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AMD Releases Open Source Fusion Driver
An anonymous reader writes "Yesterday AMD released open source Linux driver support for their Fusion APUs, primarily for the first Ontario processor. As detailed on Phoronix, this includes support for kernel mode-setting, 2D acceleration, and 3D acceleration via both Mesa and Gallium3D graphics drivers."
core2 is dieing intel's next on board video is at nvidia 9400m level but it also locks out better on board video.
Some of apple systems may not fit in a full X16 pci-e video chip.
Apple is may use i3 / i5 cpu with a added ati or nvidia chip. But they don't like to use add in video in there low end systems.
Any chance Apple could use that for the next versions of Mac mini and MacBooks? Or is a Core 2 Duo with nVidia 320M still better than Fusion?
... according to Fudzilla.com
http://www.fudzilla.com/notebooks/item/20888-amd-apple-deal-is-28nm-notebooks
"Fusion goes Apple 28 / 32nm
It all started here, when AMD’s Senior VP and Chief Sales Officer Emilio Ghilardi was brave enough to show an image of several Apple products in a Fusion presentation. After we wrote our part AMD was quick to deny it, perhaps a bit too quick, which gave us a reason to dig some more, only to find that we were on the right track.
We asked around and some sources close to Intel / Nvidia have denied the rumour saying that they know nothing about it. However, just a day later we managed to confirm that the leak is real and that Apple will indeed use Fusion, here.
Our industry sources have indicated that the deal will be announced in at some point 2011, that it will involve 28nm and 32nm Fusion parts particularly Krishna and that Apple plans to launch notebooks based on AMD chips. Apple is also not cold hearted on Trinity 32nm Fusion parts.
The announcement can be as far as a year away, as 28nm parts won't materialise until the second half of 2011 and since AMD doesn’t have a tablet chip, it won’t happen in iPad segment. At this point Apple doesn’t plan to use any AMD chips in desktop or server parts, but in case Bulldozer impresses us all, maybe Steve might change his mind.
So if you like Apple and love AMD, start saving money as roughly a year from now you should be able to buy Apple notebook with Fusion Krishna / Trinity class APU."
And if you want Fusion benchmarks, check the usual suspects:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19981
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4023/the-brazos-performance-preview-amd-e350-benchmarked
Long ago, I went with ATI video because it had the best support for Linux. Eventually, NVidia caught on to this trend and started supporting Linux too... and better than ATI. So I switched. Now NVidia has screwed the community that had helped it to grow in popularity by putting out "Optimus" hybrid graphics everywhere and then refusing to update their Linux drivers to support it and refusing to release any details about it either. So now, the best anyone had been able to do is disable the nvidia GPU to reduce power consumption in laptops not able to utilize the nvidia hardware.
As AMD/ATI is doing this, perhaps my next selection will be to the exclusion of NVidia (again).
When will these jerks ever learn? The future of computing is in embedded devices and those devices will run Linux. Get Linux developers using YOUR hardware and it will have a better shot at a prosperous future as well. So far, Intel and ATI are the only options.
I think there was some speculation that it could be used alongside the main GPU as in some of the newer multicard ones. Basically to do things like calculating what things are visible so that the processor doesn't have to send those over the bus. Normally the GPU itself does that after the data goes over the wire, doing it on chip would be a lot cheaper, and probably quite doable if you've got another chip that ends up doing most of the rest of the work. I suspect that they'll find a way of adding that sort of flexibility.
I'm not sure if that's something which AMD has any designs on, though I'd be shocked if they weren't.
Intel doesn't have a 3D chipset they can integrate onto the processor die largely because they'd need to have a competent 3D chipset to start with. They haven't gotten that right up until now, so it's not a shocker that they haven't managed to get a competent one on die.
Assuming that you're on a blessed platform. I remember waiting for nVidia to release their drivers for 64-bit Linux. It took a really long time from when I started waiting, and I waited a few years before getting an AMD64 system.
But now there is support for Windows, OSX and Linux. If your OS isn't on that list then they aren't providing you with anything, or even the ability to do it yourself without doing some real funky stuff with wrappers.
I went to buy an Ontario processor, but cheaped out -- I ended up with a Quebec processor. Now, I can't understand a thing it says, it never seems to do anything, and I keep having to give it money!
Long term support is something that only exists in OSS ecosystems. No matter how long a company is going to try to support a hardware, the community will support it longer.
It all comes down to "supporting old stuff does not bring new sales, therefore is really bad in the long term" vs "I still use/want to use old stuff, therefore I want it to work, and as long as it fits me, I'll support it."
In the OSS community, the only hardware that's not supported is really the hardware that's not used. Hell they even managed to support closed nvidia hardware without any help from nvidia (see nouveau 2D/3D driver)
Also i'm more confident about OSS drivers being stable than closed source ones. Agreed OSS ones right now are still a bit unfinished, but they really are working fine on r600-700 with classic mesa. In fact I've been playing through all Stalker games recently with decent performances.
Chances are, OSS drivers are good enough for the vast majority of you. Maybe hardcore gamers will bitch, but that's all.
Segmentation Fault in "Life, Universe and Everything" at line 42. Don't Panic.
Ontario ones are better then the cheap china ones.
huh?
Double huh?
It's rare to read someone post something both factually and subjectively wrong at the same time in so few words. Congratulations.
Unfair comparison: The Android phone is also a phone. You should be comparing equivilent products: An Android phone vs the iPhone.
I'm not sure about Android portable media players, but there are tablets that could be regarded as equivilent in intended use to an iPad.
That's the same argument fanboys always use to call Apple products cheaper. Hand pick your specific criteria the must be included (app store) and excluded (and actual phone . . .) until you get just the right oddball combination of features that you can call it cheaper.
Meanwhile, when you compare the iPod Touch to other touch-screen media players, it's pricing is atrocious, and Apple's laptops, desktops, and servers all fair equally poorly against their general competitors.
As a matter of fact the only segment in which Apple competes well on price is with iPhone. It's about the same as other similar smartphones. Other than that though? You're definitely paying your turtleneck-tax.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I've not got a 5850, but a close ATI card. I found that the drivers ubuntu installed were unstable and quite awkward in multi-monitor configurations, but the ones that I got straight from the ATI site worked very nicely. They are the same basic software, right down to the control panel layout, but the ones on the site are a few revisions further along and it shows. At least in the multi-monitor area.
Uh, software is still written to specific hardware. You may write it in C, but C doesn't determine the register mappings and semantics. *addr=value is still just mov [addr],$value
Yes, but largely NO!
I write my software in C. The same code compiles and runs on x64 and on x86. The COMPILER translates my cross platform "*addr=value;" into the apropriate machine level instructions. My C software programs do not concern themselves with the specific register mappings and processor semantics; this has been abstracted away by the C Compiler.
I agree that driver software may be written to the specific hardware, but the purpose of a driver is to abstract said "register mappings and semantics" so that the majority of other software (All other software EXCEPT the driver), don't have to worry about the "register mappings" and/or other "semantics".
Inline Assembly code is not cross platform, and in many cases a compiler can make better improvements than the assembly code in question does.
When is the last time you used a significant program that was written entirely in assembly?
Again, I must reiterate: Take a step back, look at the big picture.
You're focusing on the little edge part which may get cut off without significantly changing the picture at all.
Funny. Last time I bought a PC, the cheapest Apple option for my needs was the most expensive iMac. It would have cost twice what I paid, and performed worse. Apple simply isn't competitive in the midrange.
Just looked at their prices too, they've gotten worse.
And the crappy displays on the iMacs (maybe this has improved) kill them for serious use, leaving the cheapest desktop at $2500, and it's only one CPU.
But trying to match their 5k computer at Dell runs 6k.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg