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AMD Releases Open-Source Driver Support For Next-Gen Polaris GPUs (phoronix.com)

Posted by timothy on from the out-the-gate-already-this-time dept.

An anonymous reader writes: For the first time ever, AMD has provided open-source support for next-generation discrete GPUs ahead of the product's launch. AMD developers published initial open-source Linux driver support for Polaris GPUs with the addition adding over sixty-seven thousand lines of code to the Linux kernel. AMD Polaris graphics cards are expected this summer while AMD released the open-source driver support in advance for preparing their new Linux hybrid driver that relies upon the open-source AMDGPU kernel driver.

3 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Why add this to the kernel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It doesn't seem efficient that drivers for a specific piece of hardware would bloat the Linux kernel, even for people that do not have and will never have that specific piece of hardware. I thought Linux was supposed to be a model of streamlined efficiency, a kernel done correctly?

    1. Re:Why add this to the kernel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, it's part of the source.

      And this is where the user has full control. You can build it into the kernel, build it as a module and load/unload it when needed, or not build it at all.

  2. Re:Will it perform? by higuita · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They are doing it!

    The vulkan was inspired in the mantle and allows more direct control of the hardware... we already have vulkan out, have initial drivers and developers are starting to play with it.

    OpenGL, they are mostly killing their close source drive and trying to push and improve the open source one. It already faster than the close source one in some games, but it still needs more work (features and performance optimization, like all open drivers)

    Yes, the AMD close source drive is bad, full of bloat and bugs.. they know that and they are fixing it by replacing it with the open source one.
    After the open drive is good enough, the close source one will be used only for those that need certified opengl drivers. AMD already recommends the open drivers for all the R600 cards and most radeonSI cards.

    nvidia is the one that is doing nothing (or almost nothing) to support the open drivers, both intel and AMD have many developers working in the open drivers, with AMD moving developers from the closed driver team to the open source developer team

    Sadly also, nvidia also pushes the game developers to use features that perform well in nvidia, but badly in AMD... and with all the AMD close source driver bugs (and game bugs too), many game developers only test/develop in nvidia, making the AMD cards a lot look worst than they are.
    With the open drivers, game developers will be able to see why the code is performing badly and fix either ends (check the steam comments how the open drivers allowed to debug performance problems in game engines, that helped the games perform better, even in windows)

    So we are all waiting , things are already a lot better than 2 years ago... but AMD IS FIXING THE PROBLEM... not only that, but FIXING IN THE GOOD WAY, with open source drivers.

    --
    Higuita