Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 27 Dec 2005 04:49:41 +0100
From:      Chris Gilbert <Chris@lainos.org>
To:        freebsd-current@freebsd.org
Subject:   ATI on FreeBSD! FireGL Linux Driver Port
Message-ID:  <200512270449.41709.Chris@lainos.org>

next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Hi there!

Some time ago (about a year actually) I started some work in cooperation with 
ATI to port their Linux "fglrx" driver to FreeBSD.

Well, about 2 months into that process I ended up moving to the other side of 
the pond and leaving one of my dev machines behind. (The one with the ATI 
card)

However, this last week I managed to get ahold of another machine with an ATI 
card, and have picked back up where I left off about 9 months ago.

I've put together a preliminary alpha release of the driver port in it's 
current state, and done a bit of testing myself. However, I would be thrilled 
to get some feedback from you guys!

I have probably done some really horrible things, and I would like to hear it 
from you nice folks rather than from a thousand angry gamers. :)

The driver as it stands does the following:
 * Installs the applicable linux libraries, and ATI programs to your 
linux_base.
 * Compiles and installs the following ATI programs (For FreeBSD): 
fgl_glxgears, fglrx_gamma, and the ATI control panel.
 * Installs the X11 drivers and libraries. (Linux builds, but work fine under 
FreeBSD)
 * Supports full 2D acceleration, including accelerated XVideo.
 * Supports TV out and MultiHead.
 * Does NOT support 3D acceleration, or build the kernel module.

I have tested the driver with an ATI Radeon 9800LE, and it seems to work great 
for desktop, non-gaming use. (Playing video, running KDE, etc)

I am currently working on the kernel module portion of the project.

The X side of the driver is ready and waiting for a DRM device to plug into. 

The current hurdles are working with the ATI team to get rid of any 
show-stopping linux specifics in the closed-source static libraries which I 
have to link my kernel module to.

If there is significant intrest in the project's current state, (without 3D) I 
will make a proper port and submit it.

If there are any problems please let me know and I will do my best to fix them 
ASAP!

You can download it at:
http://www.neovanglist.net/~Neovanglist/FreeBSD-fglrx_6_8_0-8.20.8-1-ALPHA.i386.tar.bz2

Enjoy!

--
Regards,
Chris Gilbert



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200512270449.41709.Chris>