Intel Linux Driver Adds New DG2 "G12" Graphics Variant

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel Linux Driver Adds New DG2 "G12" Graphics Variant

To date the Intel Linux graphics driver has supported Intel's DG2 "Alchemist" G10 and G11 sub-platforms/variants as the main designs to this point. However, at the end of last year we began seeing "G12" references surface in their compute stack and now the Intel open-source Linux kernel driver is formally preparing the DG2-G12 variant support...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-DG2-G12-Linux

[ehansin]

I get so confused by the driver names sometimes. How does the Intel i915 driver compare to Intel Iris? I thought the later one was the newest. Is one more of some core kernel module, the other some user space implementation of something? Meaning, both are needed, but used in different contexts. The there is Intel i965 - I get so confused!!

[Michael]

I get so confused by the driver names sometimes. How does the Intel i915 driver compare to Intel Iris? I thought the later one was the newest. Is one more of some core kernel module, the other some user space implementation of something? Meaning, both are needed, but used in different contexts. The there is Intel i965 - I get so confused!!

i915 is their kernel (DRM) driver. Iris is their modern Gallium3D OpenGL driver in user-space, which replaced their former Mesa classic driver called i965.

[ehansin]

i915 is their kernel (DRM) driver. Iris is their modern Gallium3D OpenGL driver in user-space, which replaced their former Mesa classic driver called i965.

Thank you for this, I think I understand well enough. I get further confused about what drivers are needed for X, what are needed for just pure Wayland, etc. But this is helpful. My head spins a little sometimes. I know a little, but I am not an expert by any stretch

[jo-erlend]

Does anyone know if DG2 supports GVT?

[Clive McCarthy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by Intel's GPU naming and numbers. First a thing is called "Arctic Sound", then back to Iris, the Iris pro, Xe and now ARC. But the package I just got with a NUC11PAHi7 says iRISXe and the OpenGL string says Xe Graphics (TGL GT2) a reference to Tiger Lake, another silly code name. I have no idea what the GT2 could mean since a old Iris Plus 655 is a GT3e ! Things got out of hand after the HD6000 when suddenly Intel decided to decimate the number (not the correct use of decimate).

I just ran glmark2 on an i5-8259U Iris Plus 655 and the Xe GPU on a i7-1165G7. It may not be the most accurate benchmark but the Iris Plus 655 is faster.

I hope Gelsinger makes his folks to go back to basics and name products like 86486.