Intel Releases 5,000 Pages of Open-Source Haswell Documentation 111
An anonymous reader writes "Intel has ended out 2013 by publishing 5,000 pages of new GPU documentation about their latest generation 'Haswell' graphics hardware. The new documentation complements their longstanding open-source Linux graphics driver that has supported Haswell HD / Iris Graphics since last year. The new documentation covers the hardware registers and special information for 3D, video acceleration, performance counters, and GPGPU programming."
Re:Dear Nvidia... (Score:5, Interesting)
What I wonder is what really makes it harder / impossible for Nvidia or whomever to do it but works for Intel? If anything.
The standard rumor is that they they all violate bogus patents rampantly and only by keeping their code secret (and possibly backdoored) can they stay afloat, in face of the patent trolls.
A deep cynic might claim that Intel can survive more of these trolls than nVidia could so this could be a competitive move. IIRC Intel and nVidia had a cross-licensing deal that involved Intel staying out of the discrete market - maybe that's due to expire soon.
Re:Huh? Open Source? (Score:0, Interesting)
Can I see the source code for the documentation please?
Sure. It's written in TeX. Like most open source code, you can't really understand it but at least you have the freedom to modify it.
Re:Dear Nvidia... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm still waiting for Intel drivers that are on par with their Nvidia counterpart.
Despite all of the noise made about Intel's cooperation, this is the first time we've actually had full disclosure from them. Prior to today what they offered was incomplete. It was all empty promises despite of all of the rhetoric from the political purists about how Intel does things better.
Someday, this might lead to a proper driver. Although Intel hardware will probably still be just as lame then.