14 DAY TRIAL // According to recent reports, AMD's graphics subsidiary is set on becoming more Linux-friendly. The company plans to release new Catalyst drivers for Linux-based operating systems, which will allow playback of protected high-definition content on a Linux OS. The new drivers should become available sometime in October 2008, thus enabling the company to address the market of Linux-based computers by bringing to the table a feature currently unavailable.
As XbitLabs informs, at this point in time, neither of the two leading graphics card manufacturers, ATI and NVIDIA, provides drivers that can enable playback of HD video content from Blu-ray disk media on Linux-based desktop or mobile computers. ATI believes that there is a strong demand in this direction, which is why it plans to provide support for those users who opt for not viewing HD content on Windows-enabled computer systems.
Several slides of the company's roadmap confirm that ATI does, indeed, intend to release these drivers, later this year, sometime in October. Initially, the drivers will only be available for OEMs, which, in turn, means that users will benefit from the new feature only on certain computer systems. This can ultimately allow system builders to create home-theater personal computer systems based on a Linux OS, which can only be to the advantage of end-users, as these HTPCs could potentially be cheaper than Windows-based systems.
The news comes to confirm one trend that has marked the latest developments on the computer systems market, namely that major system builders, such as Dell, are turning to the good 'ol Linux for their upcoming systems. As a matter of fact, most of the currently available netbooks are offered in both Linux and Windows versions. Because of the lower price tag and the highly customized Linux OS, users prefer the Linux-powered small-sized, portable systems instead of the higher priced Windows models. Furthermore, Linux is known for offering a faster computing experience compared with Windows.