General Information
Linux Introduction
Linux
is a clone of the operating system UNIX,
written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from
a loosely-knit team of developers from across the Internet.
Most Linux software, including Linux itself, is available
as Open Source.
Open Source software developers make their source code available to the public,
with no fees or royalties for use or distribution. It is
usually covered by the GNU
General Public License (or GPL for short - also referred
to as a "copyleft"). This agreement explains the
goals of the Open Source movement in detail.
Linux by itself provides only a command-line interface (like DOS). For a
Graphical User Interface, many Linux distributions provide
XFree86,
an Open Source implementation of the X-Window System that
runs on UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems. Linux software
for ATI products will usually involve XFree86.
For more general information related to UNIX-type environments, please refer
to "UNIX Environments".
Linux Drivers for ATI products
ATI actively assists qualified 3rd party Linux developers writing software
for the majority of ATI products by providing them with development kits and
information.
We have also made every attempt to provide hardware 2D acceleration
for all shipping products and will continue to assist XFree86 developers with
their work.
For more information on these projects, you may want to
check the Alternate
Operating System Driver Support Chart. This pdf document
has been maintained by ATI
Developer Relations. You must have Adobe Acrobat installed
to view this file.
Additional information will also appear on this page as it becomes available.
Please note, however, that ATI is not responsible for the content
of any third party web site, or the software you might find there. |
Linux Support and Documentation
ATI CustomerCare receives a large number of inquiries regarding driver
support for the Linux
operating system.
Most of these "Linux" questions are really about XFree86,
being the graphical X-Windows System that is bundled with
many of the popular Linux Distribution
packages.
Please note - ATI CustomerCare has NO INFORMATION regarding:
- which ATI chips or products are supported in a particular version
of Linux or XFree86
- how to configure Linux for a given ATI chip or product
- when or if drivers are being developed to support ATI chips in a
given version of Linux or XFree86
- what features these drivers might have
Answers to these questions may be available from a number of sources
in the Linux community
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Product Features
2D Graphics Acceleration
- Full-featured and optimized XFree86 drivers are available
on the ATI
website for the following product families ONLY:
-
- RADEON 9700
- RADEON 9000
- RADEON 8500
- FireGL Workstation products
XFree86 currently provides hardware 2D acceleration for
most ATI graphics adapters. For new products it normally
takes at least 12 weeks from retail product shipment for
driver support to be become publicly available.
Chances are your Linux distribution
includes a version of XFree86, which may already support
your ATI product. The most recent release of XFree86 is
available from www.xfree86.org.
Xi Graphics,
Inc. specializes in creating high-performance, premium
quality graphics software to support graphics hardware on
computer platforms running Linux/UNIX®. They offer their
own hardware accelerated X-Windows products as a commercial
alternative to the freeware XFree86.
3D Graphics Acceleration
ATI has made the necessary hardware and programming information available
to Linux developers for the development of hardware 3D acceleration.
Family |
3D Status |
RADEON 9700 |
XFree86 drivers available on the ATI
website support hardware 3D acceleration (RPM
format for i386 only at this time).
Open source 3D drivers
may also be available or under development from the
DRI Project. |
RADEON 9000 |
RADEON 8500 |
RADEON |
3D drivers are available from the DRI
Project. |
RAGE 128 |
RAGE PRO |
3D support is a work in progress from the UTAH-GLX
Project. |
Accelerated-X products by XI
Graphics, Inc. also offer hardware accelerated 3D using
OpenGL. Accelerated-X is provided as a commercial alternative
to the freeware XFree86.
Video Capture
Video capture under XFree86 is currently done using the
Video4Linux2
(or V4L2) API, which should be available for 2.2.x and
later kernels. It may have been included with your Linux
distribution.
- Video capture using V4L2 should be available using xawtv
for the following products:
For ALL-IN-WONDER products, it should be available or under
development by the GATOS
Project.
For users of Accelerated-X desktop software by XI
Graphics, an application called Xvamp
is available on the XI
Graphics FTP site, which provides TV Tuner support for
some ATI multimedia products.
TV Output
ATI is investigating the possibility of supporting TV Out under Linux for
products which include this feature.
The GATOS
Project mentions limited use of this feature in some
of their configurations.
Linux
ATI TV Out Support Program is a work in progress by
Lennart
Poettering to control the TV Out feature of certain
ATI graphics products under Linux. It has currently been
tested on Rage Mobility P/M devices only, but should also
work for RADEON and RAGE 128 according to the author.
DVD playback
The GATOS project
is currently working toward hardware assisted IDCT, which
is an important component for DVD playback.
Currently, there are legal difficulties regarding DVD playback in any Open
Source environment such as Linux. OpenDVD.org
provides a detailed discussion on this topic. It is an excellent
resource for anyone trying to configure a Linux system for
DVD playback.
Further Information and Assistance
Linux Distribution Vendors
Most Linux distributions include driver software for current ATI products.
Check the vendor's website for information on which hardware is supported
in their distribution.
Some Linux vendors offer their own technical support services. Check the
documentation you received when you purchased a Linux Distribution to determine
whether technical support is available from the vendor.
We have provided links to some of the more popular vendors here:
General Linux Documentation
You may also want to check the following sources for more information or
support:
Getting involved in Linux
development
If you have an interest in computer programming, and would like to see more
ATI product features become available under Linux, then we highly recommend
joining an appropriate project for the development you wish to help with.
It is also recommended that you join the XFree86 Project as a developer.
To participate in any of these open source projects or to find out more information
please visit the appropriate web sites.
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