Give up on ATI?

[Grim Reaper]

I have various Macs, laptop and desktop, and Hackintoshes with ATI graphics. With every major and sometimes minor iteration of OS X, Apple has a habit of orphaning ATI graphics, their own and 3rd party as a means to force the purchase of new Macs (laptops) or graphics cards (for desktops). Because of that, I have dropped a bundle of $ in Apple's lap over the years and got fed up with the cost and accumulating enough Apple hardware and software worthy of opening a Mac museum so I stopped buying real Macs and, instead, with the help I've received from the OSX86 community, installed and helped others to install OSX86 on various laptops and desktops. Now, unfortunately for me and ATI, I am about to stop using anything with ATI graphics, laptops and graphic cards, for the same reason I gave up on buying real Macs. It doesn't matter if, at some point, ATI has better hardware than NVIDIA because that advantage, if it exists, is negated by the lack of OS X drivers (.kext) or the orphaning of ATI graphics which worked until the latest major or minor iteration of OS X. For example, what worked in 10.5.x will not work in 10.6.0 and what works in 10.6.0 may not work in 10.6.1 or 10.6.2. Most recently, my EAH4350, a perfectly good bottom of the barrel cost card, adequate for anything I need to do with a Mac, was orphaned by 10.6 as well as the EAH3650, X1900 XT G5 Mac edition, etc., I own. If, instead, I had bought NVIDIA, I wouldn't have so many graphics cards and spent so much money because much older generation NVIDIA graphics that worked with OS X 10.5 still work with 10.6.x. Even with the information about how to get the EAH4350 to work with 10.6, I haven't succeeded and, if I wanted to use the EAH3650 it apparently will never be supported by Apple or OSX86. I also suspect that Apple uses the OSX86 community's hacking of OS X to get various hardware to wok, includng ATI gaphics, as no cost R&D. Additionally, ATI doesn't support their own hardware for use with OS X and depends on the OSX86 community to do its OS X compatibility update work. Consequently, I think it's time for me (and everyone else) to give up on ATI. If the OSX86 community does give up on ATI, maybe ATI will get the message and provide the necessary drivers to keep itself in the OS X market. If ATI doesn't, that means ATI is only interested in gouging its customers by forcing us to continuously upgrade to their newest products.

[jvolkman]

Is it really up to ATI? I figured Apple dictated which drivers shipped and what hardware would be supported, but I'm not sure of the politics involved. Either way though, you're right about ATI users getting the shaft. I'm hoping Apple supprts the 5xxx line, otherwise I'll hop back to the other side.

[Grim Reaper]

Is it really up to ATI? I figured Apple dictated which drivers shipped and what hardware would be supported, but I'm not sure of the politics involved. Either way though, you're right about ATI users getting the shaft. I'm hoping Apple supprts the 5xxx line, otherwise I'll hop back to the other side.

 

 

I had a very long conversation with someone in technical support management at ATI in Markham Ontario about this problem. We talked about Apple's responsibility for issuing drivers to support ATI graphics chips but ATI does develop the "generic" drivers for their chips which manufacturers "massage" for their particular needs. He said that ATI may be contractually prohibited from issuing drivers for Apple's ATI hardware. I said that's not in the best interests of ATI especially if ATI doesn't exclusively use ATI's chips and that NVIDIA's graphics chips are better supported and older generations of NVIDIA hardware still works with OS X which is not the case with ATI's graphics. I told him that the latest generation (5000 series) of ATI has Windows drivers but no "official" OS X support which is limiting the market for ATI hardware. The lack of maintenance of drivers for older generation ATI hardware is also hurting ATI's market share. I directed him to OSX86 and the ATI subforum for a look at what's going on. He acknowledged the issues and said he is sending them up the chain of command. We talked about a lot more but I think I've said enough here for now. I'll post again if ATI tells me anything.