STI DRM Improvements Coming For Linux 3.19

Beyond the DRM graphics improvements for Linux 3.19 affecting the most common kernel graphics drivers, the STI driver will too see improvements for this next kernel version.

The STI DRM driver provides support for some STMicroelectronics chipsets and was originally merged for Linux 3.17. With Linux 3.19, there's some new functionality being added.

Among the STI DRM improvements in Linux 3.19 are adding support for the cursor plane and HQVDP plane. The hardware cursor plane is found on the STIH407 SoC. The HQVDP plane is short for the High Quality Video Data Plane and is for hardware dedicated to video rendering. Compared to the normal STI graphics planes, the HQVDP plane boasts better scalar capabilities.

There's also HDMI improvements and prep work for other functionality. More details on the STI DRM improvements for Linux 3.19 via this drm-next Git merge.