ATI FireGL 5200 Support?

[David Abrahams]

> The ATI proprietary drivers have support for 'big desktop'  (set via
> Config setting of "DesktopMode" "Horizontal").  Look at the output of
> aticonfig --help for more information.  It is in a lot of ways
> functionally equivalent to mergedfb of the core XOrg drivers.

I'm using it now of course, but it doesn't work very well for me.  For
one thing my GPU temperature hovers around 71 centigrade even under no
load.  aticonfig --set-powerstate doesn't seem to have any significant
effect, and in big desktop mode, ATI turns off set-powerstate anyway.
Finally, one feature I really want from MergedFB is the ability to
dynamically reconfigure the desktop when I disconnect the 2nd monitor.
fglrx only "sorta" supports that, according to my experiments... and
of course it's proprietary, so I'm 100% at ATI's mercy for
improvements.

So, I really want an XOrg driver that supports this GPU.

>> as I know).  Is anyone working on open-source support for the FireGL"
>> 5200?  If not, is it reasonable to think I could do something about it
>> (with no experience in this area)?

Inquiring minds wanna know...

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com