[OpenIndiana-discuss] Inputs for FAQ on the Intel DRM/KMS work

[ken mays]

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 9:33 AM, Alan Coopersmith <alan.coopersmith at oracle.com> wrote:

On 01/ 9/16 07:49 AM, Sriram Narayanan wrote:
> Please reply with responses to the above and with further questions and
> answers, if any.

Places you may find some answers include:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Solaris-DRM-KMS-2015
http://www.x.org/wiki/Events/XDC2015/Program/#Fishel_status_drm_i915_solaris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Rendering_Manager
http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/kernel_mode_setting
http://lanyrd.com/topics/x-window-system/

    -alan-



Hi Sriram,

1. Elevator pitch/ Two sentence summary of Martin's work on Intel DRM/KMS.

    Martin Bochnig is the Principal Software Engineer of OpenSXCE. He volunteered to update and port the Intel-based open source kernel components of the Intel Graphics KMS/GEM and Direct Rendering Infrastructure 2D/3D graphics driver stack to OpenSolaris-related distros.  


2. What is Intel DRM? 


    Direct Rendering Manager (DRM)
is a kernel module that gives direct graphics hardware access to DRI clients. This module deals with DMA, memory management, resource locking, and secure hardware access. 

    
3. What is Intel KMS? 


    Full kernel mode setting support to run the recent usermode ddx and mesa drivers for Intel GPUs. 

4. Why are these important?
    

    The open source Intel GEM/KMS/DRM/DRI libraries and device driver support Intel's GPUs on the lowest level. This technology is responsible for managing the HDMI/TV/DVI video outputs, power management, low-level graphics commands execution, monitor hotplug detection and all the low-level bits required for the Intel GPU graphics hardware to work. The end goal provides gen4-gen9 Intel GPU 2D/3D hardware-accelerated graphics support for OpenSolaris-related distros.



5. What is Martin doing in this space? 
    
    Martin Bochnig is the Principal Software Engineer of OpenSXCE. He volunteered to update and port the open source kernel components of the 2015Q4 Intel Graphics 2D graphics driver stack to OpenSolaris-related distros.


6. What can Open Indiana users do to help test? 

    Help Martin in support, testing, funding, and driver-related feedback. Support for OpenSXCE is welcome.


7. How does this fit in the Open Indiana roadmap ? 

    The end goal provides gen4-gen9 Intel GPU 2D/3D hardware-accelerated graphics support for OpenSolaris-related distros. This project will support legacy Intel GPUs, Intel HD Graphics, and Intel Iris Pro Graphics (aka Intel Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge/Bay Trail/Haswell/Broadwell/Skylake).


8. How does this fit with the Illumos cause? 


    The goals of the illumos project  provide community support and improvements to the original OpenSolaris-related OS/Net source code. Intel GPU-specific laptop users, sys admins, and developers requested basic 2D graphics driver support in their assistance to the illumos project goals.


Sidenote: I'd like to recognize Randy Fishel, Principal Software Engineer at Oracle, for his 'status of Intel DRM/KMS' presentations and documentation on the kernel-related Intel graphics driver port at Oracle for the Solaris OS product. 


Hope this info helps the Solaris/OpenSolaris/OpenIndiana and Intel graphics engineering community,
Ken Mays