Open Graphics Project preps Linux-friendly PC graphics card

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Jan. 25, 2005

KernelTrap has interviewed Timothy Miller, founder of the Open Graphics Project (OGP). Miller and his employer, graphics chipset vendor Tech Source, founded the OGP to produce a 2D- and 3D-accelerated graphics chipset with an open hardware specification, enabling excellent support under Linux and other open source operating systems.

According to the interview, the OGP expects to deliver an inexpensive, open-source friendly 2- and 3-D accelerated graphics card as soon as June of 2005, with Tech Souce funding the initiative and promising to make the card available as long as demand exists.

According to Miller, as quoted by KernelTrap, graphics chipset manufacturers no longer make their product specifications available to open source developers, instead offering binary-only graphics drivers developed in-house. Binary-only drivers are problematic for a number of reasons, not the least of which is limited kernel version support, Miller notes.

The OGP card will be a half-height, short card that will fit low-profile cases. It will support dual-link DVI, analog VGA, and TV out. It will support resolutions up to 2048 x 2048 (Tech Solutions has experience supporting Sony's high-resolution DDM [data display monitors] for air-traffic controllers), and will include some MPEG support, such as automatic YUV to RGB conversion. It will be released initially as a PCI card, with AGP and PCI-Express to follow, Miller says in the interview.

To date, the project has polled the open source community about required features, and is wrapping up the creation of a software model of the 3D renderer to prove the correctness of the design, Miller says in the interview.

The card's chipset will support a subset of the OpenGL 2.0 specification, relying on the host CPU for geometry and vertex processing, Miller says. Hence, it will not offer cutting edge 3D performance, but rather will aim to meet the needs of users valuing free software and system stability over high performance.

In the interview, Miller outlines several interesting technologies being investigated to ensure relatively high 2D and 3D performance, however. He says the card will perform "very well" with many games, and generally satisfy the needs of desktop and workstation users, including those using 3D desktops.

Miller says that pricing will depend on volume, but that Tech Solutions hopes to sell the card for less than $200. If the initial card sells well, the project will target dual-head and quad-head versions, followed by a version with more sophisticated 3D features.

To learn more about the OGP, including the areas in which the project needs help from the open source community, read the complete interview at KernelTrap.

Read Timothy Miller interview at KernelTrap.

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