Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S266015AbUA1Rbt (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:31:49 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S266020AbUA1Rbt (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:31:49 -0500 Received: from kinesis.swishmail.com ([209.10.110.86]:29963 "EHLO kinesis.swishmail.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S266015AbUA1Rbr (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:31:47 -0500 Message-ID: <4017F2C0.4020001@techsource.com> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:34:56 -0500 From: Timothy Miller MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Linux Kernel Mailing List Subject: [OT] Crazy idea: Design open-source graphics chip Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2660 Lines: 49 This is somewhat off-topic, so we shouldn't discuss it TOO much on-list, but I feel it's relevant to the state of affairs with Linux. I haven't looked at what's available on opencores.org, but one of the biggest problems we seem to have is with getting high-quality graphics cards that are compatible with Linux in the sense that there are open specs and there's an open-source driver. Oh, and we'd like to have something decent. I have personally designed a graphics engine. Actually, I would say that I did maybe 90% of the Verilog coding on it, and about 20% of the back-end (place, route, etc.) work. I also did 100% of the X11 software (DDX) and 0% of the kernel driver code. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece of engineering compared to the latest and greatest high-end 3D and CAD graphics chips, but it's a powerful workhorse used in most of the air traffic control graphics cards and medical imaging cards that my employer sells (10 megapixel displays are easy for us). Were you to read the manual on it, you'd think some of it was a bit unusual (such as the way you issue rendering commands), because it WAS my first ASIC ever. I did meet all of our performance goals. And I've come a long way since then. (Unfortunately, this may sound like a plug, but I have competing desires to be humble about what I did but also not to publically say something that might understate the value of my employer's products. I also feel a sense of pride in my accomplishment.) That being said, I would LOVE to be involved in the design of an open-source graphics chip with the Linux market primarily in mind. This is a major sore point for us, and I, for one, would love to be involved in solving it. With an open architecture, everyone wins. We win because we have something stable which we can put in main-line Linux, and chip fabs win, because anyone can sell it, and anyone can write drivers for any platform. Imagine ATI and nVidia competing on how they can IMPROVE the design over one another but being obligated to release the source code. I know... wishful thinking. But I know a variety of ways that chips and boards could be made with respectable geometries (90nm) and high performance. No more being at the mercy of closed-development graphics chip designers who make Linux an after-though if they even think of us at all. Please forgive my off-topic intrusion. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/