Goodbye ATI

[RealNC]

IMHO AMD shouldn't waste development resources to support proprietary Microsoft crap programs under Linux
Mumble is a good free and open alternative to this.

No, it is not. Mumble is not a P2P VoiP solution. Mumble and Skype are vastly different from each other and have different purposes and uses.

[crazycheese]

IMHO AMD shouldn't waste development resources to support proprietary Microsoft crap programs under Linux
Mumble is a good free and open alternative to this.

Application type does not matter, so long it is using standartized libraries and calls.

Skype is widely used for corporate communications (don?t ask), primary because its easy to work with.
So, if MS drops Skype (edit: I mean from linux, linux version support), some companies will switch to Ekiga, xmpp voip and similar.

[Fenrin]

No, it is not. Mumble is not a P2P VoiP solution. Mumble and Skype are vastly different from each other and have different purposes and uses.

fair enough! But then he could still use his phone... [/ironymode]

thanks for clarifying.

[bug77]

IMHO AMD shouldn't waste development resources to support proprietary Microsoft crap programs under Linux

That's one of the biggest problems with Linux fanboys. You can't have 2% market share on desktops and act like the rest of the world doesn't exist because it's closed source.
And any manufacturer should bend over backwards to support stuff people use.

[crazycheese]

That's one of the biggest problems with Linux fanboys. You can't have 2% market share on desktops and act like the rest of the world doesn't exist because it's closed source.
And any manufacturer should bend over backwards to support stuff people use.

Linux fanboys have nothing to do with it. You sure mean opensource purists.
While opensource IS good, I personally have no problem with closed source as long as it fills ALL of above:
[x] supported (incl. bugs and security)
[x] known not to have malware or spyware
[x] does not impose or represent itself as a standard protocol
[x] has free alternative (no matter with what feature difference)

For example, if I use inkscape and other guy coreldraw, and if we can both exchange SVGs - I have no problem with coreldraw.

[crazycheese]

...musik software Banshee...

Kill it with fire!!!

[Kano]

I only used skype as example of apps that only work with xv. Maybe you find better examples. But to say fglrx works with Debian testing is just wrong as using xv will crash the xserver. Nobody can accept this kind of support.

[crazycheese]

the world goes the other way around... its closed source because they don't want fix security holes because they think closed source is the biggest weapon against the knowledge about security holes in the software.

also there is no closed source software without spy-ware!

and closed source comes always with closed protocols.

and closed source always tent to destroy free alternatives.

in the end you on the side of open-source or you are lost.

Two examples where it does not apply: ntfs driver for mac (from tuxera) and infamous urban terror game. Supported, no holes, no spyware, no closed protocols, no intention to destroy free alternatives.

But there IS software which falls upon your criteria - if opensource amd driver would be supported and work for new and old cards like you would expect from a driver to do, many would not use nvidia.

Is there a possibility within xorg project to create fund generation for radeon driver? I see it is labeled as unwanted and undesired by AMD, but whats alternative? Start our own company ?

[crazycheese]

I only used skype as example of apps that only work with xv. Maybe you find better examples. But to say fglrx works with Debian testing is just wrong as using xv will crash the xserver. Nobody can accept this kind of support.

When I used fglrx in 2008, it crashed the kernel when switching text consoles! Compared to that - its a progress!

[Tgui]

Welcome to the club!

A few *many* years back I did my best to use an ATi card (actually multiple). While they worked OK, they kept crashing at strange times. After hours and hours of tinkering and xorg.conf modifications a light turned on. I said fuck it, drove to Microcenter, bought an Nvidia card and was up and running in minutes. I was back in Nvidia land. :P

While its fun to argue the virtues of supporting OS work, testing and reporting bugs, at some point in some peoples lives all that has to take a back seat to getting actual work done. I'm not in school anymore and my time is worth some amount of $$/hour. If I want to do good in a larger community I'll not submit bug reports and suffer crap drivers, I'll donate my time and money to charities that solve other more pressing problems.

While I do applaud AMD for releasing docs and I'm am awe of the R600/Nouveau OS driver work and the foresight of the Gallium framework, I can care only so much. I hope they both eventually support a large set of OpenGL specifications and OpenCL/CUDA, but I'll not be waiting.

Until then I'll be running Linux/Nvidia/CUDA on my remote workstation for number crunching, OSX/Intel on my laptop for its GUI, stability and ability to sleep properly (and IOS dev), and Windows 7 in VMWare to make $$ with.