AMD Releases ACPI Header For Open-Source GPU Driver

[phoronix]

Phoronix: AMD Releases ACPI Header For Open-Source GPU Driver

For those that didn't notice, this week AMD released a new header that defines the AMD ACPI interface used for laptops, PowerXpress, and chipset-specific functionality...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTE0ODU

[[Knuckles]]

I think it's one of the biggest gaps yet missing from the opensource AMD drivers. While on a desktop you can kind-of shrug it off, on a laptop I don't consider the opensource drivers a credible alternative because of their missing power management support when compared to catalyst.

Thanks to John Bridgman and to all the open AMD devs working on this, it's very appreciated!

[bwat47]

Good, its about time power management improved on the OSS drivers. Currently the oss drivers are pretty useless on a dedicated mobile card, poor battery life and temps even when I set the profile to low.

[LLStarks]

Nvidia: "lololol, why you do this AMD? PM bits are supposed to be 100% proprietary."

[DeepDayze]

Nvidia: "lololol, why you do this AMD? PM bits are supposed to be 100% proprietary."

Props to AMD for doing this so the jakes on you now, nVidia

With each bit of info AMD releases, the pressure on nvidia ratchets up. While not to hijack this thread suffice it to say that nvidia should release at least the register, PM and command programming docs at minimum for their cards.

Otherwise in due time even the nvidia lovers might want to jump ship to AMD or even Intel!

[ua=42]

Ohhhh. This is great news. Seriously, with everyone (including me :-) having portable devices, power management is very important (if linux dramatically reduces battery life, then one won't use linux on a portable device). So this being done will mean I'll be able to use linux on my laptop again. Thank you AMD for deciding to work on this!

[boast]

With each bit of info AMD releases, the pressure on nvidia ratchets up.

not really. If you go on winehq, you see that most people have issues gaming with amd cards, and the nvidia ones usually work fine.

[RussianNeuroMancer]

not really. If you go on winehq, you see that most people have issues gaming with amd cards, and the nvidia ones usually work fine.

There is thread about this: http://phoronix.com/forums/showthrea...uck-They-don-t

[Ex-Cyber]

not really. If you go on winehq, you see that most people have issues gaming with amd cards, and the nvidia ones usually work fine.

IIRC, this has a lot to do with historical issues surrounding fglrx and WineD3D that don't say much about current driver quality.

[droidhacker]

not really. If you go on winehq, you see that most people have issues gaming with amd cards, and the nvidia ones usually work fine.

WHO CARES???
0.0000000001% care about gaming, therefore NOT IMPORTANT.