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hardware OS4   hardware OS4 : A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaOS 4
   posted by TrevorDick on 24-Jun-2012 11:24:28 (30939 reads)
Over the Rainbow

Cardiff, 25th June 2012

A-EON Technology is pleased to announce that it has signed a new development agreement with premier AmigaOS graphics specialist Hans de Ruiter which ensures the future compatibility of AmigaOS 4 with the latest RadeonHD graphics cards. In addition to the HD4000 (R700) graphics drivers released with the AmigaONE X1000 “First Contact” system, we have now contracted Hans to create a series of drivers for the RadeonHD family. This also includes support for Evergreen, Northern Islands and the recently released Southern Islands HD7000 series. These new drivers, which are exclusively licensed to A-EON Technology, will support the X1300-1950, 5000, 6000 & 7000 series RadeonHD graphics cards and provide AmigaOS 4 with access to the latest in graphic card technology.


Trevor Dickinson commented, “This is a major boost for the AmigaOS and is the first time that these modern graphics cards have been supported on non x86 systems. Hans has already released several updates to his RadeonHD driver and support for Evergreen and Northern Islands cards is already up to the standard of the R700 drivers released with the AmigaONE X1000. He has also made excellent progress with drivers for AMD's Southern Islands cards. Hans de Ruiter replied, "I was initially disappointed when supply of Radeon HD 4000 series became scarce but now I'm proud of what has been achieved. The RadeonHD driver once again supports some of the latest cards available." His comments were echoed by a long time AmigaOS 4 developer and A1-X1000 beta tester who stated, "Looks like OS4 won't have to worry about availability of compatible graphics cards anytime soon". We can only agree.

The AMD RadeonHD series to be supported include:-

X1300-1950 - R520 chipset
HD4000 - R700 series
HD5000 - Evergreen series – first released in September 2009
HD6000 - Northern Island series – first released in October 2010
HD7000 - Southern Island series – latest RadeonHD cards released in January 2012

Although the RadeonHD driver is exclusively licensed to A-EON Technology for AmigaOS 4, owners of ACube's "Next Generation Amiga" systems need not despair. They will be able to purchase RadeonHD driver updates via the A-EON Technology website for their Sam460 and AmigaOne 500 systems. AmigaKit will also be offering RadeonHD graphics cards and driver bundles. Please visit the AmigaKit website for more details. Customers who purchase the new driver will qualify for free upgrades, up to and including version 1.0 of the RadeonHD driver. Registered AmigaONE X1000 "First Contact" customers will be able download driver updates free of charge from the A-EON Technology website.

About Hans de Ruiter & HDRLab: Hans de Ruiter is an electrical & electronic engineer and leading AmigaOS developer and Amiga enthusiast. His website - HDRLab - details various projects, many of which are AmigaOS related. The biggest of these is the RadeonHD driver for AmigaOS, an ambitious project that aims to deliver modern graphics capabilities for the AmigaOS platform.

About AmigaOS: The AmigaOS dates back to 1985 with the introduction of the landmark Amiga 1000. Today, under the guidance and control of Hyperion Entertainment, AmigaOS has evolved into a modern operating system without losing that intrinsic "Amiga" look and feel.

About the AmigaONE X1000: The AmigaONE X1000 is not like other computers. It is a culmination of efforts by real Amiga enthusiasts and developers to create powerful, modern desktop hardware for the AmigaOS. It is the natural evolution of the Amiga's PowerPC lineage and is based on the PA-Semi Dual-core PA6T-1682M CPU and includes Xena, a "Software Defined Silicon" co-processor. Above all it runs the latest version of the AmigaOS.

AboutAmigaKit: AmigaKit is a trading division of Leaman Computing Ltd based in Cardiff, UK. It acquired the stock of Eyetech Group Ltd in 2006 and quickly established itself as a world-wide market leader in the retail and distribution of Amiga hardware and software. A-EON Technology appointed AmigaKit as its primary distributor for all its AmigaONE products.

Web links:

HDR Labs - http://hdrlab.org.nz/
A-EON Technology - http://www.a-eon.com/
AmigaKit - http://ww.amigakit.com/
AmigaOS - http://www.amigaos.net/
AMD RadeonHD - http://www.amd.com/
    

STORYID: 6419
Related Links
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· News by TrevorDick


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PosterThread
Phantom 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 15:13:55
#201 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 2-Aug-2007
Posts: 2047
From: Unknown

A-Eon's site doesn't include 7000 series, or it's been ommited?


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ChrisH 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 17:54:01
#202 ]
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
Posts: 6679
From: Unknown

@Phantom
Good point. It seems best to assume the 7000 series is not included in the drivers you are buying (contrary to the press release), unless we hear otherwise, to avoid possible disappointment.

Hopefully Trevor/etc can clarify.

Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 05:55 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 05:54 PM.


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Spectre660 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 19:05:59
#203 ]
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From: Unknown

From the RadeonHD Development Blog

http://hdrlab.org.nz/projects/amiga-os-4-projects/radeonhd-driver/radeonhd-development-log/

RadeonHD 5000 and 6000 Support

Posted by

The news is already all over the AmigaOS community; with funding from A-Eon Technology, I'm pleased to deliver 2D support for Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series cards. Support for the Radeon HD 7000 series is also in the works. This is probably the biggest milestone yet in the RadeonHD driver project.


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Phantom 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 19:08:51
#204 ]
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From: Unknown

The news item says otherwise.


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Spectre660 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 19:19:19
#205 ]
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From: Unknown

Quote:
The news item says otherwise


We will have to wait and see what the status is after 09 July when the latest version is released .


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ChrisH 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 21:00:36
#206 ]
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
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From: Unknown

@Phantom Quote:
The news item says otherwise.

That's what I meant by "contrary to the news item". But whatever the news item says, it is what the *buying page* says which is what you are agreeing to buying. If it does not mention Radeon HD 7000 series, then I think it safest to assume it is not included (until we are told otherwise or the buying page gets changed).

Hopefully we've all learnt not to jump to conclusions by now?

Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:04 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:02 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:01 PM.


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kamelito 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 21:05:06
#207 ]
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Joined: 26-Jul-2004
Posts: 813
From: Unknown

Maybe a stupid question but why not just work on the latest card? By the time the driver is ready they'll maybe be cheaper and as they're more powerful why bother with lower spec cards? Am I missing something or are they all compatible...?

Kamel

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ChrisH 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 21:24:12
#208 ]
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
Posts: 6679
From: Unknown

@all
I am by no means infallible. Here is a potential correction to part of an earlier post of mine:
Quote:
I believe that 3D (when we get it) will work just fine with the existing (v0.32) Radeon HD drivers - just look at Hans' 3D demo. So no need to upgrade to newer drivers!

Having just glanced at Hans dev blog, I notice that *after* the v0.32 driver was announced, he then announces RadeonHD: Accelerated Development, in which he says:
Quote:
I have concluded an agreement for continued development of the RadeonHD driver for AmigaOS. I am currently working to get the driver fully ready for 3D ... The last feature is essential for stable 3D operation. At present, if a 3D application were to run out of VRAM, bad things might happen.

So it is not clear to me how well the v0.32 driver will cope with (Gallium) 3D. On the other hand, most 3D cards come with obscene amounts of VRAM, so I wonder how likely any ports of (generally old) 3D games are to run out of VRAM.

EDIT: On the other hand, in a later post Hans also says "Those with an AmigaOS 4.2 license (i.e., A1-X1000 owners) naturally have already paid for their updates." This seems to say (unless I misunderstand or am taking it out of context) that these Radeon HD drivers will be part of AmigaOS4.2, and so this will not be an issue for (Gallium) 3D.


And then in Radeon HD Vertical Blanking Interrupt Support is Done he says:
Quote:
Thanks to accelerated development, Vertical Blanking (VBlank) interrupt support for Radeon HD 2000-4000 cards (R600/R700 chipsets) is now done. ... According to one beta tester, "the 3DCompositeDemo runs a lot more smoothly now with interrupts enabled."
Apart from providing smoother animation, this also eliminates the wasting of CPU cycles while waiting for the VBlank period. RadeonHD.chip driver users may have noticed that certain programs (including the Composite3DDemo) caused CPU usage to go up to 100%. Well, lack of interrupt support in the driver is the reason why. Without interrupts, waiting for the VBlank period means polling the graphics card, wasting a lot of CPU cycles in the process. With interrupt support implemented, CPU usage with the Composite3DDemo drops down to 25-75%, depending on the hardware and resolution

So it appears that newer drivers will also be more efficient for games (both 2D & 3D), and perhaps even video players too?

Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:55 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:42 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:41 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:41 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:29 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:25 PM.


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Spectre660 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 26-Jun-2012 21:54:34
#209 ]
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Joined: 4-Jun-2005
Posts: 3918
From: Unknown

@Chris

Version 0.32 of the driver does not have the 3D portion of RadeonHD_RM.resource active so will not work with 3D .

http://hdrlab.org.nz/projects/amiga-os-4-projects/radeonhd-driver/radeonhd-development-log/the-radeonhd-rm-resource/

Last edited by Spectre660 on 26-Jun-2012 at 09:56 PM.


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TrevorDick 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 1:13:35
#210 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 30-Dec-2004
Posts: 2678
From: Wellington

Quote:
The news item says otherwise.

Correct. Support for the 7xxx cards is work in progress, although the latest release (0.46) already offers some support and one or two A1-X1000 beta testers are already using/testing it on their A1-X1000s.

However, 7xxx support is part of the RadeonHD license/development and will be included in future upgrades. I hope that clarifies the situation?

TrevorD

Last edited by TrevorDick on 27-Jun-2012 at 01:15 AM.


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ChrisH 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 8:34:05
#211 ]
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
Posts: 6679
From: Unknown

@TrevorDick
Thanks for the clarification

@Spectre660 Quote:
Version 0.32 of the driver does not have the 3D portion of RadeonHD_RM.resource active so will not work with 3D .

I am unclear what part of Han's (pretty old - Oct 2011) post you think says that.

Additionally, v0.32 of the driver was announced in Feb 2012, long after that old blog post, which surely increases the likelyhood that it includes the enhanced functionality needed by up-coming 3D drivers?

EDIT: This discussion is now IRRELEVANT (see my next post!).

Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:16 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 08:51 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 08:43 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 08:40 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 08:38 AM.


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ChrisH 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 9:19:47
#212 ]
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Joined: 30-Jan-2005
Posts: 6679
From: Unknown

I wrote Quote:
EDIT: On the other hand, in a later post Hans also says "Those with an AmigaOS 4.2 license (i.e., A1-X1000 owners) naturally have already paid for their updates." This seems to say (unless I misunderstand or am taking it out of context) that these Radeon HD drivers will be part of AmigaOS4.2, and so this will not be an issue for (Gallium) 3D.

Hans has now clarified that AmigaOS4.2 will indeed come with the new Radeon HD driver. Therefore the Gallium 3D + MESA stuff expected in AmigaOS4.2 will not need existing users to buy the driver separately.

Therefore it is pointless to discuss how well v0.32 will work with 3D, since 3D will come with the new drivers anyway. This means that the main reason for buying the new drivers is so that you can use newer Radeon HD cards with a previously-bought AmigaOS4.1 machine.

Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:25 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:23 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:21 AM.


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zerohero 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 9:27:41
#213 ]
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Joined: 4-May-2004
Posts: 2524
From: Uddevalla, Sweden

@ChrisH

So in reality they're selling them without 3D now, and then again with 3D when AmigaOS 4.2 is released. That's nice of them...


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ChrisH 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 9:42:12
#214 ]
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@zerohero
It sure takes some twisted logic to try to see this in a bad light (which it always seems you are trying to do, unfortunately). Users have the choice of getting Radeon HD 5xxx+ support now, or waiting until AmigaOS4.2 . (sarc) Yes, damn them for not forcing people to wait until OS4.2 (/sarc). I can easily imagine what you would have said if X1000s had been sold with Radeon HD 5xxx+ support, but no other OS4.1 users were allowed to have that support.

Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:46 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:45 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:44 AM.


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zerohero 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 9:47:54
#215 ]
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From: Uddevalla, Sweden

@ChrisH

This announcement says nothing about it being included with AmigaOS 4.2, there's only the option to get support for newer cards by buying the driver now. Hence if you only read this announcement you could not come to the conclusion it would be included with the OS later on.

Last edited by zerohero on 27-Jun-2012 at 09:48 AM.


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Spectre660 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 11:39:38
#216 ]
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From: Unknown

@zerohero

As a driver is needed for the OS 4.2 3D some version will have to be included with OS4.2 .What has not been said is if these included drivers will have support for cards higher than the 4000 HD series for non X1000 version of OS4.2.This driver is not needed on machines like the Peg II for instance.

Last edited by Spectre660 on 27-Jun-2012 at 11:40 AM.


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Phantom 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 11:44:20
#217 ]
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@ TrevorDick

Thanks for the heads up.


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ChrisH 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 27-Jun-2012 20:28:33
#218 ]
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Posts: 6679
From: Unknown

@zerohero Quote:
This announcement says nothing about it being included with AmigaOS 4.2, there's only the option to get support for newer cards by buying the driver now. Hence if you only read this announcement you could not come to the conclusion it would be included with the OS later on.

Your logic is slightly faulty (albiet in a somewhat predictable fashion) : As they do not mention OS4.2, you could not come to the conclusion it would or would not be included with the OS later on.

I think that Hans perspective gives insight into the AmigaOS4 side: He seemed to think it was obvious that OS4.2 would come with the new drivers, since they would be needed for the 3D support. In which case they didn't need to state this obvious fact, and only needed to announce that OS4.1 owners could pay for these drivers now (rather than waiting) so that they could use the latest Radeon HD graphics cards if they wanted.

Undoubtably A-Eon/etc could do with a few more critical eyes being passed over news announcements, before they publish them, given how badly some people manage to misinterpret ambiguous statements (and jump to completely the wrong conclusions).


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zerohero 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 28-Jun-2012 10:57:49
#219 ]
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From: Uddevalla, Sweden

@ChrisH

I can see several problems here, mostly concerning business ethics. It is obvious that customers of AEon and ACube both have been confused by this turn of events, it is also obvious that some owners of the older AmigaOne's also have been confused.

You yourself have been saying that the RadeonHD driver version 0.32 is a proper driver, and everyone is free to use it, while it is obvious it isn't finished. There are things lacking for it to be a complete driver. What would have happened if another company would have done the same thing?


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Spectre660 
Re: A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaO
Posted on 28-Jun-2012 11:51:34
#220 ]
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Posts: 3918
From: Unknown

@zerohero

I think that it would have been better had A-Eon consulted Acube before the announcement .

The issue is under what terms and conditions beta versions of the driver have been supplied to X1000 and Sam 460ex owners .
The Updates supplied to Sam460ex owners may have only done because of a bug fix.
The way Acube announced the two beta updates for Sam 460ex owners may have caused the current expectations of continued free updates .


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