Radeon HD3450 Open Sourcyness

[R15I23D05D14Y]

I want to buy a new computer and start putting together Linux From Scratch on it - mostly for fun. Since I want to be a purist about it, I'm really trying to avoid anything that needs binaries.

So at the moment I'm looking at a computer with a Radeon HD3450 - how much broken stuff would I have to put up with using only xf86-video-radeon & -radeonhd? How well do software fallbacks work? And probably most importantly, is it reasonable to assume that there will be a well-rounded open source driver for it in the next three years?

I've been trying to guess based on the feature matrices and such, but I can't figure out what won't work, compared to the intel integrated chips I've always used.

- Would there be screen resolution problems?
- Would OpenGL not work, or just work slowly in software?
- Would Compiz die?
- Are all the docs. AMD can relase for it released?
- I get the impression that suddenly movies would become choppy, and there may be no way to fix it because of hardware level DRM?

[d2kx]

1. no
2. not yet, but soon
3. not yet, but soon
4. don't know, but developers got them through a NDA anyway
5. Xv support lies in the experimental r6xx-r7xx-support branch of the DDX drivers

[grantek]

To clarify: yes, mesa should provide you with basic software OpenGL where the hardware driver doesn't implement things, but don't expect it to be usably fast, depending on what you want OpenGL for.

[agd5f]

So at the moment I'm looking at a computer with a Radeon HD3450

- Would there be screen resolution problems?

There shouldn't be. Full modesettign support is available (multi-head, full output support, etc.). Support for "2D" (EXA) and video (Xv) accel is available in public branches, and will be merged to master soon.

- Would OpenGL not work, or just work slowly in software?

Software only for now, but an open 3D driver is in the works and we've released sample code and register documentation for using the 3D engine.

- Would Compiz die?

Compiz requires OpenGL, so that won't work until the 3D driver is complete.

- Are all the docs. AMD can relase for it released?

We've released registers specs and sample code for the display hardware and the 3D engine.

- I get the impression that suddenly movies would become choppy, and there may be no way to fix it because of hardware level DRM?

Support for "2D" (EXA) and video accel (Xv) is available in public branches, and will be merged to master soon.

[R15I23D05D14Y]

That sounds good enough for me to use - thanks.
I'll be watching the driver updates for the coming months with interest =)

[highlandsun]

Works for me... (I don't use any 3D software, 2D accel and video accel are all I needed. Mobility 3450 in my laptop...)