..

        Oh no, you don't have a more open choice..

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