I had to play around recently with the open source driver stack mesa 7.11.6, libdrm 2.4.26-1, xserver-xorg-video-ati 6.14.2 and tried it on a R300 and I'm a little concerned with it being the default for the next ubuntu release. For example, I cannot run nexuiz on that setup with the Gallium3D driver but can with classic mesa. In addition, google disabled acceleration in chrome 11 because of crashes in ati linux
and with classic mesa I can run webgl acceleration and accelerated 2D canvas, however I cannot with Gallium3D. In general, my opinion is that on the stack above Gallium3D doesn't feel as stable as classic mesa. I believe classic mesa should be at least built in dri experimental package like the nouveau driver so people can switch between them. I didn't have time to post this before and read today about dropping classic mesa altogether so I though I better hurry before classic mesa no longer exists. I have mix feeling about it, if it would be just for the R300c not R600c I could justify by saying well it's old hardware... I guess you can justify the R600c drop by saying people can just use Catalyst instead... From a developer standpoint the Gallium3D code is much nicer to work and I would want to get rid of classic mesa as soon as possible, but from the user point of view not sure it is the best decision. My opinion is that at least on 7.11 Gallium3D doesn't feel as stable as classic, with the example given above. The powers that be can take that into account when weighing the pros and cons of dropping R600c/R300c.
and with classic mesa I can run webgl acceleration and accelerated 2D canvas, however I cannot with Gallium3D. In general, my opinion is that on the stack above Gallium3D doesn't feel as stable as classic mesa. I believe classic mesa should be at least built in dri experimental package like the nouveau driver so people can switch between them. I didn't have time to post this before and read today about dropping classic mesa altogether so I though I better hurry before classic mesa no longer exists. I have mix feeling about it, if it would be just for the R300c not R600c I could justify by saying well it's old hardware... I guess you can justify the R600c drop by saying people can just use Catalyst instead... From a developer standpoint the Gallium3D code is much nicer to work and I would want to get rid of classic mesa as soon as possible, but from the user point of view not sure it is the best decision. My opinion is that at least on 7.11 Gallium3D doesn't feel as stable as classic, with the example given above. The powers that be can take that into account when weighing the pros and cons of dropping R600c/R300c.
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