Support us on Patreon to keep GamingOnLinux alive. This ensures all of our main content remains free for everyone. Just good, fresh content! Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal. You can also buy games using our partner links for GOG and Humble Store.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.
The open source OpenGL driver AMD radeonsi is now extremely close to having full OpenGL 4.4 support, and OpenGL 4.5 is now complete.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, the progress on open drivers in the past year has been pretty amazing.

Recently “GL_ARB_query_buffer_object” was added in for radeonsi (OpenGL 4.4), leaving only “GL_ARB_enhanced_layouts” left for full OpenGL 4.4 support.

The radeonsi driver already has OpenGL 4.5 support, as the last extension “GL_KHR_robustness" was implemented on the 5th of October.

Hopefully once the last OpenGL 4.4 part is finished, the developers can then focus on performance edge cases. This would be especially nice, as it would then enable game developers, like Feral for one example, to better support AMD GPU’s with their Linux ports.

You can track the level of support any time on the MesaMatrix website. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
0 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
21 comments
Page: 1/3»
  Go to:

lordheavy Oct 7, 2016
And radeon vulkan support just got merged :D
Zappor Oct 7, 2016
Feral even fixes things directly in Mesa! https://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/commit/?id=e33f31d61f5e9019f8b0bac0378dfb8fd1147421

Quoting: lordheavyAnd radeon vulkan support just got merged :D
Non conformant though, but the seem to fix things damn fast!
ElectricPrism Oct 7, 2016


Quoting: ZapporFeral even fixes things directly in Mesa! https://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/commit/?id=e33f31d61f5e9019f8b0bac0378dfb8fd1147421

Quoting: lordheavyAnd radeon vulkan support just got merged :D
Non conformant though, but the seem to fix things damn fast!

Just be sure to thank them when you see them pop into a Reddit thread and express your appreciation - that shit really does go far in developer world.

In fact I did just that earlier this week and expressed how I kicked $800 of Nvidia to the curb in favor of MESA and RX 480 -- because it's important to me that they know what people like me are doing and how we're thinking so they can better service us and we can service them with $$$.


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 7 October 2016 at 9:03 am UTC
crt0mega Oct 7, 2016
Quoting: ElectricPrismIn fact I did just that earlier this week and expressed how I kicked $800 of Nvidia to the curb in favor of MESA and RX 480 – because it's important to me that they know what people like me are doing and how we're thinking so they can better service us and we can service them with $$$.
I'm still waiting for Vega to replace my aging HD7970 :D
Guest Oct 7, 2016
I thought the Radeonsi nomenclature was dropped ? or am i getting confused with the huge amounts of AMD driver naming conventions


Last edited by on 7 October 2016 at 10:24 am UTC
boltronics Oct 7, 2016
> Hopefully once the last OpenGL 4.4 part is finished, the developers can then focus on performance edge cases.

Not exactly. If you look down the bottom of https://mesamatrix.net/ there's still a bunch of extensions that need implementing. There's also OpenGL ES 3.2 support which is missing three extensions. And of course improving Vulkan conformance is probably the biggest priority.

Still, it's both amazing and awesome that we are at a point where we are even having this discussion. :)
Liam Dawe Oct 7, 2016
Quoting: boltronics> Hopefully once the last OpenGL 4.4 part is finished, the developers can then focus on performance edge cases.

Not exactly. If you look down the bottom of https://mesamatrix.net/ there's still a bunch of extensions that need implementing. There's also OpenGL ES 3.2 support which is missing three extensions. And of course improving Vulkan conformance is probably the biggest priority.

Still, it's both amazing and awesome that we are at a point where we are even having this discussion. :)
While you're right, that's a different point entirely here. I'm talking OpenGL main spec, not assorted extensions that don't belong to a particular version. As for OpenGL ES, as far as I am aware that's more for mobiles, not desktop which is what we focus on here.

Anyway, OpenGL ES 3.2 is quite close to being 100% on AMD too, looks like only three bits remain for basic full compatibility.
boltronics Oct 7, 2016
My understanding was that OpenGL wouldn't be releasing new versions, and will just be adding extensions.

In the past, publishers could list the minimum required OpenGL version on the system requirements, and you would know that you're good if your card and software meets that spec. Going forward, if that's not going to be an easy thing for the user to check, having those extensions supported will likely become even more important.
ElectricPrism Oct 7, 2016
Quoting: crt0mega
Quoting: ElectricPrismIn fact I did just that earlier this week and expressed how I kicked $800 of Nvidia to the curb in favor of MESA and RX 480 – because it's important to me that they know what people like me are doing and how we're thinking so they can better service us and we can service them with $$$.
I'm still waiting for Vega to replace my aging HD7970 :D

And maybe me too depending on the performance difference of Polaris and Vega.

Polaris has turned out to be a good time to switch to Red Team for me.
Guest Oct 7, 2016
Quoting: ElectricPrism
Quoting: crt0mega
Quoting: ElectricPrismIn fact I did just that earlier this week and expressed how I kicked $800 of Nvidia to the curb in favor of MESA and RX 480 – because it's important to me that they know what people like me are doing and how we're thinking so they can better service us and we can service them with $$$.
I'm still waiting for Vega to replace my aging HD7970 :D

And maybe me too depending on the performance difference of Polaris and Vega.

Polaris has turned out to be a good time to switch to Red Team for me.

Just waiting for AMD freesync to happen. Not only that, waiting for a decent QHD/UHD Freesync monitor with high refresh, most serious gaming monitors seem to use g-sync.

On a side note, if you buy a g-sync monitor your not guaranteed to be able to run higher refresh settings through AMD cards using the g-sync display port. Some work, some do not and thats on windows. adding linux drivers into the mix might actually limit your monitor choice to one vendor only.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.