I find that interesting as well. My first experience with Linux was on Slackware 3.<something> trying to get X working with my ATI rage 3D integrated graphics card... I spent many sleepless nights trying to get that to work, so needless to say ATI has always left a bitter taste in my mouth. :)
In fact, if AMD hadn't bought ATI and ATI released specs on their own accord, they would get huge brownie points from me, but I don't know if I'd move as fast in terms of migrating to their chips; but with AMD backing them, a company I personally admire for fighting the good fight, they get my support as long as they keep on keepin' on. On a side note, I tried to email NVIDIA through their online customer support form to let them know "too little too late, you can keep your binary blobs"... unfortunately it was down (technically it said "this module isn't configured yet" or something to that effect), but I can guarantee this announcement (and the follow-through) are rattling a few cages. ;) On 9/12/07, Jon 'maddog' Hall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Tony, > > As normal, I probably understated my enthusiasm for what AMD/ATI have > done. I do find it interesting that it seemed to take AMD buying ATI > before this happened. AMD has long been a supporter of FOSS. They were > one of the first sponsors of the Linux kernel summit. > > I also find it interesting that this seems to be "standards done right". > While I am a little distressed that some of the specifications are sent > out under NDA, this can sometimes be a legal/liability thing, to protect > AMD/ATI from issues in the spec. Also I note in some of the articles > that they acknowledge that some of the specs are not up to snuff, so > they will be putting out "sample code" to show how it works. > > Finally, they say that they will continue to work on their close-source > proprietary driver...for those people that want peak performance. :-) > > >From my experiences with Digital's proprietary X Window System servers > many years ago, I could predict this someday coming to a close, as some > of the best minds in the computer industry work together to make the > FOSS drivers stellar. Just a hunch. > > Warmest regards, > > maddog > ============================================================================ > > On Wed, 2007-09-12 at 17:33 -0400, Tony Lambiris wrote: > > I haven't touched an Intel product since the days of them charging > > over $500 for a processor. AMD came in and stomped them with their K7, > > and as long as AMD continues to do the Right Thing(tm), they will > > always have my support. > > > > I've already begun liquidating my NVIDIA stuff; even if they start > > releasing specs with no NDA, it's too little too late in my eyes. > > > > Three cheers for AMD, who have been leading the way, showing the rest > > of the world there is nothing to fear in releasing docs on how your > > hardware works (you know, the thing that I paid for and now own). Even > > when all the 64 bit stuff was being developed they were on the front > > lines with open source. > > > > On 9/12/07, Jon 'maddog' Hall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Wed, 2007-09-12 at 16:18 -0400, Tony Lambiris wrote: > > > > http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjA1Mw > > > > > > > > Thoughts? > > > > > > Well, I have not seen the document, but it seems about 5,700 pages > > > shorter than the OOXML specification. Probably clearer and fewer bugs > > > in the specification. > > > > > > And the article is talking about releasing a new 500/600 Open Source > > > driver next week. > > > > > > Seems like the right path to me. > > > > > > With Intel and AMD both releasing FOSS drivers, will NVidea be far > > > behind? Inquiring minds want to know. > > > > > > md > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
