This is my attempt to get Vulkan going on NetBSD

https://github.com/segaboy/vulkan-netbsd

by segaboy81 • 20 days ago

121 38 20 days ago

github.com

rjsw3• 20 days ago

There are already Vulkan components in pkgsrc and wip.

segaboy813• 20 days ago

Which ones? I'm asking, because I wouldn't have done anything at all if this was pre-existing.

rjsw3• 20 days ago

See graphics/MesaLib.

wbolt• 20 days ago

This is a nice project but looks like is either AI written or AI assisted and I haven’t seen mention of that in any of the docs.

qiu3344• 20 days ago

Vulkan is now available

looks inside:

What this is NOT (yet): Running Vulkan programs

LoganDark2• 20 days ago

Technically, it isn't wrong, if you consider Vulkan the technology rather than the service

NooneAtAll3• 20 days ago

isn't Vulkan the api?

Tiberium2• 20 days ago

Lavapipe is CPU rendering, it doesn't really prove much. But also, Vulkan on BSDs is totally possible and isn't something esoteric, FreeBSD has it.

Build goal only: This targets compilation and linkage of the Vulkan stack. Runtime GPU acceleration is not available under VirtualBox; the software driver (Lavapipe) is the target.

I don't understand why this would ever be a problem, even without LLM assistance it's something that sounds like a weekend project?

saidnooneever2• 20 days ago

this is what i would recommend. hoist it over from freebsd. it works well vulkan is fully usable, mesa works nicely. Even seen people playing with CUDA tho i didnt get that workin myself yey.

ChocolateGod• 20 days ago

FreeBSD relies on being able to run the Linux graphics drivers though via a compat layer.

MBCook• 20 days ago

I expected this to be official from the title but it doesn’t seem to be.

klibertp3• 20 days ago

Installation instructions:

    ftp https://raw.githubusercontent.com/segaboy/vulkan-netbsd/main/scripts/setup-env.sh
       !^^^^^!

That's... a bit unorthodox. FreeBSD has a `fetch`[1] utility for this, I wasn't aware NetBSD puts that in `ftp`[2].

Interesting choice. I wonder what led to it.

[1] https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?fetch

[2] https://man.netbsd.org/ftp.1

iberator• 20 days ago

Oldest supported machine for NetBSD is VAX 780 from 1978(!!!). One of the first system supporting mmu, 32 bit cpu, virtual memory etc etc

This machine is so slow that it takes a lot of time to generate ssh keys etc. We talking here hours hehe

NetBSD is known to support like 60 architectures - many of them low end embedded systems: so ftp AS A CHOICE (you have other options!) is very smart and easy

spijdar2• 20 days ago

I think GP is confused why the ftp command also handles http(s) :)

I hate to imagine what a 780 running NetBSD would be like, too.

I tried netbooting NetBSD on my MicroVAX 3400, which is about 2.5x the performance of the 780. It did, literally, take 6+ hours to slog through making RSA keys.

yjftsjthsd-h3• 20 days ago

I dunno, that feels very BSD to me. Presumably, they had a ftp utility first, and then when somebody wanted to download files over http they looked around and decided that the obvious thing to do was to add it to the existing file transfer/download program. Same as continuing to add functions to ifconfig rather than inventing a new ip tool.

dessimus2• 20 days ago

Sure, if those functions added were related to configuring network interfaces, but it would be odd if someone added functions for configuring storage controllers.

JdeBP• 20 days ago

Actually, it's orthodox; and it's fetch that isn't. FreeBSD is actually the odd one out, for having an extra tool for doing the same thing. The ftp tool in all of the BSDs, including FreeBSD, speaks HTTP, and has done since Luke Mewburn did lukemftp (later to be named tnftp) and Theo de Raadt did likewise, both based on the original 4.2BSD ftp, back in the middle 1990s.

* https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/tree/contrib/tnftp/ChangeLog#n1...

* https://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/src/usr.bin/ftp/main.c?...

* https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/log/src/usr.bin/ftp/main.c,v?sort...

klibertp3• 19 days ago

Nice! Thank you, that explains it. FreeBSD was my first *BSD and the only one I had long-term contact with, so I unconsciously use it as my "BSD standard". My bad on that :)

iamnothere• 20 days ago

I have never had a need for NetBSD, but in case I ever do, I’m glad it’s there. Especially with Linux deprecating old platforms.

This looks like an unofficial effort but hopefully it gets refined and integrated.

Tiberium2• 20 days ago

NetBSD already has relevant packages officially.

segaboy813• 20 days ago

Which packages? I couldn't find what I needed, and that's the whole reason for building all this.

spiral09• 20 days ago

Lavapipe? So it's just Mesa software rendering stuff

segaboy813• 20 days ago

That's the start. The idea is to get Vulkan running first. More to follow.

yjftsjthsd-h3• 20 days ago

I think both points are valid; that is the sensible way to start, but it's worth noting that the work is early so people don't misunderstand the current state of things.

anthk3• 20 days ago

Didn't modular-xorg, MESA and DRM drivers handle this?

rvz• 20 days ago

This is 100% AI slop.

sylware• 19 days ago

The vulkan stack is rather lean (there are still c++ though, valve removed a lot of c++ for less c++, it would have been correct with plain and simple C).

The big chunk is DRM kernel code.

AMD seems to be working on _userland_ hardware command ring buffers, which should makes userland vulkan even simpler. Dunno how they will work around the VMID stuff though.

This is my attempt to get Vulkan going on NetBSD

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