[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

[Fwd: Re: ATI drivers 3.7.0 for XFree 4.3 *just now* released?!?]
--- Begin Message --- 
Number Six wrote:


What am I not getting?

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/06/1436223&mode=nested
http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/linux/radeon-linux.html

The release date for 3.7.0 on the ATI site is 3/2/04.

But the fglrx-4.3.0-*_3.7.0-3_i386.deb .debs I downloaded from:

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/flavio.stanchina/debian/fglrx-installer.html

are dated 2/9/04.
Why does ATI claim they are just now released, and what does Slashdot think so as well?
The Slashdot story is inaccurate. ATI released 3.7.1 on the fourth with a one line changelog; "Added 9800XT support". This pissed off alot of the regulars who have been documenting issues with ATI's 3.7.0 driver release, only to wait two months said added ChipID. The drivers were pulled several hours later; many folks were having problems just starting their X servers regardless of which card they had.
There is a sticky thread at the Rage3D Linux forum here: http://www.rage3d.com/board/forumdisplay.php?s=7237387fb3bcfc501d16f7cbfe59dee4&forumid=61
I have a ATI radeon 9700 Pro, and 2D in Debian's unstable Xfree 4.3. Xv and overlay is fixed.
According to the forum, there is a "hotfix" on the way, whatever that means; the 3.7.0 drivers were unstable to say the least and provided abysmal performance. The only positive: the RPM was easy to debianize via alien and install via dpkg. One really glaring negative IMO, the ATI team claimed that the 3.7.0 drivers were written from scratch --as opposed to continuing with the Schneider [sp?] drivers-- and renamed the new driver 3.2 from 3.7.
If the driver was rewritten from scratch, it should have been labeled an alpha or beta release at best. Don't up the number, fooling those who don't know any better that these drivers have matured in some way. They are playing Jonses with nvidia me thinks.

--- End Message ---
Reply to: