It seems a recent trademark request from 'The Khronos Group Inc.' includes a new API named ‘VULKAN’.
You can see the full listing here, and it is described as this:
QuoteComputer software, namely application programming interfaces for the purpose of creating, rendering, and displaying 2D and 3D computer graphics; computer software, namely application programming interfaces for the purpose of accessing parallel computing resources; downloadable specifications for the aforementioned goods
Not the best timing considering our beloved actor Leonard Nimoy recently passed away, who was known for being a 'Vulcan' named Spock (amongst many other things). It would have been nice if it was a tribute, but it was filed before the reports of his passing.
A name doesn't mean all that much, so we will hopefully see some demonstrations of it next week at GDC. If this is the new official name, I approve. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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linux_gamer Feb 28, 2015
Quoting: GuestThat’s a terrible name.I totally disagree, its an epic name cause its german.
Which international soft- or hardware-products have german names? I don't know many: Its not 'Menschlichkeit' or 'Apfel' we are talking about. German words that made career are more like "Blitzkrieg"... :><:
'Vulkan' can be understood as volcano in most european languages, except for finnish (of course).
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Quoting: GuestAnd what the fuck does a volcano have to do with rendering 3D images?
Well just some ideas :P
A volcano is the part we see on the "surface" - a lot of work has been done beneath it, for it to reach the surface. Just like graphics, there is a lot of things going on before it ever reaching the screen.
- OR -
OpenGL is erupting with something as spectacular as a volcano. It's what OpenGL has been doing for the last years(in the PC-gaming industry. I know CAD, MAC, Android, IOS all rely on OpenGL..) - "rumbling" in the background but never really got the attention from the gaming industry it deserves. Now they shall see how serious this OpenGL hotspot is when suddenly it erupts as a volcano.
Hopefully it is as good as this story and the game developers spread the lava across all devices and OS'es and use it as an advantage, instead of fortifying themselves against it on a distant and ignorant MS-island with DX12 walls on its shores....
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I think Vulkan is simply a tribute to AMD's work in Mantle. I.e. open mantle = volcano, thus Vulkan. AMD planned to open Mantle and it looks like it will happen in glnext / Vulkan. It's a good name. I guess they use a spelling with "k" because other spellings were already taken for trademarks.
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Quoting: ShmerlI think Vulkan is simply a tribute to AMD's work in Mantle. I.e. open mantle = volcano, thus Vulkan. AMD planned to open Mantle and it looks like it will happen in glnext / Vulkan. It's a good name. I guess they use a spelling with "k" because other spellings were already taken for trademarks.
Actually I hope you are right, because it could mean AMD finally will have some decent driver on Linux. And if it is indeed very similar to Mantle, it could mean that games using Mantle would be easier to port to Linux - without only supporting AMD cards (as mantle currently does).
Actually I think the "k" could refer to Khronos Group themselves, who use K instead of C in their name.
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Quoting: sleortQuoting: ShmerlI think Vulkan is simply a tribute to AMD's work in Mantle. I.e. open mantle = volcano, thus Vulkan. AMD planned to open Mantle and it looks like it will happen in glnext / Vulkan. It's a good name. I guess they use a spelling with "k" because other spellings were already taken for trademarks.
Actually I hope you are right, because it could mean AMD finally will have some decent driver on Linux. And if it is indeed very similar to Mantle, it could mean that games using Mantle would be easier to port to Linux - without only supporting AMD cards (as mantle currently does).
Actually I think the "k" could refer to Khronos Group themselves, who use K instead of C in their name.
Mantle only supports AMD cards because nvidia didn't want to put any effort into making it run on their hardware. Mantle IS open, it's just that nvidia doesn't see a benefit in supporting it (of course, it's not their technology and god beware it runs on non-nvidia-hardware!)
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Mantle isn't open - AMD never published the API as far as I know. It's proprietary.
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: ShmerlMantle isn't open - AMD never published the API as far as I know. It's proprietary.According to bridgman on phoronix it looks like AMD might have given Mantle to Khronos to make glNext out of it. And that would explain why they already have something to show at the GDC.
Yes, that's what I expect as well, and assume that's the reason why AMD didn't open Mantle itself. But the fact remains, Mantle proper isn't open. Which if the above guess is correct isn't relevant since it will open up in Vulkan / glnext.
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You're right, Mantle isn't open, mea culpa.
I guess it's time to stop gaming then. I mean, with all this proprietary bullshit I see no sense anymore.
On the other hand, I have more than enough games to sustain the rest of my life :)
I guess it's time to stop gaming then. I mean, with all this proprietary bullshit I see no sense anymore.
On the other hand, I have more than enough games to sustain the rest of my life :)
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Quoting: linuxgamerWell, sort of maybe. My money is on, it's the god Vulcan mis-spelled because the version with a "c" was already taken. That would be the Roman version of the god of the forge, whose Greek version is Hephaestus. Vulcan is associated with volcanoes because forging, fire, stuff like that. It seems likely to me that the Germans got their word for volcano from Vulcan anyhow, having been culturally influenced by the Romans and Latin since way back (I know German is, obviously, not a Romance language, but it would be far from the only non-Romance language to borrow some words).Quoting: GuestThat’s a terrible name.I totally disagree, its an epic name cause its german.
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StianTheDark Mar 5, 2015
Vulkan means volcano in norwegian too, its written correctly too :P
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