Decent Linux Drivers: Seriously, what is going on?

[wateenellende]

Originally Posted by Antharian

VIA? Anyone there? Can someone shed any light?
-A

Don't bother trying to talk to VIA here... From what I've understood, the whole tkarena forums and VIA Arena are run *entirely* by volunteers, and both are completely independent from VIA, and no VIA staff ever shows their face here.

The only relations to between VIA-Arena/tkArena and VIA itself are:
1) the name sound similar;
2) originally, VIA Arena was set up by someone employed by VIA at that time, on that person's own initiative;
3) VIA eagerly pretends to offer support by linking to VIA Arena and these forums.

See: The wonderful new linux drivers

(I may have formulated it more sharpish that the original quotes, but that's what it boils down to)

[Antharian]

Is it possible to get John Gatt's contact information or any direct contact information with VIA? We are willing to sign NDA's etc. to get development going for the linux drivers and funding this development effort entirely internally.

I know releasing closed source drivers such as NVidia and ATI do is not what the community typically likes, but this is better than no driver at all.

We have a compelling reason to put this effort into the CX700M2 IGP, but if we can't even get in touch with VIA to start these talks, then we must consider using another vendor. Which really sucks, because of the features we do like about the C7 platform, it may just be time to move to AMD who is very pro-open-source.

Good luck all... and if you have any contact info at VIA, please let me know.

Best Regards,

-A

[KayakFun]

Wow, I am soooo happy I discovered this forum today!

Until now I have been frantically following the news about VIA's new Isaiah architecture CPUs and their new VX800 chipset (plus news about Intel Atom). The general verdict is that Isaiah will win easily from Atom.

All the press mention VIA's Linux support, and the industry trend towards ultramobile PCs and mobile internet devices, which will all run Linux because Linux is cheaper and requires way less resources in memory and power consumption.

My aim is to build a carPC, with my configuration to be:
- VIA Isaiah CPU
- VIA VX800 chipset
- VIA mobo
- Xenarc 1020TSV touchscreen 10,2" @ 1024 x 768 px
- The eight audio channels connected to my 8 Audi A4 speakers in the doors
- GPS
- mobile internet
- WiFi
- OS: LinuxICE 1.0
- Media Center: nGhost 2.0

But since I read this thread, I will hold off buying anything. I signed the petition, and asked my fellow carPC enthusiasts to do so too. Given the little positive feedback so far in this thread I will give VIA the benefit of the doubt and a little more of my patience.

As the trend in light PCs is towards Linux anyway (Microsoft is even extending the life of already dead and burried WinXP to fight off Linux market domination in this exploding niche), VIA will be dead soon if it does not fully support Linux before Intel Atom comes out. They have the edge on hardware at this moment, all they need to do is support Linux to catch all the design wins that are hanging above the market now.

Not having bought any VIA hardware yet, they have my sympathy for designing such power-efficient hardware. I hope VIA will announce good news for us here real soon, so I can spend the money that's burning in my pocket at VIA...

Or else... survival of the fittest!

[antoniocaputo]

I'll buy an atom based mini-itx if Intel will make a fanless one. I don't care for things other than efficiency and good "out-of-the-box" linux support (that means opensource drivers included in the kernel and in xorg).

[Mr. Chris]

Antharian, john@tkarena.com . Chris.

[Speaker]

I was already looking for a replacement for my via based hardware. But then i read this one:
[Phoronix] VIA Joins The Open Driver Bandwagon

[Joe Henley]

Talk's cheap.... Let's see what really happens.

It would be nice if they made the internal docs available, and if they tried to help developers create Linux drivers, but from my personal experiences with their Tech Support, I doubt much will come of it.

They seem to swim in a "culture of incompetence." Answers to questions, if they come at all, are late, and typically not responsive to the question asked. ... very frustrating to deal with.

Joe Henley

[wateenellende]

News Release VIA Announces Strategic Open Source Driver Development Initiative - VIA Technologies, Inc.
ASE Labs: News - VIA Announces Strategic Open Source Driver Development Initiative

[Antharian]

VIA, if you guys are monitoring this... GREAT job on stepping up to the plate and making the press release about supporting Open Source Linux Drivers.

Official Press Release

I want to be clear about what support can actually be expected. You were clear that 2D/3D support would be there, but not so clear about what video acceleration would be available? Will Mpeg2/Mpeg4 (including h264, not just h263) support be available?

Finally, if you are truly putting a corporate effort behind this, how hard would it be to create a virtual host that answered for the domain name linux.via.com.tw (the proposed linux support site in the press release) since you clearly own the domain already with the main web site www.via.com.tw where the press release is posted.

If you want us to hold up hope, put something more behind the words. You are talking to a pretty technical crowd who is actually interested in a linux based solution.

We are hoping to create drivers that the masses want... you don't have the masses yet. Let us help you get there!

<<<<< Stand down off his soap box >>>>>>

How the heck did I get on that crazy box anyway... where did it come from? I never even saw it coming ... hahah

Anyway... let's keep this momentum going forward by back filling the corporate speak with technical backing!

Regards,

Antharian

[Antharian]

Originally Posted by Antharian

Finally, if you are truly putting a corporate effort behind this, how hard would it be to create a virtual host that answered for the domain name linux.via.com.tw (the proposed linux support site in the press release) since you clearly own the domain already with the main web site www.via.com.tw where the press release is posted.

Well, let me retract what I just posted... it appears http://linux.via.com.tw is now at least responding to DNS lookups and HTTP requests....


I REALLY hope the "coming soon" page (that I am sure is about to show up) gets updated with real content VERY quickly!!!

GREAT WORK GUYS!

My apologies for jumping the gun due to the DNS replication errors here in the US.

-Antharan