There are a lot of graphics-related development projects underway from kernel work to advanced graphics layers used directly by applications. At the kernel level, we recently completed a Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) Command Interface. The new internal DRM Command Interface will allow driver-specific kernel extensions to be created while maintaining the device-independent interfaces required to support standalone driver releases. Other DRM work is being done by Linux OS vendors to enhance the DRM in order to support graphics features that are of interest to each vendor better. These are usually fairly small projects and are not well publicized.

The most interesting high-level project in the works is called Chromium. The Chromium Project is “... a flexible framework for scalable real-time rendering on clusters of workstations, based on the Stanford WireGL Project code base.” Chromium harnesses a cluster of workstations to act as a single, high-performance renderer. Its modular design allows one to design custom rendering pipelines. Examples include large, multiscreen murals and parallel, image-composition networks. Chromium uses the OpenGL API so it can be used with most 3-D applications. Typical applications are scientific visualization of very large datasets; large, multiscreen displays for entertainment/VR; and parallel rendering research.

Mesa, the open implementation of OpenGL that is at the heart of most DRI drivers, continues to track the latest OpenGL developments. Mesa fully implements the new OpenGL 1.4 specification and the latest OpenGL Architectural Review Board (ARB) extensions. Brian Paul, the project founder, was responsible for four new ARB extensions and contributed to the OpenGL 1.4 specification, all approved in the past year.

At the hardware level, most of the newer chipset technology is closely guarded. NVIDIA's success with its proprietary graphics pipeline has set the stage for other vendors to follow suit with binary-only driver releases. Most 3-D chipset vendors now steadfastly refuse to release technical documentation to the Open Source development community. As people continue to support closed-source drivers under Linux, it becomes more difficult to convince 3-D chipset vendors that it is in their own best interest to support the open-source paradigm. As of this writing, ATI and Intel have continued to provide documentation to open-source developers, but only Intel appears to be continuing its pure open-source initiative.

The reasons for maintaining proprietary information vary, but it is hard to refute a statement that it is cheaper for chipset vendors to keep their technology closed than it is for them to pay for the patent searches required to ensure that their new technology is not already patented by someone else. Lawsuits are much more expensive than any immediate monetary benefit open technology brings to a vendor. The legal system is being used to discourage innovation, and even the US government is powerless to prevent the loss of freedoms that are traded for short-term profits.

On a positive note, the Weather Channel recently closed on a contract with Tungsten Graphics to finance the development of an open-source ATI RADEON 8500 driver. The driver will not contain certain key 8500 performance enhancement features that ATI requires to be released in binary form only, but even without those features, it will be a significant open-source achievement.

Resources

ATI Products: www.ati.com/products/builtdesktoppc.html

The Chromium Project: sourceforge.net/projects/chromium

Intel 845G Chipset: www.intel.com/design/chipsets/845g