James McKenzie wrote:
Bill Davidsen wrote:
> And if you run Radeon chipsets which worked with FC6 and FC9, should you expect
> that the developers would spend time on gamer features like 3D and compiz while
> long time users run in text mode or VESA mode at best? Not everyone can throw
> away what was a pretty decent laptop when it gets to be three years old.
>
>
And WHY should AMD/ATI support old hardware? They ain't selling anymore.
I guess because they want customers to be happy and disposed to buy new. In any
case, the vendor driver works and the open source doesn't, so I would suppose
that since it was working they just didn't bother to break it.
ATI support is, mostly, on a paid basis and funded for current
AMD/ATI
products.
The current version of the Catalyst drivers does not and should not
support my 10 year old laptop with an ATI Rage Mobility 3 2xAGP
adaptor. Nor do I expect them to do so.
The vendor driver supports my three year old Radeon chip, the current Fedora
driver offers text mode and some VESA capabilities.
> Lately it feels as if developers are not adding features but
breaking or
> removing support as well, as though there were some limit on the number of
> chipsets which can work.
>
>
Again, if I worked as a developer for a company that was paying my
bills, I would do what they tell me.
I think you are missing the point, the vendor drivers seem to work, the open
source don't.
This is true for nVidia, AMD/ATI and Intel. What makes them money is
what they will support. Ever check the difference in Windows versus
Linux support? Linux lags severely in several functions across the
board. Windows gamer users are a major source of their money and sales
in high end video cards. Linux users are not.
Them's the facts folks. You cannot short the developers on FOSS
projects, you have to look at the manufacturers as well.
BTW, this applies to ANY of the 'non-Windows' operating systems that
rely on developers to create drivers for the device.
--
Bill Davidsen <davidsen(a)tmr.com>
"We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked." - from Slashdot