Some notes on Linux and free drivers
Posted Apr 20, 2006 3:58 UTC (Thu) by
vmlinuz (subscriber, #24)
Parent article:
Some notes on Linux and free drivers
Surely the issue for a graphics driver isn't the ever-changing kernel interface, since, in general, the kernel doesn't manage graphics drivers? The whole point of DRI/DRM is that the graphics driver runs in the X server, and the kernel just gives it an interface to the card - and it doesn't seem like there's any problem with the kernel side of that interface being open. The modern x.org release process seems pretty stable and under control - it would seem like if a vendor *wanted* to fully participate in that process, as opposed to the occasional bug fixes for old cards which seem to be all they contribute now, it shouldn't be that hard for them to get decent drivers shipped, and 'supported' in the normal x.org way.
From my point of view, I don't feel the need for a lot of the funky features available on modern cards, which are often implemented partially or completely in the driver - all I want is fast, stable GLX, with a side helping of reliability and openness, with good xvideo support for afters...
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