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Mozilla has proposed 'Obsidian', a low-level GPU API for the web

By - | Views: 7,670
So it looks like after Vulkan for desktop and mobile, the web may be getting a low-level API for interactions with the GPU. They are calling it Obsidian right now (temporary name) and they state it's not a specification just yet, as they are looking to gather feedback.

QuoteThis is Mozilla's draft proposal for the GPU API for the Web, called Obsidian. It is a low-level API that provides maximum feature set of the GPU to the web applications. The API is designed for WebAssembly, modern GPUs, and multi-threaded environment in mind.


It reads like it will actually be based on Vulkan:
QuoteAmong the next-gen desktop APIs we see Vulkan as the most capable, portable, and open. Thus, our work can be seen as a reduction of Vulkan that would make sense for the Web. We believe that the basing on Vulkan would let us focus on the missing parts instead of bike-shedding the function names.


It will be interesting to see what people can make on the web with a more powerful API that's for sure.

Find the proposal on github. What are your thoughts?

Thanks for the link Raven! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Vulkan
7 Likes
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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10 comments

Shmerl Mar 22, 2017
Much better, than the lame attempt by Apple to base a similar thing on Metal.


Last edited by Shmerl on 23 March 2017 at 3:24 pm UTC
micha Mar 22, 2017
Quoting: ShmerlMuch better, than the lame attempt by Apple to base a similar thing on Mantle.


exactly that!
Goldpaw Mar 22, 2017
Good to see an initiative like this! Still, I won't personally be using it unless they reimplement ALSA-support in their browser.

Removing that from v52 and onwards killed it for me. I'm on a system with a lot of audio applications requiring low latency. I'm using Jack2 and ALSA, have scripts set up to route sound through Jack even for applications using ALSA. I'm not going to change this, install pulseaudio or start having to enable/disable Jack every time I need to hear something in a browser. That would seriously cripple my workflow.

So even though I think this is a great initiative and I'm looking forward to seeing how far they can take it, I won't be benefiting from it unless some browser using it either reimplements ALSA-support, or even better; add support for Jack like any self respecting linux app with media playback capabilities should have!
kvark Mar 22, 2017
Quoting: ShmerlMuch better, than the lame attempt by Apple to base a similar thing on Mantle.

Don't touch Mantle, it was great! Apple's proposal is based on Metal.

There is also a small comparison chart if you want to go deeper ;)
Shmerl Mar 22, 2017
Yep, Metal obviously.
edo Mar 22, 2017
Quoting: ShmerlMuch better, than the lame attempt by Apple to base a similar thing on Mantle.

Metal by itself is awesome, nothing lame here.
Shmerl Mar 22, 2017
Metal is lame being Apple only, and Apple are lame in not supporting Vulkan. That's about it.
Doc Angelo Mar 23, 2017
Quoting: GoldpawI'm not going to change this, install pulseaudio or start having to enable/disable Jack every time I need to hear something in a browser. That would seriously cripple my workflow.

Pulseaudio can be run as a Jack client: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio/Examples#PulseAudio_through_JACK

This is kinda bloaty and stupid, but Pulseaudio is rather small on memory. Every non-Jack application will work perfectly fine this way. Jack applications still have low latency through Jack directly.

And if it works, it aint stupid. :)
N30N Mar 23, 2017
Quoting: GoldpawGood to see an initiative like this! Still, I won't personally be using it unless they reimplement ALSA-support in their browser.
Dude, it was never removed, it's just not enabled by default. It's only a compile option away.
ac_add_options --enable-alsa
ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio



Last edited by N30N on 23 March 2017 at 12:53 am UTC
Goldpaw Mar 23, 2017
Quoting: N30N
Quoting: GoldpawGood to see an initiative like this! Still, I won't personally be using it unless they reimplement ALSA-support in their browser.
Dude, it was never removed, it's just not enabled by default. It's only a compile option away.
ac_add_options --enable-alsa
ac_add_options --disable-pulseaudio

I googled for hours without finding anything like this, lol! You're a true lifesaver! :D

Quoting: Doc Angelo
Quoting: GoldpawI'm not going to change this, install pulseaudio or start having to enable/disable Jack every time I need to hear something in a browser. That would seriously cripple my workflow.

Pulseaudio can be run as a Jack client: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio/Examples#PulseAudio_through_JACK

This is kinda bloaty and stupid, but Pulseaudio is rather small on memory. Every non-Jack application will work perfectly fine this way. Jack applications still have low latency through Jack directly.

And if it works, it aint stupid. :)

This is just amazing. The two of you have made my day. No, my YEAR! :D
Just goes to show the best and the brightest are all linux gamers and following this page, hehe! ;)

Edit: Just to make me look like a total dildo here... I'm on Arch Linux, and the distro version of firefox available from the official Arch repositories... is built with the --enable-alsa flag! So if I wasn't so obsessed with using cutting edge developer git versions for everything, I wouldn't ever have had a problem with firefox to begin with! Take lesson from my noobness, kids! :D ;)


Last edited by Goldpaw on 23 March 2017 at 12:08 pm UTC
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