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.

Today NVIDIA put up a rather exciting blog post talking about RTX - with Arm. Not only that, they've showcased it using Linux too which is pretty amazing.

Shown off for the Game Developers Conference, NVIDIA has announced an expansion of their RTX SDKs to support to Arm and Linux. What they've added in includes support for:

  • Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which uses AI to boost frame rates and generate beautiful, sharp images for games
  • RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI), which lets developers add dynamic lighting to their gaming environments
  • RTX Global Illumination (RTXGI), which helps recreate the way light bounces around in real-world environments
  • NVIDIA Optix AI-Acceleration Denoiser (NRD), which uses AI to render high-fidelity images faster
  • RTX Memory Utility (RTXMU), which optimizes the way applications use graphics memory

What they presented was an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU paired with a MediaTek Kompanio 1200 Arm processor, setup with Arch Linux (likely something like Arch Linux ARM) along with testing out the likes of Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

“RTX is the most groundbreaking technology to come to PC gaming in the last two decades,” said PC Tseng, general manager of MediaTek’s Intelligent Multimedia Business Unit.“MediaTek and NVIDIA are laying the foundation for a new category of Arm-based high-performance PCs.”

Multiple companies sounded quite excited by it including Epic Games, Machinegames and Unity.

YouTube Thumbnail
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link

There's also a separate post from NVIDIA to properly announce the new NVIDIA DLSS SDK, which adds full Linux support including for native x86 Linux games and Arm too. Quite an exciting move for the future of Linux. The DLSS SDK is also easier to get now, with no application to NVIDIA required as you can do a direct download now.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
36 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.
47 comments
Page: «4/5»
  Go to:

Purple Library Guy Jul 20, 2021
Quoting: Lofty
Quoting: subAnd we're left with a system that runs with a graphics driver blob only.

*meh*

And runs windows games via a compatibility layer. So how much left is running FOSS
Well, it's a FOSS compatibility layer.
Corben Jul 20, 2021
Erm? Windows games, on ARM and Linux? So they have to go through 2 compatibility layers? Or am I missing something here? Like, did they create a native ARM version for Wolfenstein Youngblood?

edit: ah okay, in the video they state: "An ARM based version of the game is not planned for commercial release"... so yeah, they ported it. Impressive


Last edited by Corben on 20 July 2021 at 8:14 am UTC
Matombo Jul 20, 2021
Quoting: CorbenErm? Windows games, on ARM and Linux? So they have to go through 2 compatibility layers? Or am I missing something here? Like, did they create a native ARM version for Wolfenstein Youngblood?

edit: ah okay, in the video they state: "An ARM based version of the game is not planned for commercial release"... so yeah, they ported it. Impressive
Even if it was the windows version it wouldn't technically go through 2 compatibility layers at the same time but in parallel. What I mean: each line of code would be translated either via the arm emulator or the wine libraries.
You know wine is "just" a reimplementation of windows libraries, but this reimplementation can be compiled nativly for arm. So when a windows programm calls a windows library in this case, native arm code is executed, no need to emulate things.
Only thing need to emulated is the programm code between library calls which is compiled to x86 machine code. Here is where the emulation would step in.


Last edited by Matombo on 20 July 2021 at 10:28 am UTC
Corben Jul 20, 2021
Quoting: MatomboEven if it was the windows version it wouldn't technically go through 2 compatibility layers at the same time but in parallel...
Hmm... imagine a powerful ARM Steam Deck... with ARM Linux, ARM Steam, ARM Proton... maybe it'll allow for even better performance in a small handheld.
elmapul Jul 20, 2021
Quoting: ahoneybunIt's pretty amazing though not crazy to use Linux for this since I think we have better support when it comes to using the hardware then Windows does since we've been shipping Linux on ARM for years (Thanks Android!).

linux was avaliable for tons of architectures since many years ago
Eike Jul 20, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: ahoneybunIt's pretty amazing though not crazy to use Linux for this since I think we have better support when it comes to using the hardware then Windows does since we've been shipping Linux on ARM for years (Thanks Android!).

linux was avaliable for tons of architectures since many years ago

True. debian-arm mailing list started in 1998...
3zekiel Jul 20, 2021
Quoting: Lofty
Quoting: subAnd we're left with a system that runs with a graphics driver blob only.

*meh*

And runs windows games via a compatibility layer. So how much left is running FOSS, not to mention any DRM that gets added to the kernel for compatibilities sake and potentially invasive anti-cheat if it is not handled properly.

The future of Linux gaming is sounding more free and open all the time ..

yeah, not an ideal world. Nvidia is on an open source streak though it seems. So one can dream for the driver.

For the compat layer, I think it is a good first step. Espsically, I highly doubt Nvidia will be big enough to suddenly lock everything to their solution, but it might just be the drop that make a dev support linux.
TheRiddick Jul 21, 2021
Is this showing that you don't need tensor cores to do DLSS? so in other words NVIDIA could allow it to work on pascal or other vendor cards but is choosing not to. FSR I think is going to take over, however I hear you can use both with interesting results.
F.Ultra Jul 21, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter
Quoting: mylka
Quoting: jens
Quoting: F.UltraConsidering how quickly they managed to port Wolfenstein Youngblood to not only Linux but also ARM Linux shows that those rumours that they had DOOM running natively on Linux way back where highly likely true.

Yes exactly, having the driver ready for ARM is one thing, showing an ARM port of an AAA game is at least equally impressive (and serves indeed food for lots of rumors :)).

switch has ARM hardware and it has AAA titles all over
afaik switch runs freeBSD which is kinda linux
so i think its not that hard to make a switch ARM TITLE run on LINUX ARM

The switch port was handled by an external company though, Panic Button, the demo on Linux ARM seams to be inhouse?!
dvd Jul 22, 2021
This whole thing is so fake, it's not like making/compiling drivers for other cpu architectures is anything new. On the contrary, this should be the bare minimum for all the arches out there. I wonder whats the profit angle on this one.
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.