Intel has released open source drivers for the GMA X3000 and 3000 graphics engines it's building into its G965, Q965 and Q963 chipsets. According to the company, the drivers provide both 2D and 3D rendering under Linux.

The chip giant said the release represents "the beginning of an ongoing commitment" to open source development work in co-operation with the many minds behind the X and Mesa communities for 2D and 3D acceleration, respectively. Direct rendering is supported through Linux kernel extensions.

Intel said its code would be released according to the licensing terms favoured by each of these components: the 2D and 3D GL code ships under the MIT licence as per X.org and Mesa, while the Linux kernel elements are offered under GPL 2.

Intel admitted the code is "still in need of significant testing, tuning, and bug fixing before they will be ready for production use". Getting the code out into the public arena will allow it to start gaining the feedback it needs to iron out the wrinkles.

The drivers can be downloaded from Intel's Linux graphics website, here. ®