Ati Radeon 9700 drivers and linux ?

[Thor_Sevan]

Hi !
I am about to buy my new system and I wanted a Radeon 9700 in it but there is something...
This year, I'll use Linux slackware a LOT to make assembly programs and I was wondering how are the latest linux drivers from ATI. Should I stick with Nvidia then ?

One more question... if I install a linux distribution that was made before the ATI 9700... how will linux react about the new unknown video card ?!

Thanks a lot !

THor

 

[GTaudiophile]

I'd ask over at rage3d.com, but this is what ATi says on their site:


ATI does not currently develop or distribute LINUX or XFree86 drivers.

However, our Developer Relations team actively supports 3rd party LINUX/XFree86 developers by supplying technical information and software development kits.

Drivers for many of our products are available in LINUX/XFree86 distributions, and through various online LINUX/XFree86 archives.

 

[CQuinn]

Actually, they have recently posted Linux drivers.

From what I've heard, these are drivers made for their professional FireGL cards, but they
are supposed to work with all Radeon based cards.

http://mirror.ati.com/support/products/pc/radeon8500/linux/radeon8500linuxdrivers.html?cboOS=LinuxXFree86&cboProducts=RADEON+8500&cmdNext=GO%21

 

[Thor_Sevan]

Thanks for the info !
But even without the updated drivers, a new slackware distribution should still work with the Radeon 9700 right ?
The drivers are only if I plan one day to run opengl or accelerated applications right ?

THanks

THor

 

[Thor_Sevan]

I went to that Rage3D.com site, registered but I can't post anything ! 😱 What kind of forrum is that ?!
Anyway, I read some thread about ATI and Linux and they say it WILL be supported.
Now here comes my question. If I buy the card tomorrow and install linux tomorrow, will I have 2D acceleration ?!
Will I be able to at least USE linux ? I don't care if I don't have 3D support for Linux at this moment. All I want is at least to have a WORKING linux. 😉

THor

 

[Soulkeeper]

you will definately be able to boot to the command line
the standard vesa frame buffer should work
as far as 3D support goes that will be the job of Xfree86/DRI to take up the slack for where ATI don't
I have a radeon 7500 with the Dri drivers and it works (although not fully stable) with 3d games and the such
as far as 2d goes you could try using the older radeon driver (it works for the original radeons all the way up to the 8500's) the cards should be similar enough to where it will work
if you try let us all know how it works out for you
i would give dri a few months to start developing a tree for the 9700 it usually takes them awhile
i am running slackware on both my systems, good choice

ohh well
good luck
--Soul_keeper

 

[Thor_Sevan]

Thanks Soulkeeper.
The thing is I won't buy the card if it doesn't work right now in Linux.
Studying in computer engineering, I am in a rush of getting my new system build and next week everything should be configured and running well for me to make assembly and use KDE with many dev. tools.

I currently don't care about 3D nor DVD acceleration on LINUX. The only thing that matters is: Will I be able to install mandrake or slackware (from the CD'S) directly without any headache and use KDE (not jerky but smooth) with the xwindow graphical interface ?
If the answer to this question is currently "no", then I might just stick with my old G400 max and wait for ATI drivers.

Btw, will the latest linux distribution detect correctly the VIA KT333 chipset ?! Will I have problems with it ?

THanks a lot !!! 🙂