The DRM Graphics Driver Changes Coming For Linux 4.16

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Kernel on 17 January 2018 at 07:33 AM EST. 4 Comments
LINUX KERNEL
With being past the cutoff of new features to be merged to DRM-Next for targeting the upcoming Linux 4.16 kernel merge window, here is a recap of the prominent changes to the Direct Rendering Manager drivers for this next kernel cycle.

- On the Intel side there is continued Cannonlake "Gen 10" enablement, Cannonlake HDMI 2.0 support, GVT virtualization improvements, GEM proxy support, Geminilake workarounds, and much more.

- Intel changes also include trying to re-enable Fastboot by default for reducing the number of mode-sets when booting up a system.

- On the AMDGPU side there is more AMDGPU DC code upstreamed although it's only enabled by default for Vega/Raven GPUs and newer. Older hardware still needs the amdgpu.dc=1 kernel parameter to activate this new display code stack. A prominent addition to DC for Linux 4.16 is multi-display synchronization support.

- AMDGPU also has ECC support for Vega 10, TTM operation context support, resizable BAR support, scheduler improvements, GPU reset improvements and other improvements. There are also more Raven Ridge improvements.

- More AMDKFD code upstreamed in preparing for HSA / OpenCL ROCm to run off a mainline kernel stack. But for discrete GPUs it's not quite there yet... Crossing fingers it will hit that milestone with Linux 4.17.

- Nouveau changes for the GP108, a.k.a. the GT 1030 with there finally being signed firmware available.

- Tegra186 DRM support is finally presented for the Jetson TX2.

- The Etnaviv DRM driver for reverse-engineered Vivante graphics support include occlusion query buffer support with it being added to their CS validator as well as changes needed for GPU performance profiling support.

- DEVFREQ re-clocking support for the Freedreno MSM DRM driver for Adreno hardware.

Stay tuned for Linux 4.16 kernel benchmarks beginning in the near future.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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