Open-Source AMD RS690 3D Support

David Airlie has just mentioned on his blog that there is now initial open-source 3D support for the RS690 chipset. AMD's RS690 is an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) found on some motherboards and has been somewhat popular for HTPC/media purposes. While the RS690 is part of the 6xx series, it has R500 era mode-setting with a stripped-down R400 era 3D core. Currently, this open-source 3D support is similar to the RS400 series with glxgears and some 3D applications working, but don't look for any desktop eye-candy through Compiz (it's not quite that far, yet).

In order to experience this rudimentary open-source 3D support you must be running the very latest git code for DRM, Mesa, and the xf86-video-ati Radeon DDX. While this is great for RS690 owners who are after open-source support, there is still much work left in delivering more complete support and enabling 3D capabilities for other R500/600 GPUs. This announcement can be found on David Airlie's blog while all of the latest code can be found on the FreeDesktop.org git server. There has already been an active thread in the Phoronix Forums surrounding RS690 open-source support, and David Airlie has just stated that further RS690 work will be done in the near future (after Linux.Conf.Au has ended, which is happening next week).