Expected 8.4 features

[MagicTempest]

I've always been optimistic about ATI, but ever since they seem to have dropped all AGP support I'm beginning to get more and more annoyed with ATI. I haven't been able to use any driver since the new naming scheme because they lock up my X with no apparent reason or logging.

So I would very much hope that ATI will finally fix the AGP problems they have and make the driver work for all those people out there with a AGP card.

[sundown]

if you are paid by nvidia, declare it!

Kano is a closeted ATi fan

[Vighy]

Well I don't think it is possible to change huge drivers so fast, that all bugs will be away. That's definitely a long term thing - when you even think that some bugs are years in the driver and not fixed - even if a changelog mentioned a fix which never existed (modeline bug is definitely still in it). A clean rewrite is certainly better, but also this needs time to evolve. My suggesting would be: this year is definitely Nvidia the leader, maybe 1-2 years to keep up - biggest hope are the free drivers, at least for basic 3d like compiz they should work later. Don't know if it is possible to use em for games which require GLSL soon, even if there are ways to implement it in a software emulation (using LLVM -> gallium3d). If you want full featured 3d drivers now, it is absolutely impossible to buy ati. You can see speed increases in benchmarks but these are only done with apps which only require a subset of features - other not tested ones are still broken like pointsprites. Of course Nv cards are not flawless, but compared to ati they are definitely better in most cases. Maybe ati is better for open source driver purists, but not for gamers. So as conlusion: best don't expect more than a few added PCI-IDs in a new release...

in my desktop experience ati is not that bad! i just need some little things more, and then I'm ok!

and what i said was a bit different: the sentence "are you putting together all the things you've been working under the cover" does take in consideration that big changes are impossible in such short time, but such a delay is too much for just "a few added PCI-IDs".

and what about intel support!? it seems you have in mind just nvidia
if you are paid by nvidia, declare it!

[SavageX]

You can see speed increases in benchmarks but these are only done with apps which only require a subset of features - other not tested ones are still broken like pointsprites.

It almost seems like that whenever you talk about the ATI drivers you end up mentioning pointsprites. I do think that "implement what gets used, do the other stuff later" (obviously the long term goal should be to eventually implement the *whole* spec) does make some sense and I wonder what relevant parts of the GL spec seem to be missing.

(E.g. apart from that fglrx seems to hate Nexuiz from a performance point of view it doesn't seem to have problems to deliver the features we need - all problems I have with fglrx are in the 2D area (I'm not running Compiz))

[Kano]

Well I don't think it is possible to change huge drivers so fast, that all bugs will be away. That's definitely a long term thing - when you even think that some bugs are years in the driver and not fixed - even if a changelog mentioned a fix which never existed (modeline bug is definitely still in it). A clean rewrite is certainly better, but also this needs time to evolve. My suggesting would be: this year is definitely Nvidia the leader, maybe 1-2 years to keep up - biggest hope are the free drivers, at least for basic 3d like compiz they should work later. Don't know if it is possible to use em for games which require GLSL soon, even if there are ways to implement it in a software emulation (using LLVM -> gallium3d). If you want full featured 3d drivers now, it is absolutely impossible to buy ati. You can see speed increases in benchmarks but these are only done with apps which only require a subset of features - other not tested ones are still broken like pointsprites. Of course Nv cards are not flawless, but compared to ati they are definitely better in most cases. Maybe ati is better for open source driver purists, but not for gamers. So as conlusion: best don't expect more than a few added PCI-IDs in a new release...

[Vighy]

I'm just trying to guess.. 1month and half could mean both, much and nothing, but:

is there a possibility for RandR 1.2 support in 8.4?

or maybe, instead, are you putting together all the things you've been working under the cover and now you feel their ready for the public!? (for example Textured2D and friends)

or again, instead, are you trying to collect as much tech info as possible on how manufacturers implemented your solutions, and you will be giving us POWERPlay support!?

Ok, I should stop dreaming and wait till the release date. :-)

[Nicolas]

Considering the last driver was released in the beginning of March and we are already in the middle of April, I would hope for at least something bigger to be fixed in 8.04.

But we all know that things are not how they should be, so...

I'm hoping the opensource solution improves... The problem is that I'm on a R300 (Mobility X700) so my chances are slimmer.

Good luck to all of us... ATI has lost some clients (friends of mine) due to these drivers.

[Karel]

Changelog:
* Rename driver to 8.4
* Fix bug in installer - missing copyright notice

[sundown]

Ok, suppose there is no tearing, how come upon installing fglrx -- it still can't detect my external monitor properly and I have to manually abuse xorg.conf?

[linzerd]

I still have tearing with a X200 and OpenGL video output... With VideoOverlay "On" in xorg.conf i have smooth but trembling playblack (the video moves up and down constantly), and with TexturedVideo "On" in xorg.conf i experience lags in video playback, and small noticeable tearing...