Looks like AMD just open sourced their V-EZ Vulkan wrapper

Interesting, may it be that Valve convinced AMD to open source the product and to change the "target" of it?

Interesting, may it be that Valve convinced AMD to open source the product and to change the "target" of it?

Possibly yeah. This was a thought that crossed my mind too.

Yet another reason to continue liking AMD :)

Interesting, may it be that Valve convinced AMD to open source the product and to change the "target" of it?

Possibly yeah. This was a thought that crossed my mind too.

The recent revelations from Valve has made me rethink stuff and falling into tin foil hat thinking, like, what if they made SteamOS slightly uninspiring and their general linux strategy slightly unimpressive, just to make all competitors think "oh look, linux gaming is a dead end, just look at valve, they are getting nothing for their trouble" and then POUNCE on the linux market like this, so that they have a competetive edge by being first and best? Because in retrospect, becoming a patron and master of wine and linux gaming seems like a good long term plan really.

Interesting, may it be that Valve convinced AMD to open source the product and to change the "target" of it?

Possibly yeah. This was a thought that crossed my mind too.

The recent revelations from Valve has made me rethink stuff and falling into tin foil hat thinking, like, what if they made SteamOS slightly uninspiring and their general linux strategy slightly unimpressive, just to make all competitors think "oh look, linux gaming is a dead end, just look at valve, they are getting nothing for their trouble" and then POUNCE on the linux market like this, so that they have a competetive edge by being first and best? Because in retrospect, becoming a patron and master of wine and linux gaming seems like a good long term plan really.

It's unlikely when there is a much more mundane reason — i.e. accomplishing anything of substance takes effort and time — but I'd be okay with that scenario. I respect smart tactical plays with positive outcomes.

Interesting, may it be that Valve convinced AMD to open source the product and to change the "target" of it?

Possibly yeah. This was a thought that crossed my mind too.

The recent revelations from Valve has made me rethink stuff and falling into tin foil hat thinking, like, what if they made SteamOS slightly uninspiring and their general linux strategy slightly unimpressive, just to make all competitors think "oh look, linux gaming is a dead end, just look at valve, they are getting nothing for their trouble" and then POUNCE on the linux market like this, so that they have a competetive edge by being first and best? Because in retrospect, becoming a patron and master of wine and linux gaming seems like a good long term plan really.

It could also be that Valve have promissed AMD to be the only manufacturer of the future/upcoming re-release of Steam Machines... That would assure enough dough for AMD and an argument of enough weight to continue being open source.

But that's just my Friday afternoon rant, perhaps I'm completely mistaken haha.

I don't think that Valve and AMD have some secret business arrangement. As for Valve becoming lord and master of Linux gaming, they aren't just using all open tools to accomplish it, they are sending their code back into the projects they are using, meaning GoG can do this too. Humble can do this, too. EA can do this, too. ActiBlizzard can do this, too. YOU CAN DO THIS, TOO. Valve got there first, so yep, they are going to be top dog.

Right now there IS NO LINUX MARKET worth noting. Half of a percent is nothing. Have you noticed that Valve has already said that they have no plans to incorporate any of this into their Apple storefront? Why? Answer = everyone that wants an Apple computer already has one. Their marketshare if anything is DWINDLING as their people tire of paying more for hardware they can't upgrade to run software that's also available on Windows. So if you are Valve you know the only hope you have of keeping Microsoft from forcing everybody onto some new Windows Live and off of Steam is to directly fund a competitor that can actually GROW it's marketshare. Apple doesn't want the help. Apple doesn't care, or worse, Apple has it's own plans and might work against you(Metal anyone?). So what do you do if you're Valve?

Valve is using Linux as a weapon against Microsoft. Valve wants to make and sell games, not operating systems and office productivity software. If FreeDOS, BSD, or ReactOS could do this then Valve would have gone with one of those for SteamOS. But none of them are mature enough. They CAN'T fill this role. But Linux can. In fact Linux is the ONLY OS that can do this, precisely because it's a mature OS that no one can truly control. Okay. Now they have an OS, all they needed was an API to rival DirectX because OpenGL already lost that fight repeatedly.... and thank you there's Vulkan(pray that Sony chooses it for the PS5).

You give a Windows user a computer with Mint Cinnamon on it and they are right at home. And now they have all their Windows games on Steam that install and play identically to their Windows experience(more or less). Even with the reality that maybe half the games work with Steam Play across all distros right now, it doesn't matter. As long as the situation continues to steadily improve people will start to switch knowing that there will be a future where Valve has their back, and that future means not having to deal with Microsoft or Apple.

As for the open sourcing of V-EZ and redirected target, from the description it looks like it would help out indie devs that know nothing about Vulkan, and if we know anything about AMD's software side of things, they need all the help they can get. I also cannot stress this enough, Linux's future is tied to Vulkan. We really need to realize this. Right now "Linux support" means Vulkan and no extra DR beyond Steam for WINE compatibility. All the help they can get is good.


Last edited by jarhead_h on 24 August 2018 at 6:08 pm UTC

I don't think that Valve and AMD have some secret business arrangement. As for Valve becoming lord and master of Linux gaming, they aren't just using all open tools to accomplish it, they are sending their code back into the projects they are using, meaning GoG can do this too. Humble can do this, too. EA can do this, too. ActiBlizzard can do this, too. YOU CAN DO THIS, TOO. Valve got there first, so yep, they are going to be top dog.

Right now there IS NO LINUX MARKET worth noting. Half of a percent is nothing. Have you noticed that Valve has already said that they have no plans to incorporate any of this into their Apple storefront? Why? Answer = everyone that wants an Apple computer already has one. Their marketshare if anything is DWINDLING as their people tire of paying more for hardware they can't upgrade to run software that's also available on Windows. So if you are Valve you know the only hope you have of keeping Microsoft from forcing everybody onto some new Windows Live and off of Steam is to directly fund a competitor that can actually GROW it's marketshare. Apple doesn't want the help. Apple doesn't care, or worse, Apple has it's own plans and might work against you(Metal anyone?). So what do you do if you're Valve?

Valve is using Linux as a weapon against Microsoft. Valve wants to make and sell games, not operating systems and office productivity software. If FreeDOS, BSD, or ReactOS could do this then Valve would have gone with one of those for SteamOS. But none of them are mature enough. They CAN'T fill this role. But Linux can. In fact Linux is the ONLY OS that can do this, precisely because it's a mature OS that no one can truly control. Okay. Now they have an OS, all they needed was an API to rival DirectX because OpenGL already lost that fight repeatedly.... and thank you there's Vulkan(pray that Sony chooses it for the PS5).

You give a Windows user a computer with Mint Cinnamon on it and they are right at home. And now they have all their Windows games on Steam that install and play identically to their Windows experience(more or less). Even with the reality that maybe half the games work with Steam Play across all distros right now, it doesn't matter. As long as the situation continues to steadily improve people will start to switch knowing that there will be a future where Valve has their back, and that future means not having to deal with Microsoft or Apple.

As for the open sourcing of V-EZ and redirected target, from the description it looks like it would help out indie devs that know nothing about Vulkan, and if we know anything about AMD's software side of things, they need all the help they can get. I also cannot stress this enough, Linux's future is tied to Vulkan. We really need to realize this. Right now "Linux support" means Vulkan and no extra DR beyond Steam for WINE compatibility. All the help they can get is good.

Well spoken, I agree, it is very clever of Valve and a good strategy.

My next GPU will be AMD.



<Torvalds with finger to the other manufacturer>

My next GPU will be AMD.



<Torvalds with finger to the other manufacturer>

Currently still running a Phenom II, I am planning a Ryzen 2 2700x build in two phases. Phase 1 will include CPU, mobo, DD4, PSU, 1TB NVME drive. I will be cannibalizing my existing second-choice 1060GTX (I wanted an RX580, thanks crypto-miners) out of the machine I'm using to type this post and drive the Sceptre 32in 1080p 60hz tv it's plugged into. Next Summer begins Phase 2, which will see hopefully an updated version of the LG 43in 4K 43UD79-B(crossing fingers on 120hz, HDR, and Freesync) and hopefully whatever Navi turns out to be. Vega is an under-performer, and I doubt switching it to 7nm is really going to help that enough to justify purchasing it.

NVIDIA's new ray tracing hardware is implemented as a PhysX-like gimmick that pretties up the game without directly affecting gameplay at the cost of killing framerate. It's the first thing every gamer is going to turn off, and it's upping the cost of the cards by $2-300. Plus it's DX12 only right now, and will be coming to Vulkan in the future. Unfortunately, as hostile as NVIDIA is to open source, their cards still work pretty well for Linux.


Last edited by jarhead_h on 24 August 2018 at 10:48 pm UTC

People say that Vulkan is much "harder" than openGL, but i've learned a little bit of openGL and for me it was kinda messy, lots of global variables, openGL is not exactly easy, so Vulkan should be really hard.
I really would like to learn Vulkan and openCL and help some open source projects, don't know from where to start.

You could help the VK9 project get their DX9 to Vulkan done. Really only 1 guy working on it and he is past the half way stage.

My next GPU will be AMD.



<Torvalds with finger to the other manufacturer>

Currently still running a Phenom II, I am planning a Ryzen 2 2700x build in two phases. Phase 1 will include CPU, mobo, DD4, PSU, 1TB NVME drive. I will be cannibalizing my existing second-choice 1060GTX (I wanted an RX580, thanks crypto-miners) out of the machine I'm using to type this post and drive the Sceptre 32in 1080p 60hz tv it's plugged into. Next Summer begins Phase 2, which will see hopefully an updated version of the LG 43in 4K 43UD79-B(crossing fingers on 120hz, HDR, and Freesync) and hopefully whatever Navi turns out to be. Vega is an under-performer, and I doubt switching it to 7nm is really going to help that enough to justify purchasing it.

NVIDIA's new ray tracing hardware is implemented as a PhysX-like gimmick that pretties up the game without directly affecting gameplay at the cost of killing framerate. It's the first thing every gamer is going to turn off, and it's upping the cost of the cards by $2-300. Plus it's DX12 only right now, and will be coming to Vulkan in the future. Unfortunately, as hostile as NVIDIA is to open source, their cards still work pretty well for Linux.

RX 580 pricing is still shit for you? I'm living in Poland and the RX 580 is basically back at the price where it was before this whole "crypto explosion"

My next GPU will be AMD.



<Torvalds with finger to the other manufacturer>

... Unfortunately, as hostile as NVIDIA is to open source, their cards still work pretty well for Linux.

Do you have an Optimus system? Intel/Nvidia?
Well, I do....
It does not work fine.
If I leave the discrete card (NVIDIA) always ON, the FAN goes crazy sometimes.
To switch to Intel I need to logout/login or some other weird trick.

Bumblebee is the salvation, but does not support Vulkan.

Currently still running a Phenom II, I am planning a Ryzen 2 2700x build in two phases. Phase 1 will include CPU, mobo, DD4, PSU, 1TB NVME drive. I will be cannibalizing my existing second-choice 1060GTX (I wanted an RX580, thanks crypto-miners) out of the machine I'm using to type this post and drive the Sceptre 32in 1080p 60hz tv it's plugged into....

RX 580 pricing is still shit for you? I'm living in Poland and the RX 580 is basically back at the price where it was before this whole "crypto explosion"

No, but my Phenom II mobo has AMD onboard graphics so there's really no point in buying another card when I already have a working 1060 6GB. I wasn't even planning on buying the 1060, but a year ago my 660 WindforceOC started crapping out. So I first dug through some reviews and quickly determined the RX580 was the card, and they were all sold out as were the RX470s they replaced. Started looking at 1060s and found an EVGA for $250. A week later it was $300. A few days after that they were gone, too. I figure this card should last me fine as long as I'm still running on a 1080p TV. When I upgrade that to something 4K I will need better. I'm hoping that Navi is really good because I want to switch back to AMD. It's been awhile.


Last edited by jarhead_h on 26 August 2018 at 5:53 am UTC

People say that Vulkan is much "harder" than openGL, but i've learned a little bit of openGL and for me it was kinda messy, lots of global variables, openGL is not exactly easy, so Vulkan should be really hard.
I really would like to learn Vulkan and openCL and help some open source projects, don't know from where to start.

Well, I'm going to start with C/C++ and go from there. I think there's a coming demand for Vulkan code monkeys and I could use a raise.