Should AMD make kernel and Xorg-server updates for their legacy drivers?

[bridgman]

Yep, that's about right, although it's actually GEM on TTM (GEM API is supported, but the GEM API calls are handled using some TTM code).

By the time GEM came out most drivers already *had* TTM implementations. There were some aspects of the proposed GEM API which the devs really liked, and others which didn't seem so broadly useful, so the resolution was to make part of the API driver-specific and standardize the rest.

Most drivers are now implementing the standardized part of the GEM API but building it over their existing TTM code. As a result, it's the GEM API that will be exposed, but if you look inside that GEM code for non-Intel parts you'll find most of TTM. Something like that, anyways.

[cutterjohn]

Like it or not, the x1900 and x1800 aren't outpacing a "new" gimped HD 4650 (400mhz ram versus 500mhz ram) by that much.

Wot!
Memory
Type GDDR3
Clock 850MHz (this is what newegg, etc. would call 1700MHz and really isn't that far below stndard desktop clocks)
Size 512MB
Bandwidth 54.4 GB/s

...

Core clock 500MHz (this OTOH is quite a bit lower than standard desktop, and doesn't overclock close to those...)

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 (note this is a mobility part, and even here the clocks are only slightly reduced from the desktop)

(Under windows, catalyst will overclock it to 910/550, although I don't run it overclocked. Plus this nb has a built in FSB overclock of 14-25% which I also don't use... MSI GT725-074US)

Anyways, I don't know enough about the state of the OSS drivers to realistically vote. This is my first computer w/an ATI card in something like 7y! So, my $0.02 is if the OSS drivers are good enough to run 3D apps that are reasonable for those older cards, then I'd say don't worry, run the OSS drivers.

(My desktop still has an eVGA 7600GT KO(planning to upgrade at some point), yet it still can run games @ 1280x1024(max res CRT) or 1024x768 and decent graphics details, so I wouldn't blithely dismiss older cards either. (Contemplating a 4870 GDDR5 IF my ATI experiment w/this nb goes well... o.w. an nVidia g200 of some type.)

[Dinth]

If developing of legacy drivers could slow down development of main line, they should be abandoned.