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A comment on AMD responds to Linux kernel maintainer's rejection of AMDGPU patch. Parent comment

Re:AMD responds to Linux kernel maintainer's rejection of AM... by Fr0styMatt88 on Friday December 09, 2016 @10:15PM (#13143809)
That may have been true of their driver quality in the past, but it's really not so true now. On Windows, their constant work at improving drivers, leading up to the release of their Crimson driver software, has been evident over the last two years. I have not had an AMD driver issue since maybe late last year (when there was a persistent incompatibility for a long time between Oculus Rift and the drivers). I run a dual-GPU card (R9-295X2) so my setup isn't exactly vanilla either (admittedly though I only use a single monitor, multi-monitor seems to have been a persistent pain point for people).

I can understand AMD wanting to unify their codebase. I agree with the parent that they shouldn't worry so much about upstreaming into the kernel. I think their HAL approach is the right engineering one, given the constraints that their team is working under. The team seems to be trying to do the best with what they've been given.

Also, hasn't the graphics division been spun-off into a separate company now (Radeon Graphics Group)? Or is it just a more focused internal division within AMD?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:AMD responds to Linux kernel maintainer's rejection of AM... by anonbanker on Monday December 12, 2016 @10:14AM (#13158576)
In The Thread: Windows users thinking improved windows performance somehow equates to improved linux driver quality.

Their paid developers are being outclassed by volunteers who write more solid drivers. Somehow this doesn't sink in.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:AMD responds to Linux kernel maintainer's rejection of AM... by koffiezet on Monday December 12, 2016 @10:41AM (#13158799)
> In The Thread: Windows users thinking improved windows performance somehow equates to improved linux driver quality.

Well, as far as I understood, that's exactly what the entire discussion is about: their HAL that would allow them to reuse large parts of their well optimized and tested Windows code and integrating that into the kernel.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:AMD responds to Linux kernel maintainer's rejection of AM... by anonbanker on Monday December 12, 2016 @12:06PM (#13159640)
> well-optimized

Later in the dri-devel thread, they even admit that DC isn't even being used in the Windows drivers, because by the time the software devs get to write drivers, the hardware devs they should be hooking up with have already moved to the latest/greatest thing, and can't be bothered with legacy.

AMD's drivers are far from "well-optimized", and their internal developer culture perpetuates this problem.

[ Parent | on HN ]