Intel Arc Graphics Get Linux Driver Fix To Support HDMI 4K@30

While from the outside it looks like DG2/Alchemist enablement under Linux is starting to settle down with Linux 5.19 beginning to expose compute support for these new Arc Graphics discrete GPUs, beginning to add in production PCI IDs, and other refinements, the enablement battle isn't yet over.

Intel's open-source Linux graphics driver developers remain very active in preparing Alchemist (DG2) discrete GPU support as well as more recently seeing patches around Ponte Vecchio. Linux 5.19 definitely looks to be a solid step forward in the DG2/Alchemist enablement journey but still various patch series remain for solidifying Arc Graphics support on Linux.

The latest patch this week as a reminder of the still active battle for enabling Alchemist (or DG2 as the Intel driver developers still refer to it as) is yet-to-be-merged code needed to be able to use HDMI for 4K output at 30Hz... 4K@30 isn't terribly unique and has been common for some displays for years. With the Linux 5.20 kernel (or if Linus Torvalds renames it then to Linux 6.0) is HDMI 4K@30 support for DG2 graphics.

This patch was posted this week as a fix needed to help support 3840 x 2160 at 30Hz for HDMI monitors with DG2 graphics. That patch has since been picked up by drm-intel-next making it material for the next cycle, Linux 5.20~6.0.

It appears the Arc Graphics discrete graphics cards are still a few months out from release so hopefully the remainder of the open-source Linux driver support gets buttoned up in time and will manage to be in a released kernel in time for the autumn Linux distribution releases. In any event we are rather excited for the long-awaited Intel desktop graphics cards backed by fully open-source drivers.