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GPUVis, an open source Linux GPU profiler similar to GPUView

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It seems Valve have been busy. GPUVis is a Linux GPU profiler similar to GPUView on Windows. It's supposed to help track down Linux gpu and application performance issues.

While Valve announced it and did a presentation on it, it's mostly developed by Michael Sartain. Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais said he's a "consumer of it". It's largely written for VR and as a front-end for Ftrace, but it could be useful for other things. Right now, it's limited to AMDGPU and they're looking into Intel too. They say it's easy to add support for a GPU driver, so it will be interesting to see if NVIDIA look to make it work with their drivers.

It was introduced at the 2017 X.Org Developer's Conference (XDC 2017). You can see a video about it below, you need to watch from 8:10:40 onwards:

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The source can be found on GitHub, under the MIT license. Great to see more open source tools coming out, especially nice to see Valve getting their hands dirty on more projects. Considering Valve are the ones to announced it, I imagine they're working closely and possibly even contracting the developer to do it.

Thanks for the tip from our Telegram Group, Andrew!

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Open Source
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About the author -
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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.
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15 comments
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appetrosyan Sep 21, 2017
So should we expect less crappy ports?
inlinuxdude Sep 21, 2017
It gives one hope that their Linux/SteamOS push may indeed not be over yet!
Comandante Ñoñardo Sep 21, 2017
I would like to see something like GPU-Z and CPU-Z..
and something like EVGA tool.
artvandelay440 Sep 21, 2017
Not sure if I'm more excited to see
1) Valve caring about Linux
2) AMD GPUs getting more needed attention
3) The potential for Linux to get better performing AAA games
charliebrownau Sep 21, 2017
I still havent found an easy way to get my R9 380 video card to work correctly in mint or ubuntu or debian

Why does drivers have to be such a chore in linux
charliebrownau Sep 21, 2017
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: charliebrownauI still havent found an easy way to get my R9 380 video card to work correctly in mint or ubuntu or debian

Why does drivers have to be such a chore in linux

While I know how you feel, these days it is pretty easy on Ubuntu/Mint:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paulo-miguel-dias/pkppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

reboot

I tired 5 different messa drivers and 3 different kernals on ubunutu mate , none gave the same performance as AMD GPU PRO

I am now using Debian 9.1 Mate , it lacks PPA support


Also Ubuntu Mate 17.04 had issues working with my audio interface correctly
it seemed when i was messing around with mesa drivers it resulted in screwing up pulse audio

The only solution I could see to fix pulse audio was to install debian
ElectricPrism Sep 21, 2017
@charliebrownau -- I suspect that the latest mesa will perform the best. I get good enough frames on RX 480 to tackle anything at 1080p / 60hz.

You'll need the latest xorg-amdgpu driver and mesa driver. It also doesn't hurt to use the amd-staging kernel. In my experience Arch has been the best. If you have a spare drive and some time to give it a check I would download Manjaro and the related packages and give it a ago to confirm or deny this.

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/linux-amd-staging-git/

https://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/mesa/

https://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/xf86-video-amdgpu/
TheRiddick Sep 22, 2017
I thought PPA worked on debian releases?
m0nt3 Sep 22, 2017
Quoting: charliebrownau
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: charliebrownauI still havent found an easy way to get my R9 380 video card to work correctly in mint or ubuntu or debian

Why does drivers have to be such a chore in linux

While I know how you feel, these days it is pretty easy on Ubuntu/Mint:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paulo-miguel-dias/pkppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

reboot

I tired 5 different messa drivers and 3 different kernals on ubunutu mate , none gave the same performance as AMD GPU PRO

I am now using Debian 9.1 Mate , it lacks PPA support


Also Ubuntu Mate 17.04 had issues working with my audio interface correctly
it seemed when i was messing around with mesa drivers it resulted in screwing up pulse audio

The only solution I could see to fix pulse audio was to install debian

If you are running debian 9.1 and running an AMD GPU, I would highly recommend updating to Debian Sid/Unstable (unstable is not crashing, just in reference to update frequency) It has been solid for me and gives me the latest Mesa (17.2.1) and Kernel (4.12.3). Much safer than trying to add ubuntu PPA's to your installation.
Ardje Sep 22, 2017
Quoting: inlinuxdudeIt gives one hope that their Linux/SteamOS push may indeed not be over yet!
If you only subscribe to the bugtracking of steam on linux you know they are working hard...
And I mean very hard.
And you can find the valve people communicating on irc with linux vive developers.
Valve really is involved with linux. You just have to approach the developer side, not the consumer side.
I think just like Samsung, the R&D budget of valve >>> PR budget. Any cut they take from a sale, a part of it is going to linux development.
But to be clear: their goal is to get the ultimate free gaming platform. Not make it run on linux because it is cool. The fact that they choose linux is because you can develop and shape it's future. Make it work. Not like other platforms that you have to fix all your incompatibilities because some ass decided to close down some api's to hide bugs in other software they create.
(I am not going to mention UNC paths and word...)


Last edited by Ardje on 22 September 2017 at 9:00 am UTC
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