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On the desktop front, I've been hearing about virtualizing windows on Linux with a framebuffer that maps directly to the GPU. Then you get to keep something lik

by tomc1985 5y ago

On the desktop front, I've been hearing about virtualizing windows on Linux with a framebuffer that maps directly to the GPU. Then you get to keep something like 95% performance. I forget what it's called, but I remember seeing a subreddit for it. FBIO?

_sigma 5y ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/VFIO/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VFIO/
brundolf 5y ago
I wasn't talking about performance, I was talking about compatibility with games. Sorry if that wasn't clear; I've edited. Valve has been doing amazing things in this space, but for now my understanding is that it's more of a "most games will work pretty well" scenario, which is not really what I want for my primary games machine.
- tomc1985 5y ago
  Well thats the perk, you get games compatibility. Windows runs in a window with direct access to the GPU. I primary Windows because of games and music software, and I'm looking forward to trying it out. As another comment points out, its called VFIO. From that subreddit: "VFIO stands for Virtual Function I/O. VFIO is a device driver that is used to assign devices to virtual machines. One of the most common uses of vfio is setting up a virtual machine with full access to a dedicated GPU. This enables near-bare-metal gaming performance in a Windows VM, offering a great alternative to dual-booting"
  - OJFord 5y ago
    That seems to imply that it can use the same GPU as the host? I thought a dedicated one was required (not just a 'common use').
    - ohyeshedid 5y ago
      AFAIK, for the setup they're talking about, you do need a dedicated GPU. You blacklist it on the host, and pass it through to the windows VM. I haven't worked in windows space in awhile though, and state changes rapidly, so there may be other options now that utilize a single GPU across host and vm without losing performance.
babypuncher 5y ago
Do G-Sync/Freesync still work in a setup like this?

_sigma 5y ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/VFIO/ https://www.reddit.com/r/VFIO/

brundolf 5y ago

I wasn't talking about performance, I was talking about compatibility with games. Sorry if that wasn't clear; I've edited. Valve has been doing amazing things in this space, but for now my understanding is that it's more of a "most games will work pretty well" scenario, which is not really what I want for my primary games machine.

tomc1985 5y ago
Well thats the perk, you get games compatibility. Windows runs in a window with direct access to the GPU. I primary Windows because of games and music software, and I'm looking forward to trying it out. As another comment points out, its called VFIO. From that subreddit: "VFIO stands for Virtual Function I/O. VFIO is a device driver that is used to assign devices to virtual machines. One of the most common uses of vfio is setting up a virtual machine with full access to a dedicated GPU. This enables near-bare-metal gaming performance in a Windows VM, offering a great alternative to dual-booting"
- OJFord 5y ago
  That seems to imply that it can use the same GPU as the host? I thought a dedicated one was required (not just a 'common use').
  - ohyeshedid 5y ago
    AFAIK, for the setup they're talking about, you do need a dedicated GPU. You blacklist it on the host, and pass it through to the windows VM. I haven't worked in windows space in awhile though, and state changes rapidly, so there may be other options now that utilize a single GPU across host and vm without losing performance.

babypuncher 5y ago

Do G-Sync/Freesync still work in a setup like this?