Imagination Technologies Announces Support for OpenGL 4.6 in GPU
Imagination Technologies has announced its support for graphics API OpenGL 4.6 in its GPU, implemented using the open driver zink developed in the MESA project repository. Zink provides the implementation of OpenGL on Vulkan, allowing devices supporting only the Vulkan API to have access to hardened OpenGL. Zink’s performance is comparable to native OpenGL implementations, enabling hardware manufacturers to focus on Vulkan support instead of implementing OpenGL in their GPUs. Imagination Technologies is the first manufacturer to adopt this strategy.
The solution has undergone successful testing in the Khronos Conformance Test Suite (CTS) and has been declared fully compatible with the OpenGL 4.6 specification. This marks the first product based on Zink to receive official certification from Khronos. Furthermore, if another implementation based on Zink achieves certification, the Zink driver itself will be recognized as officially compatible with OpenGL 4.6. This certification allows for the official declaration of compatibility with graphic standards and the use of related Khronos brands.
Additionally, Imagination Technologies is working on the development of an open set of drivers for its GPU based on the architecture of ROGUE. The set includes DRM Director (Direct Rendering Manager) for the Linux kernel, a driver with the initial Vulkan 1.0 implementation, and a set of firmware for the GPU. The Vulkan driver has already been integrated into the main composition of MESA, while the DRM driver is in the final stages of preparation for inclusion in the Linux kernel. In the future, Zink support can be added to this set, providing Imagination Technologies with a complete open graphics solution that supports both OpenGL and Vulkan.