Everything Awesome about GPU Drivers

on YouTube ↗47m

" summary

About 10 years after initial kernel modesetting lands, open GPU drivers support 57 atomic mode-set drivers and scale from 250 lines to 2 million+ lines of code. The stack uses a transactional atomic modeset API, devm device-managed helpers for tiny drivers, explicit buffer layout modifiers, and synchronization via DMA fences and timeline sync objects. NIR replaces ad-hoc IRs for real GPU compilation, and the Iris rewrite shows large microbenchmark speedups using shared compiler and Gallium infrastructure.

AI-written summary · about

" chapters (17)

1. 0:00Intro
2. 1:4210 or so years ago ...
3. 4:52Awesome Display: Atomic Modeset
4. 7:43Case Study: ST7736R
5. 9:39Case Study: amdgpu.ko & DAL
6. 10:19Atomic Modesetting: Lessons Learned
7. 12:26Atomic Modesetting: Further Reading
8. 12:47Awesome Full Stack: drm_modifiers
9. 16:06Tearing: Not So Awesome
10. 23:04Awesome Compilers
11. 26:37Awesome Drivers
12. 31:07Tools and Stuff
13. 34:27Companies and Money
14. 37:28Dual Stack
15. 40:56Awesome Future
16. 44:13Awesome Tech
17. 45:50Summary

" related talks

• 35mEverything Great about Upstream GraphicsDaniel Vetter · Open Source Summit Europe + Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2019
• 20mLinux Graphics 101Rohan Garg · Akademy 2020
• 39mnouveau and kernel GPU VMA managementDavid Airlie · Linux Plumbers Conference 2023
• 44mGraphics: A Frame's JourneyDaniel Stone · Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2022
• 39mOverview of a Modern DRM DriverMatt Coster · Embedded Linux Conference @ EOSS NA 2024
• 39mOverview of a Modern DRM DriverMatt Coster · Embedded Open Source Summit 2024
• 05mNova GPU Workshop: Nova: status update + 2026 plansAlexandre Courbot · Linux Plumbers Conference 2025
• 15mNova GPU Workshop: GPU Firmware: status and 2026 plansJohn Hubbard · Linux Plumbers Conference 2025