A love song for Linux gamers with old GPUs

4 months ago

AMD GPUs are well-supported on Linux, but older GCN1 (Southern Islands) and GCN2 (Sea Islands) GPUs had issues.
The author worked on improving the amdgpu kernel driver for these older GPUs to enhance the default Linux user experience.
RADV (Vulkan driver) already supported GFX6-7 GPUs, but the kernel driver (amdgpu) was not enabled by default, leading to poor user experiences.
Key issues included display features (analog connectors, DP/HDMI audio), VCE1 video encoding, and power management.
The author fixed analog connector support in DC (Display Core), addressing issues like flickering, black screens, and incorrect display clocks.
DP/HDMI audio support was improved, with DP audio now working on Tahiti GPUs for the first time on Linux.
Power management fixes were implemented, including disabling ASPM on SI GPUs to prevent random hangs.
VCE1 video encoding support was added, enabling H264 encoding up to 2048 x 1152 on SI GPUs.
The author acquired multiple SI and CIK GPUs for testing, ensuring broad compatibility.
The work ensures that older GPUs remain supported, benefiting users who rely on older hardware.
Future work includes supporting DRM format modifiers, TRAVIS/NUTMEG display bridges, and retiring legacy code.
The author learned that kernel development is approachable and maintainers are supportive, despite development latency challenges.

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