The VKMS Display Driver Continues Evolving Nicely For Headless Linux Systems

The VKMS driver as a virtual kernel mode-setting solution as a software-only implementation of KMS for use with primarily headless Linux systems continues tacking on more features. Maíra Canal and Melissa Wen presented last week at XDC 2023 on the VKMS driver that continues proving very useful for headless platforms as well as for testing purposes.

Recently the VKMS driver has seen more work to significantly improve the performance of this software-only driver while also reducing RAM use, support was added for multiple overlay planes, support for additional formats were added, plane rotation is now possible, and 1D gamma LUT handling.

Some of the work still happening to VKMS includes dealing with synchronization issues, implementing blend mode properties, more virtual hardware support, supporting more multi-planar formats, enabling support for multiple CRTCs, and extending the color management capabilities.

Those wishing to learn more about the VKMS DRM driver can find the XDC 2023 presentation embedded below along with this slide deck.