Further evidence that Valve is here for the long-run, they've hired yet another developer to help improve open source graphics drivers on Linux.
Daniel Schürmann is the latest, confirmed by Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais on Twitter. So they have now hired Samuel "hakzsam" Pitoiset, Timothy Arceri (who previously crowdfunded his work to improve Linux drivers), Andres Rodriguez and more in addition to this latest.
It's going to be interesting to see if Valve continue to bring in more Linux folk, and the fact that Valve is still hiring people to help Linux gaming through driver work, VR work and so on is quite telling on how they plan to continue pushing Linux gaming for some time. They might not be shouting from the rooftops about it, but the work they're doing is vitally important.
Something else that Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais shared recently, is that approximately 13% of Mesa contributions in 2017 were from Valve developers:
Fun fact: Valve contributions seem to make up about 13% of Mesa commits in 2017. (commit count isn't relevant to contribution significance, so this fact is not only fun, but also useless).
It's going to be interesting to see what kind of splash Valve make, when VR support is solid on Linux and what their plans are after then. Some form of Steam Machine with SteamOS and a VR headset bundle, along with some upgrades to SteamOS could be quite interesting.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
QuoteWelcome keithp to the team! Our open graphics group is now 5 strong, but still hiring. Shader compiler performance people especially wanted.
Pierre-Loup Griffais this month:
QuoteWelcome Daniel Schürmann to the Valve open-source graphics group! https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/mesa-dev/2018-February/184685.html
If my math is correct we now got 6 dedicated people at Valve. :)
Last edited by Peapoll on 10 February 2018 at 2:35 pm UTC
Joeyboots80 Feb 11, 2018
Quoting: ShmerlSolution is quite easy and likely will be a common choice for many Linux gamers going forward. Ditch Nvidia and use AMD. It's a shame of course that Nvidia are being jerks when it comes to proper Linux support, but it's not our problem anymore.
Not so easy if you're doing stuff outside gaming. AMD open source drivers sucked when it comes to OpenCL and Vulkan support last time I've checked. And those may be a must depending on what you do.
Also if you're using 3d render engines like Redshift or Octane you're stuck with Nvidia as they require CUDA.
So yeah, I'd love to see Nvidia suck less when it comes to the way they handle their driver development and their general attitude (yup, I'm taking a long look at the Wayland case now), but that doesn't change that I have little choice...
Vega is a little different due to ROCm .
Vulkan was sketchy I admit, now works fine, currently playing doom through wine with Vulkan.
The cuda bit is obvious, if you need it, NV only, but lets be honest here, it the sole reason why NV came up with it is? Vendor Lockin! It's no different to DX from MS
The choice you do have however is the software you use though. Buying software that uses cudu only does not help and only strengthens vendor lockin for instance
Edit:
Just to point out, the argument regards cuda is kinda moot based on the fact the very site you are discussing this on has GAMING ON LINUX in the title. Plus I would dare say the vast majority of uses here are gamers due to the nature of the content. Be a good metric for liam to include in the PC stats mind.
If it was renderingonlinux you would have a case :P
Last edited by pete910 on 11 February 2018 at 2:16 pm UTC
This really restricts your choices, especially when you add few options (or no options) with professional software outside dev / server side.
If I'd only done gaming on my PC - sure AMD could be taken into consideration. But I need to do actual work as well... Thus no "ideology" talk can make me switch (I'd like to) - I need to be pragmatic with my hardware choices.
Quoting: PJyeah, Pete, but as I've stated - it is not so easy if you use your box for work too, not only for gaming.
This really restricts your choices, especially when you add few options (or no options) with professional software outside dev / server side.
If I'd only done gaming on my PC - sure AMD could be taken into consideration. But I need to do actual work as well... Thus no "ideology" talk can make me switch (I'd like to) - I need to be pragmatic with my hardware choices.
Have both :P
Gaming PC and a work station PC.
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