S3 Graphics Is Working On New Linux Driver

Yesterday we shared that S3 Graphics launched their Chrome 500 Series graphics cards, with the initial model being a sub-$50 USD OpenGL 3.0 capable solution. It's no power workhorse, but in the press release they shared: "Today's users will now be able to enjoy the latest Blu-ray playback, streaming HD video, DirectX 10.1, and OpenGL 3.0 applications on Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms."

As we shared in the article yesterday, the last Linux driver from S3 Graphics was released last year and it's riddled with limitations. This Linux driver doesn't even support the earlier Chrome 400 series. Now though they mention Linux support in the same sentence as OpenGL 3.0 support, streaming HD video, Blu-ray playback, and DirectX 10.1 support. Because of this, we set out to get the situation clarified by S3 Graphics. Just minutes ago the US PR contact for S3 Graphics, Benson Tao, had responded:

Hi Michael,
Thanks for the questions!

We will put our Chrome Linux drivers on the website by the middle of December. Currently, we already have some customers designing us in on Linux platforms using our current drivers.

We will also have the OpenGL 3.0 beta drivers available at that time also.

Thanks,
Benson

It seems though that the S3 Chrome 500 series will indeed be supported on Linux and there will even be OpenGL 3.0 support. What wasn't answered though was about any video acceleration support. When we obtain additional information or when the driver is actually released, we'll be sure to take a closer look.