WSL graphics driver update brings better GPU support for Linux apps

Summary

Whatever OS you run, you have a better chance to run non-native apps. Running Linux virtualized on Windows is set to speed up slightly, and so is running Windows apps on top of 64-bit Linux and macOS. Two very different types of graphics driver stack both received updates this week, and although they are unrelated, both are pursuing the same goal: better graphics performance when running non-native apps on top of a different OS. The first of these is one that The Register has mentioned before – albeit quite a long time ago. Six years ago, we covered Microsoft's new dxgkrnl driver, which allows Linux running under WSL2 to access the DirectX functionality of a GPU belonging to the host OS. Microsoft was keen to promote this at the time, and even now the driver has its own section on the Microsoft docs site. Dxgkrnl hasn't been touched in almost exactly four years. After its introduction in 2020, it got a significant rebuild in 2022 – effectively version 2 – and a few months later Microsoft refactored the code for clarity and ease of review, labeling it PATCH v3. A new patch on the Linux kernel mailing list introduces version 4 of the driver. This version supports compute-only GPUs, for running those painfully trendy – or just plain painful – LLMs, plus multiple virtual GPUs per VM, and driver buffer sharing via dma-fence. Of course, DirectX itself remains closed source, and the driver is no use in any other context except running under Hyper-V on top of Windows. WINE continues to drive new development WSL2 runs a single real copy of Linux inside Windows, with containers impersonating different distributions. It's a big contrast to the original WSL a decade ago. Now referred to as WSL1, it provided a translation layer to convert Linux API calls into Windows ones, derived from the long-gone Project Astoria runtime for running Android apps on Windows Phone. As it happens, WSL1 bears more resemblance to how WINE works than it does to WSL2. WINE is also a translation layer...