More AMDGPU Work For Linux 4.19 Has VCN + PSP Firmware Hookup For Future Hardware

[phoronix]

Phoronix: More AMDGPU Work For Linux 4.19 Has VCN + PSP Firmware Hookup For Future Hardware

The good news is that the open-source AMD graphics team continues working on support for upcoming hardware, but the bad news is that it looks like their VCN video hardware might be a bit more locked down than it is now...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-VCN-PSP-Firmware

[Guest]

Fucking DRM. Wasn't this something AMD cited as a blicker for supporting video decode on Linux open source drivers long ago?

And now, by tying the two together, it's goi

[Holograph]

PSP is an AMD CPU thing, right? Perhaps this means one should run Intel CPU + AMD GPU or AMD CPU + Nvidia GPU only? Hmm.

[Michael]

PSP is an AMD CPU thing, right? Perhaps this means one should run Intel CPU + AMD GPU or AMD CPU + Nvidia GPU only? Hmm.

There is a "PSP" on the GPU - https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...ty-HDCP-Branch

[Hibbelharry]

PSP is an AMD CPU thing, right? Perhaps this means one should run Intel CPU + AMD GPU or AMD CPU + Nvidia GPU only? Hmm.

That's wrong. There is something similar to the one in CPUs embedded in current GPUs.

Fucking DRM. Wasn't this something AMD cited as a blicker for supporting video decode on Linux open source drivers long ago?

This is not exactly the same as far as i understand. DRM surely is an issue here, and I think some fear that someone can change the VCN firmware to stop respecting DRM constraints, so we'll get some kind of firmware signage and trust model around it. You just can't throw anything unsigned at the GPU to be loaded as VCN firmware anymore.

That's surely taking away freedom from the users, but did anyone mod the videodecoder firmware up to now? And did anyone do that with goodwill to change something to the better?

On the other hand: If we get a working drm chain in Linux, we might get more freedom to play any media from any restricted/paywalled Contentsource.

From my users perspective i think this is kind of a tradeoff and difficult to judge.

[Brisse]

Thx Netflix! </s>

[R41N3R]

The next piece that restricts the users and nobody can audit. It's sad to see always more blobs added. AMD is just following this route like Intel. And I'm quite unhappy about the security flaws that have been caused by firmware lately.

[Peter Fodrek]

Maybe my ideas of CPUless PCs or Operating system for boot to GPU, and GPU only computing form year of 2011 become truth,yet

[Djhg2000]

It might not follow the popular opinion, but I'm happy we're getting more code talking to the PSP. The more code we have, the more material we have to reverse engineer if we want to create an open source replacement for the firmware.

[Adarion]

I has usually been intel who was driving DRM in video/GPUs forward. Most of DRM "standards" are based on intel's work. I guess they also jumped in bed with Netflix for this "4k premium" content; their APUs were the first that would even play that shit, NV and AMD followed much later, had to incorporate all sorts of hardware DRM first. It sucks.
It's sad that AMD has to jump the bandwagon, otherwise it's likely that Netflix won't play on their GPUs/APUs and normal users won't get it and just scream at the GPU vendor that their crap from Netflix won't work instead of blaming Netflix and the movie industry.