AMD Linux Graphics Drivers and How They Are Used in Slackware.

cwizardone · 07-30-2021, 01:54 PM

That was fast!!!
xf86-video-amdgpu 21.0.0 has already been added to -current.
Today's change log,

Quote:

Fri Jul 30 18:19:26 UTC 2021
d/rust-1.54.0-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/fetchmail-6.4.20-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/php-7.4.22-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/mesa-21.1.6-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/xf86-video-amdgpu-21.0.0-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/xorg-server-1.20.13-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/xorg-server-xephyr-1.20.13-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/xorg-server-xnest-1.20.13-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/xorg-server-xvfb-1.20.13-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
extra/php8/php8-8.0.9-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
+--------------------------+

http://slackware.oregonstate.edu/sla.../ChangeLog.txt

business_kid · 07-31-2021, 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwizardone

"...A rare update...."

The full article can be found here, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...-amdgpu-21.0.0

AMD's release announcement can be found at, https://lists.x.org/archives/amd-gfx...ly/067146.html

It seems usding AMD video drivers on Xorg is the exception rather than the rule. What's the rule? Wayland?

bassmadrigal · 08-02-2021, 12:36 AM

Dumb question... how do I know whether I'm using the generic xf86-video-modesetting DDX vs the xf86-video-amdgpu driver?

biker_rat · 08-04-2021, 09:40 AM

Use "inxi -G" in terminal emulator.
You can create an xorg.conf file to choose between modesetting and amdgpu 2D drivers. I believe amdgpu should probably load if no xorg.conf is present.
Wayland is an option you can choose out of the box on Slackware64-current only with Plasma Desktop. I generally still use Xorg with xfce4.

Pithium · 08-04-2021, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biker_rat

Use "inxi -G" in terminal emulator.
You can create an xorg.conf file to choose between modesetting and amdgpu 2D drivers. I believe amdgpu should probably load if no xorg.conf is present.
Wayland is an option you can choose out of the box on Slackware64-current only with Plasma Desktop. I generally still use Xorg with xfce4.

I learned something today. Had no idea inxi existed but thanks to you I can finally stop using "glxinfo |grep Open" to check my gpu drivers.

bassmadrigal · 08-08-2021, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biker_rat

Use "inxi -G" in terminal emulator.
You can create an xorg.conf file to choose between modesetting and amdgpu 2D drivers. I believe amdgpu should probably load if no xorg.conf is present.
Wayland is an option you can choose out of the box on Slackware64-current only with Plasma Desktop. I generally still use Xorg with xfce4.

Awesome!

Based on this, I am using the amdgpu driver. Anyone know if there is any benefit on 14.2 to be running the modesetting driver over the amdgpu driver?

cwizardone · 08-13-2021, 04:35 PM

Radeon™ Software for Linux® 21.30 Release Notes,

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/re...ed-linux-21-30

kingbeowulf · 08-14-2021, 10:02 PM

I lost track of this thread and should have jumped in sooner. To review, AMDGPU-PRO is the proprietary driver and also contains the open source components. The main proprietary components are OpenCL and Vulkan. AMDGPU (kernel amdgpu.ko) is the F/OSS piece (from -PRO), along with GPU kernel firmware and MESA provides OpenGL/Vulkan 2D/3D.

userspace <-> X.org GPU driver <-> GPU kernel module(s) <-> GPU <-> monitor

xf86-video-amdgpu is the X.org driver (amdgpu.drv) that will use amdgpu.ko if present. amddrv.drv is required for xorg-server etc to function optimally with amdgpu.ko. Everyone running default Slackware and Xfce, KDE or another DE or WM, is using X.org to draw pretty 2D/3D desktop GUIs useless they loaded something else. AFAIK, Wayland can't as of yet provide hardware 3D acceleration and rendering.

There is generally no benefit to running the modesetting driver for newer cards recognized by amdgpu.drv (loaded by default, see /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-amdgpu.conf) as this driver will look for amdgpu.ko. However, since AMD GPU kernel support in 14.2 is old, you will not benefit if you have a newer AMD Sea/Volcanic Islands, Polaris, Vega, or Navi era gpu from any available driver or kernel module. All new code development goes into newer kernels for amdgpu and Mesa. This is why I waited until Slackware-current kernel 5.4.x to switch from Nvidia to AMD Radeon RX590 (Polaris) and Radeon RX 570O XT (Navi).

If you are running older cards, for X.org these will use (in xorg.conf etc) either 'ati', 'radeon'. Details for which kernel module is used is on the respective manpages. These drivers are pretty much dead, from XFree86 and then X.org project. AMD does not provide code to these drives.

The 'modesetting' X.org driver (framebuffer, part of xorg-server-xx) is device agnostic and requires a kernel KMS module, if your GPU has a KMS module. Both have nothing to do with xf86-video-amdgpu. (see man modesetting) It is horribly slow but may be useful in certain use cases and applications.

The phoronix article was not entirely correct. Anyone using X.org and newer AMD GPU needs xf86-video-amdgpu for full 2D/3D support. X.org needed to update xf86-video-amdgpu to add support for newer AMD GPUs from GPU series Sea/Volcanic Islands, Polaris, Vega, and now NAVI and Navi2. If you don't use X.org, then you don't need it.

cwizardone · 02-17-2022, 08:41 AM

Radeon™ Software for Linux® 21.50 Release Notes,
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/re...ed-linux-21-50

cwizardone · 02-18-2022, 09:09 AM

Quote:

AMD Quietly Working On New Linux GPU Driver Support Block By Block

The full story can be found here, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...Block-By-Block

spat · 02-20-2022, 07:54 AM

A snapshot for the thread: current state of play, 15.0 new install on a Thinkpad A285:

Code:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U w/ Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx 
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile 

root@a285:~# inxi -G
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series]
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Device-2: Acer SunplusIT Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo
  Display: server: X.Org 1.20.14 driver: loaded: amdgpu,ati
    unloaded: modesetting,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  OpenGL:
    renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics (RAVEN DRM 3.44.0 5.16.10 LLVM 13.0.0)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 21.3.5

cwizardone · 03-31-2022, 08:30 AM

amdgpu-22.10 has been released.
Apparently it is out there, but I couldn't find a direct link (at the moment), so here is a news article on the subject, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...e-22.10-Coming

denydias · 04-01-2022, 01:53 PM

Great topic! (despite some incomprehensible ranting and criticism of the unbelievable)

This is me:

Code:

$ inxi -G
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Lucienne driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: server: X.Org v: 1.20.14 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,vesa gpu: amdgpu resolution: 1: 1920x1080 2: 1920x1080~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (DRM 3.44.0 5.17.1 LLVM 13.0.1) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.3.8

$ clinfo | head -6 | tail -4
  Platform Version:                              OpenCL 2.1 AMD-APP (3180.7)
  Platform Name:                                 AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing
  Platform Vendor:                               Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
  Platform Extensions:                           cl_khr_icd cl_amd_event_callback cl_amd_offline_devices

The OpenCL bits are enabled thanks to @kingbeowulf's amdgpu-opencl.SlackBuild. Despite being a bit outdated now, it still works with OSS amdgpu built into kernel-modules-5.17.1-x86_64-1 from -current.

OpenCL benefits are way beyond crypto-whatever stuff. They are also available to some processing intensive tasks for the average joe. I have it enabled for LibreOffice Calc, Gimp and ImageMagick.

Problem with OpenCL enabled apps is not the feature itself. It's the lack of proper documentation. In fact, PV had disabled OpenCL support in Slackware's ImageMagick altogether as it was crashing peoples boxes around. It turned out that ImageMagick's OpenCL documentation was way outdated. I got the job of understanding the actual state of the things to update the documentation accordingly. After that, OpenCL support for ImageMagick in Slackware was enabled again. People who uses it get what they want, people who don´t are not annoyed by random crashes.

Anyway, I have both intel and amd boxes here. No nvidia for years and it was PITA. My amd box is a breeze to keep up and running and gpu performance is just where I need it to be. I don't game on computers, but I crunch some serious bits on more general computing tasks (no mining tho).

Kudos to amd devs providing OSS patches, to the community developing the amdgpu driver and to @kingbeowulf for providing a way to include the proprietary part. I'm looking forward and excited for proper OpenCL support landing on Mesa.

cwizardone · 04-09-2022, 08:35 AM

amdgpu-22.10.1 has been released.
https://repo.radeon.com/amdgpu/
https://www.amd.com/en/support

cwizardone · 04-09-2022, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Some Older AMD GPUs + Intel Alder Lake Is Causing ASPM Problems For Linux Users
Michael Larabel in Radeon on 9 April 2022
Older AMD GPUs paired with Intel Alder Lake Platforms is leading to hangs during suspend/resume cycles so a patch is pending for the Linux kernel to disable Active State Power Management (ASPM) in such combinations........

The full story can be found at, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...ng-ASPM-VI-ADL