Trying The New AMD GPU-PRO Linux Driver On Ubuntu With Vulkan, OpenCL & OpenGL

[SolidSteel144]

Will the pro stack be able to run on the in-tree AMDGPU kernel driver at some point? Perhaps with 16.04?

[duby229]

Will the pro stack be able to run on the in-tree AMDGPU kernel driver at some point? Perhaps with 16.04?

One guy said it worked fine with a 4.5 kernel. This package was released specifically for Ubuntu with a 4.2 kernel and so it needed a slightly modified kernel driver to include things the 4.2 kernel didn't.

[duby229]

As I don't understand Linux drivers much, I can't really tell myself.

Does the userspace driver just released bring performance up to par with current Catalyst for AMDGPU?

Amdgpu is just the kernel driver that provides hardware support. The GPU Pro userspace includes an OpenGL renderer that is based on the old Catalyst renderer, but they didn't enable profile support in this beta, so it may not.

[bridgman]

Does the userspace driver just released bring performance up to par with current Catalyst for AMDGPU?

It will, although it probably doesn't do it today. This is just an early preview to get the Vulkan driver out in public. It was going to be an internal-only release for testing out the production tools/processes for the hybrid driver but given the timing of the Vulkan NDA lift we decided to make it a public preview release instead.

[CatMerc]

It will, although it probably doesn't do it today. This is just an early preview to get the Vulkan driver out in public. It was going to be an internal-only release for testing out the production tools/processes for the hybrid driver but given the timing of the Vulkan NDA lift we decided to make it a public preview release instead.

And beyond Catalyst? Is OpenGL work still on the table?

I'm looking forward for Polaris, and being a gamer, having good OpenGL performance will make me quite the happy camper.

[andre30correia]

And beyond Catalyst? Is OpenGL work still on the table?

I'm looking forward for Polaris, and being a gamer, having good OpenGL performance will make me quite the happy camper.

if you are a gamer and want to use linux, amd is not a good solution

[duby229]

if you are a gamer and want to use linux, amd is not a good solution

If you're an open source supporter nvidia isn't an option at all. The fact is that AMD's OSS drivers are the very best OSS drivers and do in fact play most games at playable framerates. It certainly is not as fast as nVidia's blob, but it certainly is generally fast enough to game on very well.

[CatMerc]

If you're an open source supporter nvidia isn't an option at all. The fact is that AMD's OSS drivers are the very best OSS drivers and do in fact play most games at playable framerates. It certainly is not as fast as nVidia's blob, but it certainly is generally fast enough to game on very well.

I have no issues with using closed source software, my problem is NVIDIA themselves.

I despise them and their business practices.

[duby229]

I have no issues with using closed source software, my problem is NVIDIA themselves.

I despise them and their business practices.

I only have issues with system level proprietary software. If a software is required for your computer to work, I think it should open source.

[Vyrlokar]

Yep, it's been discussed at great length. There are probably 500+ posts on it just here, where maybe 1/4 of those are from us.

Key points are (a) we started exploratory work on SI support a while back to see how it would go w.r.t. whether doing so would overcomplicate the code base or just make it bigger, (b) we have already discussed switching defaults with the upstream maintainer (airlied) and he is OK in principle as long as it's done with enough testing that existing users don't get broken.

Doesn't radeon also support R600? that would mean that the Radeon kernel driver would only need to stop being the default for SI and later hardware. I am not an expert, but in some cases there have been multiple drivers in the kernel for the same hardware, right?