Linux-drivers.org - Linux Hardware Compatibility Lists & Linux Drivers

Linux Hardware Compatibility Lists & Linux Drivers

Linux Hardware Compatibility Lists
Linux & Notebooks, PDAs, Handheld PCs and Mobile Phones
Multiple Drivers
Graphics, Display, Video, TV & DVD
Audio / Sound
Network & Internet
Printer & Scanner
USB Support, Webcams & Digital Cameras
Miscellaneous

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(last update: 2008-05-06)

Graphics, Display, Video, TV & DVD

XFree86 - is the underlying software that is between the hardware and graphical user interface (aka gui) that people see and use. If you are using KDE, GNOME, Enlightenment, Blackbox, AfterStep, twm or fvwm then you are already using and running XFree86 as these run as our clients.

X.Org - The X.Org Foundation provides an open source implementation of the X Window System. The development work is being done as part of the freedesktop.org community.

DRI - The Direct Rendering Infrastructure, also known as the DRI, is a framework for allowing direct access to graphics hardware in a safe and efficient manner. It includes changes to the X server, to several client libraries, and to the kernel. The first major use for the DRI is to create fast OpenGL implementations. The DRI is an integral part of XFree86 4.x , and integrates with Mesa, an open source implementation of the OpenGL API. Several 3D accelerated drivers have been written to the DRI specification, including drivers for chipsets produced by ATI, Matrox, 3DFX, and Intel.

The Y Window System - is intended as a successor for the X Window System. The current implementation is very basic, the development is just at the beginning.

Xi Graphics - has been developing and licensing high- performance commercial graphics driver software and X servers, mostly for the UNIX and Linux market.

DirectFB - is a thin library that provides hardware graphics acceleration, input device handling and abstraction, integrated windowing system with support for translucent windows and multiple display layers on top of the Linux Framebuffer Device. It is a complete hardware abstraction layer with software fallbacks for every graphics operation that is not supported by the underlying hardware. DirectFB adds graphical power to embedded systems and sets a new standard for graphics under Linux.

Voodoo graphics / Voodoo2 fb driver - This is a frame buffer driver for linux kernel 2.2.x and 2.4.x for 3dfx's 1st an 2nd generation of 3D "only" graphic boards, namely the voodoo graphics, aka SST and the voodoo2, aka CVG.

Matrox Graphics Driver - Download the most recent Parhelia drivers, as well as beta drivers and drivers for all Matrox graphics cards.

Matrox Graphics User Guides - Select an installation guide for your Matrox product.

TV-out on the Matrox G450 - This page intends to help people get TV-out working on their Matrox G450/G550 video cards using Petr Vandrovec's matroxfb driver.

matroxfb driver - This is the matroxfb driver site (including patch for tv-out) from Petr Vandrovec.

Nvidia Linux-Drivers - provide optimized hardware acceleration of OpenGL applications via a direct-rendering X Server and support nearly all NVIDIA graphics chips. Also available: drivers for the nForce chipset (These packages have support for Ethernet networking and basic ACI audio. USB and IDE hardware will work with standard Linux drivers. There is no win modem support.).

Debian & NvidiaGraphicsDrivers - This document explains how to make use of NVIDIA video hardware for Debian GNU/Linux users, who are the primary target. The first section shortly describes the free drivers while the rest of the document covers the non-free but 3D-accelerated drivers.

nouveau : Open Source 3D acceleration for nVidia cards - This is the homepage of nouveau, a project which aims at producing Open Source 3D drivers for nVidia cards.

Utah-GLX - a hardware accelerated implementation of OpenGL & the GLX protocol. Supported Hardware: XFree4 status: NVIDIA Riva / TNT / GeForce, ATI, RagePro, Matrox G200 / G400 series. XFree3 list: Matrox MGA-G200, MGA-G400, Intel i810, NVIDIA Riva series, SiS 6326, S3 / Diamond ViRGE and Savage3D.

YanC - ("Yet another nV Configurator") is a small tool, which you can use to change the nVidia-specific settings. The new release of YanC, a rewrite of the program logic in Java, additionally supports ATI cards. You can use it to change the nVidia and ATI-specific settings in the X Configuration file (almost) as easily as with the Windows-drivers.

AMD Customer Care for ATI Products.

Gatos project - provides enhanced drivers for many videocards made by ATI (in particular All-in-Wonder series) and a TV player/recorder application AVview.

Installing and Using ATI All in Wonder Cards - is a quick and dirty guide for installing and running the GATOS ATI drivers and related video applications for Linux. These instructions were written for the newer Radeon cards, but older cards using, for instance, the Rage 128 chipsets should also work correctly although you will need to make some adjustments.

ATI Radeon - Driver for ATI Radeon based video chips. Please check radeonTV for information about TV out support.

radeonhd - this is the Driver for AMD GPG r5xx/r6xx Chipsets. The radeonhd driver, or xf86-video-radeonhd is an X.org video driver for R500 and newer ATI graphics devices. It is being developed by Novell for AMD, with the free documentation provided by AMD.

SiS Download Center & SiS Linux FAQ.

SiS/XGI graphics chipsets and X.org/XFree86/Linux - Want a X.org/XFree86 driver for your Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) or XGI Volari (some desktop and server models only) graphics card? This site offers detailed information, a download section and installation instructions for your SiS graphics card. Additionally, a Linux kernel framebuffer driver for some SiS and XGI graphics cards is available here as well. This driver is meant for more advanced users as its installation requires some knowledge about kernel configuration and compilation. Supported SiS/XGI graphics chips and video bridges: There are currently five groups of SiS graphics controllers:

The old series (SiS 5597/5598, 6326/AGP/DVD, 530, 620),
the 300 series (SiS 300/305, 540, 630/S/ST, 730/S),
the 315 series (SiS 315/E/PRO, 550, [M]650, 651, 740, [M]661[FMG]X, [M]741[GX]),
the 330 series (SiS 330 "Xabre", [M]760[GX], [M]761[GX]), and
the 340 series (XGI V3XT, V5, V8, Z7; SiS342).

Installing any driver downloaded from this website does not mean installing some sort of "third party" software. The author is, in fact, the author and maintainer of both the official X.org and XFree86 SiS/XGI driver as well as the Linux kernel's SiS/XGI framebuffer driver.

3Dlabs Display Drivers - Information on sites, that have varying support for Linux and X Windows on Wildcat, Oxygen, GLINT and PERMEDIA based graphics boards.

The Unichrome Project - The Unichrome Project provides Free and Open Source support for the S3 Unichrome family of integrated graphics devices, as found on all recent VIA Technologies Northbridges. The Unichrome devices currently known are (in chronological order):

VT3122: Originally named CastleRock, this device is part of the VIA CLE266 northbridge.
VT7205: This was the first use of the name Unichrome. Found on KM400, KM400A, KN400 and recently P4M800.
VT3108: The Unichrome Pro, later renamed Unichrome Pro B. Found on K8M800 and K8N800.
VT3118: Unichrome Pro A. Found on CN400 and PM800, PM880 and PN800.
VT3344: Another Unichrome Pro, but VIA realised there was no letter before the A. Part of P4M800Pro and VN800.
VT3157: Unichrome Pro with built-in TV encoder. Part of the still unreleased CX700.

Sadly, support for VT3108, VT3118, VT3344 and VT3157 ranges from limited to non-existant.

openChrome - openChrome is a project for the development of free and Open Source video driver for the VIA/S3G UniChrome and UniChrome Pro graphics chipsets (CLE266, KN400, KM400, K8M800, PM800, CN400, VN800). This is a continued development of the open source unichrome driver which also incorporates support for the unichrome-pro chipsets. Support for hardware acceleration (XvMC) for all chipsets has subsequently been ripped out of the unichrome.sf.net driver. Therefore your only option if you wish to make use of the acceleration features of your VIA chip with free and open-source drivers is to use this version of the driver.

VIA Arena - Drivers Section - This pages offer display driver on boards with VIA chipsets.

VIA Linux Portal

- aims to expand cooperation with open source communities by providing drivers, key documentation and source code for select Linux distributions to technical software developers. Users seeking driver downloads should first check with their Linux distribution vendor or system manufacturer for driver package availability.

Permedia - latest GGI-drivers for the Permedia family of 3D graphics accelerators from 3Dlabs. Supported Cards: Leadtek, WinFast3D, L2200, L2300, ELSA, Winner 2000/Office.

Linux Graphics Drivers from Intel - Free software drivers for the Intel 965 Express Chipset family graphics controller. These drivers include support for 2D and 3D graphics features for the newest generation Intel graphics architecture. This release represents the start of a long term effort by Intel to work with the X.org and Mesa communities to continuously improve and enhance the drivers. While these drivers represent significant work at both Tungsten Graphics and Intel, as their first release of this code, they're still in need of significant testing, tuning and bug fixing before they'll be ready for production use. They're releasing them now to demonstrate their ongoing commitment to providing free software drivers for Intel hardware.

915Resolution: Intel Video BIOS Hack - 915resolution is a tool to modify the video BIOS of the 800 and 900 series Intel graphics chipsets. This includes the 845G, 855G, and 865G chipsets, as well as 915G, 915GM, and 945G chipsets. This modification is neccessary to allow the display of certain graphics resolutions for an Xorg or XFree86 graphics server.

Monitor resolution approximator - This calculator is used to get the information of the approximate resolutions you can run on a computer monitor where you know some of the technical specifications. The idea of this calculator is to get the idea to which your monitor is capable of and then try to use nearest "standard" resolution you can find.

Video Timing Calculator - is a Screen timing calculator and configuration file generator for the Xfree86 modeline. Both tools are parts of the VGA to workstation monitor FAQ from Tomi Engdahl.

The XFree86 Modeline Generator - "Create the mode that's just right for you".

Linux DXR3 and Hollywood Plus Driver Project - This project is an attempt to provide the Linux community with kernel drivers for two hugely popular DVD playback cards, namely the DXR3 from Creative Labs and the Hollywood Plus from Sigma Designs. The project has also expanded to encompass writing plugins for three of the more popular Linux dvd programs, MPlayer, LiViD's OMS and Xine.

bttv (old) - is the old support page for frame grabber cards with the Brooktree Bt848/849 and Bt878/879. This Site includes also useful links and documents.

LinuxTV - The LinuxTV project develops and maintains the DVB driver subsystem which is included in the Linux 2.6.x kernel. The Linux kernel and the LinuxTV CVS include a fair number of drivers for commonly available PCI cards and USB devices, but the DVB subsystem core is also targeted towards Linux based set-top-boxes.

bttv - The bttv driver is meant for any card that uses the Bt848, Bt878 or Fusion 878A chip for video capture. These can be capture-only cards - which means video is taken directly from a video source without the use of a tuner. Or they can be TV cards which make use of tuner and RF circuitry to receive television signals and the capture chip is there to decode the extracted video and audio.

Lifetec 9415 TV Card - This patch applies to Linux 2.2.18. Linux 2.4.x works out-of-the-box.

xawtv - is a small suite of video4linux related software, with video recording capabilities and serveral useful command line tools.

Cx88 devices (cx2388x) - The cx2388x chip is the successor to the bt87x chips; cf. PCI interface chipsets used for v4l cards. There is also support in the kernel for a cx23416 mpeg encoder via the cx2388x host port though the blackbird driver, cx88-blackbird.c, which includes parts from the ivtv driver.The pcHDTV3000 card supports both analog and digital capture.

Terratec TerraTV+/BTTV Support Page - This page tries to make installing and configuring a TerraTV+ easier.

Hauppauge WinTV PVR Linux Driver - This page is dedicated to the creation of a Linux driver for the hauppauge WinTV PVR Linux driver. The Hauppauge WinTV PVR is an MPEG2 capture card, based on the kfir1 chip.

Pinnacle Studio PCTV - This little document helps you to get your tv-card running under Linux. It gives detailled information about the Pinnacle Studio PCTV Rave. You will also find a bash-script that helps you to find the right configuration for any card.

Pinnacle/Miro DC30 - The supplied source files are the result of rapid prototyping, derived from the BTTV driver, most of the names, strings and comments are left unchanged.

Saa7134 devices (saa713x) - This is a v4l2/OSS device driver for saa7130/34 based capture / TV boards. Driver releases are available for download right here. Note that the saa7134 driver also is included in the 2.6.x kernels.