Red Hat Releasing Neomagic XFree86 Source

Red Hat is releasing the source for their Neomagic chipset XF86 server. This was part of their XBF project, which releases binaries of X-Servers that you would otherwise not be able to get an server for. (note to video manufacturers:release specs! this is dumb!) Anyway, Neomagic has given Red Hat permission to release the source. Very cool. I've attached the official press release after this.

RED HAT'S XBF NEOMAGIC DRIVER SOURCE CODE RELEASED TO XFREE86

Research Triangle Park, NC--September 21, 1998--Red Hat Software, publisher of the Red Hat Linux Operating System, today announced that Neomagic, Inc. has authorized the release to XFree86 of the Red Hat funded Linux drivers for NeoMagic's family of laptop graphics chips. The release of driver source code is a major focus of Red Hat's XBF driver program.

Previously, NeoMagic binary-only drivers, developed by Precision Insight Inc., were released by Red Hat as part of their XBF program, but source code had been withheld pending authorization by NeoMagic. With this authorization, full source code for these fully accelerated, commercial quality drivers is available and will be included in the next release of the industry standard XFree86 X Server.

"The Open Source community has made it clear to us that they want notebook PCs with levels of performance and engineering sophistication which have typically only been available in desktop platforms. We have worked with Precision Insight Inc. for several months in completing the release of driver source code for NeoMagic's MagicGraph128 family of integrated single-chip graphics solutions," said Saifee Fahkruddin, NeoMagic's Director of Software Development.

This new development with Neomagic attests to the power of the Open Source Community as mobilized through Red Hat's XBF program. The XBF program was designed to encourage hardware vendors to cooperate with the Open Source community by proving to them that Linux driver support for their products is good for their business.

Said Bob Young, president and CEO of Red Hat Software, "The XBF approach was a radical step away from the confrontational diplomacy used in the past by too many proponents of Open Source, and it proves that if a business case can be made to a hardware vendor to show that Open Source will work best for its business, then those vendors will work with us to maintain the phenomenal growth of the Open Source movement.''

Frank LaMonica, President and CEO of Precision Insight, Inc. agreed. "It's a great time for Open Source software, and Precision Insight is thrilled to be part of the solution," says LaMonica. "The dynamic Open Source environment is contagious. It simply makes good business sense for hardware vendors to reap the benefits which "many eyes" brings to the quality and stability of driver support for their products."

Red Hat has ushered in a new level of driver support for graphics devices, augmenting the outstanding contributions already being made by XFree86 developers. Free software and commercial quality are now synonymous as Linux users can receive the highest quality software, full industrial strength product support, and uncompromising performance, all with freedom from dependence on any single vendor.

ABOUT RED HAT® SOFTWARE, INC.
Founded in 1994, Red Hat Software is based in Research Triangle Park, NC, where it builds and maintains the award-winning Red Hat Linux operating system. Red Hat Linux for Intel®, DEC Alpha(TM), and Sun SPARC® platforms continues to gain recognition in the computer industry: From 1996 to the present, Red Hat Linux was twice named InfoWorld's Product of the Year, was given a Productivity accolade in Software Development's "Jolt" Awards, and was named an Environment/Desktop finalist in the Ziff-Davis European Excellence Awards.

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