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Intel now shipping Vulkan enabled drivers

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Intel is now shipping Vulkan enabled drivers so those of you on supported chips can have a play with this brand new graphics API.

Imad Sousou had this to say:
QuoteToday I am proud to share that Intel is among a select group of leading graphics platform suppliers with Vulkan* 1.0 drivers certified by the Khronos Group Consortium.

Vulkan is the new generation of completely open standard APIs offering high-efficiency access to graphics and compute on modern GPUs. The Vulkan APIs were defined through collaboration among a wide range of graphics experts, including Intel. This new design provides the direct access to GPU acceleration that application developers have long demanded, and allows them fine-grain control to maximize performance and provide uniform user experience across different GPUs and operating environments.

This is an important milestone for the industry, and Intel is pleased to support this new technology by providing industry-certified drivers for multiple generations of Intel graphics platforms, all readily available to developers and end users. These platforms include 5th Generation Intel Core Processors and 6th Generation Intel Core Processors. Today’s announcement is just the beginning of Intel’s commitment and comprehensive support for Vulkan APIs.

Intel Open Source Graphics Drivers continue to be among the most widely deployed driver stacks in the industry. They are integrated seamlessly into Linux PC client distributions, Google Chromebooks, and Valve’s SteamOS serving tens of millions of PC users. With today’s certifications, the Intel Open Source 3D Graphics Driver adds technology leadership to its impressive capabilities.

Source

You can find information on how to get it here.

You can also see the mesa announcement on the mailing list here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, Vulkan
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9 comments

jamesc359 Feb 16, 2016
AMD and NVidia can't be far behind.
Magamo Feb 16, 2016
NVidia has a beta driver with Vulkan already, and has had such for weeks, but it's not in any widely released beta or production driver for Linux.
tuxintuxedo Feb 16, 2016
According to Phoronix, Nvidia already has a beta kind of driver for Linux, while AMD only has something alpha/beta like for Windows. The latter for Linux is still not in a good shape and will require the new amdgpu driver (GCN 1.2 and newer) when it arrives, after the Windows release.
I know their hands are full with other open source Linux things, but they can't say they didn't have time for it (since Mantle).


Last edited by tuxintuxedo on 16 February 2016 at 7:42 pm UTC
GustyGhost Feb 16, 2016
So much Vulkan news today, this is great!

Quoting: tuxintuxedoAMD only has something alpha/beta like for Windows. The latter for Linux is still not in a good shape and will require the new amdgpu driver (GCN 1.2 and newer) when it arrives, after the Windows release.

I specifically decided to get a GCN 1.2 based card because of everything related to open source AMD driver support and Vulkan. Hopefully, the entire Polaris lineup will fully support all so that nobody has to play the game of guess-your-compatibility.
minj Feb 16, 2016
So is Broadwell the limit for intel? It's been released in September, 2014. 18 months as a limit for a CPU, wtf?

I hope they will continue backporting it.
lucinos Feb 16, 2016
I really, really want it on haswell :(

at least it says: "and have experimental support for older platforms."


Last edited by lucinos on 16 February 2016 at 8:33 pm UTC
tuxintuxedo Feb 16, 2016
Quoting: minjSo is Broadwell the limit for intel? It's been released in September, 2014. 18 months as a limit for a CPU, wtf?

I hope they will continue backporting it.
Again, according to Phoronix, it should work way back to Ivy. Though that doesn't mean perfect performance and expect some issues, problems (hopefully only minor).
Pecisk Feb 16, 2016
Quoting: minjSo is Broadwell the limit for intel? It's been released in September, 2014. 18 months as a limit for a CPU, wtf?

I hope they will continue backporting it.

It is not about backporting, but does hardware have actual regs to manipulate card at level Vulkan requires, and can it be done in clear way which doesn't impact performance. Also support costs come into mind.
minj Feb 20, 2016
Vulkan Webinar says OGL 3.1/4.x support is needed.

Sure enough wiki lists Ivy Bridge as the oldest generation that should get support \o/
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