Skip to main content

Switch GPU driver

Products equipped with RK3588/RK356X/RK3576 (excluding RK3582) series SOCs use Panfrost/Panthor GPU driver by default when using Debian 12 (Bookworm) version of the system, you can follow the tutorials below to switch the GPU driver according to your needs.

warning

This document applies only to products equipped with RK3588/RK356X/RK3576 (excluding RK3582) series SOCs.

DriverOpenGLOpenGL ESOpenCL8K HDMIVulkan
Mali❌✔✔✔✔
Panthor✔✔❌❌❌

Using Rockchip's proprietary xorg-xserver version​

  1. Add the /etc/apt/preferences.d/mali file with the contents:
Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3566-bookworm
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3566-bookworm-test
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3566t-bookworm
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3566t-bookworm-test
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3568-bookworm
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3568-bookworm-test
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3576-bookworm
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3576-bookworm-test
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3588-bookworm
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3588-bookworm-test
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3588s2-bookworm
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: *xserver*
Pin: release a=rk3588s2-bookworm-test
Pin-Priority: 1001

  1. Then refer to System Upgrade with rsetup to reinstall Rockchip proprietary package (failure to perform this step may result in desktop flashing or color flipping)

Installing the Mali User-Level Driver​

sudo apt-get update

if grep -qE 'rk3588' <(rsetup get_product_ids)
then
    sudo apt-get install libmali-valhall-g610-g24p0-x11-wayland-gbm # RK3588
fi

if grep -qE 'rk3576|rk3568|rk3566' <(rsetup get_product_ids)
then
    sudo apt-get install libmali-bifrost-g52-g13p0-x11-wayland-gbm # RK356X/RK3576
fi

Enable Mali GPU Overlay​

Enable Arm Mali GPU driverOverlay by referring to [Overlay Enablement Tutorial](./rsetup#overlays) to enableEnable Arm Mali GPU driver` Overlay.

Modify Module Blacklist​

编辑 /etc/modprobe.d/panfrost.conf 文件：

# settings for panfrost

# Uncomment the following line and comment above lines
# to use mali driver for GPU instead
# You will have to install desktop from vendor repo
blacklist       panfrost

# Disable mali driver by default to prefer panfrost driver
#blacklist   mali
#blacklist   bifrost_kbase
#blacklist   midgard_kbase

Turn off Zink support​

echo "LIBGL_KOPPER_DISABLE=true" | sudo tee -a /etc/environment

Reboot system​

sudo reboot

Verify GPU driver​

Verify kernel driver​

Check to see if the corresponding GPU driver is loaded:

# mali
rock@radxa-cm5-io:~$ lsmod | grep bifrost_kbase
bifrost_kbase        1015808  3

# Panfrost
rock@rock-3c:~$ lsmod | grep panfrost
panfrost               61440  5
drm_shmem_helper       20480  1 panfrost
gpu_sched              36864  1 panfrost

# Panthor
rock@radxa-cm5-io:~$ lsmod | grep panthor
panthor                98304  1
drm_gpuvm              24576  1 panthor
drm_exec               16384  2 drm_gpuvm,panthor
drm_shmem_helper       20480  1 panthor
gpu_sched              36864  1 panthor

Verify xorg-xserver version​

Run the following command to see the current xorg-xserver source for the [installed,automatic] counterpart. This is rk35*-bookworm when using the mali driver, or stable when using the Panfrost/Panthor driver.

rock@radxa-cm5-io:~$ sudo apt list -a xserver-common xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-legacy
Listing... Done
xserver-common/stable-security,stable 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u7 all
xserver-common/rk3588s2-bookworm,rk3588s2-bookworm,now 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u2 all [installed,automatic]

xserver-xorg-core/stable-security,stable 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u7 arm64
xserver-xorg-core/rk3588s2-bookworm,now 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u2 arm64 [installed,automatic]

xserver-xorg-legacy/stable-security,stable 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u7 arm64
xserver-xorg-legacy/rk3588s2-bookworm,now 2:21.1.7-3+deb12u2 arm64 [installed,automatic]

Verify the user-level driver​

Running the following command will list libmali if you are using the mali driver, and will not list any packages if you are using Panfrost/Panthor:

sudo apt list libmali-* --installed
Listing... Done
libmali-bifrost-g52-g13p0-x11-wayland-gbm/rk3566-bookworm-test,now 1.9-1 arm64 [installed]