AMD updates Catalyst for Linux

zekrahminator · Jul 1, 2007, 03:10 PM

Anyone who owns an AMD graphics card and runs it under Windows knows that driver updates are complete and frequent. However, change the operating system, and this level of support seems to evaporate. You're lucky to even get a LiveCD to boot if you have an ATI card in your system, and even if you manage to install a version of *nix, good luck getting 3D applications to run bug-free.

Thankfully, AMD decided to listen to their customers. The latest AMD Catalyst for Linux is much cleaner, much more efficient, and much faster than the older version of Catalyst. Classic *nix functions, such as switching between X server and CLI are much smoother/don't freeze the system, and late 3D applications (even simple ones such as Google Earth) actually work now, which couldn't be said for older versions of AMD Catalyst for Linux.

Granted, the Linux version is not as fully featured as the Windows version. However, it is just as functional, and just as stable, as the Windows version, which is a huge step in the right direction for *nix users.

Source: The Inquirer

Jimmy 2004 · Jul 1, 2007, 05:50 PM

Is *nix supposed to be an abbreviation for both Unix and Linux - because Linux doesn't end in nix?!

Or am I just misunderstanding your *nix?

zekrahminator · Jul 1, 2007, 05:57 PM

Yeah, when I say *nix, I mean Linux and Unix, because I'm far too lazy to write out "Linux and Unix" all the time

.

ktr · Jul 1, 2007, 05:58 PM

fantastic news for the *nix community.

Jimmy 2004 · Jul 1, 2007, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zekrahminator

Yeah, when I say *nix, I mean Linux and Unix, because I'm far too lazy to write out "Linux and Unix" all the time

.

Then you should be writing *n*x

zekrahminator · Jul 1, 2007, 06:35 PM

But then, it could stand for a lot of other things, and might confuse people that have absolutely no idea what Linux, Unix, or *nix is, so it's best to just abbreviate to *nix

.

Dippyskoodlez · Jul 1, 2007, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy 2004

Then you should be writing *n*x

Linux is included in the *nix because its basically a form of unix

The * could just be used to infer it includes everything xD

WarEagleAU · Jul 1, 2007, 08:57 PM

Good news. Thanks for the post Zek.

Batou1986 · Jul 1, 2007, 11:58 PM

its about damn time

Solaris17 · Jul 2, 2007, 12:04 AM

YES woot!!! now maybe ill get 3d acc to work!

Atech · Jul 2, 2007, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dippyskoodlez

Linux is included in the *nix because its basically a form of unix

The * could just be used to infer it includes everything xD

GNU's Not Unix.

Technical minded people should know their recursive acronyms off by heart :P

There are many features to Linux that are more similar to Plan 9 than Unix.

Dippyskoodlez · Jul 2, 2007, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atech

GNU's Not Unix.

Technical minded people should know their recursive acronyms off by heart :P

There are many features to Linux that are more similar to Plan 9 than Unix.

And theres many features that are almost identical to unix...

Atech · Jul 2, 2007, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dippyskoodlez

And theres many features that are almost identical to unix...

There are many features in Windows that are identical to Unix, after all they took a hell of a lot of BSD code and just rammed it into their code base. Does that make Windows basically a form of Unix?

Dippyskoodlez · Jul 2, 2007, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atech

There are many features in Windows that are identical to Unix, after all they took a hell of a lot of BSD code and just rammed it into their code base. Does that make Windows basically a form of Unix?

Features != core

Quote:

Unix was designed to be portable, multi-tasking and multi-user in a time-sharing configuration. Unix systems are characterized by various concepts: the use of plain text for storing data; a hierarchical file system; treating devices and certain types of inter-process communication (IPC) as files; and the use of a large number of small programs that can be strung together through a command line interpreter using pipes, as opposed to using a single monolithic program that includes all of the same functionality. These concepts are known as the Unix philosophy.

Under Unix, the "operating system" consists of many of these utilities along with the master control program, the kernel. The kernel provides services to start and stop programs, handle the file system and other common "low level" tasks that most programs share, and, perhaps most importantly, schedules access to hardware to avoid conflicts if two programs try to access the same resource or device simultaneously. To mediate such access, the kernel was given special rights on the system and led to the division between user-space and kernel-space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix

Quote:

The GNU Project, with the goal of creating a Unix-like, POSIX-compatible operating system composed entirely of free software,

Its essentially unix.

Atech · Jul 2, 2007, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dippyskoodlez

Features != core

Urm, GNU nor Linux do not contain any of the same source code, see SCO v. IBM.

Or if you mean the POSIX, then it applies equally to Windows. Windows is fully POSIX compliant, which is basically, what makes Linux close to Unix.

As for the logic of basic concepts, then that logic extends to incorporating Plan 9 as "basically Unix". Linux and Plan 9 share the "everything as a file" concept, which Unix only partially shares.

Edit: As for design philosophy, GNU and Unix are far, far apart for the most part when it comes to userland programs

One tool for one task is not the matra at the heart of developers of software for GNU

Edit #2: As for the goal, the goal wasn't to create a Unix-like system, the reason it turned out Unix-like was because that's what worked well. Plan 9 worked better, hence Linux was changed (or evolved, as F/OSS software tends to do) into more of a Plan 9 - like system.

In my view, Unix-like != basically Unix. That's at the heart of our disagreement, I believe.

zekrahminator · Jul 2, 2007, 12:20 AM

Before you descend into a technobabble-filled battle of wills, please remember to keep it clean (no insults of each other's mothers, for example)

.

Dippyskoodlez · Jul 2, 2007, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atech

In my view, Unix-like != basically Unix. That's at the heart of our disagreement, I believe.

If programs can be ported with little hassle between unix "variations", then IMO its basically unix.

It doesn't have to contain the same source code to be "almost the same".

Behavior is essentially the same in a lot of cases...

A BMW is a car. A F1 car is a... car... while different, they both still scoot you along the road the same way ;D

Atech · Jul 2, 2007, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dippyskoodlez

If programs can be ported with little hassle between unix "variations", then IMO its basically unix.

Any POSIX compatible program can be ported with little hassle to Windows :/

I presume you can see my logic here, fallacious or not:

Antecedents:
If programs can be ported with little hassle between Unix "variations" then it's basically Unix
Windows is POSIX compliant
Linux is POSIX compliant

Consequents:
Windows is basically Unix
Windows is basically Linux
Linux and Unix are basically Windows

Edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dippyskoodlez

A BMW is a car. A F1 car is a... car... while different, they both still scoot you along the road the same way ;D

That analogy only serves to show that both Unix and Linux kernels, or operating systems depending on semantics.

zekrahminator · Jul 2, 2007, 01:30 AM

Wow, you really know your stuff

.

To me, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows are all just different operating systems, which all try to do the same thing: Make the computer do what the user wants it to do

. They just had different approaches to the same thing, work a bit differently, and do different things. I leave it at that and don't really care otherwise

.

Jul 1, 2007, 03:10 PM	#1
zekrahminator McLovin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: My house. Posts: 6,280 (2.35/day) Thanks: 105 Thanked 340 Times in 246 Posts System Specs	AMD updates Catalyst for Linux Anyone who owns an AMD graphics card and runs it under Windows knows that driver updates are complete and frequent. However, change the operating system, and this level of support seems to evaporate. You're lucky to even get a LiveCD to boot if you have an ATI card in your system, and even if you manage to install a version of nix, good luck getting 3D applications to run bug-free. Thankfully, AMD decided to listen to their customers. The latest AMD Catalyst for Linux is much cleaner, much more efficient, and much faster than the older version of Catalyst. Classic nix functions, such as switching between X server and CLI are much smoother/don't freeze the system, and late 3D applications (even simple ones such as Google Earth) actually work now, which couldn't be said for older versions of AMD Catalyst for Linux. Granted, the Linux version is not as fully featured as the Windows version. However, it is just as functional, and just as stable, as the Windows version, which is a huge step in the right direction for *nix users. Source: The Inquirer

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Jul 1, 2007, 05:57 PM	#3
zekrahminator McLovin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: My house. Posts: 6,280 (2.35/day) Thanks: 105 Thanked 340 Times in 246 Posts System Specs	Yeah, when I say *nix, I mean Linux and Unix, because I'm far too lazy to write out "Linux and Unix" all the time . __________________ “Just because you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you should do porn.”

Processor:	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane @ 2.8GHz (224x12.5, 1.425V)
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Case:	Thermaltake Soprano (black with side window).
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Jul 1, 2007, 05:50 PM	#2
Jimmy 2004 Eligible for custom title Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: England Posts: 5,047 (1.65/day) Thanks: 134 Thanked 276 Times in 185 Posts System Specs	Is nix supposed to be an abbreviation for both Unix and Linux - because Linux doesn't end in nix?! Or am I just misunderstanding your nix?

Jul 1, 2007, 05:58 PM	#4
ktr Eligible for custom title Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Bay Area, California, USA, Earth Posts: 6,158 (2.37/day) Thanks: 0 Thanked 708 Times in 595 Posts System Specs	fantastic news for the *nix community.

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Jul 1, 2007, 06:35 PM	#6
zekrahminator McLovin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: My house. Posts: 6,280 (2.35/day) Thanks: 105 Thanked 340 Times in 246 Posts System Specs	But then, it could stand for a lot of other things, and might confuse people that have absolutely no idea what Linux, Unix, or nix is, so it's best to just abbreviate to nix . __________________ “Just because you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you should do porn.”

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Jul 1, 2007, 08:57 PM	#8
WarEagleAU Bird of Prey Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Gurley, AL Posts: 9,994 (3.98/day) Thanks: 3,810 Thanked 557 Times in 521 Posts System Specs	Good news. Thanks for the post Zek. __________________ =-TheEagle-= http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=62454 “You crazy? Surfing any website without an antivirus is like freaking with a dirty woman without protection” -OzzmanFloyd120 - Edited for content and clarity

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Jul 1, 2007, 11:58 PM	#9
Batou1986 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Baltimore MD Posts: 1,937 (0.69/day) Thanks: 123 Thanked 282 Times in 236 Posts System Specs	its about damn time __________________ Windows 8 its like they re made a bad ass car that everyone loved, Then took away the steering wheel and make you steer with your toes.

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Jul 2, 2007, 12:04 AM	#10
Solaris17 Creator Solaris Utility DVD Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Reinacting scenes from platoon with Charlie Sheen Posts: 13,708 (4.83/day) Thanks: 4,366 Thanked 3,295 Times in 2,311 Posts System Specs	YES woot!!! now maybe ill get 3d acc to work! __________________ I Made the Millionth post! \| "Please come to WI now so I can beat you over the head with a bratwurst."-Kreij PS3 mod 8500/8600GT Mod Guide Rebuild a Copperhead Heat Ware NF4 Ultra SLI Mod Solaris Utility DVD 4.0 Broken CPU pin guide Vista Mark

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Jul 2, 2007, 12:20 AM	#16
zekrahminator McLovin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: My house. Posts: 6,280 (2.35/day) Thanks: 105 Thanked 340 Times in 246 Posts System Specs	Before you descend into a technobabble-filled battle of wills, please remember to keep it clean (no insults of each other's mothers, for example) . __________________ “Just because you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you should do porn.”

Jul 2, 2007, 01:30 AM	#19
zekrahminator McLovin Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: My house. Posts: 6,280 (2.35/day) Thanks: 105 Thanked 340 Times in 246 Posts System Specs	Wow, you really know your stuff . To me, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows are all just different operating systems, which all try to do the same thing: Make the computer do what the user wants it to do . They just had different approaches to the same thing, work a bit differently, and do different things. I leave it at that and don't really care otherwise . __________________ “Just because you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you should do porn.”

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