Linux 6.1 Graphics Driver Work Includes Intel Arc Improvements, New AMD GPU IP Blocks

The Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) / Kernel Mode-Setting (KMS) driver updates have been submitted for the Linux 6.1 merge window. As usual, much of the interesting display/graphics driver work is happening within the open-source Intel and AMD Radeon drivers.

On the Intel i915 driver side there is more enablement work landing for Meteor Lake as the successor to Raptor Lake. Meteor Lake features integrated graphics derived from DG2/Alchemist level capabilities. Meteor Lake enablement on the graphics side remains ongoing but at least should all be settled upstream well before the Meteor Lake CPU launch in H2'2023.

There is also improved GPU firmware handling as part of the Intel changes and continued work on DG2/Alchemist graphics.

There is updated DMC firmware for DG2, preemption workarounds, improved HDMI pixel clock handling, enabling DC5, and a variety of other changes for the new Intel Arc Graphics discrete GPUs. I've already tried out the DRM-Next tree a few days ago with the new Arc Graphics A750 and A770 but didn't find any measurable difference compared to the Linux 6.0 state. See today's Intel Arc Graphics A750/A770 Linux review for more information on these DG2 graphics cards hitting retail channels next week.

On the AMD side there is gang submit support needed for reliable RADV Vulkan mesh shader support, new GPU IP blocks enabled for upcoming GPUs/APUs, new "mode2" reset support for RDNA2, and other low-level improvements. A lot of code churn still around RDNA3 while next month we'll learn how well the next-generation AMD Radeon GPUs can work on the upstream open-source driver.

There isn't any major open-source NVIDIA (Nouveau) driver changes as part of this pull. There are though some panel driver updates, various MSM DRM driver improvements like improved robustness for Qualcomm Adreno 600 series GPU recovery, resolution handling improvements for the ASpeed AST DRM driver, MT8195 DP support within the Mediatek driver, RK3568 support within the Rockchip DRM driver, and other improvements to the smaller display/graphics drivers.

See this pull request for the full list of DRM feature changes with Linux 6.1.