Linux @lemmy.ml vortexal @lemmy.ml 7mo ago

What is the proper way to install Vulkan drivers in Linux Mint 21.3 with an AMD GPU? (I think this issue is solved)

Edit: I think I've figured it out, it seems like Linux Mint defaulted to the wrong Kernel driver and I was able to switch it to the correct one.

I've already tried searching for this online but there is a reason I'm posting about it here. The last time I tried to install Vulkan drivers in Linux Mint, there was an update to the oibaf PPA that completely broke my Linux Mint installation and I had to manually reinstall it. I've read that, at least in the past, the oibaf PPA causes problems in Ubuntu but I can't find another solution to installing Vulkan drivers in Linux Mint. Is that the only way to install the Vulkan Drivers in Linux Mint, or is there another way?

Also, yes, Vulkan works in Windows and it did work in my previous installation of Linux.

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Could you post the output of vulkaninfo including any errors that it might also print.

If it's not shown, what GPU do you have?

Also run lspci -k, is your GPU using amdgpu or the old radeon driver?
- My computer has an AMD Radeon R2 Graphics. It seems like both the radeon and the amdgpu modules are installed but the kernel driver in use is radeon. I'd show the output of "vulkaninfo" but it doesn't seem to show the full thing, is there a way I can get it to show the full output?
  
  Cool, you're going to have to enable Sea Islands (CIK) support for amdgpu. You should just have to add radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.cik_support=1 to your kernel parameters. You're probably using GRUB so to do that you'll need to run sudo nano /etc/default/grub to edit it's config file, then add the above to the end of GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT (keep it in the quotes, but space seperated from the previous parameter). Then reboot and hopefully Vulkan works!
  
  Alternatively, there's a section on the Arch Wiki for this, it should work fine for Mint too: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU
Vulkan drivers come as part of Mesa, which would already be part of Linux Mint. Unless you have an Nvidia GPU, or a GPU that's somehow too modern for Mint 21.3.
- What if you do have an Nvidia GPU...?
  
  I'm not a Mint user but according to this page https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_wilma.php
  
  Run the Driver Manager
  
  Choose the NVIDIA drivers and wait for them to be installed
  
  Reboot the computer
- My GPU shouldn't be too modern because it just recently became EOL. The only thing I know is that when ever I try to run something that requires Vulkan in Linux, it defaults to using Lavapipe instead of my GPU and if it try to disable Lavapipe, it acts like Vulkan isn't installed.
  
  What GPU are you using? What influenced you to add “Oibaf PPA” instead of using the default built in Mesa drivers that came with Mint? No judgement, just trying to figure out what led you here, so we can unravel it. Because as the other poster mentioned, Vulkan for Amd should have worked out of the box on a fresh install.
  
  Edit, to clarify, did you add the repo because you thought that mint didn’t have drivers and that was the way to get them? Or was there a different reason you needed to add the repo?
  
  What is the GPU?
It is preinstalled as it is natively supported by Linux (thanks AMD)

Your issue lies elsewhere and will not be solved by installing random PPAs
- Ok, what is my solution then? Right now, the only thing I know is that when ever I try to run anything in Linux that requires Vulkan, it defaults to Lavapipe instead of using my GPU and if I try to disable Lavapipe, it acts like Vulkan isn't installed.
  
  What's the GPU?
you should just install mesa, no?
- Yes but the problem for me was more complicated. Mesa is installed by default in Linux Mint and Vulkan should have worked out of the box but for some reason it defaulted to the wrong Kernel driver for the GPU. I didn't know this before posting and, as I stated in other replies, every search result on every search engine told me the wrong information.
Sorcery.

You must commune with the machine spirit.
This is the setup I use in debian, it might give you a hint (no PPAs, standard repos):

sudo apt install mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 libvulkan1 libvulkan1:i386 vulkan-tools vkd3d-demos mesa-opencl-icd clinfo libxrandr2 libxrandr2:i386 libvulkan-dev libvulkan-dev:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 vkmark glmark2-x11 firmware-amd-graphics radeontop xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu
- This is what I get when I try to run that set of commands: `j@j-HP-Notebook:~$ sudo apt install mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 libvulkan1 libvulkan1:i386 vulkan-tools vkd3d-demos mesa-opencl-icd clinfo libxrandr2 libxrandr2:i386 libvulkan-dev libvulkan-dev:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 vkmark glmark2-x11 firmware-amd-graphics radeontop xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu [sudo] password for j:
  Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done Package firmware-amd-graphics is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source
  
  E: Unable to locate package vkmark E: Unable to locate package glmark2-x11 E: Package 'firmware-amd-graphics' has no installation candidate `
  
  You need to activate contrib, non-free, non-free-firmware repos: sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list You should have something like deb http://URL_OF_THE_REPO DISTRIBUTION main, you need to add contrib non-free non-free-firmware to the end of those lines like: deb http://URL_OF_THE_REPO DISTRIBUTION main contrib non-free non-free-firmware then you do sudo apt update and try installing the packages again.
Try using Pop OS or Zorin.
- I would but I'm actually using Linux Mint because the Xfce edition has low ram usage. My computer's ram is very slow and it's only 4GB.

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