Players may still remember that AMD has previously tried to push the HDMI Forum (HDMI standard setting body) to approve open source support for HDMI 2.1 on Linux, but was strongly rejected. However, things seem to be different today.
An AMD Linux developer hinted that the company is preparing to provide full HDMI 2.1 support for AMD GPU drivers, bringing a complete open source implementation after years of hard work.
Valve has also helped in this process, with its Steam Machine running on the Linux-based SteamOS operating system and using AMD graphics cards.
AMD has submitted the first batch of Linux kernel patches, focusing on the fixed rate link (FRL) feature unique to the HDMI 2.1 standard. This feature enables higher bandwidth on the interface, effectively supporting AMD GPUs running Linux systems to output 4K 120Hz and 5K 240Hz resolutions.
Because these resolutions require higher data bandwidth, the newer HDMI 2.1 standard must be used in the AMD GPU open source graphics driver instead of the currently supported HDMI 2.0.
At the end of last year, Valve held an important negotiation. Given its experience with and experience with AMD hardware, Valve attempted to communicate with HDMI Forum leadership to gain approval for the open source implementation. AMD has previously invested months of engineering resources to develop the necessary code internally and plans to make it public in 2024. However, the HDMI Forum has given a strong response, claiming that open source implementation is impossible without violating its fair use requirements. Valve's SteamOS uses open-source AMD GPU driver components, as the Steam Machine ships with AMD RDNA 3 GPUs, and the company's talks appear to have worked.
