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VIA Releases 16K-Line FOSS Framebuffer Driver
billybob2 writes "VIA has released 16,434 Lines Of Free & Open Source code that enables Linux natively to use the framebuffer on VIA's graphics chipsets. This comes a month after VIA announced that it will provide Open-Source drivers and documentation on its Web site so that its hardware will work out of the box with Linux distributions. This gives VIA-powered systems that come pre-installed with Linux — such as the gPC, 15.4" gBook, CloudBook, and Zonbu — the ability to output graphics through digital connections such as HDMI, and probably makes them the best-supported framebuffers Linux has ever had. Look forward to documentation and X.org drivers from VIA as well in the near future."
Community support is often better than that given by companies, and now community support is possible. I think it's be difficult to see this as a bad thing.
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How does a summary that reads "VIA announced that it will provide Open-Source drivers and documentation on its Web site so that its hardware will work out of the box with Linux distributions" translate, in your mind, to "Via just don't want to develop their Linux drivers anymore"?
The story sounds more like they are opening development up to the FOSS community, not "giving up". This should be applauded.
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(1) I think you vastly underestimate the complexity of modern framebuffer management. I know our game engine has several thousand lines of code just to manage page flipping in all the various combinations (different hardware, SLI cards, etc), and that is even with DirectX drivers doing most of the heavy lifting.
(2) Why are the first few comments so negative? First you criticize all the graphics vendors becuase they won't open up their code, then when VIA goes and *does* open up their code, the first reactions are so critical? What the hell? Just take it for what it is: a gesture of openness and an opportunity for the community to pick up VIA's code and maybe make some interesting things out of it?
Hang on, you think more lines would be a boast? I would think *only* 16k lines would be the boast here.
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In addition, Windows Vista 64-bit requires
Which has what, exactly, to do with a Linux framebuffer driver?
Sure, having the source, we could proably port it to the Windows world, but the Windows world has no shortage of drivers already. Granted, they don't always count as the most reliable option, but at the risk of sounding a tad snarky - You run Vista 64-bit, "reliable" doesn't really enter the picture.
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Only problem is, it doesn't decode H.264 in hardware, at least not on Windows. The only option is to use a special version of mplayer on Linux:
And why would you expect random software to know about and make calls to VIA's API? H.264 decoding isn't exactly a DirectX function as far as I know. Indeed, isn't this why you have to install an H.264 codec in the first place?
There are loads of posts on the Via forums about this. The cryptographic acceleration is next to useless as well, since nothing much supports it. Vendors should be expected to support the features they claim to have themselves, not rely on open source projects to do it.
Absurd. You got what you paid for. It's up to cryptography library writers/PMs to determine whether they want to fold VIA encryption acceleration into THEIR libraries. This is true whether the library writers are targeting Windows or Linux. VIA is not responsible for the actions of third parties, though they do seem to be interested in helping these third parties support their hardware with as little trouble as possible.
After all, I am strangely colored.
Making a chip output the console to HDMI with 16k lines?
Pretty cool in my books.
Now, the fact they're binary sucks, but they're binary on windows too. nvidia cards are _heavily_ used in the "pro" 3D area, as is (believe it or not) linux - these days, engineering workstations running windows are the exception rather than the rule (at least here in euro-land).
The problem is, nvidia differentiates their pro vs. gamer 3D cards mainly by software changes in the drivers. That's the real reason they're leery of open-sourcing them - they lose their artificial market stratification. ho hum.
When did the FOSS community become this collection of curmudgeons? When a company releases code, it should be politely welcomed. After all, they didn't _have to_ but they still did, because there's this little light that open source software could benefit many instead of the few. And then a bunch of cranky and unpleasant douchebags find the nerve to complain? I can't believe this.
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I think they're legitimate criticisms.
That said, I'm also going to seriously look at VIA the next time I build a MythTV box. You're never going to escape criticism, no matter what you do -- but VIA absolutely did the right thing there, and I applaud them for that.
Thank you, VIA. Looks like some genuine competition for Intel as the "most well-supported Linux video cards."
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