IT168报道：
8 Y; e6 P2 a5 r* d
AMD显卡将加大对Linux的支持，昨天他们宣称Linux 7.9催化剂将会支持HD 2000系列显卡，而且游戏性能大幅提升。今天在Linux
kernel summit 07大会上，AMD发言人又表示要开放
驱动源代码。
, `# R3 v( u, Z2 Q/ ^3 S/ j' X
AMD将放出包括R500及以前系列显卡的基本驱动源代码，还有详细的开发文档，这将会极大鼓舞那些第三方驱动开发者，帮助他们更加容易开发针对ATI的显示驱动。
+ _% N( ]5 Q' j+ T! M
F0 s$ k' B) \$ B! t+ P* |) m3 d 预计今年年末会有一个自由的2d驱动档案率先面世，剩下的内容将随后推出，但是目前的二进制驱动不在这个计划之内。
! x4 k( d g% ^( E" I
3 a: l. \% |9 K5 F; m3 Q" s& t' [7 I
8 U/ n4 [* O# g/ j |
| AMD图形芯片 |
PCPOP报道：
^2 l& j- s! B8 K
* [8 ?- J4 r! c, M AMD官方的Linux驱动8.41已经基本完成，并将于近期放出，相对于
开源社区自行开发的驱动
程序，AMD官方驱动提供类似Windows的催化剂界面与3D性能。
9 H* K5 ^( V% e; j4 z& R
& }4 ?' s" P: l2 c
更为特别的是，这款驱动不仅会支持R300/R400/R500核心，也将支持例如ATI Radeon HD 2900XT的R600核心。另外，从这款官方驱动起，以后的驱动均会支持例如Compiz和Beryl的Linux显示特效，这在以前只能通过开源社区开发的驱动获得。Phoronix网站还放出了Linux下的DOOM3测试成绩。8.41驱动比8.40驱动获得了显著的性能提升。
3 I- g% Q* ~6 P9 h' \4 [# s
5 M& D$ u8 J" ~7 Z& p1 F
9 Q& o7 q, J5 K/ `! D+ s9 ^7 V
AMD宣布，本月即将发布的催化剂7.9驱动程序会加入ATI Radeon HD 2000系列显卡的Linux支持。得到AMD官方的正式支持后，用户将在Linux里真正享受到最新显卡的诸多特性，包括第二代统一渲染架构，另外系统兼容性也会得到足够的保证。
7 q# F8 | P1 I& A7 e6 g) D6 s# Z
除了对Linux的支持，催化剂7.9还会继续提高大量游戏的性能，如《Doom 3》、《Quake 4》，最高幅度可达90％之多。到今年第四季度，AMD催化剂驱动包还会支持Linux下的Accelerated Indirect GLX(AIGLX)技术。这是一个旨在为标准桌面启用GL加速功能的项目，可显示立体呈现的应用程序，充分发挥显卡的硬件加速着色功效，为用户带来更丰富的3D终端体验。
- ]5 c. ?1 I3 k" I" t
/ n) ]6 ], g3 _* X2 \! A来自国外的报道：http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php ... ;item=826&num=1
Yesterday when talking about the new ATI Linux driver, AMD's pressrelease had stated: "In the coming months AMD also plans to accelerateefforts to address the needs of the open source community as well." Afew hints were dropped yesterday, but what we didn't tell you is thatthe announcement wouldn't be in a few months, but really just a fewhours. The embargo is lifted so we can now share with you what AMD'snew open-source strategy for ATI GPUs is all about. You may be in for areal surprise!
# ^: L9 x% Q% U$ o, p& D/ M( ]# ?& d; E
Rumors and speculations have been flying around for months aboutATI/AMD opening up the source-code to their Linux display driver orproviding their GPU specifications to community developers. This forthe most part had started after Henri Richard's statement at the RedHat Summit earlier this year. Well, those rumors can finally be put torest. AMDwill be providing NDA specifications, an open-source library, and thereis a new open-source graphics driver as a result. AMD will continueproducing a closed-source proprietary driver; however, they are openingthe source-code to a critical library with accompanying GPUspecifications for X.Org developers. To get the ball rolling, AMD isalso funding the development of a new open-source R500/600 driver.
) {7 E' P1 e2 z
/ Y9 W/ g( m1 q9 w9 f, aKey members of the X.Org driver community have been involved for thepast few weeks including David Airlie, the Linux kernel developer whoonce constructed a very basic 2D display driver for the R500 series butwas never allowed by ATI/AMD to release the code. David Airlie and AlexDeucher had worked with AMD on this current strategy, while the new AMDsanctioned driver that's open-source is initially being written byNovell. Novell/SuSE was given the same documents that will be releasedto the community. Theaim of this open-source driver is not to overtake the fglrx driver butrather is designed for those who just want a working desktop with 3Dcapabilities and basic video playback. This new driver is ideal forFOSS enthusiasts and those wishing to run the latest developmentkernels and versions of X.Org. The fglrx driver will continue fullsteam ahead with their monthly releases and will be for those who wanta stable driver with top-notch performance, all of the bells andwhistles, and avoid checking out the latest git code in order to getthe latest fixes and features.* {8 A* }( ?# x' P
! Q8 e" l% J, u+ e JThis new driver is being written from scratch and is not based upon theR500 Avivo driver, which will likely spell an end to thisreverse-engineered X.Org driver as Jerome Glisse will be contributingto this new driver. This driver will not directly impact theopen-source Radeon driver for the older generation of ATI graphicscards, as this work is focused on the Radeon X1000 (R500) and Radeon HD 2000 (R600) generations and future classes of AMD graphics processors. AMD is sponsoring the developers to work on both the 2D and 3D components and do as much work as possible "in the open".5 ^3 F; J7 [" V' } X) F
1 O V% N O* S8 vThe library that is being open-sourced by AMD is for their ATOM BIOS.The ATOM BIOS is shared between the video BIOS and the proprietarydriver to act as an interpreter for handling some calls across theirnewer generations of graphics cards. As described by Matthew Tippett ofthe AMD Graphics Products Group, "The library reads tables from theBIOS and provides effective firmware processes for programminghardware". The use of the ATOM BIOS in the open-source driver will makeit much easier for community developers to support newer-generations ofGPUs upon their release so it won't take years for proper support.Though AMD does realize that the ATOM BIOS isn't a miracle "write once,run everywhere" layer and that some areas will still be hard-coded.
4 P) q+ m7 B4 K, f; n( `: Z0 T5 N
# v8 G- B6 w, |8 P! l/ wUnlike the R200 Weather Channel specifications (you may want tocheck out our R200 Linux Driver Redux), the specifications that arebeing handed out to X.Org developers under Non-Disclosure Agreementsare through a formal AMD program. However, the specifications and otherprogramming documents are not the silver bullet. With AMD's chips notbeing designed for third-party programming, not everything is welldocumented so in some areas AMDwill be providing sample code. Some documentation will still be blockedif it involves third-party licensing or intellectual property theydon't wish to expose, but this does appear to a very genuine effort byAMD.
) B8 w! V3 Q$ U7 k; x
$ Y) F6 c. {3 ^5 p9 ~) ^A baseline driver should be available next week and there is already acommunity of developers in hand with AMD's GPG documentation. Thedriver that will be made available is comparable to the Avivo driver,but it should be excelling at a much faster rate. These efforts by AMDare certainly exciting if everything pans out and we will be coveringthis more once AMD makes their official announcement and we will bepaying close attention to this new driver. Thismove by AMD shows that they are looking to further embrace the Linuxplatform and that they realize the value of open-source software whileremaining competitive.
- m( [0 Y* A; s4 U$ G: h% }0 B' X2 T/ j
