Tuesday, June 7, 2005

NVIDIA 1.0-7664 Linux Drivers -- 3:44 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

NVIDIA has released their 1.0-7664 drivers for their products in Linux using XFree86 or X.org. You can download them for x86 or 64 bit processors. The two big things to note in this release is the addition of the EXT_framebuffer_object OpenGL extension and the dropping of support for some legacy GPUs. Support for those GPUs is not dropped entirely. There will be a special legacy driver package maintained for them. I had to wait to post about this because for one reason or another I couldn't get the driver download to complete.

icculus. plan Update -- 3:21 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Ryan "icculus" Gordon updated his .plan with this news on some cool things he's been able to add to UT2K4 in Linux since the release of the most recent NVIDIA drivers.

So the latest Nvidia Linux drivers added support for the extension GL_EXT_framebuffer_object, which, to those not in the know, gives OpenGL functionality roughly equivalent to Direct3D's concept of render targets... this is the render-to-texture support that has been sorely needed for several bits of important functionality: namely, detailed shadows, motion blur, the Hellbender license plate, and the scoreboard in DM-Morpheus. I have this roughly working in my codebase already (the extension is sweet and exactly what I've wanted since ut2003 shipped). An hour of effort got me an upside down license plate and blocky shadows, so this isn't ready for the public yet, but it looks like you'll have this sooner or later after all. If the extension shows up in MacOSX, I'll support it there, too.

Cool stuff! Also, he throws in his two cents on Apple's plans to switch to x86 chips.

The Master comments: Two cents? I'd say he threw about two dollars in there, soaked in Ebola virus.

Idiot on the Loose -- 10:58 am CST, Update by The Master

Okay, I think this is the last John C. Dvorak piece I will ever read. This man has got it in his head that the Linux developer and user community is a fart in the wind, and will disipate at any moment. I quote:

"Linux has other problems too. It's likely that developer interest will wane when Apple is fully engaged on the X86 platform. While Apple ran on the PowerPC chip the amount of developer effort in the Open Source camps was nil. But now that Apple is using the same processor as everyone else, targeting the Macs will now be an easy decision to make. This will be at the expense of Linux."

Oh, so APPLE was governing open source interest? Targeting Macs will kill Linux? Has this idiot ever noticed that the most expensive computing platform available is the Mac? I wonder how much Microsoft pays him to be this stupid.

A.T. Hun comments: Dvorak never has nor will he ever have any use for Linux and/or Open Source. Anyone who is even remotely interested in Free Software (aka RMS and his gang) still will have no use for Apple since the whole OS isn't free. This will be more interesting to the BSD crowd than the GPL crowd. I predict that this will mean a whole lot of nothing.

Dvorak has always been a pugilist. Then he acts self-righteous and condescending when people retort. Of course, there are more than a few Linux zealots who will send off caustic emails containing several correctly spelled words that he can use to "prove his point." Nothing to see here. Move along.

The best part of Apple's switch to Intel is that those stupid speed comparisons between Macs and PCs are now officially a thing of the past. Good riddance.

DEEEtroit BASKETball! -- 10:41 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

My beloved Detroit Pistons came back from a 3-2 series deficit to defeat the Miami Heat 88-82 and end the series 4-3. The Pistons will defend their NBA title against the San Antonio Spurs starting on Thursday. I was really impressed with the Heat's Dwyane Wade in this series. His rib injury was finally his undoing, but I imagine we'll see great things from him in the future.

Bleh: Fans Continued -- 8:32 am CST, Update by The Master

I installed two Antec 80mm case fans yesterday, and it appears to have solved my problems for now. Amazingly, these two additional fans are NOT making my machine sound like a jet engine.

I eventually plan to pick up a 120mm rear fan and move the 80mm beside the other 80mm in the front of the case, but at least my hard drives are not getting crispy anymore.

Monday, June 6, 2005

Bleh -- 2:34 pm CST, Update by The Master

My PC was acting kind of flakey yesterday, so I reinstalled HDD Health. Once I got HDDH running again, it immediately starting throwing HDD overheat messages. I discovered that my PC case was running at about 130° or so. I'm going out tonight to get a couple of case fans, since I've obviously got an airflow issue here. System monitoring software. Get some, and use it. You linux people: enjoy the fact that this stuff comes built-in in some distros.

A.T. Hun comments: Yeah, except lm_sensors doesn't like my motherboard chipset. At least the NVIDIA drivers report my GPU temperature and ambient. Of course I've got so many fans in my box that it sounds like a 747 taking off when the case is open.

Apple Confirms Intel Switch -- 1:15 pm CST, Update by The Master

According to an official press release, Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006. This confirms the speculation from my Friday post.

At its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple® announced plans to deliver models of its Macintosh® computers using Intel® microprocessors by this time next year, and to transition all of its Macs to using Intel microprocessors by the end of 2007. Apple previewed a version of its critically acclaimed operating system, Mac OS® X Tiger, running on an Intel- based Mac® to the over 3,800 developers attending CEO Steve Jobs' keynote address. Apple also announced the availability of a Developer Transition Kit, consisting of an Intel-based Mac development system along with preview versions of Apple's software, which will allow developers to prepare versions of their applications which will run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.

My take: this makes for a cheaper processor source for Apple, with a much larger base of mainstream software tools. Game developers will now only have to implement to one math vector environment. What would be really cool is if this would eventually mean Apple would sell a version of OS/X for PC-class hardware. I doubt that will ever happen.

No Old News

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