Seems Valve really are trying to do a big push to get Linux graphics drivers up to scratch. Last night Pierre-Loup tweeted about a new hiring and the name might be familiar to some.
Welcome keithp to the team! Our open graphics group is now 5 strong, but still hiring. Shader compiler performance people especially wanted.
— Pierre-Loup Griffais (@Plagman2) March 13, 2017
Yep, none other than Keith Packard, a well known name in the Linux community who worked on the X Window System. He previously worked for Intel, then moved to HP and now he's settling in at Valve to continue Linux development. He will still remain at HP while doing this work for Valve too.
This is likely work towards pushing Virtual Reality support and making it better on Linux. Our open source drivers have already come a long way, but now we have some serious people paid to push them even further. Not only that, but game porter Feral Interactive have also been pushing more patches into Mesa. Awesome stuff.
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Valve were right about Microsofts goals with regards to gaming on windows via the app stores and a walled garden approach. Recently MS has been moving forward at a faster pace with their xbox integration and valve are ( relatively speaking ) running out of time for a viable alternative.
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Quoting: meggermanValve were right about Microsofts goals with regards to gaming on windows via the app stores and a walled garden approach. Recently MS has been moving forward at a faster pace with their xbox integration and valve are ( relatively speaking ) running out of time for a viable alternative.
It really looks like their lever on Microsoft.
"You're doing more app store enforcement? Well, we can hire Linux developers..."
10 Likes, Who?
Kallestofeles Mar 14, 2017
This is excellent news. The more people working on Linux's projects, the better for us all, especially when it's big names like Keith.
4 Likes, Who?
The effort from Valve seems to be more than just words. It would be great that people understand what is microsoft purpose with windows 10. It is simply about dispossessing users from their own hardware and datas on the long term. They want you to buy just a terminal that you will rent and on which everything is streamed from microsoft cloud servers including your personnal datas, applications, games... and that you will have to pay/rent as well.
Luckily life on linux is getting better everyday, thanks to all the volunteers and actors involved, including Gaming on linux, Phoronix, Feral interactive/Aspyr/Vp valve and all the contributors to vulkan and open source drivers.
Last edited by Jahimself on 14 March 2017 at 12:46 pm UTC
Luckily life on linux is getting better everyday, thanks to all the volunteers and actors involved, including Gaming on linux, Phoronix, Feral interactive/Aspyr/Vp valve and all the contributors to vulkan and open source drivers.
Last edited by Jahimself on 14 March 2017 at 12:46 pm UTC
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IMHO the MESA development seems stalling a bit: ok, they are making everything more robust and faster (and that is very nice and welcome, of course), but, apart from the Vulkan related efforts, there isn't new development regarding all those missing OpenGL extensions. A quick look at MesaMatrix shows that only the 34% of the "Other extensions" for radeonsi (54% for Mesa in general) are finished, and that is holding for two major releases of the library, which means not less than 6 months without new developments...
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johndoe86x Mar 14, 2017
Quoting: meggermanValve were right about Microsofts goals with regards to gaming on windows via the app stores and a walled garden approach. Recently MS has been moving forward at a faster pace with their xbox integration and valve are ( relatively speaking ) running out of time for a viable alternative.
I've said for awhile that Valve needs some competition. Microsoft and Valve trying to outdo each other will greatly benefit us all.
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Great to see Valve putting more effort into the graphics infrastructure and keeping Linux as a gaming platform alive.
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elbuglione Mar 14, 2017
"Shader compiler performance people especially wanted"
OMG!!!
OMG!!!
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Yey! Keith is a great developer. What ever his duties will be, it's a great thing that he'll be able to work full time on it. Great from Valve to get such an experienced developer on board.
Commits will show what he'll be up to.
All the best at Valve, Keith!
Commits will show what he'll be up to.
All the best at Valve, Keith!
2 Likes, Who?
GustyGhost Mar 14, 2017
Quoting: ziabiceIMHO the MESA development seems stalling a bit: ok, they are making everything more robust and faster (and that is very nice and welcome, of course), but, apart from the Vulkan related efforts, there isn't new development regarding all those missing OpenGL extensions. A quick look at MesaMatrix shows that only the 34% of the "Other extensions" for radeonsi (54% for Mesa in general) are finished, and that is holding for two major releases of the library, which means not less than 6 months without new developments...
Mesa got over the major hurdles of reaching OGL 4.5 compliance finally. There isn't much left to do except Vulkan and performance improvements.
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