AMD Patches in Support for FreeSync to Linux

[cageymaru]

AMD developer Nicholas Kazlauskas has uploaded a series of patches, that when eventually added to the Linux kernel, will enable 'FreeSync' within Linux. Adaptive sync is the Displayport spec and variable refresh rate is the same but pertains to the HDMI spec that allows for graphics adapters to drive displays with varying frame timings. Michael Larabel from Phoronix is optimistic that they will become available with the Linux 4.20~5.0 kernel.

These patches enable adaptive variable refresh on X for AMD hardware provided that the user sets the variable_refresh_enabled property to true on supported connectors (ie. using xrandr --set-prop). They have been tested on upstream userland under GNOME/KDE desktop environments under single and multi-monitor setups for a number of GL applications. Most games and benchmarks should work as expected provided that the compositor correctly unredirects the application's surface. KDE seems to have the best support for this with an explicit option to disable tearing support.

 

[bobdabilder]

Good for amd!

 

[JosiahBradley]

I for one welcome are new tear free terminal overloards!

 

[N4CR]

Lot of movement in Linux gaming recently, I hope it can become a solid option in near future, so I can skip w10 all together. W10 is the best opportunity Linux has had in a long time.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

W10 is the best opportunity Linux has had in a long time.

And yet it's great for gaming...

 

[N4CR]

And yet it's great for gaming...

W10? Yeah but most users have no other reason to use it bar hardware support, until grandfathering kicks in. Only this year have I had issues with software for an xp box, so I think w7 has a long way to go, if not longer given the abysmal w10 install rates.

 

[Hakaba]

Lot of movement in Linux gaming recently, I hope it can become a solid option in near future, so I can skip w10 all together. W10 is the best opportunity Linux has had in a long time.

That and the money you will save, esp for houses with 4-5 computers in it.

 

[N4CR]

That and the money you will save, esp for houses with 4-5 computers in it.

Good point too. Not a fan of M$ but W10 wouldn't be the smartest thing to Pirate I think...

 

[IdiotInCharge]

W10? Yeah but most users have no other reason to use it bar hardware support, until grandfathering kicks in. Only this year have I had issues with software for an xp box, so I think w7 has a long way to go, if not longer given the abysmal w10 install rates.

It's faster, more stable, and with respect to outside attacks, more secure than previous versions. It's also fully and freely supported, which Windows 7 isn't.

[you can argue about Microsoft's spying, and I'll give you that]

 

[BloodyIron]

Fuckin' eh!

Anyone know which version of DP has adaptive sync?

 

[BloodyIron]

You're right, Linux is great for gaming!

Don't need to worry about shitty forced updates during any gaming... Plus it's faster in so many ways. Which distro do you prefer?

And yet it's great for gaming...

 

[BloodyIron]

Actually Windows 7 has extended support up until 2020

It's faster, more stable, and with respect to outside attacks, more secure than previous versions. It's also fully and freely supported, which Windows 7 isn't.

[you can argue about Microsoft's spying, and I'll give you that]

 

[IdiotInCharge]

Plus it's faster in so many ways. Which distro do you prefer?

...faster except for gaming

I prefer Ubuntu, straight, for now, but my employer is big on Red Hat (and CentOS) so I need to muddle through that a bit more too.

Actually Windows 7 has extended support up until 2020

That's right, they're still patching the worst stuff for the clingers-on. Not really a place for most consumers though; they're botnet fodder.

Don't need to worry about shitty forced updates during any gaming

Sample size of one applies, but I've never had this happen- actually never had an update force me to log off outside of corporate policy, and I've been gaming on Windows 10 since release.

Of course, I found patched Vista through 7, 8, 8.1, and now successive versions of 10 to be fast and stable for gaming, whereas Linux has just gotten to the point where it's a viable gaming alternative for those willing to deal with occasional hackery and lower and inconsistent performance. And yes, I've gamed on my Linux workstation!

 

[BloodyIron]

1. VALVe reports that on multiple games of theirs, they were able to, repeatedly, get more FPS on Linux than Windows. This includes Left4Dead 2, DotA 2, and others. Plus other games, at times, get equal, or better FPS than on Windows (not just VALVe).
2. The patching is for security, so they are not inherently botnet fodder till 2020.
3. Sample size of one? Dude, people make videos and it happens on live streams and even live TV broadcast regularly. I'm not even talking about my experience, I'm talking about the experience other people have had.
4. If you think Windows Updates are fast, then I doubt you've tried any package manager on a SSD, or even done side-by-side comparison of Windows vs Ubuntu/Linux on the same hardware. I've done such many times, and a proper package manager wins every time. That includes checking for updates, downloading and applying them.
5. If you want to see what real Overwatch performance on Linux is, on older hardware, check out my video (pilot episode, so there's room for polish) : www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsUZ0LYyz54
6. Above video is just _one_ example, of many games, that run perfectly fine on Linux. I'm going to be making more videos over time, not only demonstrating the performance real-world, but front-to-back how to get setup with them.

The above is nothing new I haven't heard before, hence me being prepared with responses

...faster except for gaming

I prefer Ubuntu, straight, for now, but my employer is big on Red Hat (and CentOS) so I need to muddle through that a bit more too.



That's right, they're still patching the worst stuff for the clingers-on. Not really a place for most consumers though; they're botnet fodder.



Sample size of one applies, but I've never had this happen- actually never had an update force me to log off outside of corporate policy, and I've been gaming on Windows 10 since release.

Of course, I found patched Vista through 7, 8, 8.1, and now successive versions of 10 to be fast and stable for gaming, whereas Linux has just gotten to the point where it's a viable gaming alternative for those willing to deal with occasional hackery and lower and inconsistent performance. And yes, I've gamed on my Linux workstation!

 

[Mega6]

my next monitor will be freesync, guess that makes my next GPU an AMD.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

VALVe reports that on multiple games of theirs, they were able to, repeatedly, get more FPS on Linux than Windows. This includes Left4Dead 2, DotA 2, and others. Plus other games, at times, get equal, or better FPS than on Windows (not just VALVe).

Valve's pushing for it; my main skepticism comes from the overall lower visibility of Linux gaming and from the experience on Apple, which never caught up (and likely never will). I expect some stuff to run better and some to run slower, and I don't consider Valve games to be good predictors. Their engine is aging.

The patching is for security, so they are not inherently botnet fodder till 2020.

This assumes that users will allow the patching, which is something that is easy to block on 7. As much as people can complain about forced updates, Microsoft has the biggest attack surface and their doing the most to secure it.

Sample size of one? Dude, people make videos and it happens on live streams and even live TV broadcast regularly. I'm not even talking about my experience, I'm talking about the experience other people have had.

Well, I don't watch streams- I'm bored, but not that bored. And while I'm one person, I have multiple machines for different purposes, friends who game, etc.- so I haven't seen it or heard it. I have to question the configuration others are running when they have that happen 'mid-stream'. Very rare to see a youtuber that has a clue. Can't imagine attention-whore streamers being better, and I can definitely imagine them putting themselves in a position to have that happen mid-stream for the attention. Bad examples there.

If you think Windows Updates are fast, then I doubt you've tried any package manager on a SSD, or even done side-by-side comparison of Windows vs Ubuntu/Linux on the same hardware. I've done such many times, and a proper package manager wins every time. That includes checking for updates, downloading and applying them.

I don't worry about how fast Windows updates are. Also didn't mention that, so not sure where you're coming from, except that you want to talk about Linux package managers. Which are different.

If you want to see what real Overwatch performance on Linux is, on older hardware, check out my video (pilot episode, so there's room for polish) : www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsUZ0LYyz54

You can run Overwatch on older hardware on Windows. It wasn't exactly a high resource game on launch and it's old now. Not really a good comparison either.

Above video is just _one_ example, of many games, that run perfectly fine on Linux. I'm going to be making more videos over time, not only demonstrating the performance real-world, but front-to-back how to get setup with them.

"Perfectly fine"- I was waiting for that goalpost move

You want to play the latest AAA games with the best performance on your hardware?

You're running Windows.

my next monitor will be freesync, guess that makes my next GPU an AMD.

Should specify Freesync 2, so you're at least close to feature parity with G-Sync and not hindered by the shitshow that is Freesync [1]

 

[Mega6]

Should specify Freesync 2, so you're at least close to feature parity with G-Sync and not hindered by the shitshow that is Freesync [1]

thanks MOM

 

[BloodyIron]

1. Just because you don't like their engines, doesn't mean their clearly reproducible evidence is irrelevant. Furthermore, DotA2 actually runs on Source2 now, so, the engine is actually 100% modern.
2. It's irrelevant whether people block patching or not, that's something that could have happened in many years past.
3. I guess you missed the part where I said "live TV broadcast". Windows 10 doesn't even let you cancel updating once you hit the update button. I really think you're willfully ignoring how updating actually works out of the box in Windows. Hell, it's even a nightmare if you have GPOs to apply to workstations and servers. I've had servers forcefully apply updates when I didn't tell it to, nor was it scheduled to via GPOs. Windows Server 2016 actually ignores Update GPO configurations. Go look this shit up, it's a big deal.
4. There are plenty of native AAA titles being released native for Linux, including F1 2018, 2017, 2016, Shadow of Mordor, and on and on, but this is yet another argument that I tire of having to explain time and time again. A game natively written for Linux runs on-par or better, typically, with Windows. There are exceptions, but those are typically from companies that don't have sufficient experience in releasing games on Linux, which is a solvable problem.
5. The point of referencing Overwatch is that it is a modern AAA title that is demanding that runs extremely well on Linux. Oh no, you lose 20FPS compared to Windows, big fucking deal. You think you'll notice? No. Not when you're pushing upwards of 100FPS or more. And that is completely achievable on Linux, whether you like to believe it or not.

Valve's pushing for it; my main skepticism comes from the overall lower visibility of Linux gaming and from the experience on Apple, which never caught up (and likely never will). I expect some stuff to run better and some to run slower, and I don't consider Valve games to be good predictors. Their engine is aging.



This assumes that users will allow the patching, which is something that is easy to block on 7. As much as people can complain about forced updates, Microsoft has the biggest attack surface and their doing the most to secure it.



Well, I don't watch streams- I'm bored, but not that bored. And while I'm one person, I have multiple machines for different purposes, friends who game, etc.- so I haven't seen it or heard it. I have to question the configuration others are running when they have that happen 'mid-stream'. Very rare to see a youtuber that has a clue. Can't imagine attention-whore streamers being better, and I can definitely imagine them putting themselves in a position to have that happen mid-stream for the attention. Bad examples there.



I don't worry about how fast Windows updates are. Also didn't mention that, so not sure where you're coming from, except that you want to talk about Linux package managers. Which are different.



You can run Overwatch on older hardware on Windows. It wasn't exactly a high resource game on launch and it's old now. Not really a good comparison either.



"Perfectly fine"- I was waiting for that goalpost move

You want to play the latest AAA games with the best performance on your hardware?

You're running Windows.



Should specify Freesync 2, so you're at least close to feature parity with G-Sync and not hindered by the shitshow that is Freesync [1]

 

[ManofGod]

1. VALVe reports that on multiple games of theirs, they were able to, repeatedly, get more FPS on Linux than Windows. This includes Left4Dead 2, DotA 2, and others. Plus other games, at times, get equal, or better FPS than on Windows (not just VALVe).
2. The patching is for security, so they are not inherently botnet fodder till 2020.
3. Sample size of one? Dude, people make videos and it happens on live streams and even live TV broadcast regularly. I'm not even talking about my experience, I'm talking about the experience other people have had.
4. If you think Windows Updates are fast, then I doubt you've tried any package manager on a SSD, or even done side-by-side comparison of Windows vs Ubuntu/Linux on the same hardware. I've done such many times, and a proper package manager wins every time. That includes checking for updates, downloading and applying them.
5. If you want to see what real Overwatch performance on Linux is, on older hardware, check out my video (pilot episode, so there's room for polish) : www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsUZ0LYyz54
6. Above video is just _one_ example, of many games, that run perfectly fine on Linux. I'm going to be making more videos over time, not only demonstrating the performance real-world, but front-to-back how to get setup with them.

The above is nothing new I haven't heard before, hence me being prepared with responses

The guy you are quoting is not pro Windows, just anti Amd.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

The guy you are quoting is not pro Windows, just anti Amd.

I'm pro what works. I don't worship at a tech alter, thanks.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

1. Just because you don't like their engines, doesn't mean their clearly reproducible evidence is irrelevant. Furthermore, DotA2 actually runs on Source2 now, so, the engine is actually 100% modern.

I think their engines are great!

They're just not good examples of modern graphics.

[I don't mean to appear to move the goalposts here, but Valve games are simply not graphically intense, quite on purpose- they're designed to run well on lower-spec systems, which they do!]

2. It's irrelevant whether people block patching or not, that's something that could have happened in many years past.

It's something that's hard to do on Windows 10, and in turn it's something that makes Windows 10 a better operating system at scale for security.

Windows 10 doesn't even let you cancel updating once you hit the update button.

You figure the first time you did it, you'd learn...

There are plenty of native AAA titles being released native for Linux, including F1 2018, 2017, 2016, Shadow of Mordor,

Actually played Shadow of Mordar!

How many AAA titles are not being released on Linux?

The point of referencing Overwatch is that it is a modern AAA title that is demanding that runs extremely well on Linux.

Overwatch isn't demanding.


---------------------

I'm not trying to sound obtuse- I have Linux running all around me.

But as I said to HeWhoWillNotBeNamed, I use what works. I'm happy that Linux gaming support is increasing, but I don't disillusion myself that it still lags significantly.