Open Graphics Project is now taking pre-orders

[Dieter]

> I think what people (not just here, but folks on Slashdot as well) want
> to know is: is the PCI-X choice *purely* for development reasons, e.g.
> will the retail/non-development version (read: transistor-based, no
> FPGA) of the card be PCIe?
> 
> If the manufacturer plans on keeping everything PCI-X -- dev cards and
> commercial/retail cards -- they are making a *huge* mistake.

The plan, as I understand it, is:

	Develop GPU logic using OGD1 boards.

	Sell as many OGD1 boards as possible to raise money needed
	(estimated at US$2M) to fabricate ASIC.

	Probably do other FLOSS friendly hardware projects to
	raise money for ASIC.  (Ideas welcome)

	Build OGC boards with ASIC, no FPGA.

The ASICs are expected to sell in *much* larger quantities than the
FPGA boards.

I'm 99.9% sure that the ASIC based OGC boards will be available as
PCIe.  Possibly PCI or PCI-X and AGP as well, and the bare ASIC chips
will be available for embedded applications (PDAs, kiosks, etc.).

The big hurdle is raising the US$2M needed to fab the ASIC.