DragonFlyBSD Updates Its Intel + Radeon Linux-Ported Graphics Driver Code

DragonFlyBSD developer François Tigeot continues his trek of near single-handedly porting the Intel and Radeon DRM graphics driver code from the Linux kernel to this BSD.

For years now Tigeot has been working on bringing the Direct Rendering Manager code from the Linux kernel to that of the DragonFlyBSD kernel and all the headaches involved from interface differences to porting other Linux kernel bits where needed.

As of this weekend the code is now up to a state matching Linux 4.12.14. Yes, still quite old with Linux 5.8 around the corner, but at least progress is being made and it's better than in the past or where there was no driver support previously.

In re-basing the core DRM code and the Intel i915 and Radeon DRM drivers against the Linux 4.12.14 state, there is now initial support for Intel Gemini Lake, a variety of improvements and fixes for hardware ranging from Haswell to Kabylake, and a variety of other fixes. On the Radeon front the updates to this aging kernel branch mostly involve bug fixes.

This updated graphics driver code is currently in DragonFlyBSD Git ahead of the next release for this popular BSD operating system.