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The new DRM of ATI


dexter11
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My latest revelation came during a recent visit to AMD for a day of briefings, mostly about the Barcelona quad-core Opteron and the Torrenza direct-connect coprocessor interface. During that visit, I got the briefest of updates on ATI’s new GPU (graphics processing unit) technology. It will ship with software that plays movies on Blu-ray discs. The AMD rep spelled it out in words that would have been undiplomatic coming from me: He said that the new chips will “block unauthorized access to the frame buffer.” In short, that means an unauthorized party can’t save the contents of the display to a file on disk unless the content owner approves it.

 

There is a short list of parties who will be unauthorized to access your frame buffer: You. There is a long list of parties who are authorized to access your frame buffer, and that list includes Microsoft, Apple, AMD, Intel, ATI, NVidia, Sony Pictures, Paramount, HBO, CBS, Macrovision, and all other content owners and enablers that want your machine to themselves whenever you’re watching, listening to, reading, or shooting monsters with their products.

Read the full article here.

 

source: hup.hu

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Looks far more draconian than that even.

 

They talk about restricting access to the *framebuffer*

 

The framebuffer is where what is to be displayed on screen, is written.

 

So not letting you have access to the framebuffer is about as draconian as it can get. You cannot read it, you cannot write to it. Only applications by the approved companies may.

 

The article is skimpy on details and is devoid of technical knowledge, so i'm hesitant to jump to conclusions, but if the above comment is true, then linux simply would not be able to display X on the affected graphics cards, unless ATi release drivers that are "permitted" to display...

 

James

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