http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_r600_oss_3d

AMD has released open-source code that will form the core of a 3D driver for R600 (Radeon HD3xxx) and R700 (Radeon HD4xxx) graphics cards. Previously, they had released documentation for R500 (Radeon X1xxx) cards that led to a 3D Linux driver radeonhd which is now in Linux distributions as the default driver, but today is the first time an open-source 3D driver has been possible for a current generation of graphics cards.

While this effort was in support of a Linux driver, in theory this code could be used on any OS (for example Windows) to make an open-source driver. This is an important step in Linux becoming mainstream as it means that a computer can ship with all hardware drivers out of the box with no further setup, and also as a philosophical goal in the context of free software.

The code can be found in the xf86-video-radeonhd and other X.Org code repositories, and will enter a release of X.Org (and therefore almost all Linux distributions) soon. The documentation associated with it will be released shortly but is already in the hands of driver developers.

Sweet! The 4xxx cards were already awesome, but with this kind of support, they are only getting better!

Very nice. I'll be upgrading from my X1950 XTX to a 48xx series card soon. Glad to see the Linux philosophy stay intact.

Another proof that AMD are the good guys.

i would love some 4XXX card drivers for osx.

Last time I tried ati card with linux it was a battle from hell. This might change things a bit. Now moar games for linux too, plz. :)

It's not a battle at all these days but this just makes it all the better.

Yes, AMD support has improved considerably in the last two years. Now, for every card you get a working driver out of the box, and if you want game-level 3D performance you go to the Restricted Drivers (or similar) menu, tick the box and restart the computer.