On Wed, Oct 14, 2026 at 8:46 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi XOrg / Freedesktop, > > I would like to avoid using any closed-source AMD firmware if > possible. I have a Radeon R9700. Does the xf86-video-amdgpu library > offer a solution? > > The README says: > > "xf86-video-amdgpu - Xorg driver for AMD Radeon GPUs using the amdgpu > kernel driver" > > but I can't tell if the amdgpu module and the associated closed-source > firmware blobs are actually necessary. I've checked the following > sources and failed to find a clear answer: > > - https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.11/gpu/drm-internals.html > - https://www.x.org/RadeonFeature/ > - the xf86-video-amdgpu source > - the kernel source, particularly in: drivers/gpu/amd/amdgpu > - https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/amd-gfx for related > questions > > I'm particularly confused by the inclusions of "amdgpu.h" in the > xf86-video-amdgpu source tree. Looking at src/amdgpu_probe.h in > xf86-video-amdgpu, for example: > > ... > #include <amdgpu.h> > ... > amdgpu_device_handle pDev; > ... > > The "amdgpu_device_handle" does not exist in xf86-video-amdgpu or in the > kernel when I search with grep. Where is this handle coming from? > > Any response is greatly appreciated!
There is no way to use the GPU without firmware other than as a basic console using the pre-OS framebuffer. Alex
