Cracking Windows Open: Porting RADV to Win32

(collabora.com)

35 points | by zdw 4 hours ago ago

8 comments

  • userbinator 2 hours ago

    Developing our own KMD is not really an option

    Why not? Fully open-source Windows GPU drivers would be great. Incidentally, this sort of "glue code" is probably something LLM assistance could help greatly with much of the grunt work.

    (E.g. there is already a generic framebuffer driver for Win3x/9x: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47646363 but one of the ideas I have --- which anyone else with the time is more than welcome to attempt --- is to port the existing open-source Linux drivers for AMD/NVIDIA/Intel to early Windows versions that never even had closed-source drivers available, giving them full 2D/3D acceleration. Theoretically, something as crazy as CUDA on Windows 95 is possible, and perhaps some vibecoding can turn that into reality. After all, as I write this comment, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49089814 is on the main page.)

    • ZiiS 40 minutes ago

      For Windows 3x/9x the common term was VxD, KMD strongly implies an NT derived OS.

      • pjmlp 38 minutes ago

        Not only that, Windows NT driver model already changed at least twice since Windows XP, on Vista and Windows 10.

    • pjmlp 39 minutes ago

      Certainly OpenGL and DirectX acceleration was a thing in Windows 9x, kind of missing the point.

    • LoganDark an hour ago

      You can't really develop a kernel-mode driver nowadays without being an incredibly large OEM. Otherwise, you won't be accepted by any anti-cheat.

      • Maakuth an hour ago

        An anti-cheat app would probably be quite surprised to find it's running on Windows 95 anyway.

      • ChocolateGod an hour ago

        Wireguard...

        • grim_io 22 minutes ago

          Wireguard is blessed by Microsoft, who sign their drivers.