Ex windows user here. I really like my Linux installation, but I don’t know where the drivers are at, or if I should worry about it.

It feels great to have one less thing to worry about (I use an AMD GPU), but GPU drivers in Windows seem to have their own release cycle, fixing game compatibility and bugs, while in Linux it also feels like we have to wait for a next kernel release to get that fix.

Or maybe it’s mesa? I don’t really understand that.

TL;DR: where are the open source drivers at? Mesa or the kernel? And also, is the release cycle the same or close to Windows counterpart? Or it just doesn’t matter?

  • @PerrobocOP
    1•1 year ago

    Ok, I think I get it. But let’s say that AMD releases a windows driver with a fix for a new game. How much should I wait for that same fix to arrive in arch? Will it arrive as a new kernel? As a new mesa version? Or something else?

    • @aodhsishaj
      2•1 year ago

      That fix for the windows game won’t necessarily be a fix for your distro. What distro are you running and what do you want to do with your system?

      • @PerrobocOP
        0•1 year ago

        Arch (btw), and gaming mostly.

        I don’t get why you’re mentioning the distro, though.

        To give you an example, the latest Windows driver says it adds support for some games: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-23-11-1

        But for Linux…

        1. Linux drivers don’t seem to have game related fixes in their release notes: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-amdgpu-unified-linux-23-10-2
        2. I’ve never installed these drivers in Arch, nor needed to do so. I install them, I think, using AMDGPU + vulkan-radeon, right?
        • @[email protected]English
          4•1 year ago

          I could be wrong here, but perhaps those game “updates” are just adding profiles specific for those games into GeForce Experience/Adrenalin. I’ve never needed a game specific update driver for Nvidia, and from what I’ve heard on the AMD side of things - generally you don’t either. Every now and then a new Mesa build might make things work for a game better however, which is why they mentioned the distro (although I think the Steam Flatpak tends to include the newest Mesa anyways).

          Since neither manufacturer has a dashboard for Linux, there are no updates needed.

          Most game support related updates come from Proton/WINE/etc on the Linux side of things, not the drivers in my experience. Have a look at the Proton release notes, and you’ll see game specific updates generally landing there

        • @aodhsishaj
          1•1 year ago

          I’m mentioning the distro as Arch has a very different update path than Debian. Different package managers handle drivers differently. Also there are different Security decisions between say Rocky and Mandriva. All of this will affect drivers. Linux is just the kernel your distro is your OS it’s not just a DE there are a lot of decisions being made that aren’t just GUI.

          Valve uses Arch for a reason keep to that. Stay up with Proton reporting and update your whole system regularly and read patch notes. However if you want the latest and most stable experience just mirror whatever Valve is calling Steam OS these days

          For Arch and AMD you can just use the AUR as it’ll grab whatever is best for your setup. Most linux games and bug fixes are focused on the community drivers. However if you’re seeing somewhere that the proprietary drivers will give you benefit you can install the amdgpu_pro driver.

          https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU_PRO