ATI Petition for Adequate Drivers in Linux

We are the customers of ATI who use Linux to power our computers. We will no longer endure ATIвs poor driver support for Linux both in 32-bit and 64-bit computing. This petition is aimed at the designers at ATI who for whatever reason choose not to acknowledge our pleas and specifically at ATI as a company. The signers of this petition will no longer purchase ATI products until ATI make a workable 3D accelerated 64-bit driver for Linux and a 32-bit that utilizes the full potential of the Raedon chips.

The products we include in this are as follows:
1. All desktop Raedon chips up through 9800
2. All mobile Raedon chips up through 9800
3. All X-series chips
4. All TV and Remote Wonders
5. All FireGL chips

Also in this petition we ask ATI to change their current position on mobile drivers. With Linux, one of the major challenges to developers is to make it possible for any machine to run the operating system. To have every OEM develop their own drivers for each component of their machines and update them would be preposterous since they donвt even make the components. NVidia has learned this and has prospered since their drivers in general work with any and all notebook screens. They believe, and rightly so that it is the responsibility of the components manufacturer to create a driver that will work with every other component. Therefore the drivers that we ask to be created for Linux must also work for mobile chips.

Specifically, since 64-bit computing is new to the world, we understand that a rough driver that might not work perfectly is unavoidable. This being said we need some kind of driver no matter how rough so that we can utilize the chip that we have already purchased from you. Your current 32-bit driver for Linux is so inadequate compared to the one released for Windows that it performs as slow ones many generations older. This must be rectified.

In the event that ATI cannot handle the programming of these drivers, we require all modern ATI chips to be open sourced to the Linux community so that drivers can be made. This would include all schematics and technical information pertaining to the video cards produced by ATI.

Again until we see these changes, the signers of this petition cannot support you by purchasing any more of your products.