At 10:15 PM 3/4/2004, Curtis Rey wrote:
It is obvious that the Catylist devs seem to have a different idea of how to create a XF86 driver. The problem as I see it is the disconnect between ATI and Catylist. They are not the same company IIRC. Catylist is contracted to build the drivers for ATI. I suspect, but could be wrong, that ATI probably prompted Catylist to build 'nix drivers and they have attempted to comply. But I also supect that they don't have anyone with a lot of prior knowledge or ability to do so as we in the Linux community have become accustomed to.
This does have all the earmarks of a pass-the-buck scenario. Contractors can claim ATI isn't giving them the resources they need to create Linux drivers, while ATI can maintain plausible deniability, blaming shortcomings on the contractors or XFree86 itself. I can almost remember a time when companies actually took direct responsibility for supporting their own products. Now it's just a finger-pointing game.
The part that I find baffling is that now OS X 10.3 (aka Panther) opts for XF86 as an alternative to their Quartz engine. If Apple were to go to XF86 exclusive over Quartz then we might see a change.
I'd heard about that. Personally I'd rather have Quartz at the heart of my Linux desktop, but that's a different discussion. ;-)
Either way I would try to find a more direct point of contact to the Catylist developers rather than the default point of contact provided on the ATI website - frankly I don't think the care one way or the other.
I agree. I wonder if they realize Nvidia is way ahead of them in Linux support. When/if Linux starts to take significant chunks out of Windows' share of the desktop market over the next couple of years, ATI will likely find themselves in a distant second place if they don't make a more solid Linux commitment soon.
Perhaps if you or someone else finds this elusive pipeline to the driver/ kernel mod devs we might be able to get a little headway - and if one does find this please post it as well as the content of the any discussions or communications. I know I certainly will if I find myself fortunate enough to stumble upon this.
We'll probably need a translator to communicate with the driver devs. I have a feeling they're not Canadian. ;-)