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AMD Still Struggling With Linux Gaming
An anonymous reader writes: AMD's Linux gaming performance has been embarrassingly bad, and it doesn't look like there's any quick remedy. Virtual Programming just released Dirt: Showdown for Linux, and it's the latest example of AMD's Linux driver issues: AMD's GPU results are still far behind NVIDIA's, with even the Radeon R9 Fury running slower than NVIDIA's aging GTX 680 and GTX 760. If a racing game doesn't interest you, Feral Interactive confirmed they are releasing Company of Heroes 2 for Linux next week, but only NVIDIA and Intel graphics are supported.
Get it together, competition in the market place is good for us all!
Open source the problems!
Many eyes will fix it.
And it doesn't look like there's any quick remedy.
FTFY
I have no inside info but it seems obvious that for a while now (pretty much most of this year) the focus has been on DX12 and Vulkan. I think Graham Sellers is on the GL team and he is definitely knee-deep in Vulkan.
Then maybe the community can begin fixing all these problems. And don't get me started about how they released the code. It's not all there and is largely a joke. Release some code and wrapping it around a proprietary component is hardly really "open source".
Yes! The NEW SHINY will SOLVE ALL OUR PROBLEMS!
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
FTFY
...2 games appear not to be supporting AMD graphics processors. That's strange, nearly 1.5 thousand from steam do not have a problem at all.
OTOH, intel's iris' drivers are a joke yet noone bats an eye.
1) They can't release complete sources, because of, cough, licenses
2) Linux gaming is a tiny piece of the market, yet AMD is financially troubled, do you really want them to spend much resources on less tan 1% of the (gaming) market?
or "how I learned to suffer with Windows in order to play a few games"
If Microsoft are not bribing people to put out this crap, it is even more shocking than if they are!
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
It's an eON wrapped game with nVidia support scripts. So obviously nVidia cards will have better performance.
Why don't they test with some native games. Sure nVidia will probably do better. But AMDs will do good enough.
What do you mean you get what you pay for?
AMD shoul just release the COMPLETE code already. Then maybe the community can begin fixing all these problems. And don't get me started about how they released the code. It's not all there and is largely a joke. Release some code and wrapping it around a proprietary component is hardly really "open source".
Not really sure what you're grasping at here. The Catalyst driver is not and will not ever be released, due to a number of reasons ranging from trade secrets to IP issues to DRM issues to whatnot. The specs have been released and an open source driver based on it, thers' no "proprietary component" it revolves around. Unless you talk about the firmware which is pretty much like every other hardware company, they load a blob that sets up the hardware correctly. Just about any modern hardware has this, it's just magic values unless you document the hardware which they're not going to do.
Then again, this is probably one of the problems the open source community has, the "no true Scotsman" fallacy with regards to openness. Since you're not being totally 100% transparent with everything you do, you're not open and so you're in the same box as the companies that are about 0% transparent. Why bother? Even when you're doing everything that's reasonable to open source your product you're going to have shitheads like the parent complain. I can totally understand nVidia's position on the matter, which pretty much amounts to "No. Fuck off." Sure, they'll be loathed. But AMD gets much of the same flak despite making much more of an effort.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
But AMD gets much of the same flak despite making much more of an effort.
We understand that there are legal complications regarding releasing the information, but if they can't do that and they can't make a decent driver themselves, which it appears they can not, then yes they're going to get plenty of flak. Why wouldn't you expect competence?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Not all devices contain proprietary firmware. The ath9k-htc driver for Atheros 802.11n USB wifi chipsets has sources available. There are routers from ThinkPenguin with the complete corresponding source code available. No proprietary pieces required. Period. There are quite a few devices in fact which either there are sources available or do not require a binary blob. Some devices just comply with a standard interface for instance and use a standard driver.
We understand that there are legal complications regarding releasing the information, but if they can't do that and they can't make a decent driver themselves, which it appears they can not, then yes they're going to get plenty of flak. Why wouldn't you expect competence?
Why do you need their driver - that you admitted isn't decent - when you have the specification to work to?
Why do you need their driver - that you admitted isn't decent - when you have the specification to work to?
Because I'm not much of a programmer, and have no driver programming experience, and graphics drivers are serious "there be dragons here" territory at the best of times, let alone with potentially incomplete documentation.
I don't have the allergy to binary drivers that some have. I'm pretty happy with the nVidia drivers. They're not perfect, but what is?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
What I mean is the information they can't release is the source for the - admittedly sub-par - existing proprietary driver, which you shouldn't need since if you want to make your own open source driver they have released the specs and if you want to use their binary driver you can do that without the source too.
...they didn't have working Windows drivers until very recently.
Roughly from December 2014 until July 2015 their Windows drivers were an unstable mess and they literally could not release new WHQL drivers (note the jump from 14.12 "Omega" Catalysts to 15.7 Catalysts - they had only beta versions between those two drivers, ~7 months). Current 15.7.1 is a big improvement and considering the 7-month "blackout" on new WHQL approved drivers, one has to wonder how large piece was rewritten from scratch during that time...
because there isn't a full specification to work to. did you even read what you were replying to? they don't release _enough_ information to make a decent open source driver and their closed source driver sucks ass. maybe they don't even know themselves and their drivers are a mishmash of code from subcons. maybe that's why they were trying to do mantle.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
because there isn't a full specification to work to. did you even read what you were replying to?
Of course I did, the title and the comments in the thread.
they don't release _enough_ information to make a decent open source driver
What else do you need?
Your attempt at a meme is lacking a USP. Try Aardvarks next time.
It's always been this way. They put out some awesome hardware with great specs that keeps nvidia on their toes, but the real world drivers are crap on any platform. Period.
I have a middle of the road (R-9 270 I think.) that I paid $150.00 for over two years ago and am able to play everything i have thrown at it thus far in Ubuntu and Steam, including high end games so "Struggling with Linux gaming" is certainly a bit of a sensational headline.
Yeah Nvidias Binary Blob is the best available but games are totally playable with AMD drivers.
Anyone going for max performance is going to use windows.
fuck linux, none gives a shit about the 1.60% of desktops that run linux
why would they care about the 1.60% of desktop computers that run linux?
and why should they?
let the rage begin!! (unless mod decides to delete my comments again)
damn accurate, linux fan boys think they are the l33t but basicaly none gives a shit about desktop linux users, they are like 1.5% of the market share, good thing for servers or else it would be dead long ago
who cares about linux when its 1.5% of the market share, and who cares about amd when even if they fix their crap drivers (ye right, cos 15years now they didnt and they will this week) the electricity bill for a year for one of those pieces of crap will buy u gtx980 sli.. but keep on sheeple, buy amd, and install linux on a desktop, you damn rebels you.. lol...