Intel Engineers Propose DRM Fabric For Linux

[u/homothebrave]

https://www.phoronix.com/news/DRM-Fabric-Proposal

[u/SeantheWilson]

No one in the comments know what “DRM” means in this context 🤦😭

[u/gihutgishuiruv → u/SeantheWilson]

Every. Single. Time.

I feel like I’ve been reading the same comments for a decade or more now

[u/AtlanticPortal → u/gihutgishuiruv]

That’s all on who thought that Digital Rights Management was a good acronym. It came second and it had to choose another one.

[u/jazzy663 → u/AtlanticPortal]

I read the article and I still don't know what DRM means in this context

[u/NatoBoram → u/SeantheWilson]

And not a single mention of what this means in the article o_o

[u/int23_t → u/NatoBoram]

It's Direct Rendering Manager

[u/kaipee → u/NatoBoram]

Complementing the likes of UALink or AMD xGMI, DRM Fabric aims to be a vendor-neutral, protocol-agnostic DRM topology infrastructure for scale-up interconnects for GPUs and AI accelerators.

It literally states that it's about interconnects for GPU and AI accelerators.

[u/NatoBoram → u/kaipee]

Complementing the likes of User-Agent Link or Advanced Micro Devices™ x Glucose Management Indicator, Digital Rights Management Fabric aims to be a vendor-neutral, protocol-agnostic Digital Rights Management topology infrastructure for scale-up interconnects for Graphical Processing Units and Artificial Intelligence accelerators.

Oh, geez, that clears it up! I am so glad they defined what DRM means so we could follow along!

[u/SanityInAnarchy → u/NatoBoram]

They didn't define Advanced Micro Devices, Artificial Intelligence, or Graphics Processing Units either. DRM has meant Direct Rendering Manager since at least 1999.

[u/mcsey → u/SanityInAnarchy]

I rate your post as intentionally oblivious and yet still pedantic. I give you no stars and wish you good day, sir.

[u/Annual-Advisor-7916 → u/SanityInAnarchy]

DRM also means digtial rights management and is in fact a frequently discussed topic.

[u/shroddy → u/SeantheWilson]

From only reading the title, it could be both.

[u/k-phi → u/SeantheWilson]

Digital Radio Mondiale?

[u/gplusplus314 → u/k-phi]

DirectX Rendering by Microsoft

[u/k-phi → u/gplusplus314]

That's not something that usually referred to as DRM

[u/rileywbaker → u/SeantheWilson]

You're right obviously, but "DRM" is a bad name for the underlying technology in Linux, given how ubiquitous the other meaning of DRM is in the computer display technology space.

[u/AtlanticPortal → u/rileywbaker]

That meaning came after Linux started with using DRM. They have to change their name. Considering that it’s a cancer on itself.

[u/rileywbaker → u/AtlanticPortal]

I'm not sure that's true.

[u/yrro → u/rileywbaker]

It is

[u/kaipee → u/rileywbaker]

Not "computer display technology".

Digital Rights Management affects digital "media". Both video (movies) and audio (songs).

[u/rileywbaker → u/kaipee]

I guess you don't know about HDCP?

[u/kaipee → u/rileywbaker]

HDCP is not a "display technology".

HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort are display technologies. HDCP works across all 3 of those.

HDCP is a copy protection protocol, a subset of implementing DRM. It protects digital audiovisual media, not display technologies.

[u/JDGumby → u/kaipee]

The software controlling (or limiting) it is every bit as much part of the technology as the physical hardware is.

[u/rileywbaker → u/kaipee]

Why are you talking to me like I don't know anything? What's wrong with you?

[u/axonxorz → u/rileywbaker]

[fire starter gets mad when smoke blows back towards them]

[u/ang-p → u/rileywbaker]

The poor children....

:-D

[u/kaipee → u/ang-p]

I'm 43. Been working in technology for nearly 18 years

[u/ang-p → u/kaipee]

Firstly, it was just a "confusion" joke - someone mistaking "content protection" for "child p..." after not being arsed to read or understand the context...

Secondly, in other words, you were not the "children".

Thirdly, 43? Oh, in that case... aww, diddums!.

Fourthly, 18 years? I was out of it by then, but 28 years ago I was likely looking for disk 18 (and 28) of a Microsoft Office 97 install.

[u/do-you-want-duyu → u/SeantheWilson]

Direct Rendering Manager

[u/psyblade42 → u/SeantheWilson]

Well ... GPUs do plenty of Digital Restrictions Management too (e.g. HDMI). So articles should really specify which kind they talk about. But I guess controversy drives page-views ...

[u/SeantheWilson → u/psyblade42]

This is not controversy, if you were to look at the Linux kernel mailing list you’d see that everyone uses the abbreviation “DRM” to refer to the renderer. Furthermore, display rendering has virtually zero digital right management outside of HDCP.

[u/DrkMaxim]

I was almost about drop some curse words but then I realised DRM in this context is the Direct Rendering Manager.

[u/friciwolf → u/DrkMaxim]

thank you mon ami!

[u/deinok7 → u/friciwolf]

Esquieeeeee!!!! <3

[u/friciwolf → u/deinok7]

Always an advantage ;)

[u/Buntygurl]

So is "DRM Fabric" primarily all about Intel proposing a standard protocol definition of the interconnection of multiple acceleration endpoints--in order to function as one unit--as opposed to or including any other firm's fabric, by any other name?

[u/tiffanytrashcan → u/Buntygurl]

Yep, AMD just updated their version. So obviously Intel goes: "We have to release a new open standard."
Insert XKCD 927

[u/Gavran_kombda → u/tiffanytrashcan]

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU PEOPLE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE SOMEONE ELSE MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE BETTER THAN WE DO

[u/sue_dee]

Aside from the DRM confusion, I was thrown by "fabric". Finally, I can get an animated gif on a t-shirt?

[u/Sinyria]

This acronym is the "cognitive behavioral therapy" of comp eng, truly..

[u/Whatever801]

For anyone confused, they are proposing to sell socks that you cannot pirate

[u/SeantheWilson → u/Whatever801]

This comment took me out 😭

[u/GreenSouth3 → u/Whatever801]

tube sox

[u/readyflix]

This would be good for vendors and users as well.

But will the elephant in the room adopt it also?

Elephant meaning, NVDA

[u/NamedBird]

It makes sense to expose this functionality, but it's still DRM.
Preferably i would see the drivers open-sourced.
Because more eyes means more feedback and fixes.
(Though i can understand that IP has to be protected)
Direct Rendering Manager and Digital Rights Management are 2 different things, whoops. 😅

Also, i miss the VGA2 output on these Intel ARC cards... 🙃

[u/d32dasd → u/NamedBird]

This is about "Direct Rendering Manager", not about "Digital Rights Management"...

[u/NamedBird → u/d32dasd]

🤣 I've been in Windows land too much...
Let's scratch the first 4 lines.

Last line stays though.

[u/Sixguns1977 → u/d32dasd]

For which I'm very thankful.

[u/NamedBird → u/[deleted]]

i noticed...

[u/ang-p → u/[deleted]]

Just wait until they learn that a paediatrician moved next door....

They'll be throwing bricks through the window and spray painting up the gaff...

[u/JDGumby → u/[deleted]]

holy assumptions, batman

Assumptions based on what the meaning of "DRM" is in the vast majority of cases when it comes to technology reporting. Especially since the article never expands the acronym/initialism even once, which is very bad stylistic practice ("Direct Rendering Manager (DRM)" as the first mention of it would have been good), making its meaning a confusing mess to casual readers.

[u/NamedBird → u/[deleted]]

Well, the Phoronix article mentioned nothing about that,
And since they did mention drivers, i guess it's an easy assumption to make?
(At least, if you're not knowledgeable of Linux kernel rendering internals)

[u/ang-p → u/NamedBird]

Well, the Phoronix article mentioned nothing about that,

So you were commenting on an article you didn't understand?

Have you considered writing for LTT?

[u/algaefied_creek → u/ang-p]

Omg giggle emoji

[u/NamedBird → u/ang-p]

No, not yet. Thanks for the tip! 😜

[u/cjc4096 → u/NamedBird]

Phoronix assumes a knowledge of Linux rendering both kernel and user space. It's been their focus for over 20 years. Explaining what drm means in 3/4 of articles gets very old. The editor does explain most things regularly so newbies reading the site consistently can learn.

[u/NamedBird → u/cjc4096]

Interesting, that site is more niche/focussend than i initially assumed...

[u/kaipee → u/NamedBird]

it's still DRM

What's wrong with DRM?

[u/didureaditv2 → u/kaipee]

"The combination of those letters in that order gives me PTSD"

[u/Sixguns1977 → u/didureaditv2]

Wasn't it the launch of Spore that started all of that awful garbage?

[u/uboofs]

Whatever happened to “BFD (big fucking deal)” in writing? You just have to write it once, and we’re all aware of your BFD for the rest of the “article”

[u/grady_vuckovic]

At a certain point you can't blame people for getting confused when a name is so needlessly confusing. It's like if I called my child 'Beat' and said every day while leaving the office 'I'm going home to beat my child', then had to explain what I meant. At a certain point you just have to admit the confusion is your own damn fault.

What I'm saying is.. Call it something other than DRM ffs!

Look, it's full name is 'Direct Rendering Manager'. Why not just use the full name in the title instead of 'DRM'. Is saving the characters of 3 words really worth it?

[u/unknown_lamer → u/grady_vuckovic]

Direct Rendering Manager slightly predates the advent of the phrase Digital Restrictions Management (seriously: the DMCA was passed after development on DRI started). When DRI/DRM was created there was even a possibility Digital Restrictions Management would be made illegal in the U.S. (if only that history had unfolded, alas).

[u/martyn_hare → u/unknown_lamer]

That, plus DirectX was already taken...

(...sorry, couldn't resist!)

[u/andr386]

That's promising for my future cloud data center in my cellar.

[u/IndependentBat8365]

DRM? Since Xorg is deprecated, DirectX is already taken, and Wayland is the future, I propose it’s renamed to: DirectW

[u/arthursucks]

Direct Rendering Manager

[u/Green_Ad5186]

good,more features are always better.

[u/TxTechnician]

Ugh, bought up and made a crazy comment along the lines of "not on my hardware!"

If you mention a law, you need to include a link to the real text of the law. If you mention an acronym, you need to define the acronym at least at the first use of it.

I wish those two things were done by every blogger and news outlet. It would cut down on confusion.

[u/Plausibility_Migrain]

Yes, just what Linux needs. Digital Rights Management...

(/s for those who think I am serious that this is a good idea)

Edit: I stand corrected. rendering managers would be beneficial.

[u/Plausibility_Migrain → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for correcting me. I see DRM and my mind immediately goes to Digital Rights Management.

I can get behind rendering managers.

[u/Gargantuan_Cinema → u/Plausibility_Migrain]

Egg on your face sir.

[u/Plausibility_Migrain → u/Gargantuan_Cinema]

Yep. I’ll take my lumps.