email i sent ati

[jdodson]

i think it explains itself:

----------------------------------------------------
i give up.

today i purchased a card from your competitor. it isnt like i had a choice. i want my computer to work. i want to be able to play 3D games on my computer. i want to use gnu/linux. lets face it, your gnu/linux support sucks. you make inferior gnu/linux drivers as compared to your competitor nvidia.

unless your support for gnu/linux picks up in the next few years, i will be forced to NEVER purchase a card from you again. period. this is not me signing a petition begging you for table scraps in the form of updated drivers. this is me telling you where it is at, and today you do not get my money. today nvidia makes more money because you fail to treat gnu/linux like you do windows.

i heard you released new drivers today. that is great. however i wonder how they will fare when millions of users install them? will your shotty driver support come to life in the new driver incarnation? or will you start a new legacy of top notch support for the emergent gnu/linux desktop? heaven forbid you consider actually GPL'ing the driver, however if you did you would recieve much support from the gnu/linux community in the form of payment for hardware.

it is a simple choice, support your product better or lose out on getting my money. i know nvidia does not mind.

[poofyhairguy]

i think it explains itself:

----------------------------------------------------
i give up.

today i purchased a card from your competitor. it isnt like i had a choice. i want my computer to work. i want to be able to play 3D games on my computer. i want to use gnu/linux. lets face it, your gnu/linux support sucks. you make inferior gnu/linux drivers as compared to your competitor nvidia.

unless your support for gnu/linux picks up in the next few years, i will be forced to NEVER purchase a card from you again. period. this is not me signing a petition begging you for table scraps in the form of updated drivers. this is me telling you where it is at, and today you do not get my money. today nvidia makes more money because you fail to treat gnu/linux like you do windows.

i heard you released new drivers today. that is great. however i wonder how they will fare when millions of users install them? will your shotty driver support come to life in the new driver incarnation? or will you start a new legacy of top notch support for the emergent gnu/linux desktop? heaven forbid you consider actually GPL'ing the driver, however if you did you would recieve much support from the gnu/linux community in the form of payment for hardware.

it is a simple choice, support your product better or lose out on getting my money. i know nvidia does not mind.


Wow! There is Xorg drivers today! Thanks for the tip!

Edit: Oh, wait....its rpms. Damn ATI!

[darkoptix]

Has anyone tried these out so far? Any improvments?

[Pluk]

No speed improvement, just support for x.org

[daniels]

They're packaged in hoary as xorg-driver-fglrx.

(FWIW, a lot of the driver can't be released due to complex NDAs and contractual arrangements with third parties and cross-licencing and all that crap.)

[jdodson]

They're packaged in hoary as xorg-driver-fglrx.

yeah i saw that, nice job btw. i think my message was more geared twoard the SLOW time it takes ATI to release a new driver, or fix a bug, or fix something broken in a particular driver. this new driver is nice, but does it work well? nvidia has been proven to be superior in this respect, or at least it seems to me that they are.


(FWIW, a lot of the driver can't be released due to complex NDAs and contractual arrangements with third parties and cross-licencing and all that crap.)

i read an article interviewing someone from nvidia and they cited this as a reason they dont GPL the code. i understand this is a reason why many vendors do not GPL, i just mentioned it because i think it is important, even if it fruitless. i wonder what code they have in it that is so important they have to pay someone for it...... then again 3D accelerated video drivers are pretty non-trivial to code.

[Dylanby]

For a little humour on the subject see this thread:
ATI's most secret Linux development tool revealed! (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33784907)

[daniels]

Originally, fglrx was written by FGL Graphics, who were a part of SONICblue; they did the entire driver. I understand they did bits of nVidia's driver also.

[jdodson]

Originally, fglrx was written by FGL Graphics, who were a part of SONICblue; they did the entire driver. I understand they did bits of nVidia's driver also.

cool. so we need to convert the FGL folks eh? then again i bet there stuff is a cash cow if they have thier hands in everyones driver code.

[daniels]

Er, not really, 'cause they don't do it much anymore. It's all internal ATI these days.