
Bringing Vulkan everywhere - doppioandante
http://gfx-rs.github.io/2018/04/09/vulkan-portability.html
======
protoster
Correct me if I'm wrong: 1) this is an effort to provide an abstract graphics
API for any OS/CPU instruction set 2) it is rust and therefore usable from
rust and C(++).

If so, great news! Maybe we'll one day be free from tyranny of Windows when it
comes to gaming. In my ideal world, operating systems should be
interchangeable like web browsers and competing to provide the best
implementation of an open standard rather than trying to trap developers and
users by providing the most enticing proprietary API.

Have there been any previous attempts to do this? Any success?

~~~
shmerl
_> it is rust and therefore usable from rust and C(++)._

They want to provide C bindings (vulkan.h).

 _> Have there been any previous attempts to do this? Any success?_

MoltenVK translates Vulkan into Metal. Looks like gfx-rs has a potential to
break these lock-ins one step further with translating Vulkan into DirectX 12.
They should also consider making GNM backend for completeness.

~~~
zanny
Is there any hardware that supports only DX12 and not Vulkan?

My understanding is the only extant device is the Xbox One, which doesn't
support Vulkan not because the hardware lacks the ability or drivers (since
its an AMD SoC shared with the PS4 and using GCN 3 tech) but because of
politics trying to lock developers into their API over the industry standard.

Trying to fight politics with software rarely ends well, especially with
hobbyist software. Microsoft has complete control over their console and are
probably willing to take moves to prevent the use of transpilers on their
platform in the same vein Apple has.

~~~
muizelaar
5th generation Intel chips support Direct3D12 and not Vulkan.

[https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000...](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005524/graphics-
drivers.html)

~~~
microcolonel
If I'm not mistaken, Mesa/ANV supports Vulkan back to Haswell (with some
limitations until Broadwell).

~~~
johncolanduoni
Not on Windows unfortunately :/

------
Lio
Hopefully this will offer some way forward for FOSS software like Blender
running on macOS when Apple kill OpenGL off.

~~~
achandlerwhite
Is Apple “killing off” OpenGL? Isn’t it just deprecated ie not further
development but not removed?

~~~
statusreport
In this year’s WWDC I asked the same question one of the GPU software
engineers and he claimed that Apple is going to completely remove support for
OpenGL in about two years from now.

Regardless, “deprecated” means “no longer maintained”, meaning that if any
regressions will appear in the near future, it’s possible no one will fix
them, as these issues will not be prioritized.

~~~
bodas
I'd take that with a grain of salt. Apple likes to threaten removal of
technologies they have deprecated as a way to increase adoption of their
replacements but rarely if ever go from deprecation to removal so
aggressively, at least on the Mac.

~~~
malkia
[https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/alias-
products/troubl...](https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/alias-
products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Discontinuation-of-
Mac-Support-for-Autodesk-Alias-and-VRED.html)

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shmerl
So gfx-rs will expose Vulkan frontend?

Is there a plan to support GNM backend in gfx-rs?

~~~
kvark
gfx-rs _does_ expose Vulkan frontent: [https://github.com/gfx-
rs/portability](https://github.com/gfx-rs/portability)

I'd love to get started on GNM but licensing is tricky, given that gfx-rs is a
community project.

~~~
shmerl
You mean getting Sony's SDK is a problem? May be you can partner with some
developers who already have access to it?

~~~
kvark
I think the time will come for it when we prove ourselves useful on
Metal/D3D12 and get those developer partnerships in the first place.

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bayesian_horse
OpenGL, may you live long and prosper!

