Linux and XFree86 Information

> General Information
>   - Linux Introduction
>   - Linux Drivers for AMD products
>   - Linux Support and Documentation
> Product Features
>   - 2D Graphics Acceleration
>   - 3D Graphics Acceleration
>   - Video Playback
>   - Video Capture
>   - TV Output
> Further Information and Assistance
>   - Linux Distribution Vendors
>   - General Linux Documentation
>   - Getting involved in Linux development

General Information

Linux Introduction

> Linux is a clone of the operating system UNIX, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from many developers 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, and usually covered by the GNU General Public License. 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 AMD products will usually involve XFree86.

Linux Drivers for AMD products

> AMD actively assists qualified 3rd party Linux developers writing software for the majority of AMD 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.

> Additional information will also appear on this page as it becomes available.

> Please note, however, that AMD is not responsible for the content of any third party web site, or the software you might find there.

Linux Support and Documentation

> AMD Customer Care 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 - AMD Customer Care has NO INFORMATION regarding:
> - which AMD chips or products are supported in a particular version of Linux or XFree86
> - how to configure Linux for a given AMD chip or product
> - when or if drivers are being developed to support AMD 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

Product Features

2D Graphics Acceleration

> Full-featured and optimized XFree86 drivers are available on the AMD website for the following product families ONLY:
>   - RADEON 8500 and later retail products
>   - MOBILITY RADEON 9000 and later mobile products
>   - FireGL 8800/8700 and later workstation products

> XFree86 currently provides hardware 2D acceleration for most AMD 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 already includes support for your AMD 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

> AMD has made the necessary hardware and programming information available to Linux developers for the development of hardware 3D acceleration.

> AMD Family | 3D Status
> --- | ---
> RADEON 8500 and later | Hardware 3D provided by AMD Proprietary Linux Driver (NOT Open Source) Open source 3D drivers should be available or under development from the DRI Project.
> RADEON 7500 | 3D drivers available from the DRI Project.
> RADEON 7200
> RADEON 7000
> RAGE 128
> RAGE PRO | 3D drivers available from the UTAH-GLX Project. for XFree86 version 3

> 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 Playback

> XFree86 uses the XVideo (or Xv) extension to enable hardware video overlay, which is used to accelerate the playback of video clips. The following drivers all support video playback using Xv.

> - AMD Proprietary Linux Driver
> - DRI Project
> - GATOS Project

> The AMD Proprietary Linux Driver also allows OpenGL to be used as an overlay (mutually exclusive with Xv, however).

> Some AMD hardware has DVD acceleration features. However, this functionality is NOT currently available in any Linux driver that we know of. AMD is investigating the possibility of providing these features in a future driver release.

Video Capture

> Video capture under XFree86 is currently handled using the Video4Linux2 (or V4L2) API, which should be available for 2.2.x and later kernels. It is included with most current Linux distributions.

> AMD Family | Display1 Driver | V4L driver | Capture Applications
> --- | --- | --- | ---
> ALL IN WONDER products | GATOS, DRI | GATOS | AVview
> TV WONDER TV WONDER VE | Any | bttv | xawtv, zapping, tvtime, others

> 1GATOS also provides their own display drivers, which should be used with the GATOS capture driver. While GATOS may still work with drivers from the DRI Project, it will NOT work with the AMD Proprietary Linux Driver. bttv can be used with any display driver.

> We are not aware of any V4L capture driver for AMD TV WONDER USB.

> 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 AMD multimedia products.

TV Output

> TV Output can be enabled in the AMD Proprietary Linux Driver for RADEON 8500 and later cards that have this feature.

> The GATOS Project is also working on TV Output using Rage Theater.

Further Information and Assistance

Linux Distribution Vendors

> Most Linux distributions include driver software for current AMD 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:

> - Debian
> - Gentoo
> - Lindows
> - Mandrake
> - Red Hat
> - Slackware
> - SuSE
> - TurboLinux
> - Xandros

General Linux Documentation

> You may also want to check the following sources for more information or support:

> - Linux Online
> - Linux Documentation Project
> - XFree86 website

Getting involved in Linux development

> If you have an interest in computer programming, and would like to see more AMD 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.

> - XFree86 Project
> - UTAH-GLX Project
> - GATOS Project
> - Direct Rendering Open Source Project