ATI updates drivers


ATI has announced the release of the latest drivers for Classic and X for retail PCI and AGP cards. The installer works on Mac OS 9.2.1 or higher, including X.1 or higher. Notably, this includes X.1.5.

ATI cards supported by these drivers include Rage 128 models like the Rage Orion, XClaim VR 128 and Nexus 128, the Radeon Mac Edition, Radeon 7000 Mac Edition and Radeon 8500 Mac Edition.

The release notes indicate that various performance and reliability improvements have been made for existing and upcoming titles (Max Payne, WarBirds III, Diablo II, Unreal Tournament, etc.).

However, X-specific TV drivers are still not available and likely won't be until after Jaguar is released (MOSR pegs X.5 it for the end of August).

Analysis: After years of abuse, ATI is finally taking us seriously. We've had more updates and products in the last year than perhaps the previously two or three combined. An exaggeration? Perhaps, but the updates have been more plentiful and timely.

The lack of X-specific TV drivers for ATI cards is however a serious problem. This lack of drivers is probably related to the still incomplete nature of X -- i.e. scanner, web cam, 2D acceleration, etc. support.