AMD Lands More Graphics Updates For Linux 6.8: More MI300 & RDNA3 Refresh Work

[Panix]

Wait, Intel offers a GUI for Linux?

This is my opinion; but I feel the reason for an official GUI tool is when you offer proprietary methods to change settings. Going back to my Varibright example above in the Windows ecosystem there isn't the ability for AMD to expose something in the "normal" Windows display settings panel for this AMD specific feature. So the only way to expose it to people is an AMD proprietary tool.

NVIDIA (AFAIK) doesn't offer DRM properties or sysfs for any of their settings. The only way you can change them is their proprietary driver interface.



The expectation from the DRM API is that only the DRM master can use these IOCTLs that will change settings. This is fundamental to the API and I don't see any way it can be changed. So in the typical Linux Wayland desktop this is the role the compositor plays. This is for example why on a GNOME desktop you can only change panel resolutions in GNOME Control Center.



I think it would be really constructive to understand what you want to see in a proposed GUI tool and how you would want to use it.

I'd personally love to see a section in both GNOME and KDE display settings panels for any of the AMD specific settings that are exported as DRM properties. If we can make a case for one setting to show up and let the compositor control it we can work on growing it for others.

Excuses, excuses. Intel just started manufacturing dedicated graphics cards - they were open source first and also I suspect, they'll have a GUI for Linux before AMD does.

AMD benefited from purchasing ATI and having their tech/gpu 'blueprints' - they went on from there - they have open sourced a driver in Linux not out of the 'good of their hearts' but for other reasons.

I keep reading that the latest gen of RDNA 3 gpus don't work in the latest gui programs - these are ppl who don't even have the resources/funds that AMD does - but, they are trying at least.

AMD - for all the 'they support Linux' cheers they get from fanboys seems like they only do it half measures and that's been the situation from day 1.

[Panix]

I don't know about crickets. Every time this comes up, someone from AMD tries to address it.

Let me flip that around, what are these tools missing that an AMD developed tool would add? Not to mention, the problems several people have brought up before, with wayland based compositors, only the compositor has access to the display KMS interfaces, so we would need to work with every compositor out there to integrate a GUI for display handling. It's not really clear what that would add over an above the standard display GUIs provided by the compositors themselves. To actually make use of a lot of the useful hardware features (display overlays and underlays, post processing of application buffers for things like frame insertion or scaling, etc.), you really need to make make major changes to the compositor itself. I guess we could also add a bunch of AMD branding. At that point you basically have to maintain your own compositor. Beyond that, it's basically just a overclocking tool of which there are many already. On top of that, there are kernel rules that you can't add vendor specific display extensions which harkens back to the original problem which is that every compositor that would want to use those extensions would need to add support. The idea is that we can only add a new vendor agnostic extension if you get buy in from both a GPU driver and a compositor, even then, for major new features, you need to build broad industry support. Look at HDR. Even beyond that you get into the philosophical area. If we write it in GTK, someone will complain. If we write it in Qt, someone will complain. If we target KDE or GNOME, someone will complain. Then, as bridgman mentioned, there is the effort. Note that desktop Linux is a really small market. So, yeah, AMD may be a large company, but it's a business, the teams are sized to to deliver the features dictated by the market size. Resources are put on projects that deliver the most revenue for the company.

Perhaps, there needs to be a chat or consensus - involve KDE, Gnome and Wayland - and anyone else - and come up with a 'universal' platform that ppl can agree with - that will work with AMD gpus? There's way too many DEs and compositors out there already - or just pick one - which I suggested in another reply but no one answered that one, of course.

If it's a bad idea or 'I don't know what I am talking about' replies are welcome - but, perceptions are important and significant - and I'm not the only one feeling/thinking this way.

Just thought you guys should know - there's a few discussions around about RDNA 3 cards not working - full features - and if they are power hungry or ppl want to set power limits or undervolt - or control default fans that are loud - it doesn't work on these programs Corectrl, LACT etc. - or missing features - and AMD could help them out if they don't want to create/program their own.