Mediatek Posts 8k Lines Of New Linux Kernel Driver Code For AI Processing Unit Support

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Mediatek Posts 8k Lines Of New Linux Kernel Driver Code For AI Processing Unit Support

For a number of months Mediatek engineers have been posting some Linux kernel driver code for bringing up the AI Processing Unit (APU) within the MT8192 SoC while out this weekend is the complete patch series at more than eight thousand lines of code...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Mediatek-MT8192-APU-Driver

[brucethemoose]

Interesting. Is this something that Tensorflow (for instance) could eventually support, to the point where once could just fire up an existing TF project with minor changes to the code? Or is it something that will have to be very specifically targeted?

[RedEyed]

Interesting. Is this something that Tensorflow (for instance) could eventually support, to the point where once could just fire up an existing TF project with minor changes to the code? Or is it something that will have to be very specifically targeted?

It should be already supported in Android via NNAPI

[coder]

This would start to make the prospect of running Linux on them very appealing. We need these SoCs on a SBC or in a NUC-type mini desktop chassis!

[RedEyed]

> 2.4 TOPs
what kind of TOPS? int8/16/32/64 or float8/16/32/64 ?

[Vistaus]

Yet people keep saying MediaTek never shares driver code………

[stormcrow]

> 2.4 TOPs
what kind of TOPS? int8/16/32/64 or float8/16/32/64 ?

Take any such statistic with a grain of salt. MediaTek is one of the companies known to cheat on benchmarks. In fact, MediaTek is so awful they provide it as a service to their partners. https://www.anandtech.com/show/15703...ating-mediatek

[RedEyed]

Take any such statistic with a grain of salt. MediaTek is one of the companies known to cheat on benchmarks. In fact, MediaTek is so awful they provide it as a service to their partners. https://www.anandtech.com/show/15703...ating-mediatek

> Take any such statistic with a grain of salt
That's what I'm doing...

[mangeek]

APUs are a mystery to me. Are there benefits to general purpose computing? For instance, in gaming or image processing? Will we see APU-accelerated builds of ImageMagick or Pillow, or will the functionality be exposed in ways where a library chooses to use an APU instead of the CPU?

[MadeUpName]

APUs are a mystery to me. Are there benefits to general purpose computing? For instance, in gaming or image processing? Will we see APU-accelerated builds of ImageMagick or Pillow, or will the functionality be exposed in ways where a library chooses to use an APU instead of the CPU?

APU is just a GPU and graphics together like you see in most laptops. Are there benefits to this approach? Yes because it becomes easier for the CPU & GPU to share memory and move data between them. The performance of Apples M1 is partially attributable to how integrated every thing is. APUs are the future as AMD has stated that their GPUs at least for desktops will all have integrated graphics starting I think late next year. Intel has already started moving in that direction.