AMD Supports Universal Graphics Module Standard

Kontron, an embedded computer technology company, announced that AMD will support the Universal Graphics Module standard (UGM). As the provider of the ATI computer graphics processing technologies, AMD's support for the UGM standard will accelerate its rapid and widespread acceptance.

The UGM standard provides off-the-shelf embedded graphics on an industry-standard modular platform with multiple display configurations to guarantee customers the shortest time-to-market.

"With its long-life ATI product portfolio, AMD serves the particular needs of the embedded market. AMD's support of the UGM Consortium will thus accelerate the adoption of AMD's ATI advanced graphics technologies in the embedded market," said Aurelius Wosylus, Sales Manager Europe of AMD.

"With this declaration of support from AMD's Embedded Display Group that is responsible for delivering the high-end ATI product portfolio for the embedded markets, we have won the support of an industry leader in graphics processing technology in the UGM Consortium, underlining the importance of the UGM standard for the embedded marketplace," said Dirk Finstel, Vice President Global Research and Engineering at Kontron.

"The open standard strategy with multiple supporting vendors ensures that UGM is becoming as well accepted as Kontron's ETX and COM Express products. We welcome interest from other parties who would like to join the group of vendors supporting UGM," added Finstel.

The UGM open standard has been created for scalable, high-end PEG graphics with long-term availability. It represents the right standard made available at the right time to fit the requirements of many new applications in the field of embedded computing. The latest high resolution flat panels and operating systems as well as the latest CPUs and GPUs are now able to bring advanced graphics-driven technologies into embedded designs.

Kontron said the adoption of the UGM standard will change OEM solutions for many embedded industries, including medical equipment, casino gaming and arcade markets, vision control technologies for security and industry markets, and simulation technologies.

UGM offers quick and easy implementation of advanced graphics functions in custom designs for all these applications, including all the necessary drivers. The first Universal Graphics Module, the Kontron UGM-M72, uses the ATI M72 chip, which is based on AMD's flagship GPU ATI R600.

From : http://www.itnewsonline.com/

Catalyst 8.8 drivers released, brings Hybrid Graphics support to XP

AMD has released Catalyst 8.8 drivers. You can pick them up from http://game.amd.com. These new drivers bring with them a couple of new features.

One of these new features is Hybrid Graphics support for Windows XP users. To make use of this feature users will need an AMD 780G/780D integrated graphics motherboard and a Radeon HD 3400 series or HD 2400 series GPU installed on a separate graphics card.

Also seen in Catalyst 8.8 are new Avivo video features. Dynamic Gamma/Contrast correction, which is available on the Radeon HD 4800 series and improved video presets, available for both the Radeon HD 3000 series and 4800 series GPUs.

There are also a whole host of fixes, ranging from corruption in CoD4 when running in Quad CrossFire enable and with an HDMI 1080p display device connected to poor performance in Second Life.

Full release notes.

[via]ZDnet