From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jun 16 18:32:34 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB95916A468 for ; Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:32:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@sopwith.solgatos.com) Received: from schitzo.solgatos.com (pool-71-117-239-32.ptldor.fios.verizon.net [71.117.239.32]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9A8C813C4B9 for ; Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:32:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@sopwith.solgatos.com) Received: from schitzo.solgatos.com (localhost.home.localnet [127.0.0.1]) by schitzo.solgatos.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l5GHZ0gP018499 for ; Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:35:00 -0700 Received: from sopwith.solgatos.com (uucp@localhost) by schitzo.solgatos.com (8.13.8/8.13.4/Submit) with UUCP id l5GHZ0FQ018496 for freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org; Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:35:00 -0700 Received: from localhost by sopwith.solgatos.com (8.8.8/6.24) id RAA14937; Sat, 16 Jun 2007 17:33:00 GMT Message-Id: <200706161733.RAA14937@sopwith.solgatos.com> To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:33:00 +0100 From: Dieter X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:40:24 +0000 Cc: Subject: Re: Fwd: AMD deciding _now_ what to do about Linux X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd@sopwith.solgatos.com List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:32:34 -0000 So who, exactly, is the best person to write to requesting docs for AMD/ATI graphics/video chips? We need to politely inform them that There are a lot of operating systems out there, and they all need high quality, fully functional drivers. FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Plan-9, Open-Solaris, ... We might want to add a ATI graphics/video card to a computer with a different CPU architecture (Alpha, Sparc, PPC, ...) Binary drivers are useless, because: Too many OSes. Too many CPU archs. Can't fix bugs. Can't fix security holes. Therefore we need documentation on how to program the chips. 2D is not enough. We need video decoding and 3D. If we can't have high quality, fully functional source code drivers for the OS and CPU arch of our choice, then there is no reason to buy the product. Have I left out anything?