

Valve Finds Value In Open-Source Drivers - macco
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_valve_linux&num=1

======
geoffhill
> _Valve has granted these Intel Linux developers complete access to the
> game's source-code, including the Source Engine. This has allowed Intel's
> Linux developers to better investigate possible optimizations and tweaks to
> their driver in order to enhance Source-powered games. Valve has even given
> them commit access to push back changes to the game company._

That sure is something EA and Ubisoft wouldn't do in a million years.

~~~
ajross
To be clear: they didn't email the code to some random people on the internet
or post it to a mailing list. They shared it with employees of Intel
Corporation, no doubt under NDA. Those employees happen to work on open source
drivers, of course, but they certainly won't be spreading the Source source
(heh) around.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
It's still okay.

~~~
ajross
Of course it is. I was just responding to the surprise -- this isn't Valve
sharing their code with "the open source community". This is Valve and Intel
jointly tuning software in a commercial relationship.

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nathanb
> Valve makes games people actually want to run, rather than most of the games
> we work with now...

BURN!

And I know I've said this before, but there _are_ open-source drivers for the
other vendors' cards as well...and I think they'd benefit tremendously from
some Valve love.

~~~
prunebeads
If only those drivers were backed up seriously by their corresponding hw
manufacturers, maybe Valve would consider trusting them a bit more. If Valve
source code is spotted in the wilde, there will be only that many possible
leaks, and all of them would be dependable (i.e. able to pay up in case of
successful litigation). With independant teams of developers, it is very
understandable that Valve doesn't want to take that risk. The only thing that
Valve might do is contribute enginering strength to those other drivers
projects, but I suspect that Valve doesn't have the workforce for that.
Besides, that wouldn't necessary be seen as a keen move from Intel's
perspective. I'm all for more open source drivers, but really it has to come
from the manufacturers first and foremost, in this case at least. The only
case I know of a game shop working directly on an OSS driver was when John
Carmack helped with the Utah GLX driver effort, and that was a long time ago.

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bryanh
I'm guessing Valve's foray into Linux is more or less a hedge against
Microsoft. If Windows 8 is a massive flop, the next best option is Mac or
straight Linux. If Windows 8 is a success, well, I suppose it is business as
usual albeit with some extra pressure from the Windows app store.

~~~
jl6
If nobody is interested in Windows 8, I expect the next best option is Windows
7 for the next 10 years - the new XP.

~~~
heretohelp
Please. No.

~~~
wmf
As long as the browser auto-updates...

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jlgreco
I think an interesting takeaway from this article even for those who are not
really interested in gaming on Linux is that the benefits of open source
development can be seen even when source isn't made available to the world,
but just within or between organizations.

That is probably something most HNers know or suspect already, but this seems
like a particularly clean proof of that concept.

------
batgaijin
Playing CS:GO on Fedora 17 with the latest nVidia drivers is an absolute
nightmare. However, the framerate and audio lag are doing wonders for building
my patience.

~~~
thebigshane
I haven't been in the linux gaming loop in a while so pardon my ignorance
here... are you using Wine or VirtualBox/VMWare or something else?

~~~
nilved
Probably Wine. Virtualization almost always prevents the guest OS from
accessing the graphics card, which is very unsuitable for gaming.

~~~
thebigshane
A bit late of a response sorry, but now that VMWare and others have OpenGL
support inside the VM, isn't that the graphics card access you are referring
to? I'm sure it's still slower than bare metal, like all abstraction layers,
but perhaps it's better now?

------
nelmaven
This will surely increase the Linux popularity as a platform.

~~~
Avshalom
I doubt it will actually bring much in the way of new blood. But it will make
the life of existing linux users more pleasant (one less wine/virtualbox work
around)

~~~
gnarbarian
Ugh, I don't even want to imagine playing a game in VirtualBox.

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TazeTSchnitzel
OK, I was thinking of getting a Mac, but now I'm reminded that in not too long
I will hopefully be able to play TF2 without WINE...

I have renewed hope.

------
sirlancer
It will be interesting to see what Valve _recommends_ as their preferred Linux
distribution and even more so if they roll their own.

~~~
Ralith
It's old news that the (first) supported distro will be Ubuntu.

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taskstrike
too many ads on that page.

~~~
drcube
Adblock Plus. Check it out. I don't know how anybody surfs the web with ads
anymore. It's just a terrible experience.

~~~
fluffyllemon
For the lazy: <http://adblockplus.org/en/>

