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AMD Releases Open-Source Driver Support For Next-Gen Polaris GPUs (phoronix.com)
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.
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?
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
Windows isn't free.
Linux is free.
If all the games were available for Linux, PC gamers would never have to buy Windows.
well in the past couple weeks, AMD has dropped a whopping 150k lines of code to add to the kernel. the reason it's so obscenely large is it includes duplicate functionality that is already in the kernel and a lot of abstractions. therefore, the code is being worked on to rip out the redundant crap and actually use existing kernel functionality before it's accepted and thusly not making it into 4.6. after it's whittled down to just the code that's actually needed, it can be added to the kernel.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
probably due primarily to their involvement with Microsoft in the original Xbox era.
I doubt very much that Microsoft owns any of the IP relating to the original XBox's 1st-gen nForce chipset or its hybrid GeForce3/4Ti graphics processor. I'd be more likely to suspect SGI patents at stake...
Mantle was performing good on various games and cards... the game engine and the driver and game quality matter a lot... but it was also a experiment, with little tuning, that showed how capable a new layer closer to the hardware could be
By moving the kernel code to open source, they need to support the open driver for the close part also to work. So if they want to sell new cards to linux, video studios, CAD companies and medical equipment, they need to release the open kernel support for the new card before it is released. That will be how all the new AMD cards will work for now on. Mesa support might still be delayed, but unless it is a radically different hardware, most of features should work with a few changed in to the previous card mesa support
They are contractually prevented from publishing GeForce driver information
Bullsh*t! they don't release because they don't wanted to!
AMD released many docs and specs and still hide all the DRM and video extensions, due legal reasons... AMD also is the supplier for all the current consoles and have any problem release the card specs!
Nvidia could release some info... the most important was the hardware reclocking registers... it would be easy for then to release (and they released SOME a several months ago, after YEARS of begging! yet many cards are still missing that info)
They also don't have any problem to release specs for the hardware that will run with android (as they are having problems forcing their drivers on android, they must support open drivers for that hardware to be able to sell)
Right now radeon and radeonSI work well for most games opengl 4.2, as long they don't require features that are still missing). AMDGPU is almost at same level as radeonSI, with just a few bits missing. the new close source driver, based on the AMDGPU kernel support is also working +- at same level as the catalyst driver but with the vulkan part added and still without any optimization work on it.
i can play all my games in my AMD card in linux and i'm using the open drivers. i don't know about you, but this is good enough for me.
Higuita
They are contractually prevented from publishing GeForce driver information
Bullsh*t! they don't release because they don't wanted to!
They have outright said that they cannot release this information because of contractual obligation. They have hinted that it was Xbox-related. We may never actually find out.
They also don't have any problem to release specs for the hardware that will run with android
Yes, that is a wholly separate line from the product line used for the PC, and therefore it is not subject to the same encumbrance.
(as they are having problems forcing their drivers on android, they must support open drivers for that hardware to be able to sell)
What do you mean "forcing their drivers"?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
They are contractually prevented from publishing GeForce driver information, probably due primarily to their involvement with Microsoft in the original Xbox era.
I just want you to know that this is absolute nonsense. It's completely made up (likely by you) and completely untrue.
Also the fact that "mantle never really worked" is horseshit. Tried first hand on the first couple games it came up with, bf4 and thief and it was all it said it was, reducing cpu overhead and pretty much gaining 25%~ more fps thanks to that. Thief was also the first and only game up to now to use amd trueaudio but thats another thing
They did release some info for the geforce, only after many years of begging and after all the benchmark showing nvidia cards in last, using open driver, mostly because it was always running at the lowest speed.. they might have some limitation, but not for everything... yet they don't care
As forcing their drivers, all android devices had closed drivers, but that created the old problems of locking upgrades and stability. new devices should push the drivers to the main kernel and google and many producers refuse now hardware without proper open drivers (already include or with a clean plan to push then). China even refused a large gpu cluster based on nvidia due the closed drivers, going to AMD instead because of the open drivers and the better future support on then. Even with good close source drivers, people don't want then due the long ter support
If you pay top money for a tablet with a nvidia gpu, you want it to work for a long time, for various android versions and the closed drivers for android was causing problems on that. Nvidia was then pushed to open up their new light gpu, to avoid builders to go to cheaper and/or open alternative GPU makers. Nvidia gpu for android is so expensive that they really need to remove all other road blocks.
Even after the nvidia "help" on those cards, most of the work is still done by the independent nouveau team and by the mesa, intel and amd teams (due code sharing). nvidia is still just simply not doing enough!
nvidia owners should all thanks to the nouveau team (and mesa/intel/amd teams). sadly is nvidia that in the end keeps the money for their inactivity.
again, intel and amd are supporting the open drivers, both work well already, with the amd being better performance for obvious reasons. no need for close drivers
Higuita