Linux 4.15 Will Treat The HTC Vive VR Headset As "Non-Desktop"

Currently if plugging in the HTC Vive for a virtual reality experience on Linux, the head-mounted display (HMD) is treated just as a conventional display. But now with a new set of changes for Linux 4.15, the kernel will know it's a "non-desktop" display.

Besides the DRM leasing support that has already landed during the Linux 4.15 merge window with the main DRM pull request, David Airlie has sent in another pull today for further benefiting SteamVR with Linux 4.15. (And among other benefits, also the AMDGPU priority scheduling landed too for 4.15 as another benefit for VR Linux gaming when using AMD graphics.)

This latest VR advancement with Linux 4.15 is adding a new connector property to the DRM infrastructure for "non-desktop displays" or basically outputs that shouldn't be included as a normal desktop environment. The changes also will not enable FBCON for non-desktop displays.

With that infrastructure is in place, it then marks the HTC Vive as the initially supported VR headset on Linux and based upon its EDID data for detection to treat it as it should be for a "non-desktop display."

That small addition is part of this DRM PR along with various other fixes.