AMD Prepares USB-C Linux Driver Support For Radeon Graphics Cards

With some Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards sporting a USB-C interface for USB-C monitors or VR headsets, AMD has been working on the open-source Linux driver support for this interface.

Similar to NVIDIA cards supporting "VirtualLink" and the USB Type-C driver they worked on as a result (though NVIDIA dropped this interface for Ampere GPUs), AMD is working through the same path now in their Linux driver support.

The USB Type-C controller found on the latest AMD Navi GPUs is accessible via I2C and is based on DesignWare IP.

This Radeon RX 6000 series USB-C support ends up extending the Linux kernel's existing i2c-designware PCI driver with some 200 lines of code for getting the USB-C interface on these graphics cards working.

The code is currently on the kernel mailing list while could land as soon as the 5.13 cycle if all goes well.