[Open-graphics] Announcement: Finally ready to announce OGD1 pre-orders

[Russell Shaw]

Dieter wrote:
>> - OGD1 is for hardware hackers.  This isn't just about graphics.  If
>> all you wanted was a graphics card that worked with Free Software,
>> we've had that for a long time with Matrox, for some time with Intel,
>> and most recently and significantly with ATI.
> 
> And VIA has very recently (announced on Tuesday) seen the light, although
> I don't think they have released any docs yet.
> 
> All this makes me wonder about the market for OGC.  Will it have enough
> unique features to sell, given the new competition?
> 
>> - Some technical stuff:  The TV chip still has not been tested.  It's
>> probably just fine, but we don't know for sure.
> 
> $1500 for untested hardware.  Hmmm....
> 
> I've been looking at the data sheet, and they talk about 800x600 and
> 1024x768.  But s-video out is either x480 for NTSC or x576 for PAL/SECAM
> (right?).  Do they scale 800x600 and 1024x768 down to fit, or what?
> 
> One thing I've been trying to figure out is the maximum horizontal
> resolution for s-video.  The standard is 720x480 (or x576), but there
> isn't any hard limit, and some analog TVs can go much higher.  Can a
> "normal" (e.g. ATI) graphics card output, say, 1600x480 to s-video?
> If not, can OGD & OGC do it and make that a selling point?
> 
>> So, to partially reiterate, here's what we need to produce:
>>
>> - Articles and interviews
>> - Ads
>> - An electronic brochure
>> - Web pages with detailed information
>> - Publicity info about OGP, OHF, etc.
>> - A convincing argument that will make every FOSS enthusiast want to
>> buy an OGD1 board.
> 
> - Documentation
> 	hardware
> 		pinouts for the expansion connector(s) I assume the
> 		missing one can be added by the user?
> 
> 		Voltages, min/max temp, humidity, and such
> 
> 	software
> 		How does the end user program the thing?  Provide a
> 		simple "Hello, World!" type example.

The ideal "Hello, World!" would be a plain vga card with no pipelining
and stuff. You just get a framebuffer you can access like any other
memory.

> 		Do the tools run on their preferred OS?
> 
> 	Things to avoid doing so it doesn't become a paperweight.
> 
> 	A clear warranty/return policy spelling out what happens
> 	when the user does manage to make a paperweight.
> 
> - Diagnostics
> 
> - A starter list of things one can use the board for (may require
>   additional programming and/or hardware)
> 
> 	- graphics card
> 
> 	- FPGA projects (examples?)
> 
> 	- high speed D/A outputs
> 		signal generator
> 			sine, square, pulse, triangle, sawtooth, ...
> 			ATSC
> 			DVB-T
> 			NTSC, PAL, SECAM
> 			AM, FM
> 			SSB, VSB
> 			other?
> 
> 	- PCI bus sniffer
> 
> 	- what else?
> 
> - mailing list(s) and/or web forum(s) for users (seperate from the
>   development forums)
> __________________________