Brett Lymn wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 30, 2006 at 01:52:35PM +0200, Timo Schoeler wrote:
>   
>> it's possible now to go for userland blobs on Linux:
>>
>> http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0608.3/1908.html
>>
>>     
>
> That is only a userland interface to a pci bus.  That will not go
> anywhere to help in the case of 3d accelerators.
>
>   
>> i still see the problem of supporting only i386/amd64 in the long term 
>> when accepting blobs.
>>     
>
> *shrug* it may be a somewhat narrow focus but the applications I am
>  interested in running on a 3d accelerator only run on i386/amd64.  If
>  you are looking to gaming to drive the demand then that is the market
>  space you are working in.
>   

There are 3D visualization applications that have a lot more per unit
profit (and hence much more value to Linux/UNIX) that don't necessarily
run on x86. For example, I know of a 3D application that is run on SPARC
systems that is used for air traffic control. The contract for this
program is in the _hundreds_ of millions dollars. And that is just one
application.

Nvidia and ATI are losing this business soon, I think (ATI has had a big
chunk of it in the past), and it will be picked up by companies that are
more friendly, such as Matrox.

The problem is that Nvidia and ATI make their money on PCs, selling to
mostly gamers. That audience runs Windows, largely. Until that changes,
Nvidia and ATI will keep on playing their silly games.

I'll be encouraging our company to move away from ATI, so we can work
with a supplier who actually wants to provide documentation to create 3D
graphics products. I don't care if the documentation is under NDA, so it
won't necessarily do the FOSS community any good, but it will mean that
companies like XiG can keep on getting documentation.

This also means you'll probably be able to play OpenGL games on Linux
with these boards, if you can afford the hardware and software to make
them work. :-)

On the bright side, Intel and Silicon Motion seem to be a bit more open.
Maybe someone needs to work harder to make a Linux/Unix friendly laptop.
Sort of like a geek's version of the OLPC.

-- Garrett
>   
>> fortunately, there are other OS, and one could 
>> even start a new one (fork or from ground up).
>>
>>     
>
> regardless of whether to go off to another OS or even start your own,
> you are still faced with the fact that someone either has to leverage
> the documents out of the hardware manufacturers (a seemingly difficult
> task) OR reverse their driver and write your own (another seemingly
> difficult task).  If you acheive either of these goals it really does
> not matter what OS you are on - you have the driver but until then you
> either do without or use a blob. rock. hard place. choose.
>
>   


-- 
Garrett D'Amore, Principal Software Engineer
Tadpole Computer / Computing Technologies Division,
General Dynamics C4 Systems
http://www.tadpolecomputer.com/
Phone: 951 325-2134  Fax: 951 325-2191