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Ubuntu Has Another Special ATI Catalyst Driver?

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  • #31
    Originally posted by bridgman View Post
    2. Somewhere in late 2008 / early 2009 a problem appeared using Intel hardware, resulting in (IIRC) previously used screen buffers re-appearing on the screen, which could contain sensitive data.
    For the record, I have similar problems on my laptop using nvidia's binary drivers. They seem to be taking shortcuts to avoid the issue.

    But nobody seems to care because it's fast and the only sensitive data most users might have in their video memory is porn, anyway.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by smitty3268 View Post
      I'm sure they do, these are smart guys and they know the quality of the product they're putting out.

      Honestly, if AMD just put out a roadmap stating when they thought all the various problems with fglrx might be solved, that would be a good start. Right now it's like Flash - there are so many problems and no indication about whether AMD even intends to fix them, let alone whether it's under progress now or scheduled for 5 years later.
      All I want is a roadmap stating when they'll switch into dropping fglrx and supporting the Open Source stack full steam. It is pretty solid in my Kubuntu Lucid test partition, but obviously a lot of speed ups and functionality need to still be coded in!

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      • #33
        Bridgman: is this a realistic expectation? (see my message just above, apparently you can't edit anymore) Any plans to transition to fully Open Source? Thanks!

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        • #34
          Not unless we decide to abandon the workstation market, which seems very unlikely.
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          • #35
            AMD will not drop fglrx support.
            The plan (as far as I understand) is to have the open source drivers alongside the proprietary.

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            • #36
              Originally posted by bridgman View Post
              Not unless we decide to abandon the workstation market, which seems very unlikely.
              If you don't mind educating me a bit: what's different for workstations? NDA's at the hardware level or the customers need somehow for binary only support?

              Ultimately, I am a desktop user, and I am wondering if, long term, Open Source drivers will give the same level of performance as the binary ones (but with more stability). My hunch is that there is no reason why this should not be the case, but I am not a graphics guru at all.

              Thanks for the answer! And for the good work, I am sticking to ATI for my graphics needs because it's open.

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              • #37
                Workstation users are generally quite 3D-intensive, and require (rather than desire) the same level of performance and functionality as Windows. This is where proprietary drivers shine, by allowing the implementation of APIs (OpenGL in this case) which are common across proprietary and free OSes to be shared without IP concerns.

                I'm not aware of anyone who "needs" binary-only support, just that they need a level of functionality and performance which (for economic reasons) can not be separately implemented for each OS and which (for IP reasons, mostly related to DRM) can not practically be provided in open source form.

                Obviously the OpenGL portion of the stack does not have much in the way of DRM-related IP, however the OpenGL portion of the stack relies heavily on lower level code which is shared between 2D, 3D and video on other OSes.

                There is no reason in principle why open source drivers could not match or exceed the performance of proprietary drivers, it's just a question of manpower - which in turn is a function of market share and perceived business opportunity.
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                • #38
                  Remember that Mesa still doesn't have the licenses to implement several patented OpenGL 3 technologies. So for that reason alone, the binary drivers are going to be superior for people who really need to use advanced features. I'm guessing blu-ray players would require a binary driver as well, although you can't get those on linux anyway.

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                  • #39
                    Originally posted by mendieta View Post
                    All I want is a roadmap stating when they'll switch into dropping fglrx and supporting the Open Source stack full steam. It is pretty solid in my Kubuntu Lucid test partition, but obviously a lot of speed ups and functionality need to still be coded in!

                    Are you aware there are some applications/games which will never run properly with the open source drivers? You probably miss the point that there are many applications that have proprietary technologies which will be difficult to implement in open source drivers due to IP issues.For example,quake 4 uses s3tc texture compression,the license to which is owned by s3 technologies.There is a bad hack which will try to run the game with the open drivers,but it doesnt work that well.It only runs with a third party library which according to the radeon devs is buggy.

                    Luckily,you are not the only customer AMD has ,so hopefully they will always have a driver which supports all features on their hardware and lets users enjoy the very reason these cards were made.

                    For the reason stated above, both drivers will exist always.But in any case,i dont see the point of having 3d in any of the drivers ,Radeon or proprietary,other than wobbling windows on the desktop what else do linux users do anyway?No cutting edge games,no 3D CAD, no nothing really.No wonder,both drivers suck at 3D.Nvidia is a strange exception to the rule,probably have good 3d support for stuff like Pro/E which runs on Linux workstations with Nvidia cards.

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by indus View Post
                      Luckily,you are not the only customer AMD has ,so hopefully they will always have a driver which supports all features on their hardware and lets users enjoy the very reason these cards were made.
                      That sounds great! When do you think that driver will be released?

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