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AMD Launches New ATI Linux Driver
Posted by
kdawson
on Wed Sep 05, 2007 09:07 AM
from the soon-it-will-all-be-faster dept.
from the soon-it-will-all-be-faster dept.
Michael Larabel writes "AMD has issued a press release announcing 'significant graphics performance and compatibility enhancements' on Linux. AMD will be delivering new ATI Linux drivers this year that offer ATI Radeon HD 2000 series support, AIGLX support (Beryl and Compiz), and major performance improvements. At Phoronix we have been testing these new drivers internally for the past few weeks and have a number of articles looking at this new driver. The ATI 8.41 Linux driver delivers Linux gaming improvements from the R300/400 series and the R500 series. The inaugural Radeon HD 2900XT series support also can be found in the new ATI Linux driver with 'the best price/performance ratio of any high-end graphics card under Linux.' While this new driver cannot be downloaded yet, in their press release AMD also alludes to accelerating efforts with the open-source community."
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Submission: AMD Launches New ATI Linux Driver by Anonymous Coward
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AMD To Open ATI Specs 426 comments
Several readers tipped us the followup of yesterday's AMD/ATI news, the new development hinted at by Phoronix: AMD has announced they are releasing the specs for all new Radeon chipsets, and will be working with the open source community to develop a fully functional 2D and 3D graphics driver. An anonymous reader opines: "AMD appears to be following in Intel's footsteps with upcoming releases. If AMD is successful NVidia will have real competition in the GNU/Linux gaming arena. While past support by ATI was unsatisfactory the new AMD buyout appears to be having some effect."
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ATI Releases AIGLX Linux Driver 113 comments
Michael writes "A month after AMD released a Radeon HD 2000 'R600' Linux driver based on their new Linux driver codebase, they have now released another driver that provides AIGLX support used for Compiz and Compiz Fusion. In addition to this long-awaited AIGLX support, this driver also addresses issues with previous Radeon product families, performance improvements, AGP fixes, and added features to their graphical control panel. Phoronix has a review of the 8.42 Linux driver with all of the details about this much-anticipated release."
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AMD's New Card Supports Linux From the Get-Go 352 comments
Michael writes "Back in September AMD had announced a new ATI Linux driver as well as opening up their GPU specifications, and today they have taken an additional step to better support the Linux OS. With the just-announced Radeon HD 4850 RV770 they have provided same-day Linux support, and the Linux driver is now shipping alongside the Windows driver on their product CDs. In addition, they are encouraging their AIB partners to showcase Tux on the product packaging as a sign of Linux support. Last but certainly not least, AMD is committed from top-to-bottom product support on Linux and they will be introducing high-end features in their Linux driver such as MultiGPU CrossFire technology. Phoronix has a run-down on AMD's evolutionary leap in Linux support along with information on the open-source support for the RV770 GPU."
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Put up or shut up... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Put up or shut up... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I am building a new system in the next month or two, and if ATI still hasn't come out with open source drivers, I'm going with Intel instead.
Are they open? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Are they open? (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to be a huge ATI fan but I've completely stopped buying their stuff. If they can't be bothered to make working drivers or have useful support answers. I can't be bothered to shell out money for something that's just going into the garbage bin anyways.
NVIDIA is marginally better.. at least these stuff works even if I have to reinstall the X.org drivers every time I update a kernel.
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Re:Are they open? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
On a related note: does anyone know if it's possible to get standalone graphics cards with Intel 3D graphics hardware on them?
I know that on an absolute scale, the Intel chipsets aren't particularly fast... but they're certainly faster than the Radeon 9600 mobility I've got right now, and there are genuinely open source accelerated drivers for them. Which means
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
See a pattern here?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yep, a strong pattern indeed. Intel is saying, "Buy an Intel processor," whereas AMD is saying, "Buy an Intel processor." Anyone who can't spot the pattern in that, has to be pretty dense. I wonder why AMD's stockholders haven't noticed it.
Re:Are they open? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Are they open? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Especially ones with slots able to take new videocards...
It's such a small niche that it's probably not worth it for AMD to pursue.
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I hate to break it to you, but you're using a very non-standard definition of "mainstream."
Hey AMD, A tip for you. (Score:5, Insightful)
If AMD steps up to the plate and gives us good drivers and actually listens and reacts fast to reported problems, they can come out way ahead.
Nvidia driver install used to be painless, now it can be incredibly painful depending on the Distro and Card you have. I still cant get a old Geforce4 card working on my wifes ubuntu PC. I gave up and switched to the intel onboard chipset. Far better support for that video chipset than nvidia is giving us even for the older cards that USED to work great.
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with Ubuntu you have a choice of three different NVidia drivers; new, normal, and legacy. you should probably use normal 'nvidia-kernel-' & 'nvidia-glx-'. if, on the other hand, you have a brand spanking new card, you will need the beta drivers direct from nvidia and you will have to install them yourself. in the event you choose to go that road do *not* install the linux-restricted-stuff - it will interfere with the drivers, and remember to re-install the drivers from reco
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nv driver is good for install or limp mode only.
Re:Hey AMD, A tip for you. (Score:5, Insightful)
* It doesn't matter whether I'm using VLC, Xine, Mplayer, or Totem. I happens very often, which is why I'll usually just boot it into OS X if I want to play a dvd or avi.
Also, in reply to Lumpy (gp), why is it so hard to go to "System->Administration->Restricted Drivers Manager"? I've done that with a few GeForce4 (integrated) cards and it's as easy as typing your password and clicking a button.
If you're not running 7.04, then just do "System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager" and do a search for "nvidia-glx". Install that and it should work (you might have to change
Ubuntu is by far the easiest distro to install 3d graphics drivers on since they provide the packages. No compiling and it will always work across reboots since the driver gets updated when the kernel does.
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It's nice to see DAAMIT finally getting there (Score:4, Insightful)
I definitely made a brilliant move (Score:5, Insightful)
If it hasn't been stated clearly enough in the past, I'll state it again. Even if you don't care about whether a driver is OSS or proprietary from a technical standpoint, users are advised to understand that proprietary drivers places control over your hardware's obsolescence firmly in the hands of the manufacturer. And these days, with limited hardware selection for things like laptops or very tiny PCs, your options are pretty limited. These proprietary drivers are damaging the viability of Linux on older hardware which has been one of Linux's strongest motivators for adoption.
Moving to nVidia helps because at least with nVidia, they have a legacy hardware program to support and update drivers for older hardware. AMD/ATI does not. Ultimately, though, I should probably settle in and get comfortable with the OSS drivers for my hardware even if the performance is lower... it's a damned shame though.
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The net result is that a LOT of people end up with ATI video cards, not wanting to buy replacements, and aggravated that driver support sucks. It's a crappy situation all the way a
If you want Linux and open (Score:5, Informative)
http://wiki.opengraphics.org./tiki-index.php?page
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If you want Linux and open, you can use Intel's graphics chips right now. They have opensource drivers in the stable kernel and X.org trees. If you need badass performance for the latest games, I don't think OGP will be much better than Intel. But for example, my oldish Centrino laptop runs things like Tuxracer and Quake 3 smoothly, so the basic 3D stuff definitely works.
On the other hand, I do appreciate a good hardware hack, but that's a completely different realm from most Linux geeks' needs. A compl
s/Launches/Announces/ (Score:3, Funny)
Any video accel lovin'? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
fglrx currently has Xv acceleration using the GPU on R500 series cards, and it works well enough that I can watch 1080p H.264 content with no dropped frames. It's the one (and only) thing it currently beats the Nvidia drivers on.
Whoa! Spiteful much? (Score:5, Insightful)
AMD to open up graphics specs (Score:5, Insightful)
More here: http://lwn.net/Articles/248227 [lwn.net]
Re:AMD to open up graphics specs (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, THIS should be an article on Slashdot with the new drivers being a footnote -- not the other way around.
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Re:AMD to open up graphics specs (Score:4, Insightful)
Available, truly open sourced drivers are going to be a big factor in any hardware purchase I make.
I'm just one, but I think I'm one of many. Even if you're not "paranoid" (concerned) it's obsolecense protection.
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Re:AMD to open up graphics specs (Score:4, Insightful)
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Money where your mouth is (Score:4, Insightful)
You'll also note that, GeForce 8x00 series notwithstanding (which are marginally slower under Linux), nVidia maintain a very small performance delta between the Linux and windows version of their drivers. ATI's performance delta can sometimes be as much as 50% (top-of-my-head BTW, Phoronix had another full-of-crappy-graphs article about it a while back).
I'm hoping AMD can pull some weight and at least get better support for laptop chipsets and IGP's in their otherwise pretty nice chipsets. Until then, I have to stick to Intel or nVidia for graphics, and since I only need the one gaming box, I'm getting through alot of Intel motherboards. Guess what CPU goes in an Intel motherboard, AMD? Despite me wanting to use X2's for their lower idle power envelope, I find it hard to justify.
Sigh.
It's about time! (Score:3, Insightful)
Even though its not "out" yet, there are plenty of benchmarks available. It'll be out soon.
What does this "prove" for me? That AMD's commitment to make ATI a first-class contender on the Linux front was for real. I'm guessing that Windows users will also see improvements in OpenGL performance, and we'll see better adoption of OpenGL on all three major platforms (Windows, OS X, Linux).
I'm happy as hell about this. About time us Linux users got to take advantage of GPU price wars!
I'm still an NVIDIA fan, because they've been good to me for all these years (on Linux), but I'm at least willing to look at ATI these days; particularly because the ATI peripheral GPU software is much better (better control panel, better install program). I wonder if the driver quality is good (not just performance, but does it always compile correctly, does it always fix broken installs (the way NVIDIA's does?)).
This is a good day for Linux.
Pathetic (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, wait, I forgot: fuck Heinlein's Razor; every mistake is deliberate! nVidia is consipiring with Microsoft and Halliburton to take control of your computer and obfuscate the true nature of The Milkman. It's all clear to me now!
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3D is important; Do what Linus does: buy Intel (Score:3, Insightful)
Wrong. Many Linux machines are now desktops. 2/3 of the Linux machines in my home are desktops. I don't use fancy 3D desktops, but I do use everyday apps like Google Earth and the occasional kids' games that are much faster and smoother with hardware rather than software OpenGL.
However I have solved this problem by only buying Intel graphics hardware. They work from the moment Fedora first boots up.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Also, I don't think your number "prove" most linux installs are desktops. Many probably still are just servers.
Re:3D is important; Do what Linus does: buy Intel (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:3D is important; Do what Linus does: buy Intel (Score:5, Insightful)
That's why nearly all Linux gamers and more than 60% of Windows gamers buy Nvidia cards. They've had better drivers for ages. Not open source, which disturbs some of the hardcore, but great drivers nonetheless.
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Re:3D is important; Do what Linus does: buy Intel (Score:4, Interesting)
The nVidia drivers just plain work. They detected the monitor correctly and have worked flawlessly ever since. Open or close source, they are by far the best drivers I've used. The ATI drivers I use on one of the machines support the monitors, but introduce periodic 2-D corruption when running Xemacs and corrupt the cursor when moving between Xinerama panes, but at least they can do 1680x1050 and Xinerama. I don't even mind that the 3-D is slow since this is a work machine and I don't really need 3-D.
The Intel drivers are far too slow at 2-D, and given I can only do 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 and both look like crap on the LCD monitors. One machine is a P-4 and the other a core 2 duo machine, and both are unusable with Intel.
I only want 2-D and the Intel drivers can't even do that right.
Also with nVidia, I don't really even need to care which chipset is used as long as it isn't too old, since the drivers just work. Even the open source nVidia drivers work well for 2-D.
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Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:4, Insightful)
or if there's strange bugs that you think are the drivers fault, and you happen to know enough C to fix them right now instead of whenever the snail-slow vendor gets around to it?
as for your comment about giving away what you do for a living... AMD doesn't write drivers for money, they make hardware. Intel manages to make hardware and open-source a good majority of their drivers, so that's just a stupid argument.
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Re:Is the driver open-source? (Score:5, Insightful)
So it works when the kernel changes their *&^!%@! ABI yet again in the latest patchlevel. To port it to other OS's. So smarter people than me can look at it and find bugs or interoperability problems with it and send vendor updates to it.
I can understand their reasoning -- video cards are more or less big FPU arrays these days, and the actual 3d graphics is all software, so they might not want to expose their secrets. The other problem is that the competition would use it to find potential patent infringement. It's a Nash equilibrium: the first one to open-source loses. If I were to put the number generously at 50,000 extra customers due to OSS, that simply wouldn't cover the potential loss. But the fact is, there aren't any solid numbers as to what the market effect would be, and uncertainty is in a lot of ways worse than outright losing -- at least you can write off the latter on your balance sheet early.
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Re:And? (Score:4, Interesting)
Besides, people have a long memory when it comes to garbage hardware. A $40 game that blows can be a fluke. A $200 (or more) video card that only does 640x480 in 16 colors is harder to forget.
Once a company burns you on hardware, there's no reason to ever have to go back to them if there is any competition at all. Look at the other options you have for graphics. Hell, people are even using built-in video instead of ATI. How bad do you have to be for people to prefer onboard video?
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Re:And? (Score:4, Informative)
Full AIGLX support in 8.42 (the article is discussing 8.41). The claim at Phoronix is that AMD has claimed AIGLX is going in at 8.42.
Continuing the trend would be MPEG-4/H.264 Xvideo support in 8.4x or 8.5x, preferably within the next 6 months or so (keep in mind that the Radeon 2X00 series have excellent video capabilities).
If they hit those two goals, I'll most likely purchase 2-3 ATI cards for my Linux boxes; the AIGLX and Xvideo things are a big deal to me, and Nvidia cards don't currently accelerate MPEG-4/H.264.
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