Intel Linux Graphics Driver Working Towards 5K+ Display Support With VESA DSC

While 4K displays are great for now, 5K displays are on the horizon and Intel is hard at work preparing their open-source Linux graphics driver for supporting 5K displays and beyond.

Critical to supporting next-generation monitors at least with DisplayPort interfaces is being able to accommodate DSC or Display Stream Compression. This display compression spec is said to be good enough for handling up to 8K laptop displays. VESA announced it a few years back while it won't be until Icelake CPUs with Gen 11 graphics before Intel is supporting the tech. Icelake is likely to be out either in late 2019 or early 2020, but the open-source driver crew is already working on the support.

Intel's VESA DSC support is coming together and will be in the mainline Linux kernel with plenty of time before Icelake hardware is shipping (or 5K and greater displays becoming more common).

Manasi Navare of Intel's graphics team talked about Display Stream Compression for their hardware and Linux graphics driver at the XDC2018 conference in Spain. The coverage isn't anything ground-breaking, but if you are interested in display standards you can learn more via the slide deck (PDF).