Henri Richard Leaves AMD

[emparq]

Hrm. So does anyone remember Henri Richard? The ATI exec at Red Hat Summit earlier this year that made a statement about how things were going to improve for ATI and Linux? (Remember this? http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=288 )

Well, it looks like he's leaving AMD now: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8569

Hopefully this doesn't have any negative impact on whatever Linux driver development efforts are going on at ATI, but still, that's discomforting to read.

[Svartalf]

Well, it looks like he's leaving AMD now: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8569

Hopefully this doesn't have any negative impact on whatever Linux driver development efforts are going on at ATI, but still, that's discomforting to read.

It shouldn't impact that space. AMD is interested in several segments that WindowsCE is a Never-Ran, XP/Vista Embedded is a laughable prospect, and Linux is the prime choice or is being moved into that segment (Moto mobile phones, OpenMoko, etc. anyone??)- they can't afford to NOT do Linux support and do it well. It's just how much honest effort are they willing to put into and have put into it to get there?

[yoshi314]

AMD is interested in several segments that WindowsCE is a Never-Ran

by any chance, are you referring to nonx86, nonx86-64 architectures?

[Malikith]

I doubt this will have any effect on things going on for ATI Linux driver development. Its either going to improve, or stay the way it is, all we can really hope for is improvement.

I think we'll know by September's driver if ATI is going to make a move or not. All I know is if they don't get something out this year that turns things around, its going to be the nail in the coffin for ATI under Linux, after all, they made a big promise that well.. In order to keep respect, they need to go through with it.

That is, giving us acceptable drivers with good performance.

If nothing happens this year, its all going to fall upon the open source drivers that are out there. Although Avivo seems to be going well at the moment, so I'm willing to put money on them, I think they'll have 3d 'working' next year.

That is if the Avivo guys can get that new website up and/or open the doors for other people to jump aboard. Because from what I see, there doesn't seem to be anyway to really contact those guys yet.

[Svartalf]

by any chance, are you referring to nonx86, nonx86-64 architectures?

Actually, yes, I am- though Windows CE exists on that architecture space as well..

Not that it matters much. If you deal with endianness and make sure you're not doing boneheaded things that render the drivers not 64-bit clean, you end up with what you need to handle Linux on any of them.

[hmmm]

there doesn't seem to be anyway to really contact those guys yet.

Alot of devs related to linux video drivers seem to dwell (often discretely) on this board - Jerome Glisse (AVIVO), airlied (RandR and X.Org), olivermcfadden (Revenge/ATI open source), the ATI (closed source) & nouveau guys - perhaps Phoronix should mention it in an article...

[Thetargos]

Actually, yes, I am- though Windows CE exists on that architecture space as well..

Most prominently the ARM architecture... I thought WindowsCE was called nowadays Windows Mobile, and is a pain to use. I don't know who had the brilliant idea of even thinking that the "start menu" paradigm was a good idea for handheld devices , I like much more how did PalmOS addressed the issues and usability. I haven't got the pleasure of working with any Linux-based handheld device (other than my Motorola phone, probably, but I'm not sure it even runs Linux), but I certainly hate using my iPaq just because of Windows Mobile (and I didn't buy it, it was a present).