A Lot More Code Pushed Out For Intel's New Iris Gallium3D Linux Graphics Driver

[phoronix]

Phoronix: A Lot More Code Pushed Out For Intel's New Iris Gallium3D Linux Graphics Driver

Last month we were the first to point out that Intel is developing a new Gallium3D graphics driver for their recent generations of HD/UHD Graphics and presumably moving forward with their discrete GPU solutions coming out in 2020. This new Intel Gallium3D driver called "Iris" continues making progress though isn't yet ready for end-users...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Iris-Gallium3D-More-Code

[cybertraveler]

This is all so exciting! There are so many companies building into and ontop of GNU/Linux now.

Almost everything that needs to be done to make GNU/Linux a viable gaming platform is being done.

I've also never seen such negative sentiment towards desktop WIndows before. This is the worst it has ever been. This is also coupled with the fact that people are becoming less and less dependent on the specific OS they use, because so many apps are cross platform now and so much of what people do is done in the browser.

10 years from now it's possible that a huge portion of the PC gaming market could be ontop of GNU/Linux.

If just 20% of the gaming market was on GNU/Linux, imagine the momentum that would build.

[riklaunim]

10 years from now it's possible that a huge portion of the PC gaming market could be ontop of GNU/Linux.

It will not happen unless leading consoles decide that their new OS will use Linux kernel - but that won't be Linux as you know it. Linux as a classical desktop isn't a gaming platform nor a real consumer system and as you can see on like Steam OS surveys is pretty much non-existent. Myself as a Linux user would say that Linux desktop isn't really appealing right now. I got tired of regressions and reinventing over the years that I can understand why Linux desktop is far from any consumer level product.

[cybertraveler]

It will not happen unless leading consoles decide that their new OS will use Linux kernel ...

Read the text I quoted. I explicitly referenced the "PC gaming market". I made no comment about the console gaming market (a related but separate market).

Myself as a Linux user would say that Linux desktop isn't really appealing right now. I got tired of regressions and reinventing over the years that I can understand why Linux desktop is far from any consumer level product.

What are you?

You use Linux but don't find the "Linux desktop" appealing?

Firstly: there isn't really such a thing as the "Linux desktop". We're using a system which is a direct result of Stallman's effort to create a fully free OS. It's the GNU system and it usually uses this Linux kernel. There are also multiple desktop environments to choose from.

So maybe you meant to say something like: "I don't find the <Distro> GNU/Linux <desktop> appealing"

I find it hard to imagine how your comments could be genuine.

GNU/Linux is a huge ecosystem full of choice and with different distros and desktops to cater to the needs of all different types of people.

I'm a GNU/Linux user and I F**KING LOVE GNU/Linux. I made the permanent switch to it probably a decade ago now and as time passes the alternatives (like Windows) only become less and less attractive to me.

[starshipeleven]

I got tired of regressions and reinventing over the years that I can understand why Linux desktop is far from any consumer level product.

To be fair, Windows had its fair share of regressions and reinventing, also massive smoking trainwrecks.

Really, what makes a "consumer level product" is just the willingness to ship devices with it preinstalled.

[starshipeleven]

10 years from now it's possible that a huge portion of the PC gaming market could be ontop of GNU/Linux.

On top of Steam/Linux you mean.

And by "Steam" I mean Ubuntu 12.04 or whatever ancient Ubuntu they are using for the game runtime.

The big change will happen when games start being packaged with Flatpack, and so far I've yet to see that happening.

[riklaunim]

To be fair, Windows had its fair share of regressions and reinventing, also massive smoking trainwrecks.

Really, what makes a "consumer level product" is just the willingness to ship devices with it preinstalled.

As any project they make mistakes, but in this case there is a lot of responsibilities. Microsoft must make money, they products must sell and thus they have to provide what customers want to buy and use. "Free as a beer" software doesn't have to do that. It can but there aren't any obligations. And with current, quite good MS management I find W10 to be a great product. With the rise of docker and other tools I could easily move my development setup from desktop Linux to Windows (with thin layer of VM to run docker and so on). When I started using Linux I used a lot of KDE3 apps. Right now I pretty much don't use any non cross-OS application. I had to stop using many apps either due to them being abandoned or replaced with a "new app" that regress functionality or just removes it.

[Panda_Wrist]

With this new driver being called "Iris", one would think support for it would go back to Gen 7.5 gpu's. You know the generation that they introduced Iris and Iris Pro graphics. Maybe support will get added in the future, but for now my I7-4770R with Iris Pro 5200 Graphics is a little sad.

[starshipeleven]

As any project they make mistakes, but in this case there is a lot of responsibilities. Microsoft must make money, they products must sell and thus they have to provide what customers want to buy and use.

FYI I didn't chose Windows randomly.

I chose it because it's also a case of "anything goes" because what makes them sell or not sell is not intrinsic qualities of Windows itself. The overwhelming majority of people don't buy a new PC or (gosh!) a new Windows license because they think it's worth to upgrade to the latest and greatest. That's a tiny minority of power users and the "PC master race" gamers which are not really a large amount compared the total of PCs around.

People just buy a new PC when the old one is too weak to run their applications, and when they buy a new one they get whatever crap is on the new PC.

Also true for Android, or Apple stuff, or anything else really.

[cybertraveler]

On top of Steam/Linux you mean.

No. However, Steam is likely going to be part of any big move towards gaming on GNU/Linux at least.

And by "Steam" I mean Ubuntu 12.04 or whatever ancient Ubuntu they are using for the game runtime.

What's your point?

The big change will happen when games start being packaged with Flatpack, and so far I've yet to see that happening.

Flatpak is laying the foundation for a cross-distro, secure packaging format. This is huge. Providing the technology works as advertised it's obvious that engine makers, software distributors and game devs are going to examine Flatpak as an option. I expect many of them will add support. It will take time.

Flatpak only hit 1.0 very recently. You have to build the new thing before you can expect people to use the new thing. It can't happen the other way around.

How awesome would it be if from Unity, Godot and other similar frameworks, you could click "Export GNU/Linux Flatpak" and be given a package that will work on most of the popular distros. There's no way I'm the only one thinking about this. They will at least consider it.