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This makes me wonder: are there any truly `built-for Linux` video card/chips out there? Aside from ATI/AMD, nVidia and Intel, I can only think of Matrox and S3

This makes me wonder: are there any truly `built-for Linux` video card/chips out there? Aside from ATI/AMD, nVidia and Intel, I can only think of Matrox and S3 -- with S3 being recently bought by HTC, and I have no idea what Matrox does these days, especially after the Parhelia failure.

loxs 14y ago
Well, maybe the ones that are installed in half of the world's smartphones?
- jevinskie 14y ago
  I believe most of those are still supported with binary-only drivers.
  - hollerith 14y ago
    I'd be interested to know which Android devices are the exceptions to this general rule of binary-only video drivers.
    - Symmetry 14y ago
      I believe that ARM's Mali GPU is fairly open source friendly?
      - hollerith 14y ago
        Not as friendly as Intel recent GPUs on the desktop if the need to reverse engineer Mali is any indication: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_hardware_and_FOSS#ARM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_hardware_and_FOSS#ARM
JoshTriplett 14y ago
Intel releases Linux support for every new graphics chipset they build, before the hardware ships. That seems about as close to "built for Linux" as you can get.
- technomancy 14y ago
  I learned my lesson years ago and have stuck with Intel for my last four laptops. I haven't had any compatibility issues or manual configuration necessary since then.
- duskwuff 14y ago
  Not necessarily very good support, though: http://communities.intel.com/message/158477 http://communities.intel.com/message/158477
  - JoshTriplett 14y ago
    I said "that they build" quite intentionally. Yes, the third-party PowerVR-based chipsets have little to no Linux support, a problem going back to the original GMA500 (Poulsbo) chipset, and that makes it difficult to make a blanket statement that all Intel graphics chipsets work with Linux. I'd still argue that Intel has the best Linux support among graphics card vendors; on top of that, Intel drives the majority of new innovations in the X and Linux graphics infrastructure code.
pmahoney 14y ago
I seem to recall at least one attempt several years ago at making an "open source" video card. Not sure if this is the one I remember, but it seems similar (from 2008): http://www.tech.slashdot.org/story/08/05/21/2136243/Open-Source-Graphics-Card-Available-For-Advance-Orders http://www.tech.slashdot.org/story/08/05/21/2136243/Open-Sou...
dredmorbius 14y ago
Intel. Works very, very closely closely with Linux devs, and AFAIK releases full specs. Given that Intel are expanding well beyond their CPU origins (Intel NICs are among the best I've worked with, graphics chipsets are pretty good, others generally work well), this is cool stuff. In the case of my most recent Thinkpad purchase (May 2011), it took updating to the latest kernel on Debian 3-4 months after purchase to iron out all the bugs (hangs/restarts), but since then it's been golden. AMD aren't far behind, and since they picked up ATI (Radeon graphics), the Radeon support is also quite good. S3 were making some noises about being very solidly behind Linux as of 4-5 years ago (bought me a round of drinks at a Linux conference, so their support is demonstrably liquid, if not solid). I've had pretty good experience with older Matrox chipsets, no idea where they are now. My experience is largely desktop, server, and some light video viewing. Hard-core gamers may have other complaints, but my understanding is that you'll probably end up on Windows or a dedicated gaming platform in that case anyway.

loxs 14y ago

Well, maybe the ones that are installed in half of the world's smartphones?

jevinskie 14y ago
I believe most of those are still supported with binary-only drivers.
- hollerith 14y ago
  I'd be interested to know which Android devices are the exceptions to this general rule of binary-only video drivers.
  - Symmetry 14y ago
    I believe that ARM's Mali GPU is fairly open source friendly?
    - hollerith 14y ago
      Not as friendly as Intel recent GPUs on the desktop if the need to reverse engineer Mali is any indication: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_hardware_and_FOSS#ARM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_hardware_and_FOSS#ARM

JoshTriplett 14y ago

Intel releases Linux support for every new graphics chipset they build, before the hardware ships. That seems about as close to "built for Linux" as you can get.

technomancy 14y ago
I learned my lesson years ago and have stuck with Intel for my last four laptops. I haven't had any compatibility issues or manual configuration necessary since then.
duskwuff 14y ago
Not necessarily very good support, though: http://communities.intel.com/message/158477 http://communities.intel.com/message/158477
- JoshTriplett 14y ago
  I said "that they build" quite intentionally. Yes, the third-party PowerVR-based chipsets have little to no Linux support, a problem going back to the original GMA500 (Poulsbo) chipset, and that makes it difficult to make a blanket statement that all Intel graphics chipsets work with Linux. I'd still argue that Intel has the best Linux support among graphics card vendors; on top of that, Intel drives the majority of new innovations in the X and Linux graphics infrastructure code.

pmahoney 14y ago

I seem to recall at least one attempt several years ago at making an "open source" video card. Not sure if this is the one I remember, but it seems similar (from 2008): http://www.tech.slashdot.org/story/08/05/21/2136243/Open-Source-Graphics-Card-Available-For-Advance-Orders http://www.tech.slashdot.org/story/08/05/21/2136243/Open-Sou...

dredmorbius 14y ago

Intel. Works very, very closely closely with Linux devs, and AFAIK releases full specs. Given that Intel are expanding well beyond their CPU origins (Intel NICs are among the best I've worked with, graphics chipsets are pretty good, others generally work well), this is cool stuff. In the case of my most recent Thinkpad purchase (May 2011), it took updating to the latest kernel on Debian 3-4 months after purchase to iron out all the bugs (hangs/restarts), but since then it's been golden. AMD aren't far behind, and since they picked up ATI (Radeon graphics), the Radeon support is also quite good. S3 were making some noises about being very solidly behind Linux as of 4-5 years ago (bought me a round of drinks at a Linux conference, so their support is demonstrably liquid, if not solid). I've had pretty good experience with older Matrox chipsets, no idea where they are now. My experience is largely desktop, server, and some light video viewing. Hard-core gamers may have other complaints, but my understanding is that you'll probably end up on Windows or a dedicated gaming platform in that case anyway.