From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 16 11:15:55 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 150F016A405; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:15:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (lurza.secnetix.de [83.120.8.8]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 771D713C448; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:15:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (ilclej@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id l2GBFmJG057118; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:15:53 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.13.4/8.13.1/Submit) id l2GBFmNm057117; Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:15:48 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from olli) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:15:48 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <200703161115.l2GBFmNm057117@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, volker@vwsoft.com In-Reply-To: <45FA6FC8.8090606@vwsoft.com> X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-stable User-Agent: tin/1.8.2-20060425 ("Shillay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/4.11-STABLE (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:15:53 +0100 (CET) Cc: Subject: Re: open source graphics card X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, volker@vwsoft.com List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:15:55 -0000 Note: This is off-topic on the -stable list, so it should better go to the -chat list. Volker wrote: > I've followed the thread "don't buy ati products" not very closely > but one thing comes to mind: > > Years ago we've had a lot of card / chip manufacturers on the > market. When thinking about this currently really just two chip > manufacturers are coming into my mind. This is bad. > > It's probably a crazy idea but what about an open source graphics card? > > There are similar projects already like OsCar so the idea of open > source hardware development is not really new but probably exciting. > Aren't there any hw devs reading and motivated? > > Imagine a graphics chip with a BSD style license... ;) > > Just dreaming? Yes, just dreaming. In today's graphics cards there are _huge_ amounts of know-how, a considerable number of patents and a large amount of research and development time. Modern GPUs contain several hundreds of millions of transistors and require a 90nm (or less) fabrication process. Another thing to keep in mind: In order to produce a competitive graphics card today (at a competitive price!), it must be at least on par with the "big ones", which requires DirectX 9 and HDCP support, among other things. Did I already mention patents? Personally, I prefer intel graphics (i915, i945 etc.). They have open-source drivers that work very well. The 3D performance is not as good as the top-of-the-line ATI or nVidia products, but it's good enough to play OpenGL games such as ports/games/crack-attack or kobo-deluxe. That's more than enough for me. YMMV, of course. Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd "To this day, many C programmers believe that 'strong typing' just means pounding extra hard on the keyboard." -- Peter van der Linden