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Open Source Could Help Bring Vulkan To More AMD GPUs (phoronix.com)
An anonymous reader writes: AMD has confirmed that their Vulkan Linux driver will only work with the new AMDGPU kernel driver, meaning that for right now on the desktop, Vulkan will just work on the Radeon R9 285, R9 380, R9 380X and R9 Fury series — not even the other Rx 200/300 series graphics cards. This limitation exists because the AMDGPU driver only works with GCN 1.2 and newer. In time, AMD may allow the driver to work on older GCN GPUs going back to the HD 7000 series. But wait: AMDGPU is open-source. AMD is welcoming community support to help bring AMDGPU (and thereby Vulkan) to these older GPUs. The work involved would be porting GCN 1.0/1.1 support from the existing open-source Radeon DRM driver over to the new AMDGPU DRM driver. The Vulkan code itself is said to already be compatible with all GCN GPUs going back to the HD 7xxx series.
Or is it still freedom disrespecting software?
Finally wow!
Doesn't support R9 GPU from last year... oh well, back to the same. Also in windows, apparently my 512MB AGP card can't' do hardware accelerated browsing or decode web video video anymore, it must have forgot how.
n/c
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I wonder what GCN 1.1 is missing that makes it make sense for GCN1.2+ to use a different driver, the only feature I know of is preemptive multitasking on the GPU, which is presumably useful for multiple HSA applications?
My Kaveri is sad now.
Carrizo and its desktop incarnation, Bristol Ridge, do/will work with amdgpu as well.
Vulcan.
Stupid, stupid person.
The long term plan of AMD for Vulkan is to open it.
Vulkan is very low-level, there isn't that much room left for some "secret sauce" or other IP that needs to be protected.
In Vulkan world (and DX12), the kind of magic that went into OpenGL and DirectX now goes directly into the 3D Engine.
On Linux, Vulkan is very much comparable to the various "back-end" used by the Galium3D stack above which the Mesa openGL-state-tracker runs.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Doesn't support R9 GPU from last year...
On Linux, AMD has recently started a new generation of kernel module (a new one which is unified for both the opensource Gallium stack and its Mesa3D opengl AND the proprietary Catalyst OpenGL).
Only the recent hardware has its drivers developed for this new module.
BUT there are no technological limitation preventing Vulkan on older hardware.
Thus:
- Vulkan could be ported to the older modules.
- OR a thin "Vulkan"-to-"Gallium back-end" wrapper could be written (quite possible given that both are on the very low-level "just expose the hardware functions" end of the spectrum).
(Similar to the various VAAPI to VDPAU and vice-versa thin wrappers).
The only practical limitation is workforce: the number of driver developper (include open-source driver) on AMD's payroll is limited.
Also in windows, apparently my 512MB AGP card can't' do hardware accelerated browsing
There are very practical limitations that explain why AGP can't be used for this kind of acceleration.
The more browsers try to exploit advanced OpenGL functionnality, the harder they hit AGP limitations.
Either you need to stick with older browsers featuring less bells and whistle (but within the capability of AGP), or upgrade the hardware.
or decode web video video anymore, it must have forgot how.
Had the video engine of your browser recently been swapped (Firefox did change a few things).
Maybe the new one is only comptaible with an API that isn't experted by your card (A bit like the VAAPI vs VDPAU under Linux)
And the stability of Flash seem to be even more random that the weather.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
As an R9 290X owner, I'm not gonna lie, this kinda pisses me off.
It seems like AMD's hardware support roadmap is getting shorter and shorter.
Fragmentation before the API even got started! Nice job Kronos and AMD.
All the open source in the world doesn't matter if you repeatedly build garbage, which is what AMD does. You'll save money by buying AMD, but you won't be doing yourself any favors.
Since the R9 380 is essentially the R9 290 rebranded I guess it works with that gpu too?
The work involved would be porting GCN 1.0/1.1 support from the existing open-source Radeon DRM driver over to the new AMDGPU DRM driver.
Who chose the name "Direct Rendering Manager" in the first place? Was it created before or after "Digital Rights Management"?
And who chose the name "Graphics Core Next"? That was certainly years after the GameCube console was officially abbreviated GCN. Incidentally AMD bought the company (ATI) that bought the company (ArtX) that developed the Flipper GPU in the GameCube.