Open-Source ATI 6.8.0 Driver Released

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Open-Source ATI 6.8.0 Driver Released

It's been a long time in the making, but the xf86-video-ati driver has finally reached version 6.8.0! The major improvements in this new version include the drivers now all using libpciaccess, restructuring of the ATI wrapper, Radeon support for the R500/600 series using the AtomBIOS, initial Render acceleration support for the R300/400 series, improve BIOS/driver interaction, and many other changes. More information can be found in the Xorg release announcement...

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

[sergus]

Did somebody try this driver with Xpress 200m?

[Porter]

Wow! So is this the driver to use over fglrx on an R520 (X1400) that is used for video? Does Xv work properly?

[mo0n_sniper]

I am also interested in the state of the infamous Xpress 200m with this new driver?

[Michael]

Wow! So is this the driver to use over fglrx on an R520 (X1400) that is used for video? Does Xv work properly?

No, the xf86-video-ati 6.8.0 driver only supports 2D accel for the R500 series. There is no 3D or X-Video support at this time.

[Porter]

No, the xf86-video-ati 6.8.0 driver only supports 2D accel for the R500 series. There is no 3D or X-Video support at this time.

Bummer. Will it at least allow basic video playback scaled to fullscreen on an R500+ without terrible pixelation? I could care less what method it uses to draw to the screen, as long as it works.

[Michael]

Bummer. Will it at least allow basic video playback scaled to fullscreen on an R500+ without terrible pixelation? I could care less what method it uses to draw to the screen, as long as it works.

If using X11 in mplayer, yes, but I haven't tried it myself (with either Radeon or RadeonHD) so I cannot comment on its quality, but will be second-rate compared to fglrx with X-Video / TexturedVideo.

[Porter]

If using X11 in mplayer, yes, but I haven't tried it myself (with either Radeon or RadeonHD) so I cannot comment on its quality, but will be second-rate compared to fglrx with X-Video / TexturedVideo.

True on X11 vs. working Xv accel, but fglrx doesn't support Xv video rendering on the R5xx right now, or perhaps it's broken. That's with TexturedVideo turned on in xorg.conf, and VideoOverlay turned off.

See also: http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7876

[Pseus]

I'm excited about the work on Render accel. Though it's still pretty basic, I hope to see more getting added in the future. Go Xorg devs

[koolmanoncampus]

If using X11 in mplayer, yes, but I haven't tried it myself (with either Radeon or RadeonHD) so I cannot comment on its quality, but will be second-rate compared to fglrx with X-Video / TexturedVideo.

I find using "mplayer -vo x11 -zoom videofile" using a non-fglrx driver works fine assuming you have a decent machine...

Like fglrx has resulted in horrible diagonal tearing for the past year, so I was glad to get rid of that. It was terrible to watch anything; and resulted in an unusable setup.