Hello Pekka, Thanks a lot for your feedback. On 1/27/22 10:05, Pekka Paalanen wrote: > On Thu, 27 Jan 2022 09:20:58 +0100 > Javier Martinez Canillas <javierm@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> The Linux DRM subsystem supports complex graphics devices and it could be >> quite overwhelming for newcomers to learn about the subsystem's internals. >> >> There are lots of useful talks, slides and articles available that can be >> used to get familiar with the needed concepts and ease the learning curve. >> >> Add a section to the intro that contains these DRM introductory materials. >> >> Suggested-by: Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter@xxxxxxxx> >> Signed-off-by: Javier Martinez Canillas <javierm@xxxxxxxxxx> >> --- >> >> Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >> 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+) >> >> diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst b/Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst >> index 25a56e9c0cfd..35986784f916 100644 >> --- a/Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst >> +++ b/Documentation/gpu/introduction.rst >> @@ -112,3 +112,39 @@ Please conduct yourself in a respectful and civilised manner when >> interacting with community members on mailing lists, IRC, or bug >> trackers. The community represents the project as a whole, and abusive >> or bullying behaviour is not tolerated by the project. >> + >> +Learning material >> +================= >> + >> +Since the Linux DRM layer supports complex graphics devices, it can be quite >> +overwhelming for newcomers to get familiar with all the needed concepts and >> +learn the subsystem's internals. > > Hi, > > this seems to say that DRM is going to be complicated no matter what > hardware one wants to drive, but is that true? > > Is there no way to say that if your display hardware is simple (no > GPU), then the driver can be simple to write too? > I do wonder how much one could abstract of the uAPI when writing a simpler driver. In other words, writing the driver should be simple but I believe that grasping all the needed details about DRM may not be. >> + >> +To shallow the learning curve, this section contains a list of presentations >> +and documents that can be used to learn about DRM/KMS and graphics in general. >> + >> +The list is sorted in reverse chronological order, to keep the most up-to-date >> +material at the top. But all of them contain useful information, and it can be >> +valuable to go through older material to understand the rationale and context >> +in which the recent changes to the DRM subsystem were made. >> + >> +Talks >> +----- >> + >> +* `An Overview of the Linux and Userspace Graphics Stack <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjAJmqwg47k>`_ - Paul Kocialkowski (2020) >> +* `Getting pixels on screen on Linux: introduction to Kernel Mode Setting <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haes4_Xnc5Q>`_ - Simon Ser (2020) >> +* `An introduction to the Linux DRM subsystem <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbDOCJcDRoo>`_ - Maxime Ripard (2017) >> +* `Embrace the Atomic (Display) Age <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjiB_JeDn2M>`_ - Daniel Vetter (2016) >> +* `Anatomy of an Atomic KMS Driver <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lihqR9sENpc>`_ - Laurent Pinchart (2015) >> +* `Atomic Modesetting for Drivers <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl9suFgbTc8>`_ - Daniel Vetter (2015) >> +* `Anatomy of an Embedded KMS Driver <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja8fM7rTae4>`_ - Laurent Pinchart (2013 >> + >> +Slides and articles >> +------------------- >> + >> +* `Understanding the Linux Graphics Stack <https://bootlin.com/doc/training/graphics/graphics-slides.pdf>`_ - Bootlin (2022) >> +* `DRM KMS overview <https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/DRM_KMS_overview>`_ - STMicroelectronics (2021) >> +* `Linux graphic stack <https://studiopixl.com/2017-05-13/linux-graphic-stack-an-overview>`_ - Nathan Gauër (2017) >> +* `The DRM/KMS subsystem from a newbie’s point of view <https://bootlin.com/pub/conferences/2014/elce/brezillon-drm-kms/brezillon-drm-kms.pdf>`_ - Boris Brezillon (2014) >> +* `A brief introduction to the Linux graphics stack <https://blogs.igalia.com/itoral/2014/07/29/a-brief-introduction-to-the-linux-graphics-stack/>`_ - Iago Toral (2014) >> +* `The Linux Graphics Stack <https://blog.mecheye.net/2012/06/the-linux-graphics-stack/>`_ - Jasper St. Pierre (2012) > > That's an impressive list of links! > > However, given the discussions that prompted this doc, I think the gist > is missing. The reader is just flooded with stuff to read and learn > which can be discouraging. > > Your audience are developers who know nothing about DRM. They may have > been writing fb drivers instead. The display hardware they want to > drive has no GPU. Where should they get started? Which presentations to > read/watch first? Which driver to look at for a simple example? > > Maybe add one more section targeting that specific audience? > Yes, I did not ignore your suggestions made over IRC but it's just that I didn't know to write such section. Maybe we can land this section and then as a follow-up think how a "Getting started" one should look like ? Best regards, -- Javier Martinez Canillas Linux Engineering Red Hat
