4 ms·

How is GPU support going?

by luke2m 5y ago

Asmod4n 5y ago
„Current dEQP-GLES2 status: 93.8% passing.“ https://twitter.com/alyssarzg/status/1419064274350080003?s=20 https://twitter.com/alyssarzg/status/1419064274350080003?s=2...
- marcan_42 5y ago
  This is on macOS, using the macOS kernel driver with the mesa open source userspace (i.e. not Metal) that Alyssa is working on. It means that right now there is no GPU support on Linux, but once the kernel driver (which is simpler than the userspace part) is written, things will go from nothing to likely able to run a full accelerated desktop in days, since the bulk of the userspace work will already be done. I'm working on the display controller driver first (since it is arguably more complex in interface, but shares concepts, and is also a dependency for "real" GPU acceleration since you need things like vsync/page flipping to do it properly), and once that's able to at least do basic screen bring-up, I'll tackle the GPU side.
simcop2387 5y ago
Not entirely sure myself, but with this I'm sure it'll be easier to reverse engineer and work on. I'm curious how the other periphrial support is still. Looks like some patches needed for at least usb, I winder what else.
- svenpeter 5y ago
  That missing patch is the iommu driver which is currently under review and will hopefully make its way to mainline soon. Once that one is merged there's already another series to enable PCIe (which needs the iommu driver) which gives us more USB ports, ethernet and with another small patch WiFi. There's also a WIP series for NVMe. What's missing are then a few smaller things (i2c, spi, keyboard on the macbooks etc.). And then there are a few bigger tasks left, e.g. thunderbolt support, usb super speed support, support for the secure enclave, and ofc the largest one being the display controller and the GPU. And once that's all done there's the long tail of making this all work nicely (e.g. power management, making the installation as easy as possible, etc.)
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    And sadly that long tail of work will be completed just as the platform is becoming obsolete...
    - freedomben 5y ago
      From what I've been told, full support as it's becoming obsolete is mostly the point. Running Linux on a highly closed and manufacturer hostile system will never be a good experience. Anyone who wants a Linux machine will buy a frame.work, system76, Lenovo or Dell, etc, not an apple. The point of linux support here is to give the device a longer life once apple drops support. In other words, when the hardware is no longer a sufficient apple machine and is more of a toy, at least it will be possible to put something else on it.
      - marcan_42 5y ago
        You've been told wrong; our goal is absolutely to catch up to Apple's hardware cadence and make Linux on Apple Silicon something people want to run as an alternative to macOS, well within the platform's support lifetime.
        freedomben 5y ago
        Interesting, thank you. How realistic do you think that goal is? (Honest question, nothing implied)
        marcan_42 5y ago
        I think it's entirely doable, especially with the interest the platform has. There will always be things macOS does better, but there are also things Linux will do better. Personally, I'll consider the project at success if we can match or exceed the features and stability of an average x86 laptop running Linux, with the performance and power efficiency advantages that Apple Silicon brings, which I think is totally possible.
    - 5y ago
paulmd 5y ago
Surprisingly well, I think. I haven't heard any updates in a couple months (and I don't see it on her blog) but it sounded like Alyssa Rosenzweig had hammered out an early compiler and started working on a graphics driver itself. https://rosenzweig.io/blog/asahi-gpu-part-4.html https://rosenzweig.io/blog/asahi-gpu-part-4.html At the launch there were various pronouncements that "it'll never happen, Apple will have locked it down so hard it'll never go anywhere" and the more optimistic "there should be a start in a couple years" and at this point I wouldn't be surprised if there was something alpha or pre-alpha grade that you can toy around with by the end of the year (my words not hers - I have no relation to any of the Asahi Linux efforts).

How is GPU support going?

by luke2m 5y ago

How is GPU support going?

„Current dEQP-GLES2 status: 93.8% passing.“ https://twitter.com/alyssarzg/status/1419064274350080003?s=20 https://twitter.com/alyssarzg/status/1419064274350080003?s=2...

marcan_42 5y ago
This is on macOS, using the macOS kernel driver with the mesa open source userspace (i.e. not Metal) that Alyssa is working on. It means that right now there is no GPU support on Linux, but once the kernel driver (which is simpler than the userspace part) is written, things will go from nothing to likely able to run a full accelerated desktop in days, since the bulk of the userspace work will already be done. I'm working on the display controller driver first (since it is arguably more complex in interface, but shares concepts, and is also a dependency for "real" GPU acceleration since you need things like vsync/page flipping to do it properly), and once that's able to at least do basic screen bring-up, I'll tackle the GPU side.

simcop2387 5y ago

Not entirely sure myself, but with this I'm sure it'll be easier to reverse engineer and work on. I'm curious how the other periphrial support is still. Looks like some patches needed for at least usb, I winder what else.

svenpeter 5y ago
That missing patch is the iommu driver which is currently under review and will hopefully make its way to mainline soon. Once that one is merged there's already another series to enable PCIe (which needs the iommu driver) which gives us more USB ports, ethernet and with another small patch WiFi. There's also a WIP series for NVMe. What's missing are then a few smaller things (i2c, spi, keyboard on the macbooks etc.). And then there are a few bigger tasks left, e.g. thunderbolt support, usb super speed support, support for the secure enclave, and ofc the largest one being the display controller and the GPU. And once that's all done there's the long tail of making this all work nicely (e.g. power management, making the installation as easy as possible, etc.)
- londons_explore 5y ago
  And sadly that long tail of work will be completed just as the platform is becoming obsolete...
  - freedomben 5y ago
    From what I've been told, full support as it's becoming obsolete is mostly the point. Running Linux on a highly closed and manufacturer hostile system will never be a good experience. Anyone who wants a Linux machine will buy a frame.work, system76, Lenovo or Dell, etc, not an apple. The point of linux support here is to give the device a longer life once apple drops support. In other words, when the hardware is no longer a sufficient apple machine and is more of a toy, at least it will be possible to put something else on it.
    - marcan_42 5y ago
      You've been told wrong; our goal is absolutely to catch up to Apple's hardware cadence and make Linux on Apple Silicon something people want to run as an alternative to macOS, well within the platform's support lifetime.
      - freedomben 5y ago
        Interesting, thank you. How realistic do you think that goal is? (Honest question, nothing implied)
        marcan_42 5y ago
        I think it's entirely doable, especially with the interest the platform has. There will always be things macOS does better, but there are also things Linux will do better. Personally, I'll consider the project at success if we can match or exceed the features and stability of an average x86 laptop running Linux, with the performance and power efficiency advantages that Apple Silicon brings, which I think is totally possible.
  - 5y ago

paulmd 5y ago

Surprisingly well, I think. I haven't heard any updates in a couple months (and I don't see it on her blog) but it sounded like Alyssa Rosenzweig had hammered out an early compiler and started working on a graphics driver itself. https://rosenzweig.io/blog/asahi-gpu-part-4.html https://rosenzweig.io/blog/asahi-gpu-part-4.html At the launch there were various pronouncements that "it'll never happen, Apple will have locked it down so hard it'll never go anywhere" and the more optimistic "there should be a start in a couple years" and at this point I wouldn't be surprised if there was something alpha or pre-alpha grade that you can toy around with by the end of the year (my words not hers - I have no relation to any of the Asahi Linux efforts).