This Week: Linux Graphics Continue To Evolve

For those that missed it, there was quite a bit happening this week in the Linux world when it comes to graphics drivers. The KMS page-flipping ioctl is ready for the Linux 2.6.32 kernel, KMS and GEM comes to the Neo FreeRunner, and the Assembly shader rework was merged into the mainline Mesa tree was among the open-source driver news. Also taking place this past week was the release of AMD Catalyst 9.8, which finally brought support for the Linux 2.6.29 and 2.6.30 kernels, but continues to lack real public support for XvBA. X.Org 7.5 was also supposed to be released, but to no surprise that did not happen.

Beyond Linux graphics this past week we witnessed the release of Moonlight 2.0 Beta 1 which implements Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 and some bits of the 3.0 functionality, the Pidgin 2.6 instant messenger that finally brings voice and video support, and id Software finally bringing Quake Live to Linux.

At length we also provided Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 4 benchmarks, an early look at Fedora 12 Alpha, provided our first look at the Korona distribution that brings KDE 4.3 to OpenSolaris, and we also reviewed the SilverStone Raven RVS01 enclosure.

This week we also unveiled part of our plans for potentially launching an online Linux hardware store for making it very easy for consumers to buy Linux-compatible hardware. There's already quite a discussion about this venture in the Phoronix Forums, where we continue to welcome new feedback on the matter.

Well, that about wraps up another week of Linux hardware testing, open-source news, and benchmarking fun.