Intel Is Working On A Vulkan Overlay Layer, Inspired By Gallium3D HUD (phoronix.com)

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Intel Is Working On A Vulkan Overlay Layer, Inspired By Gallium3D HUD (phoronix.com)

Posted by msmash on Friday January 25, 2019 @02:00AM from the up-next dept.

Aside from some out-of-tree experiments last year by one of Valve's developers on a RADV Vulkan HUD of similar nature to the popular Gallium HUD option, it turns out an Intel developer has recently been working on a Vulkan overlay layer to provide "Gallium HUD" inspired information. From a report: Lionel Landwerlin is the open-source Intel developer that has begun working on this Intel Vulkan driver "heads-up display" implemented as a Vulkan overlay layer. The code is intended to provide Vulkan swapchain information and various statistics of use to Vulkan driver developers and game developers. The code is under a merge request for Mesa but is considered experimental at this point. Particularly for multi-threaded Vulkan programs it may end up crashing in its current form.

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What? by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 02:05 · Score: 2, Informative

What is Vulkan, what is Valve and what is Gallium3D and what is Mesa? Aside from those questions, I loved the summary.
1. Re:What? by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 02:23 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks. Apparently Intel has diversified their business a lot.
2. Re:What? by DeathToBill · 2019-01-25 02:31 · Score: 1
  
  As far as I can tell, it's a new bit of software for displaying various graphics driver stats overlaid on top of a game's display. Might be useful if you're developing a game or hacking on the graphics driver, so you can see when various stats go crazy. Otherwise, of minimal interest.
  The article has a screenshot that shows pretty much what this is. But reads TFA?
  
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3. Re:What? by Nidi62 · 2019-01-25 02:31 · Score: 1
  
  Glad to help
  
  --
  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
4. Re:What? by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 02:33 · Score: 1
  
  All I could gather was that Lionel Landwerlin has some bugs in his multithreading code.
5. Re: What? by jellomizer · 2019-01-25 02:35 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  No we shouldn't
  A summary of a technology event, should give at least a cursory explanation of a product. In technology brand names and product code names are often used over and over again and dealing with different technologies.
  Vulkan the god of volcanos, Gallium a medal with a low melting point, and Valve often to use to control the flow of liquids.
  I am guessing this is a new 3D Printer that prints high resolution metal Jar-jar Binks (Mesa) which will melt if you touch it. And its heat source is super heated stone.
  
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  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
6. Re:What? by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 02:35 · Score: 1
  
  Ah, we just found the submitter.
7. Re:What? by jellomizer · 2019-01-25 02:37 · Score: 1
  
  And they probably think really high about themselves.
  
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  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
8. Re:What? by turp182 · 2019-01-25 03:30 · Score: 1
  
  Vulkan is a species, Spock from Start Trek is the most famous example.
  Valve is a video game maker and market provider.
  Gallium is an element (Ga) and Gallium3D is a non-flat piece of it (say a chunk or block).
  Mesa is a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
  In those contexts, the summary is a pretty wild ride of incomprehensible gibberish.
  
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  BlameBillCosby.com
9. Re: What? by MachineShedFred · 2019-01-25 03:49 · Score: 1
  
  GP is usually an asshole, but he's exactly right in this case. Good journalism (not that Slashdot could really be mistaken for that in any time in the last 5+ years) is not assuming a level of knowledge of the reader and giving a brief synopsis of what in the bloody fuck you're even talking about.
  I know this has something to do with 3D rendering, but I couldn't tell you any more than that.
  What the hell is being accomplished here?
  Why does the world need it?
  The writer is comparing this new effort to some other shit that is completely unexplained. Explain what a "Gallium HUD" is, as those two terms being paired make no sense unless you already know what a "Gallium HUD" is.
  I read that summary 3 times trying to comprehend. I understand some of the terms, but there's no context or even remedial explanation of anything at all.
  
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10. Re:What? by UnknownSoldier · 2019-01-25 03:59 · Score: 1
  
  Valve = game developer and publisher
  Vulkan = modern designed graphics API (In contrast to Open GL)
  Mesa = open source implementation of Open GL
  Gallium3D = new architecture for building 3D graphics drivers.
  OT: Fucking /. editors have always been lazy. Apparently it is too much work to do more then copy-paste (and somehow they even manage to screw THAT UP!)
11. Re:What? by MachineShedFred · 2019-01-25 04:02 · Score: 1
  
  Have no idea why this wasn't in the summary.
  
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12. Re:What? by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 04:27 · Score: 1
  
  Not sure. What is Valve? The games company?
13. Re: What? by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  I'm new here and I haven't seen any stories about Valve or Vulkan. How would I know?
14. Re:What? by SirSlud · 2019-01-25 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  Well obviously the editors are not going to be experts in every subject, now should they be expected to heavily edit every contribution, so what's so wrong about a site in which if some people have a question, they can ask, and it gets answered?
  The notion that this entire pattern of bitching and moaning about "lousy" summaries, "terrible" editing wasn't daily in the earliest days of /. is romantic rose coloured glasses bullshit. If people have questions, some people ask those questions, some people answer those questions, and some people whine and complain and falsely claim that things used to be so much better in some sorry attempt at seeming senior. Nothing is new, there were whiny dipshits back then and there are whiny dipshits today.
  
  --
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15. Re:What? by TechyImmigrant · 2019-01-25 04:44 · Score: 1
  
  Go to an intel fab - you will see many valves.
  
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16. Re: What? by Waffle+Iron · 2019-01-25 05:03 · Score: 1
  
  No, you're considered an asshole because of your MO of making trollish posts followed by a bunch of passive-aggressive sidestepping responses to anyone who comments on them.
17. Re: What? by butzwonker · 2019-01-25 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  Nope. You're really just an asshole.
18. Re: What? by jellomizer · 2019-01-25 05:36 · Score: 1
  
  Could you explain quite common?
  I did a search beside the Wine 4.0 the previous direct discussion of Vulkan was about a year ago. Many of the topics these topics seemed to be a secondary feature, to the main article.
  Then we have context, We are talking about Intel the Chip Maker, Valve and Steam are game makers, so this throws our ability to have the correct context is off.
  It would be like a story "Apple give a major upgrade to emacs"
  Are they talking about their old Mac Platform that they use to sell to education market, or they decided to upgrade the open source text editor.
  Context is key.
  
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  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
19. Re: What? by thegarbz · 2019-01-25 05:52 · Score: 1
  
  I did a search beside the Wine 4.0 the previous direct discussion of Vulkan was about a year ago.
  You mean 2 days ago? We've only had 3 stories in the past year with Vulkan in the title let alone being mentioned in TFS so I can understand how you may have missed it. /sarcasm.
  To say nothing of the 20 or so articles about Vulkan 3 years ago when it was released.
  
  We are talking about Intel the Chip Maker
  We are talking about "overlays" and "HUDs". How a chip maker confused the issue for you is baffling to me.
  
  It would be like a story "Apple give a major upgrade to emacs"
  No it wouldn't because there would be ambiguity. There is no ambiguity for Vulkan. The only other reference to it has zero to do with technology. Interestingly you got the Valve reference alright (software company), despite it's ambiguity. Why do you think that is?
  The only thing that needs to be defined here is what the hell Gallium3D is, not the major 3D API discussed over and over again in the past.
20. Re: What? by thegarbz · 2019-01-25 05:53 · Score: 1
  
  I'm new here and I haven't seen any stories about Valve or Vulkan. How would I know?
  You wouldn't. But then if you were actually new here maybe not understanding the references to something often talked about in a forum of your interest is a good indication that this site just may not be for you.
I hear Google is pretty handy by sjbe · 2019-01-25 02:18 · Score: 1

What is Vulkan, what is Valve and what is Gallium3D and what is Mesa? Aside from those questions, I loved the summary.
There is this website called Google. It's really handy for finding out answers to questions like this. Maybe give it a try sometime.
1. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  Oh I see. I just did it. Apparently Vulkan is a manufacturer of rubber products. Valve is something used to adjust waterflow. Gallium3D is a new chip layering technique and Mesa is a city in Arizona. So apparently Intel is creating valves with rubber membranes on their new chips for watercooling in Arizona? Couldn't you have just put that in the summary? After all, you submitted this, right?
2. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by religionofpeas · 2019-01-25 02:28 · Score: 1
  
  There is only one writer, and thousands of readers, so it's better if the writer spends 5 extra minutes for some descriptions, rather than each of the readers figuring it out individually.
3. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by Ol+Olsoc · 2019-01-25 02:31 · Score: 1
  
  What is Vulkan, what is Valve and what is Gallium3D and what is Mesa? Aside from those questions, I loved the summary.
  There is this website called Google. It's really handy for finding out answers to questions like this. Maybe give it a try sometime.
  You do have to admit that the summary reads like gobbledygook for anyone not closely acquainted with what it was talking about. Almost like one of those management buzzword generators. "synergistically develop timely "outside the box" thinking" comes to mind. https://www.atrixnet.com/bs-ge...
  
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4. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by Nidi62 · 2019-01-25 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  Oh I see. I just did it. Apparently Vulkan is a manufacturer of rubber products. Valve is something used to adjust waterflow. Gallium3D is a new chip layering technique and Mesa is a city in Arizona. So apparently Intel is creating valves with rubber membranes on their new chips for watercooling in Arizona? Couldn't you have just put that in the summary? After all, you submitted this, right?
  Don't forget that it is also apparently a government contract doing work for the department of Housing and Urban Development.
  
  --
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5. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by drinkypoo · 2019-01-25 03:09 · Score: 1
  
  There is only one writer, and thousands of readers, so it's better if the writer spends 5 extra minutes for some descriptions, rather than each of the readers figuring it out individually.
  If they are Slashdot readers, they shouldn't have to figure anything out, except maybe Gallium. All of those other things are very well-known. Explaining every term would be a waste of time. If you're smart, you'll figure it out. If not, you can go ahead and whine.
  
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6. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by MachineShedFred · 2019-01-25 03:58 · Score: 1
  
  I have a problem with the assumptions that you are making. Slashdot has readers from many different fields of science and engineering, and not all of them are going to be deep-knowledge experts in every single subject that gets posted to Slashdot.
  Not even yourself.
  A little explanation takes the author (or the fucking editor who should know this) takes almost no time, and would make the barrier to entry much lower on understanding the subject being talked about, and even be able to intelligently discuss in the comments, generating more content for the site.
  Instead we get 20 comments wondering what the bleeding hell this is even about, and 40 more of people either backing up that assertion, or telling people "just go google it" as if the burden is on hundreds of readers to figure out what the bleeding hell this article should be saying from one bad summary.
  Here's a hint - the googling won't happen. The hundreds of readers will simply scroll on to something better written, probably on Reddit.
  
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7. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by drinkypoo · 2019-01-25 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  I have a problem with the assumptions that you are making. Slashdot has readers from many different fields of science and engineering, and not all of them are going to be deep-knowledge experts in every single subject that gets posted to Slashdot.
  Not even yourself.
  When I look for information on things I don't know about, I learn. I don't claim to be an expert. I claim to be able to learn.
  
  Here's a hint - the googling won't happen. The hundreds of readers will simply scroll on to something better written, probably on Reddit.
  Good. Lucky for them there's no door to hit their ass on the way out.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
8. Re:I hear Google is pretty handy by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 04:30 · Score: 1
  
  The idea is to provide a summary so people can decide if it is worth googling about or learn about. That is how normal non-autistic humans communicate.
Re:This is... by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 02:24 · Score: 1

This is more exciting. Apparently it has bugs in it because it keeps crashing.
For those who don't know... by Gravis+Zero · 2019-01-25 02:32 · Score: 2

They are describing an option to toggle onscreen display that shows information about the graphics card while it's running a game. Mesa is a graphics library and it's homogenized computing (Vulkan) driver is known as Gallium3D. This is an example of the HUD option that Intel is working on replicating.

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1. Re:For those who don't know... by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 02:36 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  If you ever need a job you can always work at Slashdot.
2. Re:For those who don't know... by MachineShedFred · 2019-01-25 04:12 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not sure if it's a commentary on the story subject matter, or on the state of Slashdot story summary writing, but the entire conversation here is about trying to decipher what the fuck the summary actually said, and not about the actual story.
  In three sentences that should have been in the summary, you made the entire discussion redundant. You're a conversation killer!
  
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3. Re:For those who don't know... by Fly+Swatter · 2019-01-25 07:29 · Score: 1
  
  You gave a nice description, but I am sure my fellow readers are dying to know what a swapchain is. I hope it isn't some shamefully stolen buzzword from those blockheads.
4. Re:For those who don't know... by AHuxley · 2019-01-25 10:06 · Score: 1
  
  The new GPU hardware will help with that.
  
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Comment removed by account_deleted · 2019-01-25 03:14 · Score: 1

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Re:You must be a windows or mac user. by MachineShedFred · 2019-01-25 04:07 · Score: 1

I am a Linux user. Every day.
I still didn't have a fucking clue what that summary was on about.
By the way, if you feel that one has to know all that shit to be a Linux user, then desktop Linux has failed horribly.

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Re:You must be a windows or mac user. by 110010001000 · 2019-01-25 04:26 · Score: 1

I've never heard of any of that and I use Linux every day. It seems to be used for games.
Comment removed by account_deleted · 2019-01-25 05:04 · Score: 1

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Re:You must be a windows or mac user. by AHuxley · 2019-01-25 10:05 · Score: 1

Intel is getting back into the consumer GPU chip side of computing.
First they need to get the OS/software side ready.
Then the new GPU hardware will be ready.

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Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"