No X Server 1.6 Release In Sight

[phoronix]

Phoronix: No X Server 1.6 Release In Sight

During the last X Developers' Summit that took place at the Edinburgh Zoo, Keith Packard called for X Server 1.6 to be released by the end of 2008. Once the release schedule was set though, the final ship date for X Server 1.6.0 was the 5th of January...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=Njk3MA

[hubick]

I, for one, still appreciate all the developers effort to modernize our graphics infrastructure.

[_txf_]

Is anybody really surprised by this? Maybe they shouldn't even bother with time based releases.

This release which was going to be rigid "date or bust" release is delayed, with no real schedule available.

Seriously, I'm fine if they settled for features and then released, which would also mean distros wouldn't package pre-release xorg which (graphics) drivers don't support.

On the other hand, if they moved to feature releases we would never get a release this century...

[ethana2]

It may be nice to see a feature matrix comparison, a LoC comparison, an active developer and weekly commit rate comparison, and so on between Xorg and Wayland.. Like, during that time where no commits were made to Xorg, how much happened in Wayland?

[d2kx]

I am not disappointed as I don't expect anything from developers that work so hard to make people's lives better, I am just happy when there is a new release. But I still do not understand why so few companys pay developers to work on this maybe 2nd most important piece of a GNU/Linux desktop (with Linux being the most important).

[Eragon]

I am not disappointed as I don't expect anything from developers that work so hard to make people's lives better, I am just happy when there is a new release. But I still do not understand why so few companys pay developers to work on this maybe 2nd most important piece of a GNU/Linux desktop (with Linux being the most important).

Perhaps because GNU/Linux is used mostly on servers, which don't have GUI's and as such don't require X.ORG? 70% of Kernel development is done by developers working for companies, but that is also required for a server.

Just my $0.02 ;)

BTW, I really hope to see Xserver 1.6 in time for ubuntu jaunty, I want DRI 2 so I can use compiz without having to disable it every time I want to play a game. This would also make a WAY better / more stable impression on new users :)

[d2kx]

Xserver 1.6 prerelease is already in Ubuntu Jaunty and the final release should be finished before Ubuntu 9.04. But I am not sure if the radeon/RadeonHD driver will support it until then. But if it's just the driver, one could easily backport/compile a newer version after the new Ubuntu release. Xserver 1.6's most awesome feature is its EXA performance though :P

[Eragon]

Xserver 1.6 prerelease is already in Ubuntu Jaunty and the final release should be finished before Ubuntu 9.04. But I am not sure if the radeon/RadeonHD driver will support it until then. But if it's just the driver, one could easily backport/compile a newer version after the new Ubuntu release. Xserver 1.6's most awesome feature is its EXA performance though :P

Or you can just use the official ATI driver and get two or so times better 3d-performance. I never cared that the NVIDIA drivers (I have a 512 MB GF 8 8600 GT) are closed source, because at least for me, they work fine. :)

[bridgman]

I imagine both radeon and radeonhd are working with 1.6 today, although I haven't actually tried them yet. It takes about 9-1/2 years to download a distro image at home, so stuff like that had to wait until I got back to work ;)

[seba]

Maybe they just should say "When it's done" :D

[madman2k]

Or you can just use the official ATI driver and get two or so times better 3d-performance. I never cared that the NVIDIA drivers (I have a 512 MB GF 8 8600 GT) are closed source, because at least for me, they work fine. :)
yeah but then 2D and Compiz sucka gain. With the radeon driver in jaunty you get super fast EXA, super fast Compiz, tear free Video and DRI2 which is awsome - but you also get horrible 3D performance too...

With fglrx you get decent 3D performance but the rest sucks, and there is no easy way to switch the drivers for one game. (Well basically there is no Xsever 1.6 compatible fglrx yet, so you dont have that problem ;) )

[Gentooer]

What are you guys talking about "horrible 3D performance"? I've been using the latest git radeon and X server with my pathetic X1300 AGP and ancient 2ghz athlon64 and get 40-60fps in Nexuiz with graphics turned almost all the way up and 1280x1024.

[FunkyRider]

I'm fine for waiting for another 1 year or 2

it just means that any serious graphics stuff I do I will still do it on Windows

[RealNC]

What are you guys talking about "horrible 3D performance"? I've been using the latest git radeon and X server with my pathetic X1300 AGP and ancient 2ghz athlon64 and get 40-60fps in Nexuiz with graphics turned almost all the way up and 1280x1024.

We're talking real games here. Try Quake 4.

[landros]

It's true that nothing new is in the 1.6 branch, but looking at the bugreports and head I can clearly see that development didn't stop and all the open bugs make good progress or are already fixed in head and only need a backport.

Saying that nothing happened in the last weeks is ridiculous.

[grantek]

Or you can just use the official ATI driver and get two or so times better 3d-performance. I never cared that the NVIDIA drivers (I have a 512 MB GF 8 8600 GT) are closed source, because at least for me, they work fine. :)
In Jaunty? Did you see how long it took for fglrx to get support for Intrepid/XServer1.5? In the end they only made it by sharing information with the Ubuntu guys to make a special version of fglrx 8.10 for Intrepid.

I think there likely won't be a problem by Jaunty's release date, but it wouldn't surprise me if fglrx doesn't support it at launch. I'm actually quite happy with the driver, but it's frustrating to be dependent on certain kernel/xorg versions. Hopefully R700 3d support will come along soon in the OSS drivers :)

[energyman]

maybe they would have less problems if intel would stop with the current 'lets half implement this cool idea, then switch fokus or dump it' policy?

[wswartzendruber]

maybe they would have less problems if intel would stop with the current 'lets half implement this cool idea, then switch fokus or dump it' policy?
Now what, Sir, do you mean?

[energyman]

just look at the news archive and all that fancy projects by intel paid devs.
Then remember who to thank about the DRI2 pull.