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Open-source Linux drivers for the Intel Gen11 GPU are now feature-complete

Intel Ice Lake Gen11 GPU Linux drivers are now feature-complete. (Source: Fossbytes)
Intel Ice Lake Gen11 GPU Linux drivers are now feature-complete. (Source: Fossbytes)
The open-source OpenGL and Vulkan Linux drivers for the upcoming Intel Gen11 GPU are now considered to be complete according to code updates spotted by Phoronix. The drivers will be a part of the Linux 5.2 kernel and are said to be working at full performance.

The open-source OpenGL and Vulkan drivers, called i915 and ANV respectively, for the upcoming Intel Gen11 graphics are now considered to be feature-complete as per recent changes to the Linux driver code. These drivers will no longer be considered "experimental" in the Linux 5.2 kernel. This includes both kernel and user-space drivers as well.

Till date, running Gen11 hardware with OpenGL or Vulkan drivers would result in a warning that the drivers are not fully supported. These warnings have now been removed and the code says that the drivers are fully supported. The latest Linux kernel release is version 5.0.13 so upcoming Linux distros with the 5.2 and above kernel should have these drivers built-in. Intel open-source developer Jason Ekstrand also noted in the Mesa 3D Graphics library that both ANV and i965 drivers "should be running more-or-less at perf at this point. Drop the warning. [sic]."

Intel Gen11 graphics will be seen in the upcoming Ice Lake, Elkhart Lake, and subsequent CPUs. Gen11 integrated GPUs feature up to 64 EUs, a 4x larger L3 cache, a tile-based renderer, Coarse Rate Shading, and improved memory compression. The purported Gen11 GPU variants were also detailed in recent Graphics Command Center drivers.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 05 > Open-source Linux drivers for the Intel Gen11 GPU are now feature-complete
Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 2019-05- 6 (Update: 2019-05- 6)