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XFree86 3.3.3.1 includes Riva TNT >OPEN SOURCE code 77

Booker writes " There was lots of gnashing-of-teeth over the evil lords at Nvidia "obfuscating" the source for Xfree86. The latest on the XFree86 web page states that the "Open Source NVIDIA driver has been included" for 3.3.3.1. " It also adds Gnu/HURD support, and improved Media GX support.
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XFree86 3.3.3.1 includes Riva TNT >OPEN SOURCE< code

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  • Anonymous Coward wrote:

    They ought to give credit where credit is due: Linux/HURD is the proper name for such a system.

    Actually, HURDLinux makes more sense, along the lines of MkLinux, another hybrid Linux/Mach kernel. With the GNU tools it would become GNU/HURDLinux. Just HURD is alot easier, dontchathink?
  • by Gleef ( 86 )
    jerodd wrote:

    The Hurd was originally started by GNU as part of their project to create a completely free Unix system. Linux did not exist back then, and Linus was still learning his multiplication tables. (Or maybe they are smarter in Finland by that age? I don't know.)

    Um, according to the Free Software Foundation, HURD wasn't even started until 1990 [gnu.org]. Linux was well past his multiplication tables by then, I believe solidly in grad school.

    The first release of HURD didn't happen until 1996, six years for an alpha release? That's slow even for a Cathedral project. Somehow I suspect that a lot of what happened in the early 1990's on HURD was talk, and most of the development didn't happen until Linux was on the map.

    I think that HURD does offer some useful innovations, whether those innovations remain in a separate project like HURD, or get incorporated into Linux remains to be seen.
  • Hopefully, nVidia's (perceptive) release of open source drivers will translate into real pressure on 3Dfx to follow suit. Like the databases did in '98 and like the OEMs will do in '99.
  • I'm thinking of using an old dec monochrome fixed frequency monitor with my millennium 2 since there's this sync-on-green hack available for it, but the question is...

    There's only one coax connector at the back... so how do I tell Xfree to send a monochrome signal to it, as opposed to having a monochrome VGA/SVGA monitor where you just inject your color video signal that's displayed in grey levels?

    Any idea? Thanks :-)

    ---

  • Don't worry, RMS doesn't call it GNU/Linux anymore.

    He just calls it GNU.

    And yes, I can quote him on that, he said it during a radio interview (no longer on-line, unfortunately). He didn't mention the word Linux until the interviewer directly asked him "What about Linux?"

    Sigh...
  • I installed the 3.3.3 rpm a few days ago. Today I noticed my system was really, really, really slow.

    Now I see from the web site that 3.3.3.1 fixes that problem. Does anybody have an RPM, or do I have to build it myself?
  • From: president@nvidia.com
    To: engineer-jim@nvidia.com
    Subject: Increased e-mail activity

    Jim, the amount of e-mail we've been receiving this week has jumped up an order of magnitude. Moreover, the messages all appear to be angry letters from the Linux community regarding our involvement with Linux development.

    Whatever you're doing, STOP IT!

    ---
    From: engineer-jim@nvidia.com
    To: president@nvidia.com
    Subject: Re: Increased e-mail activity

    > Whatever you're doing, STOP IT!

    Yes sir.
  • I'm running the 550 viper and it seems fine as a PCI on a regular socket 7 board. I haven't talked to anyone running one on a super7 though.

    Kashani
  • Isn't somone working on open source implementation of LVM? I remember visiting a page which tells about it in additon to somone porting linux over to (HP's) PA-RISC. I don't remember the url though....sorry.



  • Trespasser is the most butt-slow dog of a game
    ever inflicted on gamers. It blows chow on AGP
    AND PCI cards. If you're gonna bench AGP vs. PCI,
    don't use the worst game of the year.

    S3 made a QII level with a huge
    amount of different textures to test their
    (closed) Texture Compresssion Scheme over the
    AGP bus. Try that on your TNT AGP card and see what you get.

    My bet: a couple VIIs in SLI fry it.

    Have fun!
  • Would this by any chance have support for the S3 Trio3D in XF86_S3 or XF86_SVGA ?? :\
  • Yaya but that was there in 3.3.3 .. just wondering if has changed.. the Trio3D can't be much different then the other trios.. so whats takin so long? =( meanwhile i'll pout in win98
  • Yeah the RIVA 128is a VERY nice card for the money. You can pick up OEM for like, 50-60 bucks now, and 70 bucks for an 8mb AGP version. It's D3D, (I know windows...) for those of us that have to boot Windows for some games, is still very nice. X Windows absolutely loved it too. I was using SuSE's XServer for the longest time, XSuSE_nVidia or something, but will prolly move to standard XFree now.... Especially since my version is fairly old =)
  • > How in hell does "all the functionality in
    > userspace" make an OS easier to debug?

    Because it means that you can run multiple copies of the "OS personality" over the microkernel. You boot a first instance of your OS as your debug platform, and then start an instance of the OS your are debugging as a process under the first instance. If it crashes, you can directly debug it, kill just the process, quickly edit-compile-restart ("reboot"), all without having to reboot the underlying computer.

    IMHO, this ease of debugging is the best reason for using microkernel-like systems. And I worked on several projects doing this on top of Mach3 over the years.

    (This comments apply to Mach systems in general, such as MkLinux. The last I heard, Hurd was using Utah's "Mach4" work, but I assume this debugging technique still applies to it.)
  • Better a "luser" than a flaming jerk. Try developing a social skill or two.
  • actually, its version 3.3.3.1 as opposed to 3.3.1


    Keyboard not found.
  • I've also heard, in replys from Nvidia to my questions, that something may be in the works. I'm crossing my fingers.
  • [sandeen@Porter yagirc]$ finger @linux.kernel.org
    [linux.kernel.org]

    The latest stable version of the Linux kernel is: 2.0.36
    The latest beta version of the Linux kernel is: 2.1.132
    The latest prepatch (alpha) version *appears* to be: 2.2.0-pre7

    And it's on the us mirror that I use... 70kb patch.
  • to the folks at nvidia who were good enough
    to write me, to let them know they are on the
    right track!

    THEY GOT A LOT OF FLAMES even though they were
    ACTIVELY SUPPORTING LINUX.

    C'mon folks, start using your tact, and/or your
    nice words, with hardware vendors that support
    linux!!!
  • It's not "FROM" GNU!!!

    IT IS "TO" GNU!!!!!!!!

    It came FROM the community
    which would exist with or without rms.
  • Does Linux have a generic sound engine to compliment the GL support?

    IMHO one of the few things M$ did cool was DirectX; I would very much like to see a similar gaming system for Linux. After all, who would desire a return to the days of DOS when games were built for a specific set of sound and video cards? Could it be that a generic sound/video translation layer is the key to massive game developer support for Linux?

    If it's out there now (or in development), would someone please post a link?
  • Dude, it's partiton magic ... it's given me tremendous flexibility. Sorry it isn't free; on occasion you can get it cheap.

    Which brings up the question, given the *value* of filesystem flexibility (uh ... /opt is small ... I know, merge it with /usr and use a link!), writing a parition magic type app might be a good project.
  • I like the TNT ... except that my G200 looks better on 19" + monitors ...

    I'm currently thinking that if the Metro X extreme 3D is good, I'll just get a permedia 3 and invest the $200. (+$50 for the Quake 3).
  • by Knight ( 10458 )
    This is VERY good news
  • here [slashdot.org]
  • You may want to terminate the unused outputs with 75 ohm resistors.
  • by jerodd ( 13818 )

    Good to see support for the Hurd is coming. For those of you aren't familiar with the Hurd (definition below), it's a kernel that is designed to handle really heavy loads. It is entirely GPL'd. Hopefully Hurd will eventually be of Solaris quality (I know, I know, it can't be done with opensource, but we've all heard that before). It will probably fill the same niche FreeBSD fills now. Hmm, Hurd servers and Linux clients... sounds nice to me.

    One great thing about Hurd is that if it do get very good features, that can be folded into Linux without a hitch.

    The Hurd was originally started by GNU as part of their project to create a completely free Unix system. Linux did not exist back then, and Linus was still learning his multiplication tables. (Or maybe they are smarter in Finland by that age? I don't know.)

    Linux came out of nowhere and was able to make good use of the GNU toolset. It was exactly the vision that GNU had. However, they had already started work on the Hurd, and the Hurd had (or was going to have) some features Linux didn't (and doesn't) have. I know it may seem stupid to have people working on different Unix kernels-- but this is about diversity, not one-size-fits-all. If we just wanted one nice huge kernel we would use NT.

    Be warned that the Hurd is not for newbies. I tried it a few weeks ago. It was neat, although it crashed a few times (probably due to my hardware configuration). Interesting things are going to happen to it.

    ``Hurd: `Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons'. (definition of `Hird' below)''

    ``Hird: `Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth' (definition of `Hurd' above)''

    Yup, it's the X TrueType fontserver for OS/2 again. Just how many OS/2 users browse these forums, anyway? Happy xtruetyping! [ml.org]

  • the link to Xfree86.org is broken...
  • Anyone that supports Open Source and has a TNT probably cares. I'm glad I'm now not stuck with some code that's impossible to fix.


    Force Recon Half-Life TC: Check it out [cass.net]
  • This is great news!

    But does it also mean that the great svgatextmode program will get support for my Diamond Viper 550 any time soon?

    Remco

  • by Poro ( 14468 )
    I was stupid enough to buy Trio 3D without checking if XFree supports it (well, I did check but I guess I had a brain-fade :) so if you need beta-testers, I would be happy to help...
  • by Mauro ( 14483 )
    Obuscated or not at least they are releasing
    driver source! Ask anyone who had a Diamond
    Stealth VRAM what they went through trying to
    run a non MS OS, or a Diamond Viper for that matter!
    I credit NVIDIA with releasing anything to the public domain.

We warn the reader in advance that the proof presented here depends on a clever but highly unmotivated trick. -- Howard Anton, "Elementary Linear Algebra"

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