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AMD Documentation Drop Next Week

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  • #11
    The news is good, but maybe 1 year too late for buying current cards. Today the only hotfix for ppl with ATI problems is buying another card or lose too many features which would work fine with Win.

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    • #12
      Gr8

      Fantastic to get so much details directly from the AMD/ATi team! Thanx!

      I've been fairly grumpy on this forum myself, but fglrx on the Mobile X1400 has really been problematic too. With AMD developers taking part of the discussions around here, I am sure some of the heated arguments (mostly stemming from disappointment and desperation due to lack of information where things are going) will cool down a bit.

      Anyways, great news dudes!

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      • #13
        Originally posted by bridgman View Post
        There was a question on IRC about whether "we would wait until 2d docs were out for all chips before releasing 3d info". Quick answer is no -- a better way to describe it would be that our top priority now is enabling 3d development but we are continuing to push 2d docs out while we are working on 3d.
        Out of interest what is involved in pushing out these docs? Are you reworking existing internal docs? or making up new documentation from a wide variety of internal sources?

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        • #14
          Originally posted by Ze.. View Post
          Out of interest what is involved in pushing out these docs? Are you reworking existing internal docs? or making up new documentation from a wide variety of internal sources?
          As I've understood fglrx developers use the same specs, but they need to be sanitized.

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          • #15
            For the initial doc release (and some of the next round of docs) I was able to find existing docs which were a good starting point. We basically read through them, pulled out any sensitive DRM-related stuff, and replaced all the scary NDA/confidentiality notices with new wording worked out with our legal folks.

            Going forward, particularly for 3d, "making up new documentation from a wide variety of internal sources" is probably closer to the mark. We can rely on existing docs for filling in knowledge gaps in older chips but we don't have a "Young Person's Guide to Writing Drivers for the Latest Radeon Chips" document lying around.
            Test signature

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            • #16
              Great news, I will definitely reward AMD's open source engagement and it's new open information politic in all my buying decisions in 2008. If you manage to wipe out the last bugs in the Quadcore Systems I will replace some of our office workstations with new AMD/ATI systems.

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              • #17
                Originally posted by Kano View Post
                The news is good, but maybe 1 year too late for buying current cards. Today the only hotfix for ppl with ATI problems is buying another card or lose too many features which would work fine with Win.
                It's not to late for current cards, as more details are released, less and less of the ATI graphics cards are left to trail and error information gathering, just look at how fast the Radeon HD3xxx series was added, it's already at the same level as the Radeon HD2xxx and Radeon X1xxx series... just give it time, and it will progress.

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                • #18
                  I had my hands on a HD3870 for a few hours but it seemed to me Power Play was not working. I had no voltmeter but I could hear the fan was driving faster under Linux with Catalyst 7.12 than under Windows XP, both Idle on the Desktop.

                  So if you want painless operation with all features working and you need it right now, the news come to late. On the other hand we will see the RadeonHD driver rise and fglrx improve. In a few month it could be a pity not to own a Radeon from a Linux users point of view.

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                  • #19
                    It may take a year until total (closed source) support is as good as nvidia. On the the other hand, open source support will likely pass nvidia in the next few months (as soon as 2d and really basic 3d stuff is done.) I'd like to see 2d/EXA get a bit more emphasis, as ati cards are now the only kind that have no (working support). The radeon driver's EXA is massively slow and buggy on my r500 and I'm afraid of being "caught in the gap" between older chips that have EXA working under radeon, and newer chips which will benefit from this doc release and use shaders to emulate it.

                    Once 3d is working, it likely won't be to hard to patch in glucose acceleration, but I do wonder how long the 3d end will take.

                    I do want to get a look at the new docs to see if they bring forward anything in my grokking range so that I can help out. The radeonhd code doesn't have any acceleration in it, and the radeon code looks like it needs work and also looks a bit "magicky" in places.

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                    • #20
                      Originally posted by bridgman View Post
                      Going forward, particularly for 3d, "making up new documentation from a wide variety of internal sources" is probably closer to the mark. We can rely on existing docs for filling in knowledge gaps in older chips but we don't have a "Young Person's Guide to Writing Drivers for the Latest Radeon Chips" document lying around.
                      After you finish that you guys should write a "How to make your own 3d Radeon Driver For Dummies" book. I predict it being a best seller.

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