VIA Launches A Graphics Card. Will It Work With Linux?

[BlackStar]

Via's drivers suck. Stay far away if you wish to keep your sanity.

Yes, fglrx is a piece of cake compared to that steaming pile.

[efikkan]

If they actually managed to create decent GNU/Linux drivers and maybe made them open source, then I think this would be an OK HTPC/low end card. The GPU supports VDPAU and it is present in the driver for the S3 Chrome 500 series, but I haven't tested if it actually works. AMD still lacks video acceleration.

[deanjo]

The GPU supports VDPAU and it is present in the driver for the S3 Chrome 500 series, but I haven't tested if it actually works.

With no linux blobs for the 5000 series how is it that it can support vdpau?

[efikkan]

With no linux blobs for the 5000 series how is it that it can support vdpau?

It's the embedded version of the Chrome 500 series. Let's hope they finish the drivers soon.

[Adarion]

Even though it might be interesting from a power usage p.o.v. and possibly suitable for HTPC it is not interesting due to a lack of drivers or specifications. Looking at VIAs history (windows and linux side) I'll better stay far away from this.
Even if there was a bibary blob driver the quality would be horrible. And we never really saw any working free driver or specifications suitable for the devs to make their own.

[DeepDayze]

Even though it might be interesting from a power usage p.o.v. and possibly suitable for HTPC it is not interesting due to a lack of drivers or specifications. Looking at VIAs history (windows and linux side) I'll better stay far away from this.
Even if there was a bibary blob driver the quality would be horrible. And we never really saw any working free driver or specifications suitable for the devs to make their own.

Via's chips are definitely horrible under Windows and not just Linux (think their old MVP chipsets) It's all just cheap, weak hardware not really worth bothering with.

[LinuxID10T]

Doesn't anyone remember the benchmark of S3's latest generation of cards being faster on Linux than Windows? I am not saying I would buy them. However, several of you are just plain wrong. The latest generation has good blob support, even though the open drivers are quite scary to deal with. It does have VDPAU and 3D acceleration. The question is "is it worth the money?" Unfortunately, the answer is no.

[LinuxID10T]

If they actually managed to create decent GNU/Linux drivers and maybe made them open source, then I think this would be an OK HTPC/low end card. The GPU supports VDPAU and it is present in the driver for the S3 Chrome 500 series, but I haven't tested if it actually works. AMD still lacks video acceleration.

The AMD problem is far more about IP problems than anything else. However, it does exist, and it DOES work. It may not be the greatest, but it is what we have. Plus, if you are willing to wait, it is a hell of a lot better than Nvidia on the open source side of things. Also, at the same price point, AMD will get you a lot more bang for you buck on Windows OR Linux.

[jhansonxi]

The only reason I don't think that Via is the worst video/chipset vendor is because SiS already has that honor.

[Fatfool]

Okay,


I think we can finally settle the issue of whether S3's drivers suck once and for all. I'm not talking about the older IGP Chrome HC series ones. Those obviously suck but let's test out the Chrome 400 series and higher will we? I've seen it's performance in windows, it's really not bad and I didn't run across any incompatibilities.

That was with a Chrome 430 ULP.


SO, what I suggest is one of the members here or Phoronix try to preorder one of these cards. These S3 cards sell out very quickly for some silly reason or another.

I will PERSONALLY get 2 of them, one for Windows HTPC usage and the other to stick into a minix 780G running Ubuntu and see if the card's driver issues throttle me. Wish me luck.