A Control Panel / UI For Intel's Linux Graphics Drivers Is Still Under Evaluation

[phoronix]

Phoronix: A Control Panel / UI For Intel's Linux Graphics Drivers Is Still Under Evaluation

At the end of last year we reported on the possibility of an Intel Command Center / graphics driver control panel for Linux but not set in stone. The latest to report on the matter of an Intel Linux graphics GUI solution is that it's still being evaluated by the company...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Graphics-Panel-2021

[uid313]

Coming from Windows to Linux it was a relief to not have all these big, bloated, heavy control panels. On Windows I would install a device driver and it would be a gigabyte big and come with control panels that autostart on startup, that resides in the systray, that gets added to context menus when I right-click on the desktop. It was terrible!

What a relief that Linux so far has been free from these big, bloated drivers with ugly control panels. These control panels are often really ugly too!

[mroche]

On the flip side, you now need each DE to create their own integrated settings panel, with varying features to offer similar functions. Most people aren't going to be desiring to learn the command line utilities/processes to configure such things. People do like to point and click, it's just the average behavior. Having a central, consistent (and preferably open-source) authority on that makes it a bit easier.

Not advocating for it, just offering another perspective. The Windows integrations that went further than just the application were a pain.

Cheers,
Mike

[Kemosabe]

On the flip side, you now need each DE to create their own integrated settings panel, with varying features to offer similar functions. Most people aren't going to be desiring to learn the command line utilities/processes to configure such things. People do like to point and click, it's just the average behavior. Having a central, consistent (and preferably open-source) authority on that makes it a bit easier.

Not advocating for it, just offering another perspective. The Windows integrations that went further than just the application were a pain.

Cheers,
Mike

What function is actually required or desired there? An "Information Center"? lol

[miskol]

New intel Graphics command center is nicer that old one from article.

[V1tol]

What function is actually required or desired there? An "Information Center"? lol

Why not? That would be great to have GPU name, memory size, available ports, OpenGL/Vulkan versions/extensions support, video encoding/decoding acceleration all in one place. Not saying about some specific configuration options - enabling modesetting, DRI version etc. Currently to get this info you have to call terminal commands which I have to google each time (I'm not doing this often but when I do - it is crucial for my work).

[juxuanu]

If they wanted the DEs to integrate these functions, they could develop a small binary to use as an intermediate layer between the GUI tool and the sysfs entries. This design is extensible by the community and easier to maintain.

[schmidtbag]

I don't have a Twitter account but I'd vote "indifferent", while leaning slightly toward "no". A definite "no" if it's always packaged with the drivers. Unless there are some Intel-only features that can be toggled in a user-friendly way, I just don't see a point. Things like reclocking, power profiles, color profiles, temperature monitoring, and display settings can/should be done through generic tools. So... if Intel wants to create a platform-agnostic GUI tool for GPUs, then I'd resoundingly say "yes".

Coming from Windows to Linux it was a relief to not have all these big, bloated, heavy control panels. On Windows I would install a device driver and it would be a gigabyte big and come with control panels that autostart on startup, that resides in the systray, that gets added to context menus when I right-click on the desktop. It was terrible!

What a relief that Linux so far has been free from these big, bloated drivers with ugly control panels. These control panels are often really ugly too!

I strongly agree.
Here comes the people saying "I've got 32GB of RAM and 8TB of space, might as well use it!"

[cb88]

good grief just make the a single all encompassing control panel for Linux with XML or JSON talking to a lightweight manager daemon or something and each vendor can have thier own daemon and a unified control panel for all GPUs and accelerators.

[Vistaus]

Why not? That would be great to have GPU name, memory size, available ports, OpenGL/Vulkan versions/extensions support, video encoding/decoding acceleration all in one place. Not saying about some specific configuration options - enabling modesetting, DRI version etc. Currently to get this info you have to call terminal commands which I have to google each time (I'm not doing this often but when I do - it is crucial for my work).

There are already apps that show that, like Deepin Device Manager, for example.