Outdated ATI Radeon R300 GPUs, 20 years old, continue to receive software updates and extensions under Linux, thanks to the dedicated community support.
In an exciting development for Linux users with older AMD graphics cards, a new driver extension is set to be part of the upcoming Mesa 25.3 release. This extension, merged by independent open-source developer Brais Solla, will provide support for the Radeon R300 GPUs, first released in 2002, and other older series such as the ATI X700 / X800, R400, and X1000 R500.
The new extension, which allows OpenGL programs to query the amount of VRAM available on both the GPU memory and GTT, as well as the total amount of memory, is particularly important for ancient GPUs with as little as 64MB of VRAM. This feature will enable users to track their VRAM usage effectively, especially on older graphics cards like the Radeon 9700 PRO, a notable part of the Radeon 9000 series.
It is essential to clarify that this driver extension is not a new release from AMD's Catalyst 9.4, which did not support anything older than the Radeon HD 2000 series. Nor is it a repeat of earlier extensions for the Radeon R300 GPUs, X700 / X800, R400, and X1000 R500 series graphics cards. Moreover, it is not a replacement for the mainline Windows support for R300 GPUs that ended in March 2009 with the Catalyst 9.3 unified driver.
The Radeon 9700 PRO was a significant part of the Radeon 9000 series graphics cards, which were the backbone of the ATI X300 series GPUs and were the first to adopt DirectX 9 and AGP 8X performance technologies on the desktop. However, this driver extension is not a review of the Radeon 9700 PRO, for which a 29-page review is already available.
The R300 Gallium3D driver, part of the upcoming Mesa 25.3 release, will now support these two memory-related OpenGL extensions that were not previously implemented. This development is expected to benefit a wide range of users who still rely on these older graphics cards for their computing needs.
In conclusion, the new driver extension for Linux provides an opportunity for users with older AMD graphics cards to effectively track their VRAM usage. The extension, which will be part of the Mesa 25.3 release expected in the coming quarter, is a testament to the ongoing support for older hardware in the Linux community.
