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Vulkan 1.0 specification and SDK have been released

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The specification for the long awaited Vulkan graphics API has now been released by Khronos. An SDK by LunarG has also been released which contains validation and debugging tools for Vulkan applications.

Quite a lot of people have been waiting excitedly for the Vulkan spec to come out and there has been a lot of hype surrounding the new API. Vulkan has been designed to be a high-performance low-level API which can take advantage of modern multicore processors far better than OpenGL. We will have to see how much this new approach affects real life performance once we have drivers with Vulkan support and games that utilize this new API, hopefully we'll get that soon.

AMD have also released a video explaining how Vulkan works in a nutshell.

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You can read the full Vulkan specification announcement from Khronos here and find some docs and samples of Vulkan in the Khronos GitHub. Correction: The Vulkan samples page is currently empty. The LunarG Vulkan SDK will be available on their Vulkan page but currently the download page might show you a 404 error.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I'm a Linux gamer from Finland. I like reading, long walks on the beach, dying repeatedly in roguelikes and ripping and tearing in FPS games. I also sometimes write code and sometimes that includes hobbyist game development.
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78 comments
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rustybroomhandle Feb 16, 2016
Hah, the "Multiple operating systems" slide in the video shows several specific Linux distros, plus a generic tux icon. :)
sr_ls_boy Feb 16, 2016
The AMD driver is only available for Windows.
nocri Feb 16, 2016
Btw, quite nice support with the Vulkan drivers:
AMD(blob) up from HD7700
NVIDIA(blob) up from 630GT

I stand corrected -- there is only Windows driver for AMD ...


Last edited by nocri on 16 February 2016 at 2:57 pm UTC
Pecisk Feb 16, 2016
Quoting: srlsboyThe AMD driver is only available for Windows.

Considering AMD is rebuilding their Linux driver infrastructure, I really don't expect them to have drivers just yet. As long as they give good deadline and distributions have given time to include them, it is not a big deal.
TheGeckoxx Feb 16, 2016
Vulkan Version of The Talos Principle is out too:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/412447331651559970/
minj Feb 16, 2016
I remember someone anticipating for giggles that NVIDIA will beat AMD in Vulkan which was born out of their own spec (Mantle). Props to you sir but I don't know whether to laugh or weep.
Pecisk Feb 16, 2016
Quoting: minjI remember someone anticipating for giggles that NVIDIA will beat AMD in Vulkan which was born out of their own spec (Mantle). Props to you sir but I don't know whether to laugh or weep.

Didn't know it was a race.
STiAT Feb 16, 2016
Quoting: TheGeckoxxVulkan Version of The Talos Principle is out too:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/412447331651559970/

Okay, I didn't expect them to push it that early... wow.
Samsai Feb 16, 2016
The Vulkan renderer for Talos Principle isn't on Linux yet. Hopefully that will arrive soon.
minj Feb 16, 2016
Quoting: Pecisk
Quoting: minjI remember someone anticipating for giggles that NVIDIA will beat AMD in Vulkan which was born out of their own spec (Mantle). Props to you sir but I don't know whether to laugh or weep.

Didn't know it was a race.

Oh but it was. Why do you think they waited for the first full implementation (Talos) to release the whole thing.
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