From: Mike S. <ms...@do...> - 2001-11-26 21:08:25
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Hello Everyone, I would like to inquire about about ATI video card support in mesa under linux 2.4.x. To be specific, I'm contemplating on purchasing a Radeon 8500 card and I work exclusively on linux. I currently have a TNT2 but dislike the closed-source nature of the driver. ... From what I heard though the nvidia driver is "stable" with full implementation of OpenGL. Although, I'm afradi that is a biased opinion from the folks on #nvidia irc.openprojects.net. So what I'm looking for is a non-biased opinion of the state of ATI (RADEON 8500) support under linux in the following criteria: #1 stability NOTE ----> #1 <----- #2 development activity for ATI boards (8500 :) ) #3 (/me hangs his head in shame) Gaming performance == Quake3 Thank You VERY MUCH for any comments and/or suggestions, Mike -- /**********************************************************************\ | Mike Sowka o _ _ _ | | An Aspiring Engi"Nerd" _o /\_ _ \\o (_)\__/o (_) | | Carleton University _< \_ _>(_) (_)/<_ \_| \ _|/' \/ | | ms...@do... (_)>(_) (_) (_) (_) (_)' _\o_ | | (home ms...@ho...) | \**********************************************************************/ |
From: Dave R. <dr...@ca...> - 2001-11-26 22:57:27
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> From: Mike Sowka <ms...@do...> > > Hello Everyone, > I would like to inquire about about ATI video card support in mesa under > linux 2.4.x. To be specific, I'm contemplating on purchasing a Radeon > 8500 card and I work exclusively on linux. I currently have a TNT2 but > dislike the closed-source nature of the driver. ... From what I heard > though the nvidia driver is "stable" with full implementation of OpenGL. > Although, I'm afradi that is a biased opinion from the folks on #nvidia > irc.openprojects.net. So what I'm looking for is a non-biased opinion of > the state of ATI (RADEON 8500) support under linux in the following > criteria: > #1 stability NOTE ----> #1 <----- > #2 development activity for ATI boards (8500 :) ) > #3 (/me hangs his head in shame) Gaming performance == Quake3 > > Thank You VERY MUCH for any comments and/or suggestions, > Mike I think it's more an XFree issue than a kernel issue. All the following is what I've heard/read, but I could be wrong: The XFree to be released soon (4.2 I think) will provide 3D support for the 7500 card, but not the 8500 card. Currently, only 2D support is provided in XFree 4.1 for the 7500. Development for the 8500 card should happen but of course - "when it's done". ATI releases specs for their cards so others can write Linux drivers but does not provide Linux drivers. And of course, NVidia provides unsupported closed source drivers with no specs so you're at their mercy if there's a problem. I've got a TNT2 card, but I'm toying with buying a 7500 since I doubt (but I have no real information on this) 8500 support will be ready soon and I have a need for fast rendering for some visualization work I need to do this spring. I think my system a (P3-800MHz) will be faster with software rendering in Mesa with it than the TNT2 and hardware rendering for polygon rendering. I've been waiting for the bug Brian just fixed so I can use Mesa instead of NVidia's driver and see if I'm correct. I'll be waiting to hear how good a 7500 card is with XFree 4.2 . . . Dave |
From: Marcelo E. M. <mar...@bi...> - 2001-11-27 17:57:03
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>> Dave Reed <dr...@ca...> writes: > The XFree to be released soon (4.2 I think) will provide 3D support > for the 7500 card, but not the 8500 card. Currently, only 2D support > is provided in XFree 4.1 for the 7500. It will? Really? Who's developing the driver? Is it DRI based? Does it support all the 3D features of the 7500? (TNL, Shaders, 3D textures) > I've got a TNT2 card, but I'm toying with buying a 7500 since I doubt > (but I have no real information on this) 8500 support will be ready > soon and I have a need for fast rendering for some visualization work > I need to do this spring. Last time I looked, ATI said they were going to provide a Linux 3D driver for the 8500. (Or at least, some press release suggested that) -- Marcelo |
From: Brian P. <bri...@ya...> - 2001-11-27 18:10:12
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"Marcelo E. Magallon" wrote: > > >> Dave Reed <dr...@ca...> writes: > > > The XFree to be released soon (4.2 I think) will provide 3D support > > for the 7500 card, but not the 8500 card. Currently, only 2D support > > is provided in XFree 4.1 for the 7500. > > It will? Really? Who's developing the driver? Is it DRI based? Does > it support all the 3D features of the 7500? (TNL, Shaders, 3D > textures) I've been away from DRI/XFree86 work for a while but I think the 7500 is very similar to the original Radeon and the existing Radeon DRI driver will work with the 7500. I think XFree86 was just updated to recognize the device ID of the 7500. > > I've got a TNT2 card, but I'm toying with buying a 7500 since I doubt > > (but I have no real information on this) 8500 support will be ready > > soon and I have a need for fast rendering for some visualization work > > I need to do this spring. > > Last time I looked, ATI said they were going to provide a Linux 3D > driver for the 8500. (Or at least, some press release suggested that) I've heard that too but don't know if the drivers are actually available or not. -Brian _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com |
From: Dave R. <dr...@ca...> - 2001-11-27 18:41:03
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> Sender: brian > Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 11:12:52 -0700 > From: Brian Paul <bri...@ya...> > X-Accept-Language: en > CC: Dave Reed <dr...@ca...>, ms...@do..., > mes...@li... > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Content-Length: 1296 > > "Marcelo E. Magallon" wrote: > > > > >> Dave Reed <dr...@ca...> writes: > > > > > The XFree to be released soon (4.2 I think) will provide 3D support > > > for the 7500 card, but not the 8500 card. Currently, only 2D support > > > is provided in XFree 4.1 for the 7500. > > > > It will? Really? Who's developing the driver? Is it DRI based? Does > > it support all the 3D features of the 7500? (TNL, Shaders, 3D > > textures) > > I've been away from DRI/XFree86 work for a while but I think the 7500 > is very similar to the original Radeon and the existing Radeon DRI > driver will work with the 7500. I think XFree86 was just updated to > recognize the device ID of the 7500. That could be - here's the message from a redhat mailing list I saved since I'm considering getting one early next year. I also have one comment below this message about the 8500 and drivers. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Mike A. Harris" <mh...@re...> > Hope someone (Mike?) can provide some info. I have a new (retail package) >ATI Radeon 7500. Unsupported. >Couldn't get X to work with RHL 7.1. Since 7.2 was released, I >grabbed it and did a fresh install. Graphical installation went >fine except the the X configuration. Couldn't get the test >screen to come up. Was getting erros on the consoles (sorry, >didn't save them). Post install, tried to configure using >Xconfigurator and xf86config. No luck. Both Red Hat Linux 7.1 and 7.2 were released before the 7500 was publically available. Drivers did not exist until after 7.2 went gold. > Gave the XFree packages in rawhide a try last night. They installed fine >but where of no help. Correct. > A google.com/linux search didn't turn up much info. > > Is this card even supported yet? If so, I can provide my XF86Config-4 and >/var/log/XFree86.*.log files to interested parties. If not supported, any >predictions how long before an errata or rawhide package will have support? XFree86 4.2.0 will fully support the Radeon 7500. It is due out within a month, but there is no ETA for RPM packages other than "whenever it is done". I'm working on it right now. As always, before purchasing any hardware, it is best to find out wether or not it is supported first. On the bright side, support is not far away (in XFree86), and when it is supported, you'll have a damn nice card to use. That goes for all the 7*00 cards, and the 8500 also. The 8500 will only be 2D until 3D support is completed. The standard open source "when its done" applies there too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike A. Harris Shipping/mailing address: OS Systems Engineer 190 Pittsburgh Ave., Sault Ste. Marie, XFree86 maintainer Ontario, Canada, P6C 5B3 Red Hat Inc. Phone: (705)949-2136 http://www.redhat.com ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris Red Hat XFree86 mailing list: xfr...@re... General open IRC discussion: #xfree86 on irc.openprojects.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > I've got a TNT2 card, but I'm toying with buying a 7500 since I doubt > > > (but I have no real information on this) 8500 support will be ready > > > soon and I have a need for fast rendering for some visualization work > > > I need to do this spring. > > > > Last time I looked, ATI said they were going to provide a Linux 3D > > driver for the 8500. (Or at least, some press release suggested that) > > I've heard that too but don't know if the drivers are actually available > or not. I've never read that. What they are doing is providing tech support for other people who want to write it. http://www.ati.com/na/pages/faq/radeon8500_faq.html#10 Dave |
From: Stephen J B. <sj...@li...> - 2001-11-27 19:49:27
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On Tue, 27 Nov 2001, Marcelo E. Magallon wrote: > Last time I looked, ATI said they were going to provide a Linux 3D > driver for the 8500. (Or at least, some press release suggested that) When I asked about a Linux driver at the ATI stand at SigGraph, they said that "someone" outside of ATI was working on a Linux driver - but they had no plans to do one themselves and no other details about who was doing it, when it would be done or which (if any) of ATI's OpenGL extensions would be supported. Things may have changed since then. ---- Steve Baker (817)619-2657 (Vox/Vox-Mail) L3Com/Link Simulation & Training (817)619-2466 (Fax) Work: sj...@li... http://www.link.com Home: sjb...@ai... http://www.sjbaker.org |