Arthur Marsh wrote:
Josephblack wrote, on 2009-04-19 19:42:
On 13/04/2009, Arthur Marsh <[email protected]> wrote:
Josephblack wrote, on 2009-04-13 15:17:
Our front page does not adequately explain why we need an open
graphics card. snip
With ATI, there is still firmware that is not considered free by the
Debian Free Standards Group (in the firmware-linux package).
Can you identify which boards this applies to? My google work has left
me confused about the final decision. This would suit the FAQ and I
would like to include this information.
I used the search on www.debian.org for "firmware" and found
http://www.debian.org/vote/2008/vote_003_results.txt "Assume blobs
comply with GPL unless proven otherwise".
Debian package firmware-linux, which is in the non-free section contains
the following bin (binary firmware) files:
http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/ATIRage128
* r128/r128_cce.bin (Rage 128)
http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/ATIRadeon
* radeon/R100_cp.bin
* Radeon SDR
* Radeon DDR / LE
* Radeon 7200 (SDR / DDR)
* Radeon 7500 (DDR)
* FireGL 7800 (Mobile)
* radeon/R200_cp.bin
* Radeon 8500 LE
* Radeon 8500
* Radeon 9100
* FireGL 8700
* FireGL 8800
not sure if it includes support for:
* Radeon 9000
* Radeon 9000 Pro
based on my running an RV280 (Radeon 9200SE) which loads the
R200_cp.bin, I would say that it also includes support for:
* Radeon 9200SE
* Radeon 9200
* Radeon 9250
* radeon/R300_cp.bin
* Radeon 9500
* Radeon 9500 Pro
* Radeon 9700
* Radeon 9700 Pro
which may also support:
* Radeon 9600
* Radeon 9600 Pro
and
* Radeon 9800
* Radeon 9800 Pro
* Radeon 9600 XT
* Radeon 9800 XT
(I have a family member running a Radeon 9600, would need to boot into a
recent Debian GNU/Linux kernel with package firmware-linux also
installed to verify this).
* radeon/R420_cp.bin
* Radeon X800 AGP
and possibly others
* radeon/R520_cp.bin
* Radeon X1550, X1550 64bit
* Radeon X1300, X1400, X1550, X1600; FireGL V3300, V3350
* Radeon X1300, X1550, X1550 64bit, X1600; FireMV 2250
* Radeon X1800; FireGL V5300, V7200, V7300, V7350
* radeon/RS690_cp.bin
* Radeon X1200
The simple argument that the Open Graphics Project can put forward is
that the firmware for these cards is effectively a binary blob.
I don't know about the newer ATI graphics cards with Atom BIOS. Could
someone else follow up on this?
Also, the support is incomplete, see:
http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature
and
http://www.x.org/wiki/radeonhd
Also with ATI, it is difficult to buy a new graphics adaptor or
motherboard with on-board ATI graphics that is fully supported by the
Free drivers (which still depend on the above firmware for
acceleration).
Ah. good point.. We should point this out. I have also been discussing
with a programmer who works with graphics to see if he will permit us
quoting him. Apparently from a commercial side, it takes time for the
drivers to be updated on the end users which mean they have to program
workarounds for the bugs. Will see what comes of it.
snip
Contrary to popular belief, ATI are still closed-source proprietory xxxxxx
like Nvidia.
They have all these published docs, but they're very skimpy when you get
into the detail of using them, and the stuff that really matters which is
the basic 2D setup registers for the card, are still undocumented.
Even under NDA, they refuse to give this information. I know, first-hand.
(they do give all the details on older r200 cards, but this doesn't give
enough info to work well with current cards).
_______________________________________________
Open-graphics mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics
List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
