Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 13:34:00 -0400 From: "Coleman Kane" <zombyfork@gmail.com> To: "Mike Meyer" <mwm@mired.org> Cc: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Subject: Re: video card for amd64 Message-ID: <346a80220610191034oa1e9cdexb8ac22486d892a69@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <17719.45210.731064.703629@bhuda.mired.org> References: <45351E55.000003.14882@webmail11.yandex.ru> <4535CC95.5030501@gneto.com> <17718.14122.595003.335493@bhuda.mired.org> <200610191025.29016.jhb@freebsd.org> <17719.45210.731064.703629@bhuda.mired.org>
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On 10/19/06, Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> wrote: > > In <200610191025.29016.jhb@freebsd.org>, John Baldwin <jhb@freebsd.org> > typed: > > On Wednesday 18 October 2006 10:16, Mike Meyer wrote: > > > Yeah, the newest cards aren't supported. That's the R5XXX cards - > > > which were introduced about a year ago, *not* three years ago. Of > > > course, maybe you're focused on 3d support, which is missing for cards > > > using the R3XX and later chips. > > 3D support is actually quite important for many folks, if you don't need > it > > you can just use the "vesa" driver with either ATI or Nvidia. > > Actually, it's not quite that simple. The vesa driver - and the open > source nvidia driver - don't work properly with modern high-end > monitors. Nor could I get the nvidia driver to properly support dual > heads on a card that supposedly had it, though that may not be a > driver problem. Being able to use these things is actually quite > important for many folks. For them, the choice is either the > proprietary drivers, or the open source ATI driver (or trying the > also-ran manufacturers...). > > I'd be interested in what applications "many folks" use that needs 3d > hardware support so badly they're willing to let it determine the > platform choice. > > > > > > Whether releasing closed-source drivers for a handful of > open-source > > > > > platforms qualifies as "supporting open source" is another > > > > > question. Clearly they're supporting the platform, but that's not > > > > > necessarily the same thing. > > > > At present the nVidia cards is the only choice for FreeBSD, > > > > > > Not if you want to use it on something other than i386. That's why the > > > very first question I asked is the important one - what do you want to > > > use it for? For what I want it for, ATI is the only choice. > > > > > > > no amd64 support but that is FreeBSD's fault not nVidia > > > > > > Why is that FreeBSD's fault? > > > > Because our kernel doesn't yet provide all the features the driver > needs. > > But it does for the i386? That seems really strange... > > > I've added some of them, but mroe stuff is needed. Nvidia sent out an > > e-mail a while back listing the things they need as far as kernel > support. > > Given their willingness to do a driver and my interactions with both > > ATI (in the past) and Nvidia, I'd say that Nvidia supports FreeBSD much > > more than ATI at this point. Note that ATI only opened up their > documents > > for the older R2xx cards under an NDA to developers working for a > company > > that was under contract to develop a driver, not out of the goodness of > their > > heart. To my knowledge, Nvidia is not providing a FreeBSD driver due to > a > > commercial contract, but closer to "out of the goodness of their heart." > > Where did the docs for the R3xx and R4xx cards come from? They didn't > get 3d support, but they at least got better support than the nvidia > cards. > > <mike > -- > Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> > http://www.mired.org/consulting.html > Independent Network/Unix/Perforce consultant, email for more information. Those cards, from my understanding came from the R300 project at http://r300.sourceforge.net/. I do not know where a large amount of their information sources came from. Eric Anholt [anholt@] has been a major contributor for FreeBSD to the X.org/Mesa/DRI projects. I would recommend speaking with him regarding these cards, future support, and what needs to be done to get there. I have a Gateway 7422gx with a Mobile Athlon64 and a Radeon 9550 running FreeBSD/amd64 7.0-CURRENT. It works nicely... Check out http://www.cokane.org/dokuwiki/freebsd/amd64_compatibility for some of my personal experience (though it is a bit outdated). -- Coleman Kane
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