[新闻]ATI/AMD's New Open-Source Strategy Explained

[zhuqin_83]

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a ... =826&num=1

Yesterday when talking about the new ATI Linux driver, AMD's press release had stated: "In the coming months AMD also plans to accelerate efforts to address the needs of the open source community as well." A few hints were dropped yesterday, but what we didn't tell you is that the announcement wouldn't be in a few months, but really just a few hours. The embargo is lifted so we can now share with you what AMD's new open-source strategy for ATI GPUs is all about. You may be in for a real surprise!

Rumors and speculations have been flying around for months about ATI/AMD opening up the source-code to their Linux display driver or providing their GPU specifications to community developers. This for the most part had started after Henri Richard's statement at the Red Hat Summit earlier this year. Well, those rumors can finally be put to rest. AMD will be providing NDA specifications, an open-source library, and there is a new open-source graphics driver as a result. AMD will continue producing a closed-source proprietary driver; however, they are opening the source-code to a critical library with accompanying GPU specifications for X.Org developers. To get the ball rolling, AMD is also funding the development of a new open-source R500/600 driver.

Key members of the X.Org driver community have been involved for the past few weeks including David Airlie, the Linux kernel developer who once constructed a very basic 2D display driver for the R500 series but was never allowed by ATI/AMD to release the code. David Airlie and Alex Deucher had worked with AMD on this current strategy, while the new AMD sanctioned driver that's open-source is initially being written by Novell. Novell/SuSE was given the same documents that will be released to the community. The aim of this open-source driver is not to overtake the fglrx driver but rather is designed for those who just want a working desktop with 3D capabilities and basic video playback. This new driver is ideal for FOSS enthusiasts and those wishing to run the latest development kernels and versions of X.Org. The fglrx driver will continue full steam ahead with their monthly releases and will be for those who want a stable driver with top-notch performance, all of the bells and whistles, and avoid checking out the latest git code in order to get the latest fixes and features.

This new driver is being written from scratch and is not based upon the R500 Avivo driver, which will likely spell an end to this reverse-engineered X.Org driver as Jerome Glisse will be contributing to this new driver. This driver will not directly impact the open-source Radeon driver for the older generation of ATI graphics cards, as this work is focused on the Radeon X1000 (R500) and Radeon HD 2000 (R600) generations and future classes of AMD graphics processors. AMD is sponsoring the developers to work on both the 2D and 3D components and do as much work as possible "in the open".

The library that is being open-sourced by AMD is for their ATOM BIOS. The ATOM BIOS is shared between the video BIOS and the proprietary driver to act as an interpreter for handling some calls across their newer generations of graphics cards. As described by Matthew Tippett of the AMD Graphics Products Group, "The library reads tables from the BIOS and provides effective firmware processes for programming hardware". The use of the ATOM BIOS in the open-source driver will make it much easier for community developers to support newer-generations of GPUs upon their release so it won't take years for proper support. Though AMD does realize that the ATOM BIOS isn't a miracle "write once, run everywhere" layer and that some areas will still be hard-coded.

Unlike the R200 Weather Channel specifications (you may want to check out our R200 Linux Driver Redux), the specifications that are being handed out to X.Org developers under Non-Disclosure Agreements are through a formal AMD program. However, the specifications and other programming documents are not the silver bullet. With AMD's chips not being designed for third-party programming, not everything is well documented so in some areas AMD will be providing sample code. Some documentation will still be blocked if it involves third-party licensing or intellectual property they don't wish to expose, but this does appear to a very genuine effort by AMD.

A baseline driver should be available next week and there is already a community of developers in hand with AMD's GPG documentation. The driver that will be made available is comparable to the Avivo driver, but it should be excelling at a much faster rate. These efforts by AMD are certainly exciting if everything pans out and we will be covering this more once AMD makes their official announcement and we will be paying close attention to this new driver. This move by AMD shows that they are looking to further embrace the Linux platform and that they realize the value of open-source software while remaining competitive.

[zhuqin_83]

nvidia再不开源就完蛋了 8)

[skyx]

打倒不翻译的说。

楼下继续bs

[zhuqin_83]

也就是说，这次开源并不是完全的，fglrx驱动仍然是主力，提供最好的支持，开源驱动只是为了满足一小撮开源狂热分子的需求。而且这个开源驱动主要是针对R500/R600及更新的ati显卡，amd开放了部分库、代码和文档，并和xorg进行合作和提供资金。

[zhuqin_83]

就算部分开源，amd也作出相当值得赞赏的姿态，随着合作的进一步深入，ati/amd会更深入人心，不仅对自身的业务，对推广开源事业也有相当大的帮助。intel已经和开源社区进行了非常多的合作，amd此举是正确的也是必要的。

[zhuqin_83]

打倒不翻译的说。

楼下继续bs

今天怎么没见你用google翻译了呢哈？

[zhuqin_83]

AMD briefed Linux.com this morning on a pending announcement regarding the open sourcing of drivers for ATI graphics cards. It's official -- AMD will make code and specifications for ATI graphics cards available on the Internet on September 10.

We spoke with Phil Hester, senior vice president and CTO at AMD, and Chris Schlaeger, director of AMD's Operating System Research Center, along with Jon Carvill, AMD's manager of public relations. They confirmed the rumors reported earlier on Slashdot, that everything necessary for community-driven and -maintained 2-D and 3-D drivers for ATI Radeon X1000 and HD 2000 graphics will be made available next week.

Hester and Schlaeger both stressed the point that the announced project is a work in progress. Even the licensing terms are not yet finalized. Hester says, "This has to be an open, collaborative process. This is not us just dumping a bunch of stuff on the table and saying, 'We're done.' To me, this is the beginning of a commitment to work with the open source community over a sustained period to do what we need to to make them happy in both the 2-D and the 3-D area."

As far as the licensing is concerned, Hester says, "I think with good certainty we know that the 2-D drivers will be a combination of MIT and GPL. We haven't figured out a bunch of things on the 3-D license yet."

The reason for the uncertainty on the 3-D side is two-fold, Hester explains. For one thing, there is code in the closed source version that does not belong to AMD, so they have to figure out how to provide the information needed by the open source community without giving away code they don't own. For another, the sheer complexity of the GPUs is enormous. Hester says, "There are 7,000 to 8,000 control registers in GPUs these days. The visible register set in a GPU is considerably more complex than the visible register set in a CPU." As a result, documenting those registers in a way that open source developers can understand is not a trivial task. Hester believes it will take several iterations of AMD presenting information, the community absorbing and commenting on it, followed by more information being delivered in an ongoing process in order to work all the way through to the point where everything needed for open source drivers to fully exercise the 3-D capabilities of the cards is available in an understandable form.

Work has already begun behind the scenes with developers at Novell. Why Novell? Prior work together and an existing contractual framework made it an easy place to start, but Hester says, "I wouldn't read anything into that. We are very open as to who we work with."

On the issue of maintainership, Schlaeger says, "We want to enable the open source community to carry the development forward. We won't let them alone. It's not something that we dump a bit of code, a bit of spec, and say, 'This is it. You asked for it, you have it. Feel free, and have fun.'" He noted that the company took a similar approach on the Linux port of Opteron. Initially, it contracted with Novell to bring the project along, then made it into a successful open source project.

A formal press release regarding the open sourcing of the ATI drivers is expected from AMD after market close today.

[skyx]

nvidia再不开源就完蛋了 8)

这个一定支持！

[zhuqin_83]

Mark Shuttleworth, the self-made millionaire and leader of the Ubuntu project, has been very vocal about the adoption of free software and that "the free software approach is a better device driver development model." But what does Mark think about AMD's announcements this week with the 8.41 display driver and the just-announced program where AMD will be handing out specifications under NDA and helping out the open-source community? Mark Shuttleworth has provided Phoronix some of his initial thoughts on ATI/AMD's new Linux push.

When we interviewed Mark Shuttleworth earlier this year, he had shared some of his thoughts on open-source drivers and the use of restricted drivers within Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, but ultimately he had stated that he would like to see everything down to the firmware being free software. Well, does AMD's move help him in his mission? Mark Shuttleworth had told us today, "ATI's moves will greatly improve the experience of ATI graphics hardware users with Linux. In the longer term, I think ATI will also prove to be a leader, establishing a roadmap for other companies that provide consumer hardware for the desktop market and who want to address the Linux market. Intel has already been very successful in the laptop market, so ATI's desktop moves suggest that the consumer PC segment is becoming much more aware of Linux."

There were initially some thoughts that the ATI fglrx 8.41 driver would end up making its way into the Ubuntu 7.10 default package set, however, that will not be the case. Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" is already in a feature freeze for its October release and this schedule does not allow the fglrx 8.41 driver to be included. The fglrx 8.41 also lacks FireGL workstation support and AIGLX support will not arrive until October in the fglrx 8.42 driver. However, Canonical will be looking at ways to make this fglrx driver available as an update once the driver has been released and tested. Alternatively, users of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn and Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon can just build the Ubuntu packages from ATI's official Linux installer.

As would be expected, the new ATI driver will be included in the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS release known as "Hardy Heron". Mark had shared: "And we do expect our next release, in April 2008, to have fully integrated ATI's new work. That will be an LTS release, with Long Term Support, so ATI's timing is excellent for enterprise customers considering Ubuntu desktop deployments in call centres or engineering labs."

Mark Shuttleworth had ended his email message this morning with, "I'm really pleased to see this announcement from ATI. Intel is to be congratulated on setting the pace, and ATI for showing that this approach can make sense in the consumer desktop space." At Phoronix we would like to thank Mark Shuttleworth for taking the time to provide his feedback on this announcement and be sure to check out Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon this October. Find out more in the Phoronix Forums.

[skyx]

抗议蝌蚪文

[zhuqin_83]

抗议蝌蚪文

你不是会google翻译么？ 8) 再说这点英文难得倒你？

[skyx]

抗议标题采用虫子文

[zhuqin_83]

mark的评论是：ati此举可以增进linux用户体验，引起其他厂商对linux市场的注意。
在7.10发行时新的ati驱动不会包含在内，相对应的，以后会在充分测试过后升级驱动。
大家也可以通过传统安装ati驱动的方式进行安装。
他希望8.04LTS可以全面集成ati驱动，并吸引话务中心和工程师实验室采用ubuntu。

主要这么几点。

[zhuqin_83]

看我都后面马上跟上要点翻译的，你也体谅一下呢～

[zhuqin_83]

这个是小道消息，并非正式声明，但很有理由相信ati会这么做。

While no ATI fglrx driver is available for Solaris/OpenSolaris or *BSD, now that AMD will be offering up specifications to X.Org developers and an open-source driver, it certainly is promising for any Solaris user depending upon ATI's Radeon X1000 "R500" or HD 2000 "R600" series. The open-source X.Org driver that will be released next week is far from mature, but it should be able to be ported to Solaris and other operating systems using X.Org with relative ease. What AMD announced today is targeted for the Linux community, but it can certainly help out Solaris/OpenSolaris users that use ATI hardware. Especially with "Project Indiana" coming out soon, it's only a matter of time before the open-source R500/600 driver is ported.

不知道nvidia支持solaris么。