[Openchrome-users] Via drivers?

[John Robinson]

On 30/06/2006 22:11, Chad wrote:
> [...] why things are like they are:

It's a very sorry tale, and my way of telling it is quite possibly biased.

> Why do the Unichrome folks even exist?  It seems that Openchrome
> covers everything unichrome does, but also includes the 3d/accelerated
> additions.

Because it was Luc who started writing open source drivers for the 
Unichrome, way back before VIA invented Unichrome Pro, and when other 
developers came along and offered to support other hardware and other 
features of the hardware, he refused to accept anybody else's 
contributions, and ended up throwing his toys out of the pram, which 
effectively meant that development carried on under openChrome, without Luc.

> Why does OpenChrome exist when Via distributes open source drivers?

It's extremely dubious as to whether what VIA release is really open 
source, but in any case...

> Do the Via drivers suck, or are they not as functional as the
> OpenChrome drivers?

Both. They suck, and they need special versions of applications to work, 
because VIA haven't bothered to follow X development.

> And lastly, obviously subjective, but about how long after a new
> chipset comes out does support exist either from Via or from
> OpenChrome?

It can be a while; VIA don't update theirs until much later, and 
openChrome takes until somebody with the new hardware is prepared to try 
it out. Having said that, most new motherboards with already-known but 
rebadged versions of chipsets are supported quickly at openChrome.

Cheers,

John.