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3DLabs Releases Linux Drivers

Posted by michael on from the not-just-nvidia dept.

wilfie writes "3DLabs have released linux drivers for their for Wildcat III and Wildcat 4 Graphics accelerators. Being closed source they'll taint your kernel, but what the heck. Press release with penguin-friendly quotes available too." DataSquid has a note about ATI's Linux support: "While on the job hunt, I came across this posting at ATI seeking a project team lead. Last on the list of key responsibilities is "Act as a leader to improve the overall quality of Linux support at ATI." Good news? Certainly better news than what was suggested before."

4 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. An attractive proposal... by jkrise · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Looking at the plethora of video cards with differing amounts of VRAM, performance specs, drivers for Linux, stability problems with Windows (especially newer OS versions and Service Packs which often make video drivers unstable), I've got a suggestion.

    Why not make a commodity video card with about 8MB video RAM (a Mattrox 8MB card out-performed a 32MB S3 hands down), and a stable open-source Linux driver? Will this lead to commoditisation of the video card and drive all other mfrs to imitate?

    Just wondering...

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  2. Why not open source graphics card drivers by mikeophile · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Are the card companies afraid more of revealing technology to their competitors, or of revealing their benchmarking cheats...er optimizations?

  3. From the my-linux-is-9.1-what-about-yours dept. by Kickasso · · Score: 5, Interesting

    These are not Linux drivers. These are Red Hat 7.3 drivers. I'll stick with NVidia for now, thankyouverymuch.

  4. hmf. kinda poor effort if you ask me. by ashridah · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, since they've only released rpms for specific kernels that are shipped with redhat 7.3, I don't know that you can say they're supporting linux, so much as supporting a very small subset of linux.

    Too bad if you need to step outside the box, but then, if you're using high-end workstation graphics software, that's probably something you don't want to do, since the software's probably targeted at the same place. You tend to lose support from vendors quickly, even tho 99% of the time, the differences mean jack, unless the vendor's got crappy software to begin with. (you hearing me oracle?! your installer is a PITA)

    Still, redhat 7.3 is miles out of date, and that you're SOL if you need to say... use your own kernel for some reason, or hell, NOT use redhat at all.

    I really hate companies that do that. Redhat's always been far more annoying to configure and use than I'm even remotely interested in dealing with, and they keep making it more useless every time they make a release. Hell. I'd happily tell people to use windows than deal with the annoyances that come with trying to use redhat to get stuff done.
    [end generic rant]

    If course, since I just ragged on the HOLY REDHAT, I'm probably going to be on the receiving end of a massive moderation smackdown. oh well.

    ashridah