ATI Interview: You ask the questions

[andhra]

linux drivers for AIW radeon? not beta

 

[Buddha Bart]

1.) Have you ever heard of "Computer Programers"

2.) Are you aware that 'Computer Programers' often write better drivers than "a room full of monkeys slinging feces at keyboards"

While he's shocked about the question, punch him in the eye and yell "DRIVERS!"

Then when he reels back, kick him in the junk and yell "DRIVERS!"

you may need to tourture his children... your call, play it by ear.

bart

 

[office boy]

I second Buddha Bart.

 

[CQuinn]

As an amateur journalist, I would appreciate discussion on the following topics:

ATI's response to the 3dfx buyout, and perception of competition with
NVidia in the PC, and now Mac, markets.

What is ATI's current schedule for public beta driver releases.
With the Radeon drivers having a basis in the Rage128 code, does the
development cycle for ATI drivers include the idea of improved legacy support?

On the AIW card, rumor has it that it was originally going to release
with a Digital Tuner on board, but that design issues forced that
implementation to a lower priority. Are there current plans to include
a Digital Tuner in the next generation of the AIW (R200 based)?.

Due to the shortage of fast memory, the Radeon family has been
released at a lower memory speed than originally specified. Now ATI seems
to be preparing a release of higher end cards with the type of memory speed
that was originally desired. Does ATI plan to offer both "High-End" and
"Value" lines of their products, and how best would interested consumers
be able to tell the cards apart?

Some user concerns:

Video for Windows support was not included with the Radeon release, rendering
unusable many third party utilities that users of ATI products depended on.
It was thought that ATI would provide such support in later driver releases.
Is this planned for the coming unified drivers, or is there some other
solution in the works?

The first release of the 7.0 Multimedia Center is very impressive, but in
some ways it seems to be a step back from the one program - many functions
idea of the older MMCs. Would ATI consider allowing the user an option to
revert the functionality of the MMC back to the old design? Also, it is noted
that the beta for MMC 7.1 has features to save captures as VCD. Does ATI
have plans to enter the low-end video recorder market with a product that
allows the user to create thier own video CDs? (I hope so).

Support for previous ATI video codecs VCR1 and VCR2 was also dropped from the
Radeon, making users upgrading from previous ATI VIVO and All in Wonder cards
unable to read thier previously saved files. Will ATI support those codecs, at
least for conversion to other formats, or provide some other solution to
this issue.

Public perception in the online gaming communities is still low due to
the lack of public feedback from ATI on a number of user issues. Are there
any plans to allow a public forum on ATI's Website, or to provide more rapid
updates to the online FAQs and Guides to address user comments.

I know that ATI cannot provide support for "Special Purpose" or leaked drivers.
But would they appreciate feedback from knowlegdable users and forums such
as Anandtech to better identify outside issues that could assist in
development and release of better official drivers?

 

[Hulk]

AIW question

No version of the AIW (128, 128 Pro, or Radeon) will output to TV and without a black border around the picture. Video editing is kind of fruitless without being able to output to TV "full bleed."

The Matrox duel head and Marvel cards output full bleed and will output to TV with the computer monitor set at any resolution. Basically, ATI only has a duel head clone mode, not DVD max like Matrox.

Does ATI know about these limitations?

If so will they correct them?

Fixing these two problems would really make the AIW series very serious video editing tools.

 

[Stark]

I think this was mentioned, but how did they screw up the deal with apple to the point where nvidia is the featured video chip maker in future product announcements?

 

[pidge]

"Due to the shortage of fast memory, the Radeon family has been
released at a lower memory speed than originally specified. Now ATI seems
to be preparing a release of higher end cards with the type of memory speed
that was originally desired. Does ATI plan to offer both "High-End" and
"Value" lines of their products, and how best would interested consumers
be able to tell the cards apart?"

I don't think it was a shortage of memory that caused them to release a lower memory speed than originally specified. Take a look at my questions. After around 190MHz, the video card hardly increases speed when overclocked. I think it was just coming to a limit right where the chip was running out of gas and adding costly faster memory when it wouldn't produce much of a performance difference was a bad business move on their part. The only way to get more performance out of the Radeon would be to make a Radeon Maxx. Making a Ultra type card would not make much of a difference.

Please, mention something about their customer support and how bad it is and about their driver division. And don't be an Oprah about the interview questions. Thanks man.

 

[borealiss]

is ati planning to come out with a chip to compete against the quadro line from nvidia and the likes from 3dlabs?

and...
DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS

that's it i think.

 

[CQuinn]

Pidge,

"Please, mention something about their customer support and how bad it is
and about their driver division. And don't be an Oprah about the interview questions.
Thanks man. "

Was that referring to me? I hope not, but if so the questions about customer
support and drivers have been rehashed enough in this thread that we can all
agree on the importance of asking about it without adding another voice to
the choir. Remember the "no duplicate questions" request in the originating
post? I was trying to read thru this thread and at the same time come up
with some questions that had not already been asked. As for the phrasing
of the questions, somebody at the level of President & COO of ATI is not
really going to know what the state of driver development, or be willing to
answer direct questions about what they did to piss Apple off.
So, if you want to hit him with the "U Drivers suck, whatcha gonna do bout it?"
type of question, be prepared for nothing but the same canned responses they
always have given. I you can manage to ask a few questions that he actually
has to think about, or make him aware of issues within/outside the company that
might be used to help ATI make money in the new year, you can be darn sure
you'll get something closer to active interest on Mr. Ortons part.
(or you could go for the Buddha Bart approach, and lock him in the room with
the monkeys)

We're not trying to be Oprahs here, but it wouldn't hurt (and might help) to
throw a little Mike Wallace his way.

Anyway, to both address your request, and drag this back on topic.

-----

Mr. Orton,
how long have you been with ATI, and we're you aware of their reputation as
having slow customer service and the quality of the driver division when
you joined the company?

 

[pidge]

CQuinn,
The first paragraph was directed to you. The last line was directed towards Anand or whoever is doing the interview. I understand that some of these questions will get very broad answers but it is still on my mind. Its disappointing that ATI gets so many chances with their newer products and the same thing always comes up...drivers and customer support.

 

[whooosh]

Do they have plans to create a line of video cards into the Highend Graphics Market? (I.E. Nvidia Quardo)

 

[Blackhawk2]

How much faster (percentage wise) will the next generation of ATI's Hyper-Z technology be?

 

[ndee]

OT: But Vince Carter rules! But he'll never be as good as Michael Jordan, never.......

My Question:
When will the RADEON2 be out?

 

[Viperoni]

Will FSAA 1x and 2x be implemented in future drivesr?
I believe the current option is off and 4x, which although looks pretty good, some may want more clarity than 4x gives, hence the need for lower levels of FSAA.

 

[Dufusyte]

Here's an obnoxious question:

- Why did ATi blab about the Radeon being in the Mac right before Jobs gave his keynote address? (which made Jobs angry so he pulled the Radeon from Apple's line-up)

- Do they regret blabbing?

- Does ATi's CEO have any thoughts on Steve Jobs he'd like to share?

Muahahah!

 

[Dufusyte]

Ask about the ATi/Intel cross licensing deal (did somebody already mention this?). Is it safe to assume that Intel is joining forces with Ati against nVidia especially since nVidia is getting into the chipset market (stepping on Intel's toes)?

 

[Bignate603]

Can he leak any info on new products? I'd love to hear what's coming out next to compete with n'vidia's offering.

 

[LXi]

I can see from many of these questions, that people are generally very unhappy about ATI's driver support. Whats with all this "they've improved" thing?

 

[AdamK47]

I have a feeling that these questions are going to be answered just like zsir said above.


<< His replies will most likely be....

We currently have many intersting products under way....unfortunatley I can't comment on unreleased products at this time.

Drivers....At ATI we are commited to providing are customers with the best drivers possible....We are always working to improve and refine are drivers for the best performance and stability possible..... >>


What does the President of Ati know of the driver development? He's more concerned with OEM deals and the financial situation with the company. ugh! I hope the interview isn't going to be that lame!

 

[chiwawa626]

I have lots of quetions but these are the most important ones:
1. boxers or briefs?
2. inny or outy? (belly button)
3. pepsi or coke?

 

[BFG10K]

Maybe an interesting question would be, what are they going to do to remove the memory bandwidth bottleneck? Do something like 3dfx did with the Voodoo5 5500 and add dual GPU's?


Err, that would be Hyper-Z, which is already present in the Radeon.

 

[Raspewtin]

Another vote for the following questions


1) Will the ArtX technology come to the PC?

2) Dual monitor features - when?

 

[Pyro]

They already have dual monitor support.

Its called 'HydraVision' and its on the RadeonVE

 

[cats2cars]

:| This has nothing to do with the newest drivers or the next variation of this card or any of that stuff.

This is asked from the perspective of a frustrated Canadian.

Why does the card cost more to buy in Canada than it does to buy it from the US? That's including the exhange (about $1.50), duties shipping. It's even cheaper if you have a friend, relative in the US that you can have it shipped to.

Am I wrong but I thought ATI was located out of Toronto Canada and the cards are manufactured there?

 

[CyruzTheGreat]

DRIVERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ASK ABOUT THE BLOODY DRIVERS.............. are support going to improve ?

AND IF THERE AINT NO POSITIVE RESPONSE, tell him to go fu*khimself and shove all his blody card up his *****


Im so fed up with ATI driver support u wont belive it...