i’m going to be buying ryzen parts soon so something that works well with a newer kernel.
i also plan to try running windows in a KVM/QEMU with gpu passthrough so there’s that.
lastly, i’d like to be able to use amdgpu-pro drivers.
i know the open source drivers are better in most cases but i’m going to be using Blender and the openCL gpu rendering is what i’m after with the “pro” drivers. i’ll likely be playing games in the winderps kvm anyway if that works out.
i recently installed fedora to check out and adjust to any changes before hand and was enjoying it only to find out that amdgpu-pro isn’t an option. that was kind of a buzz kill.
i may also need to add that while i’ve been using linux since 2008 it’s mostly been 'buntu and debian based distros. while i have borked up my install and had to fix it a few times and i am decently comfortable using the terminal, i’m not exactly confident i could get through screwing something up without having to grab my tablet and looking up how to fix whatever i screwed up.
AFAIK the only way to get the pro drivers is to manually compile your kernel to allow them. In that case arch/arch based would be the easier and most documented.
if you use something like antergos (an arch based distro) they give the option for at least nvidia proprietary driver so they probably have Radeon too.
The PRO drivers are only officially supported on Ubuntu LTS and RHEL/CentOS. The problem with both of these is that the included kernel will be too old to be fully compatible with your Ryzen CPU. I’d recommend Ubuntu with a custom PPA that has a newer kernel (I’d recommend >= 4.11 for Ryzen), or just compile your own.
Since you will be doing the whole passthrough for windows maybe you can do the same with CentOS and run the PRO driver there and keep the host with Fedora.
why will i be happier in the long run? opinions are good for suggestions but without the reasoning behind them it doesn’t really help me make a choice.
i wouldn’t mind passing on the AMDgpu-pro drivers if i could just get the openCL capabilities from it.
i play around in blender far more than i game so at least until blender 2.8 gets released and i can use the new eevee rendering i’m kind of reliant on gpu openCL rendering for decent render times which was my only reason for wanting the amdgpu-pro drivers.
the upgrade to ryzen with more cores/better ipc/a higher clock speed/smt may alleviate some of that though. maybe to the point that i don’t care so much anymore since i’ve only got a rx480 rather than a high end card. i may need to comb through some benchmarks at the blender artist’s forums.
in the end i think my time frame of having a big reason for wanting openCL is only until blender2.8 lands. 2.79 is available as a release candidate right now so 2.8 is close in the scheme of things but it’s also going to be a major update so it may be a decent while before it actually gets released. the 2.8 nightly builds are cool for testing out new things as they develop but they’ve still got a lot of work left before it’s actually ready for real use.
thanks to the replies from @Dynamic_Gravity and @SlipperyVagoo i started leaning towards Antergos after i read on the arch wiki page for amdgpu that if i want the openCL capabilities of the pro driver i should just install opencl-amd from AUR without the need for the “pro” drivers.
granted, i haven’t actually tested that out but it sounds like the best situation for my current gpu related needs.
Just my opinion, I’ve been running a Windows KVM for over 2 years now, I started with Fedora 23 and have upgraded every time (running 26 now), without going into a long-winded dissertation about how I tried other distros and the frustration I endured trying to get a pass-through system to work reliably, it will suffice to say that if your interested in passing physical hardware to a KVM and have the least amount of issues then Fedora is one of the best distros out there to accomplish this task…granted there are others, but given my experiences it would be my choice.
If your not interested in hardware pass-through then any Linux distro will be more than adequate.
1: I haven’t had problems with AMDGPU. I do a lot of 3D stuff rn and I haven’t had problems with the base drivers. Consider them as they will be easier to set up over all.
2: KVM is an easy thing to use in any linux, slackware to arch, but you’ll want to do wore research into how to use it. CLI or libvirt or ovirt. Theres a few ways to do it. Worry less on the KVM stuff and more on how to use it / if you want an interface.
3: OS Recommends? If you’re doing cad and gaming do something on the ubuntu / debian spectrum. When 17.10 lands we’ll have 4.11 on there, we have 4.10 there now, and on 18.04 we’ll have 4.12 and it’ll be fine for the next few years at least. If you want something more stable or you want to plan it yourself I recommend OpenSuse and Antergos (arch).
4: Final thoughts? If you’re worried about borking an install, separate your /home and root. If you’re comfy with setting your /home to say a 2TB drive and never needing more space and just adding drives and setting other things there manually, great. If you want to be able to add more and more stuff look into LVM. BUT, make sure your root is separated. If your install exlpodes you still have all your stuff and configs and you only need to install to tho 35 GB part you had as root.
the problem for me is that blender’s cycles render engine is a ray tracer and gpu rendering is faster for final renders and preview renders during work but you don’t use it while actually doing the work. cycles needs openCL to gpu render otherwise it’s pure cpu rendering only.
anything wrong with kvm + qemu? i’d be using the host os for the lionshare of what i do and just open qemu for things i need to do in the windows vm right? (gaming and occasionally AutoCAD work from home… maybe some goofing around making environments in unreal engine)
are 'buntus and debian better hosts for that sort of thing? or just easier to get it set up? without the reasoning behind it it’s kind of just like posting a drawing of RMS telling me to install gentoo. (i got a laugh out of that @NetBandit ) it throws a name in a hat but doesn’t let me or anyone else who reads this later benefit from your experience.
i actually already do that. though my root is 40GB my home folder is another partition on that ssd and i’ve got a storage drive that mounts into a folder in my home drive where i move the default pictures/music/videos and such folders to.
legit reason to consider keeping fedora while also taking into account that my cpu rendering in blender should get a decent boost and my openCL rendring days are likely numbered. thanks for that.
Gentoo is absolutely bitchen. Don’t discount it because of the memes. The memes exist because Gentoo is so amazingly good. And if you’ve been using Linux for a few years as you’ve said, then it’s time to go full custom.
As for kernels, that’s where Gentoo shines. I compile my own monolithic kernels so that I don’t use any kernel modules.
Tight. As. Fuck.
Gentoo is not worth the hassle. you can get Arch, Debian, or OpenSUSE setup and working for GPU Passthrough faster than Installing Gentoo. plus even if he did use Gentoo, there is some weird shit going on with Ryzen and Gentoo specifically anyways. Compilation errors and kfaults. however if he just sticks with the amd64 accept keywords in his make.conf then Gentoo would be somewhat of a viable alternative. but either way it’s still a hassle if he’s been used to systemd for years and I wouldn’t recommend it anyways.
though if OP wants to go through it I made a thread a while back on my experiences with Gentoo. I’m still using Gentoo as well.
Theres nothing thats a “better host” or anything like that. Its just your choice of what you want to use. I would say debian and buntu’s because of the mass amount of code work put to them. I know ovirt is being made for ubuntu first and then will get moved and packaged for other distros later on.
i think i’ve narrowed it down to either Fedora or Antergos. i don’t think i’ll go back to a 'buntu since i’ve been enjoying fedora but i’m not going to entirely rule it out. ubuntu has been good to me.
gentoo sounds fun if you like screwing around with your OS.
9.9999999999999/10 times i’d rather do other stuff so i’ll probably never ascend to Gentoo.
i need to find a “pleb life” sticker for my car i guess.
