Jan 07, 2021 11:05:00

It is pointed out that the closed constitution of the HDMI industry is adversely affecting open source GPU drivers

Some people who have tried to enjoy video on a display connected to a Linux machine via HDMI should have experienced that AMD's unique screen synchronization technology '

FreeSync ' did not work and closed. The Linux-related news site Phoronix points out that the closed nature of the HDMI industry is related to the problems that often occur when using HDMI in an open source environment.

HDMI Forum Closing Public Specification Access Is Hurting Open-Source GPU Drivers --Phoronix
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=HDMI-Closed-Spec-Hurts-Open

According to Phoronix founder Phoronix, the fact that open source GPU drivers can't support FreeSync, which works with HDMI, is related to the policies of the HDMI industry group HDMI Forum. Laravel points out that the HDMI Forum has decided to block public access to the HDMI specification, which is having a negative impact on open source GPU drivers.

The decision not to make the HDMI specification public has prevented even AMD, a key member of the HDMI Forum, from providing open source HDMI functionality that is protected in a closed state. This is the 'open-source AMDGPU FreeSync equipped with the Linux kernel driver' is DisplayPort only work with, it has become a reason not to work with via HDMI.

If this situation persists, Laravel fears that advanced HDMI features like

HDMI 2.1 could not be implemented in open source GPU drivers.

Against this background, the X.Org Foundation, which develops the X Window System and X.Org Server , has released information on the HDMI 2.1 specifications to the HDMI Forum, and open source GPU drivers are legal. It is requesting that it be possible to implement the functions of HDMI 2.1.

Regarding the work to release the HDMI 2.1 specification, Laravel said, 'Let's hope this will work in 2021. Until then, we need to keep this issue in mind when choosing DisplayPort or HDMI.' It's likely. '

In the thread of the online bulletin board Reddit that featured Mr. Laravel's article, there were exchanges such as ' Why HDMI is a closed source? ' 'For license fee ' ...

'It 's a bit of a comedy to have a license for a simple data transmission cable, ' 'a common thing these days, ' and 'a standard developer would need money .'