Just for the record, in case any of the Linux users out there are curious, it is in fact possible to get xGL running on a Lenovo Thinkpad x60s. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s slow. So slow, in fact, as to be more or less unusable – I didn’t even manage to get a screenshot before I killed it. I’m looking into tips to tune Compiz down – like deactivating plugins and so forth – but for the moment the xGL/Compiz combination appears to be too much for the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 in my x60s and the i810 drivers that support it.
This is the kind of problem that could, presumably, be attacked by open source graphics afficianados were they to have access to the drivers in question. The intersection of a very common graphics archictecture (Intel graphics hardware ships in a variety of Lenovo, Toshiba, etc machines) and a couple of high profile, popular projects (the aforementioned xGL and AIGLX) would seem likely to bring the right minds to bear.
I’m pleased, therefore, at the news that Michael Dolan discusses here. Like Michael, I think that users of that specific Intel graphics chipset who run Linux will be very happy about Intel’s decision to open source their next generation graphics drivers. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them – I’m on the last generation. Intel open sourced the 965, rather than 945 chipset stuff so I appear to have just missed the boat. Still, as Gentoo founder Daniel Robbins discusses, it’s a logical move with very little potential downside. As I mentioned on the podcast I recorded with Cote today, I don’t know for sure whether or not Danese had a hand in this particular move, but I’d be surprised if she did not. So kudos to Intel, and as for ATI and NVidia, all I can say is that I’m not likely to buy a machine with your hardware in it unless I have no other choice.
