It took some time, but eventually it happened. AMD has actually updated its Linux drivers with support for its latest generation of graphics cards, the Radeon HD 2000 series. But that is actually far from all of it. AMD has great plans to further expand its Linux support with the Catalyst application and overall driver support. Catalyst 7.9 adds support for Radeon HD 2000 and improves performance with up to 90 % in some games. Phoronix have published several articles that dig deeper and tests the new Catalyst drivers thoroughly.
The performance of the new drivers is a big step up from the 8.40, and the
R600 support works surprisingly well. Although when we look at the official
press release from AMD it leaves us feeling a bit dazzled. AMD seems to imply
that it will actually open up its drivers;
“In the second half of 2007 we plan to deliver the most significant
enhancements for ATI Radeon graphics ever for Linux and reaffirm our commitment
to consumer users and the community as a whole.” – Ben Bar-Haim, vice
president of software, Graphics Product Group at AMD.
Well the embargo has already been lifted and once again Phoronix has
published an article that explains what Bar-Haim meant. In short;
“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.”
This seems almost too good to be true after having to hack and find ways to
work around the fact that you’re using an ATI graphics card with Linux for so
many years. This is certainly a turnaround for AMD/ATI and we certainly hope
that this is a longterm engagement, and not just a play for the media.
:: A closer look at the AMD 8.41 drivers :: R300/R400 performance with 8.41 :: R500 performance with 8.41 :: R600 Linux Performance :: RV610/RV630 Linux
performance ::
