Linux 5.16 To Bring Initial DisplayPort 2.0 Support For AMD Radeon Driver (AMDGPU)

A batch of feature updates was submitted today for DRM-Next of early feature work slated to come to the next version of the Linux kernel.

AMDGPU driver feature work continues accumulating for what will become Linux 5.16 and debut as stable around the start of the new year. Most notable with today's pull request is initial enablement in this open-source AMD Radeon kernel graphics driver around DisplayPort 2.0. Since August we've been reporting on AMDGPU patches for DisplayPort 2.0, particularly around the Ultra High Bit Rate 10 (UHBR 10) support.

Current generation Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards only support DisplayPort 1.4 while this kernel driver work appears to be in preparations for next-generation GPUs that will feature DisplayPort 2.0. With Linux 5.16 there is at least the initial bits in place while further work is expected. Similarly, Intel's open-source driver engineers have also been working on DisplayPort 2.0 Linux support in their driver, so it's looking like 2022 should finally be seeing some good DP 2.0 adoption.

Among the changes in today's AMDGPU pull request for DRM-Next are:

- Initial DisplayPort 2.0 support is now in place.

- Updates to the recently introduced Yellow Carp and Cyan Skillfish graphics support.

- Video Core Next (VCN) priority handling for queues of different priorities/importance.

- DCN 3.1 power saving improvements (DCN 3.1 comes with Yellow Carp / Rembrandt).

- A wide variety of other fixes and code updates, including on the power management / BACO (Bus Active Chip Off) front, RAS, and more.

Most exciting with this pull is the initial DP 2.0 support while the full list of patches can be found via this pull to DRM-Next ahead of the Linux 5.16 merge window opening up in November.