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 171/2015
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News
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Intel Unveils Compute Stick
Four-inch-long computer on a stick lets you boot a full Linux system from any HDMI display device.
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Obama Proposes Personal Data Notification Law
New statute would require companies to report break-ins to consumers.
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TGXf Project Warns of File Transfer through Screen Pixels
Weird data transfer technique avoids all standard security measures.
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Industry Giants Announce a Fix for the Password Mess
FIDO alliance declares the beginning of the end for old-style login authentication.
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Poll: Vote for the Best Open Source Software for Photographers
The Linux New Media Awards have honored the most significant products, projects, people, and organizations for open source/Linux every year since 2000.
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Debian Gets Forked
Legendary Uber-distro splits over the systemd controversy.
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Linux Mint Project Releases Mint 17.1
New LTS version offers many refinements for the Cinnamon and Mate desktops and significant improvement under the hood.
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CeBIT Open Source Forum Call for Papers
One of CeBIT’s most successful forums returns in 2015.
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TOR Network Isn’t So Anonymous
A new study says it is possible to unmask 81% of TOR users.
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.NET Goes Open Source
Redmond joins the revolution by turning the .NET Core Runtime into a GitHub project.