AMD’s unified Linux driver is only for future Radeon cards

AMD is releasing a unified open source Radeon kernel driver for Linux based on the current Radeon Direct Rendering Manager driver. Only future Radeon cards will support the new driver, the current one does not.

AMD announced its plans with the unified Linux driver at the XDC2014 event in Bordeaux. As a result of the unified driver offering, Linux users can get support for new graphics technology more quickly.

AMD is developing a new open source kernel driver for Linux, which is based in part on the existing Radeon Direct Rendering Manager driver. The new kernel driver forms the basis for the open source driver stack for non-pro users and for a closed variant for users of professional AMD FirePro video cards, for example. The driver is only supported by future video card generations.

Phoronix expects the code to be released in parts this fall and that the first cards with support will be the Radeon Rx 300 models based on Pirate Islands GPUs, which have been rumored for months. AMD does use the Sea Islands GPU of, for example, the Radeon R9 290 when testing the new drivers, but AMD will not support it at release.

The slides of the accompanying presentation show that AMD divides its Linux driver stack into three parts: all-open, non-pro and pro. All three are based on the open source Base Graphics driver with new kernel driver, the kernel interface, the ddx driver, and open source Mesa-user mode graphics drivers. The non-pro stack uses the closed source umds for OpenGl and OpenCL, and the Pro stack adds unnamed closed FirePro services and open add-ons.