Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      14 Oct 1998 00:01:03 +0200
From:      dag-erli@ifi.uio.no (Dag-Erling C. =?iso-8859-1?Q?Sm=F8rgrav?= )
To:        Graeme Tait <graeme@echidna.com>
Cc:        "Jason C. Wells" <jcwells@u.washington.edu>, John Sconiers <John_Sconieres@ama-assn.org>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Metro-X -vs Accelerated-X
Message-ID:  <xzp67dop1eo.fsf@hrotti.ifi.uio.no>
In-Reply-To: Graeme Tait's message of "Tue, 13 Oct 1998 16:52:42 -0700"
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.02A.9810131234190.1646-100000@s8-37-26.student.washington.edu> <3623E7CA.2676@echidna.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Graeme Tait <graeme@echidna.com> writes:
> I was told the following by a vendor of FreeBSD-equipped systems; I
> don't know how true it is, and I may not be reporting the story
> quite accurately: That there are relatively few chipsets in relation
> to the many vendors of video cards, and so much of the difference
> hangs on proprietary features coded into the cards, etc.

That is a gross exaggeration (though I hesitate to call it a lie).
With modern manufacturing methods being what they are, the chips are
so integrated most video cards basically consist of just two chips
(not counting the RAM and BIOS PROM): the graphics processor and the
RAMDAC. There's not room for much customization since the graphics
processor usually also contains the bus interface. The only thing
XFree86 needs to know to work is the brand, model and revision of the
graphics processor (so it can map in the video memory and use the
accelerator functions), and the brand, model and revision of the
RAMDAC (so it can program the resolution and color depth).

The problem is with manufacturers refusing to release programming
information for their new chips. Usually, the information always
surfaces after a year or two, but free software lags behind because a)
it can't afford to buy that information the moment the chip hits the
market and b) distributing source code based on information under NDA
is a violation of that NDA...

DES (IANAL; correct me if I'm wrong)
-- 
Dag-Erling Smørgrav - dag-erli@ifi.uio.no

To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?xzp67dop1eo.fsf>