Intel graphics driver not so open source after all

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jan Panteltje
  • Start date Start date
Jan said:
Maybe this was already mentioned here, but:
Intel graphics driver not so open source after all
http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0608.1/1879.html
There is a propriaty module intel_hal.so that is released under the MIT license.

It contains 'Macrovision register stuff and other trade secrets'.
Does not seem to affect functionality?
Click to expand...

Would this have anything to do with the bad performance of the current
igp chipsets?

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33660

Maybe Intel knew about the bad performance, and wanted to make lemonade
out of lemons, and decided to give to Open Source. In the process
improve the performance by letting the Open Source mojo work for them?

If your a Debian Gnu/Linux fan this might not be dfsg free, and I can
see this as a license issue, but it's a step in the right direction.
After all who really plays games on igp chipsets under Gnu/Linux?

Rthoreau
 
Jan said:
Maybe this was already mentioned here, but:
Intel graphics driver not so open source after all
http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0608.1/1879.html
There is a propriaty module intel_hal.so that is released under the MIT license.

It contains 'Macrovision register stuff and other trade secrets'.
Does not seem to affect functionality?
Click to expand...

It's doubtful that it's absolutely necessary to display images on
screen. It sounds like something for dvd playback.

Yousuf Khan
 
It's doubtful that it's absolutely necessary to display images on
screen. It sounds like something for dvd playback.

Yousuf Khan
Click to expand...

Interesting point.
There was an article on nytimes.com a few days ago about widescreen laptops
and that people actually want a normal ratio (4:3) size for text processing,
as then you can have more lines of text on a screen.
I do agree with that.
OTOH I also play DivX movies and mpeg2 movies and even H264....
2 black bars above and below are no problem for me, I put subtitles there...
I have, from the very beginning, opposed widescreen (even for TV), it is nice
for a theatre, but not for in the home.
Now:
<start flames>

<end flames>
LOL
 
Interesting point.
There was an article on nytimes.com a few days ago about widescreen laptops
and that people actually want a normal ratio (4:3) size for text processing,
as then you can have more lines of text on a screen.
I do agree with that.
Click to expand...

I don't, well sorta. I didn't buy a widescreen laptop because a
14" widescreen made it too small. 14" 4:3 is small enough. I did
buy a 20" widescreen external monitor though and like it better
than the 20" 4:3 I have at work (also on a very similar laptop).
Differing resolution on the monitors creates problems, but
differing vertical resolution is particularly annoying at times.

I don't tend to have only one screen open fullscreen, so the aspect
4:3 aspect ratio giving more lines isn't much of an issue. If it
is, rotate the display. ;-)
OTOH I also play DivX movies and mpeg2 movies and even H264....
2 black bars above and below are no problem for me, I put subtitles there...
Click to expand...

I don't mind the black bars on my TV either, though it makes the
picture rather small.
I have, from the very beginning, opposed widescreen (even for TV), it is nice
for a theatre, but not for in the home.
Click to expand...

Disagree. My next TV will likely be 16:9, of some sort. High
resolution movies mean more to me than high resolution broadcast TV
crap.
Now:
<start flames>
Click to expand...

Too late.
 
I have, from the very beginning, opposed widescreen (even for TV), it is nice

Disagree. My next TV will likely be 16:9, of some sort.
Click to expand...

Yea, but here you hardly have a choice now, it is all widescreen LCD or plasma...

High
resolution movies mean more to me than high resolution broadcast TV
crap.
Click to expand...

I have been thinking about a projector, but do not have one.
I have used these for larger audiences though, but the bulbs are very expensive.
Having 'startrek' on a wide screen the size of your room would be cool, I admit.

LED based projectors still have a too low light output.
 
Yea, but here you hardly have a choice now, it is all widescreen LCD or plasma...
Click to expand...

CRTs are dieing fast. It seems TV makers think they can keep their
higher margins on flat panels after they kill off CRTs. ...don't
see it.
I have been thinking about a projector, but do not have one.
I have used these for larger audiences though, but the bulbs are very expensive.
Having 'startrek' on a wide screen the size of your room would be cool, I admit.
Click to expand...

I've played around with "professional" projectors. One in a
conference room at work was able to do 1600x1200. Blazing Saddles
looked awesome. ;-)

Bulbs are not only expensive, but have a fairly short life, in the
low hundreds of hours, FWIG. That wouldn't do in my house. A
dollar an hour is a bit steep, IMO.
LED based projectors still have a too low light output.
Click to expand...

....and likely will for some time to come. High intensity LEDs
don't last forever either. Check out a stop light some time.
 
Jan said:
Yea, but here you hardly have a choice now, it is all widescreen LCD or plasma...
Click to expand...

Or DLP, which is, IMO, the best technology, although of course cannot
be made flat.
I have been thinking about a projector, but do not have one.
I have used these for larger audiences though, but the bulbs are very expensive.
Having 'startrek' on a wide screen the size of your room would be cool, I admit.

LED based projectors still have a too low light output.
Click to expand...

DLP is the answer to that question. Bulbs are expensive but last
thousands of hours.
 
Disagree. My next TV will likely be 16:9, of some sort. High
resolution movies mean more to me than high resolution broadcast TV
crap.
Click to expand...

I don't own one and have no plans to get one, at least in the near
future. Whenever I see one in some public places (electronics stores,
doc's offices etc.) the look only strenghtens my decision to postpone
getting HDTV indefinitely. Being widescreen, they stretch regular
aspect ratio broadcast full screen, so all the TV personalities look
short and fat. All cars though look cool, even crappy ones - long,
wide, and low-riding. ;-) Why can't these expensive gadgets
recognize the aspect ratio automatically, and just leave black spaces
on the side(s) when it's 4:3?

NNN
 
On a sunny day (Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:37:10 -0400) it happened Yousuf Khan

Interesting point.
There was an article on nytimes.com a few days ago about widescreen laptops
and that people actually want a normal ratio (4:3) size for text processing,
as then you can have more lines of text on a screen.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't they be better off still with a widescreen that can be
rotated? :)
I do agree with that.
OTOH I also play DivX movies and mpeg2 movies and even H264....
2 black bars above and below are no problem for me, I put subtitles there...
I have, from the very beginning, opposed widescreen (even for TV), it is nice
for a theatre, but not for in the home.
Now:
<start flames>
Click to expand...

No flame, though I will say I'm rather fond of my widescreen LCD.
I've got a widescreen (16:10) 19" at home and a standard screen (4:3)
19" LCD at work. Not a huge amount of difference between them I
suppose, though I do tend to prefer the widescreen.

Only real downside I've encountered with a widescreen LCD is with old
games that tend to have their display stretched. This is actually
partly the video card's fault, as my ATI card/drivers do the most
ass-backwards thing I've seen in a while, scaling and stretching a
non-native 4:3 resolution to fill the screen but NOT scaling a
non-native 16:10 resolution.
 
Jan said:
Interesting point.
There was an article on nytimes.com a few days ago about widescreen laptops
and that people actually want a normal ratio (4:3) size for text processing,
as then you can have more lines of text on a screen.
I do agree with that.
OTOH I also play DivX movies and mpeg2 movies and even H264....
2 black bars above and below are no problem for me, I put subtitles there...
I have, from the very beginning, opposed widescreen (even for TV), it is nice
for a theatre, but not for in the home.
Now:
Click to expand...

I bought a wide-screen laptop a few months back (1280x700), and now I
have a wide screen lcd for my desktop too (1440x900). You just have to
get used to making proper use of the new dimensions. Spreadsheets are
great on it. So are DVD movies, and my bittorrent client makes complete
use of it too, believe it or not.
 
I don't own one and have no plans to get one, at least in the near
future. Whenever I see one in some public places (electronics stores,
doc's offices etc.) the look only strenghtens my decision to postpone
getting HDTV indefinitely. Being widescreen, they stretch regular
aspect ratio broadcast full screen, so all the TV personalities look
short and fat. All cars though look cool, even crappy ones - long,
wide, and low-riding. ;-) Why can't these expensive gadgets
recognize the aspect ratio automatically, and just leave black spaces
on the side(s) when it's 4:3?
Click to expand...

Plasme will burn it
LCD should work.
 
I don't own one and have no plans to get one, at least in the near
future. Whenever I see one in some public places (electronics stores,
doc's offices etc.) the look only strenghtens my decision to postpone
getting HDTV indefinitely. Being widescreen, they stretch regular
aspect ratio broadcast full screen, so all the TV personalities look
short and fat. All cars though look cool, even crappy ones - long,
wide, and low-riding. ;-) Why can't these expensive gadgets
recognize the aspect ratio automatically, and just leave black spaces
on the side(s) when it's 4:3?
Click to expand...

They do. Apparently someone has them set up weird.
 
Plasme will burn it
Click to expand...

Burn in nothing?
LCD should work.
Click to expand...

They all should work, but I believe it's a setting in one of the
buried menus somewhere. It's no different than watching a 16:9
source on a 3:4 monitor, except the stripes are placed differently.
;-)
 
Burn in nothing?
Click to expand...

The area in-between the vertical bars will degrade more then the edges,
with as result that you also see those bars on a widescreen picture.
Even LCD has some 'burn in', but it seems to go away after some time,
or after displaying white for some time, depends on the monitor manufacturer.

They all should work, but I believe it's a setting in one of the
buried menus somewhere. It's no different than watching a 16:9
source on a 3:4 monitor, except the stripes are placed differently.
;-)
Click to expand...

True :-)
 
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Burn in nothing?


They all should work, but I believe it's a setting in one of the
buried menus somewhere. It's no different than watching a 16:9
source on a 3:4 monitor, except the stripes are placed differently.
Click to expand...

I think what he meant to say is that the reason widescreen plasma monitors
(and CRT-based projection TVs, while we're at it) usually stretch 4:3
material instead of pillarboxing it is that you would have uneven phosphor
wear between the pillarboxes and the active image area. If a true 4:3 mode
is offered, the pillarboxes are usually 50% gray instead of black. This is
supposed to offer about the same amount of long-term wear as most of the
stuff you watch.

With LCD (and DLP, too), burn-in isn't an issue. The pillarboxes on my
widescreen LCD are black.

One nice thing about a widescreen LCD is that a 4:3 signal carrying
letterboxed content (which is becoming more and more common) can be zoomed
to fill the screen without distortion. Actual 4:3 content can be shown
as-is without distortion and without burn-in. For true widescreen content
(most HDTV and DVD), having a wide screen kicks ass.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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They do. Apparently someone has them set up weird.
Click to expand...

So the guy who sells them suffers from flashing 12:00 syndrome?:-) And
then they have the nerve to complain that people only look and then buy
on-line!

What bothers me about this whole HDTV thing is the content delivery: I hate
those bloody great STBs, the content deliverers are dragging their feet on
channel cards and the industry is still trying to sell us HDTVs & recorders
without channel card slots... standardisation??... not from where I'm
looking! The whole thing is a mess with the consumer in the middle...
getting bilked.
 
So the guy who sells them suffers from flashing 12:00 syndrome?:-) And
then they have the nerve to complain that people only look and then buy
on-line!
Click to expand...
That's the way I am buying. Places like Pricewatch or Nextag can find
you the same gadget for about 30% less, and delivery charge is often
less than sales tax that you avoid online. But it helps to see the
thing in the store to "feel" it. BTW, some stores sometimes match
online price when you bring the printout - helpful when the thing is
small enough to fit in the car, and you need it *now*.
What bothers me about this whole HDTV thing is the content delivery: I hate
those bloody great STBs, the content deliverers are dragging their feet on
channel cards and the industry is still trying to sell us HDTVs & recorders
without channel card slots... standardisation??... not from where I'm
looking! The whole thing is a mess with the consumer in the middle...
getting bilked.
Click to expand...

"The whole thing is a mess" - can't agree more.
"consumer in the middle...getting bilked." - respectfully disagree.
Maybe in N.Korea, Cuba, and few other places the customers are (or at
some point will be) required to acquire the sets to see Beloved Leader
Kim / Comrade Fidel / Supreme Bozo in full glory of HD. In all other
parts of the world the consumers part with their money willfully
because they want to keep up with the Joneses or for whatever reason
think 42" Plasma is a must-have. They have every opportunity to read
through the specs before they whip out the credit card. They fail to
do due diligence? Too bad.

NNN
 
Keith said:
I don't mind the black bars on my TV either, though it makes the
picture rather small.
Click to expand...

Be careful of 4:3 images on a 16:9 ratio TV or monitor. I hooked up my
computer to my HDTV and where it used to dispaly 4:3 TV images there are
lines down the edges exactly where the 4:3 TV image was. It's easy to
see on a grey or light green background but not with other colours.
 
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