We first wrote about Panfrost open-source Arm Mali GPU driver getting initial support for Mali-G31 Bifrost GPU in late April, when engineers at Collabora managed to run some basic demos.
Progress has been fast-paced as the company has now implemented support for all major features of OpenGL ES 2.0 and some features of OpenGL 2.1. That means hardware-based on Arm Mali-G31 GPU such as ODROID Go Advance (used for testing) can run Wayland compositors with zero-copy graphics, including GNOME 3, every scene in glmark2-es2 benchmarks, and some 3D games such as Neverball. All without any binary blobs.
The company also claims to support hardware-accelerated video players mpv and Kodi. The way it should work is that while Panfrost driver renders the user interface, Amlogic open-source video decoder developed by BayLibre handles hardware video decoding.
All changes are already included in upstream Mesa with no out-of-tree patches required, and Bifrost support can be enabled using PAN_MESA_DEBUG=bifrost environmental variable.
There are many other hardware platforms with SoCs based on Mali-G31 GPU besides Rockchip RK3326 powered ODROID GO Advance game console, including Amlogic S905X3/S905D3 SBCs such as ODROID-C4 or Khadas VIM3L, some Allwinner H313/H616 powered TV boxes, and plenty of recent Amlogic based TV boxes including SDMC DV8919 hybrid TV box or Google ADT-3 developer kit.
Mali-G31 GPU is not the only Bifrost GPU integrated into Arm SoCs, and processors with Mali-G3x, Mali-G5x, or Mali-G7x GPUs will eventually be supported. Panfrost driver has also been compatible with Midgard GPUs such as the Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU found in Rockchip RK3399 processor for a while.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
It will be really interesting to test some games based on unreal open source engine with panfrost 🙂
This reminded me that I intended to order some of the odroid thingies. So I go to the site and they are sold out. :'(
The ordering window for the GoA was very narrow. They ran out quickly. There is a new revision out (extra shoulder buttons, etc.) but I think it sold out as well. I’ll let you know the next time I see them in stock. (nope, I was wrong. Out of stick, too).
Looking at the web page. Looks like you’re looking at the original GoA page which is discontinued. The new versions are shipping (slowly):
https://www.hardkernel.com/product-category/odroid-board/rockchip/
Very narrow ordering window indeed. I pounced on the opportunity on 25th May and my shipment from HardKernel (2xOdroid-Go Advance Black Edition & 1 x Odroid-N2) arrived in rural New South Wales, Australia yesterday, 9th June. Pretty good, under the circumstances.
Why there is no som/SBC with the RK3326?
PX30 is about the same as RK3326. There’s just a small difference, dual VOP.
There’s at least some PX30 modules:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/02/22/adlink-industrial-pi-i-pi-smarc-development-kit-features-rockchip-px30-soc/
https://www.cnx-software.com/2019/04/01/arbor-som-rp301-rockchip-px30-som-retail-kiosks/
There are also some PX30 SBCs in development from SECO and others.
Rockchip RK3308 is a stripped-down version of RK3326/PX30, and Rock Pi S SBC should be available by now
Currently playing with a Panfrost TV box under manjaro I guess I should update mesa then
Mali Bitfrost GPU (gen1/2) are Mali-Gxx not G3x. First announced model was Mali-G71 in may 2016, if I am not wrong. G31 was used, probably because it was available on one or few, well OpenSource/mainline Linux supported SoC, so a good base to progress quickly on driver.