ATI Wants Open Source Drivers
Following speculation about the graphics card vendor ATI and a free Linux driver, a company representative has now confirmed that ATI will be placing the specifications of the R500 under an NDA.
Initially, there were rumors that ATI was planning new, proprietary drivers that promised considerable speed advantages. Just a short time later, an AMD spokesperson confirmed that the R500 graphics chip specification and Open Source libraries were being released to kernel developers under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). ATI owners AMD are also revealing the basics of the driver. A working 2D driver should be available around the end of this year, although 3D support will take slightly longer.
Shortly after AMD acquired ATI for US$ 5.4 billion in October 2006 there were various rumors about an open driver for the graphics cards.
Issue 163/2014
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Tag Cloud
News
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An Even Smaller Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced an even smaller version of the tiny computer that will fit into a DIMM slot.
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Newly Discovered Android Vulnerability Causes Privilege Escalation
A new class of problems lets a malicious app pre-configure an invisible privilege update.
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Facebook Rolls Out New PHP-like Programming Language
New Hack language adds static typing and other conveniences.
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Fedora Announces Innovative Crytography Policy System
New crypto policy system will offer easier configuration and more uniform security.
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Shuttleworth Calls for Declarative Firmware
Ubuntu founder denounces insecurity in proprietary, close-source software blobs.
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New TLS Attack Takes the S out of HTTPS
Vulnerability affects many Linux web servers
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Munich Adopts Kolab
The Bavarian capital shuns Microsoft, Google, and other alternatives to implement an open source groupware solution.
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Canonical Announces Ubuntu Smartphones
Phone vendor partnerships bring Mark Shuttleworth's dream of Ubuntu on a phone a step closer to reality.
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Piviti Seeks Funding
Donors will get to vote on new features for the free video editor.
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Debian Tech Committee Votes for systemd
Debian project puts init out to pasture and says no to Ubuntu's Upstart.