Intel Aims For Open-Source OpenGL 3.0 Driver By Year's End

[smitty3268]

The ARB_texture_float patent is owned by SGI

http://www.opengl.org/registry/specs/ARB/texture_float.txt

SGI owns US Patent #6,650,327, issued November 18, 2003. SGI
believes this patent contains necessary IP for graphics systems
implementing floating point (FP) rasterization and FP framebuffer
capabilities.

SGI will not grant the ARB royalty-free use of this IP for use in
OpenGL, but will discuss licensing on RAND terms, on an individual
basis with companies wishing to use this IP in the context of
conformant OpenGL implementations. SGI does not plan to make any
special exemption for open source implementations.

Contact Doug Crisman at SGI Legal for the complete IP disclosure.

You can view the patent itself here: http://www.google.com/patents/about?...BAJ&dq=6650327

20 years from the filing date would be June 16, 2018. I think it's standard practice that a lot of these patents are extended for a year or 2 though, so 2020 might be a safer estimate.

[Azpegath]

http://www.opengl.org/registry/specs...ture_float.txt


You can view the patent itself here: http://www.google.com/patents/about?...BAJ&dq=6650327

20 years from the filing date would be June 16, 2018. I think it's standard practice that a lot of these patents are extended for a year or 2 though, so 2020 might be a safer estimate.

Doesn't it help that the company owning the patent has actually gone bankrupt?

[smitty3268]

Doesn't it help that the company owning the patent has actually gone bankrupt?

I don't think so - from what i can tell all the assets, which would include the patent, were sold off to another company. That company then renamed itself Silicon Graphics International (old one was Silicon Graphics Inc). So I think the patent is still fully valid and everything. I don't think new management changed anything regarding licensing, since that happened back in 2009 and all the Mesa work relating to it was more recent. You have to assume someone involved reached out to SGI at that time to figure out if they could work out a deal.

[shirish]

Hopefully! So far, I've been enabling features on all Gen4+ chips, including G45. I believe it should be possible.



You should have OpenGL 2.1 and GLSL 1.20 support, plus a bunch of extra extensions. I'm pretty sure Gen4 has supported GL 2 since the initial 2006 release...a really long time in any case.



Eaglelake for desktops, Cantiga if you have a GM45 (mobile). We usually just call them G45/GM45 though.

Here's a handy codename translator:
Gen 4 Desktop - Broadwater (BRW) - G965 - GMA X3000
Gen 4 Mobile - Crestline (CL) - GM965 - GMA X3100
Gen 4.5 Desktop - Eaglelake (ELK) - G45 - GMA X4500HD
Gen 4.5 Mobile - Cantiga (CTG) - GM45 - GMA 4500MHD
Gen 5 - Ironlake (ILK) - HD Graphics (desktop sometimes "Clarkdale", mobile "Arrandale")
Gen 6 - Sandybridge (SNB) - HD Graphics 2000 (codename GT1) and HD Graphics 3000 (codename GT2).

just keeping this in mind so the thread is known, from whatever I read it doesn't seem that G31 chipsets would have any improv. with new releases.