Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 20 Oct 2004 18:28:01 -0400 | From | Jim Nelson <> | Subject | Re: HARDWARE: Open-Source-Friendly Graphics Cards -- Viable? |
| |
Timothy Miller wrote:
> I can produce more detail later, but first, some characteristics and > advantages of what I'm proposing: > > - x86 BIOS/OpenBoot/OpenFirmware code under BSD and GPL license > - kernel drivers under BSD and GPL license > - X11 module under MIT license > - flashable PROM so that boot code can be added for more platforms > - usable as the console on any platform that can take a PCI, AGP, or > PCI-Express card > - downloadable schematic for the circuit board > - FPGA-based graphics engine so it's reprogrammable > - instructions on how to reprogram the FPGA, so it's hackable > - if we discontinue a product, we may release the Verilog code for the FPGA > - Since this is designed to be open-source-friendly, we want to play by > the rules of the open-source community. > - Tech Source would actively participate in the development and > maintenance of our own drivers. > - We will actually pay attention to problems and concerns raised by > users and developers. > - We won't be control-freaks.
> I haven't worked out a complete design spec for this product. The > reason is that what we think people want and what people REALLY want may > not be congruent. If you have a good idea for a piece of graphics > hardware which you think would be beneficial to the free software > community (and worth it for a company to produce), then Tech Source, as > a graphics company, might be willing to sell it. > >
You might want to take a look at the onboard video market. Providing an open-source 2D rendering engine and the PCI glue logic that work on an FPGA would probably revolutionize embedded PC applicatiuons that rely on a graphical interface. Providing support to motherboard manufaturers who might want a low-cost onboard video solution (micro-ITX, etc) is another possibility.
You also might want to look at PC/104 and CompactPCI form factors - I think the industrial market will be a great target, and, after all, if you have to move 80% industrial equipment to justify the 20% AGP sales, it makes good sense. There might even be a market for ISA, SBus, and MCA cards, for people stuck supporting seriously old machines (386, 486, SPARC) where it's almost impossible to find working graphics cards. Even if it's a DOS machine, hardware is hardware, and a brand-new VL-bus card for someone's 486 would be pretty cool :)
My $0.02 - 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/
| |