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Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

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Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#61

Post by rayiner »

benologist wrote: post #55
rayiner wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But all in all, I am actually quite happy with my Pixelbook purchase. If the hardware/firmware experience could improve a bit, then it would have been a very, very good purchase despite all the hates from Youtube reviewers. How do you forgive something like that? The LTE on my Lenovo X1C 6th gen fails randomly (with recent driver updates, it’s just once a week). I’m never buying a Lenovo again, basic functionality…

It's just code bugs, they're easy to forgive when they get fixed. How much code is in a laptop prior to installing an operating system, it must be a lot with modern hardware. Management bugs on the other hand are harder to forgive, like that time Lenovo shipped rootkits, or the many times Apple has simply lied about bad hardware design, or that time Facebook decided not to refund children based on if it was their par…

I disagree. Apple hardware has had some quirks, but over aggressive throttling is far more forgivable than basic functionality simply not working. My laptop is a tool—it needs to work.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#62

Post by benologist »

rayiner wrote: post #61
benologist wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just code bugs, they're easy to forgive when they get fixed. How much code is in a laptop prior to installing an operating system, it must be a lot with modern hardware. Management bugs on the other hand are harder to forgive, like that time Lenovo shipped rootkits, or the many times Apple has simply lied about bad hardware design, or that time Facebook decided not to refund children based on if it was their par…

I disagree. Apple hardware has had some quirks, but over aggressive throttling is far more forgivable than basic functionality simply not working. My laptop is a tool—it needs to work.

How about when Apple denied 2017's keyboards were shit then they denied it again and again until in 2018 whilst continuing to deny it they iterated on the design to fix the problem and launched a 4 year replacement program for devices otherwise likely to last 10+ years? How much is the EU going to spend in 2021 fighting Apple when the keyboard replacements are still required and cost $700...

How about bent iPads, badly soldered nVidia chips, fraying cables etc?

Code mistakes (sometimes) just get fixed instead of shielded with lies to avoid liability for avoidable mistakes.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#64

Post by fhrow4484 »

keypress wrote: post #60
fhrow4484 wrote: post #8

This feature, along with the sound support, is what's gonna finally make the pixelbook a game changer for Linux desktops. I can't wait for those, and the pixelbook 2.

Sound support? I still have various sound issues on Debian, to the point I just can't be bothered to sort it out. It kind of works.

Sound support on crostini specifically: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Crostini/comme...

Today Linux apps installed on chrome os don't have sound support yet.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#65

Post by Jasper_ »

drcode wrote: post #48
opencl wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'll accelerate 2D graphics that use OpenGL. GIMP and emacs don't use hardware acceleration in the first place. Krita uses OpenGL to draw the canvas so it will get accelerated.

> GIMP and emacs don't use hardware acceleration in the first place. Honest question: On most OSes, don't regular drawing operations in these programs (Bitblits, font renderings) typically use hardware acceleration through the OS? On crostini, are these things currently done via pure CPU operations, or are they already being mapped to hardware-accelerated API calls, even before the new OpenGL support?

It's complicated and depends on a lot of things. On a typical Linux system, bitblt (well, XCopyArea) and font rendering will go through XRender, which may or may not use the GPU depending on driver support. On xf86-video-intel, it will use SNA, which will use the 2D blitter on Intel chips. It's unmaintained at this point and a bit buggy so some distros turn it off. Instead, one might use glamor, which implements XRender on top of OpenGL, which will use the 3D graphics hardware on Intel chips. So it depends on your system configuration.

For other operating systems, the words and details change, but the overall idea of "it's complicated and depends on your driver and OS version and which apps are running and phase of the moon" still applies.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#66

Post by Jasper_ »

bitwize wrote: post #50
opencl wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'll accelerate 2D graphics that use OpenGL. GIMP and emacs don't use hardware acceleration in the first place. Krita uses OpenGL to draw the canvas so it will get accelerated.

With Xorg's GLAMOR driver, all 2d graphics use OpenGL. God knows if Xwayland will incorporate GLAMOR. Since almost all compositors except for Weston assume the presence of a GPU, you'd think it would, but I have not been delighted with Wayland development thus far...

Xwayland has had glamor support since the very beginning.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#67

Post by jplayer01 »

benologist wrote: post #62
rayiner wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Apple hardware has had some quirks, but over aggressive throttling is far more forgivable than basic functionality simply not working. My laptop is a tool—it needs to work.

How about when Apple denied 2017's keyboards were shit then they denied it again and again until in 2018 whilst continuing to deny it they iterated on the design to fix the problem and launched a 4 year replacement program for devices otherwise likely to last 10+ years? How much is the EU going to spend in 2021 fighting Apple when the keyboard replacements are still required and cost $700... How about bent iPads, bad…

Code mistakes, especially when it comes to firmware and drivers generally don't get fixed the same way hardware issues often don't. Neither is acceptable and I don't see why you're trying to argue Apple is worse when they're both terrible companies with terrible behavior.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#68

Post by benologist »

jplayer01 wrote: post #67
benologist wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about when Apple denied 2017's keyboards were shit then they denied it again and again until in 2018 whilst continuing to deny it they iterated on the design to fix the problem and launched a 4 year replacement program for devices otherwise likely to last 10+ years? How much is the EU going to spend in 2021 fighting Apple when the keyboard replacements are still required and cost $700... How about bent iPads, bad…

Code mistakes, especially when it comes to firmware and drivers generally don't get fixed the same way hardware issues often don't. Neither is acceptable and I don't see why you're trying to argue Apple is worse when they're both terrible companies with terrible behavior.

Highlighting some examples of Apple's unethical behavior is not saying another company is better or that Apple are worse.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#69

Post by guenthert »

dgzl wrote: post #7
jimmies wrote: post #2

I am a hardcore Linux user. I went so far as buying Chromebooks to wipe ChromeOS and run Linux on them in the last 5 years. As of late, I have decided to leave ChromeOS alone on my new Pixelbook. There are two reasons for that decision: - I just love having the ability to have a pen to draw when I needed to share the screen to explain something for my friends when we talk about technical crap. ChromeOS supports the p…

As a Linux fanatic myself, I've been really interested in flashing a cheap Chromebook into Arch or something low resource, and using it as a super mobile workstation. I guess the only problem is, I haven't given up on my T430 from college. Upgraded parts, extended battery and dock makes for a very comfortable setup that's hard to leave.

I don't think Chromebooks make good Linux laptops. I had a cheap Samsung one and still use my '13 Pixel. The latter's screen is too reflective, the keyboard is mediocre and there are no PgUp/PgDown keys, so editing would be cumbersome (uh, yeah, I know of C-v and M-v, but still). It is awesome at watching Netflix and browsing the Web though (when looking at the screen at an angle avoiding the worst reflections ;-} or rather was, as it is now EoL'ed by Google, hence I actually might perform the conversion soonish.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#70

Post by pkulak »

Wow, this is progressing much faster than I expected. I bought a Pixel on discount a few months ago with the intention to set up my dev environment (Docker, Java, Node, IDEs, etc) when hardware acceleration and Docker were working. Time for me to get cracking!
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