Author Topic: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?  (Read 5250 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline iLLucionist

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 2734
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Topre is Love.
kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« on: Wed, 07 March 2018, 15:03:30 »
Waddup GH. So I have this thing VT-d on my CPU that I want to put to good use. I'm feeling nostalgic towards linux, I want to make it my host OS. Buuut... I also play games and rely on lightroom / illustrator / photoshop. SO I NEED MY GFX.

Anyone experience with unraid / kvm / qemu with a barebones type-1 hypervisor and hardware passthrough and partitioning?

Idea is to have both OSes (linux host, win10 vm with gfx passthrough and partioned hardware) running concurrently.

I the ABSOLUTE ideal world (is this possible even?) I would like to output windows or windows' windows as i3 frames so that I do not need synergy or something.

PLS HELP.
MJT2 Browns o-rings - HHKB White - ES-87 Smoke White Clears - 87UB 55g

Offline xtrafrood

  • formerly csmertx
  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 2715
  • Location: Gainesville, FL
  • wildling
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 07 March 2018, 22:48:58 »
Windows OS as an i3 workspace? Interesting

Offline iLLucionist

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 2734
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Topre is Love.
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 08 March 2018, 02:37:52 »
Windows OS as an i3 workspace? Interesting

Imagine Windows being your b*tch in your tiling wm. It would be great.

I know that VMWare workstation within linux also allows "seamless mode", giving every window within Windows Desktop its own window within the host operating system's window manager. So, for instance, if you have Word and Explorer open in gnome or xfce or kde, they each would have their own decorated window rendered by gnome, xfce, kde all with their own ui controls for maximizing / minimizing.

This should, theoretically then, be possible in i3 if kvm/qemu is the host. However, it could also be that VMWare with its guest drivers has to do some smart tricks to make this happen, I don't know..
MJT2 Browns o-rings - HHKB White - ES-87 Smoke White Clears - 87UB 55g

Offline xtrafrood

  • formerly csmertx
  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 2715
  • Location: Gainesville, FL
  • wildling
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 08 March 2018, 12:17:53 »
I have a Windows 7 virtual machine that works fine with i3wm after minor tweaks to Virtualbox's UI and Compton's config; but my MB tests null for iommu groups so I didn't try KVM/QEMU. I see where you're going with this and I kinda like it. I would be cool to see if others have something brewing in the hyper-whatsit-department.

Offline impaktor

  • Posts: 55
  • Location: Between F and J key
    • Blog on emacs & keyboards
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 25 December 2018, 10:28:45 »
I'm using kvm/qemu through virtual manager as GUI for setting it up. I've not been successful (yet) in being able to play any games on the virtual machine, not even 20 year old games, like Deus Ex or Pharao.

Offline madhias

  • Posts: 1192
  • Location: Wien, Austria
  • BS TORPE
    • Madhias' Flickr
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #5 on: Fri, 04 January 2019, 06:08:38 »
I have not done it (yet) but read some success stories and saw some performance videos on YouTube. Unfortunately my old i7-2600K doesn't support all I need.

My absolutely wet dream would be a ThinkPad, maybe like a P52 or P1, sporting a passthrough setup – but also for Mac OS, and Windows. Also with i3wm.
... ...

Offline impaktor

  • Posts: 55
  • Location: Between F and J key
    • Blog on emacs & keyboards
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #6 on: Fri, 04 January 2019, 06:16:14 »
When passing through the GPU, is it no longer accessible to the host system? So you essentially "donate" it to the guest OS?

Offline Leslieann

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 4513
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #7 on: Fri, 04 January 2019, 18:09:37 »
When passing through the GPU, is it no longer accessible to the host system? So you essentially "donate" it to the guest OS?
Yes.
You have Windows running as a guest connected to a dedicated GPU just for that system, the host is basically grabbing the video rendering buffer (?)as it renders.

Level1Linux (should be first two links) has been experimenting with this, as has LinustechTips (this is a good primer on it). It's still a bit beta and crude, but it does work.


I tried but wasn't able to get it working. Too much unfamiliar tech, too little time and possibly incompatible parts. QEMU was one of the biggest hurdles, I couldn't really get it to run like it should even without trying this.
Novelkeys NK65AE w/62g Zilents/39g springs
More
62g Zilents/lubed/Novelkeys 39g springs, HK Gaming Thick PBT caps, Netdot Gen10 magnetic cable, pic
| Filco MJ2 L.E. Vortex Case, Jailhouse Blues, heavily customized
More
Vortex case squared up/blasted finish removed/custom feet/paint/winkey blockoff plate, HID Liberator, stainless steel universal plate, 3d printed adapters, Type C, Netdot Gen10 magnetic cable, foam sound dampened, HK Gaming Thick PBT caps (o-ringed), Cherry Jailhouse Blues w/lubed/clipped Cherry light springs, 40g actuation
| GMMK TKL
More
w/ Kailh Purple Pros/lubed/Novelkeys 39g springs, HK Gaming Thick PBT caps, Netdot Gen10 Magnetic cable
| PF65 3d printed 65% w/LCD and hot swap
More
Box Jades, Interchangeable trim, mini lcd, QMK, underglow, HK Gaming Thick PBT caps, O-rings, Netdot Gen10 magnetic cable, in progress link
| Magicforce 68
More
MF68 pcb, Outemu Blues, in progress
| YMDK75 Jail Housed Gateron Blues
More
J-spacers, YMDK Thick PBT, O-rings, SIP sockets
| KBT Race S L.E.
More
Ergo Clears, custom WASD caps
| Das Pro
More
Costar model with browns
| GH60
More
Cherry Blacks, custom 3d printed case
| Logitech Illumininated | IBM Model M (x2)
Definitive Omron Guide. | 3d printed Keyboard FAQ/Discussion

Offline xtrafrood

  • formerly csmertx
  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 2715
  • Location: Gainesville, FL
  • wildling
Re: kvm/qemu gfx passthrough? experience?
« Reply #8 on: Fri, 04 January 2019, 18:32:14 »
When passing through the GPU, is it no longer accessible to the host system? So you essentially "donate" it to the guest OS?
Yes.
You have Windows running as a guest connected to a dedicated GPU just for that system, the host is basically grabbing the video rendering buffer (?)as it renders.

Level1Linux (should be first two links) has been experimenting with this, as has LinustechTips (this is a good primer on it). It's still a bit beta and crude, but it does work.


I tried but wasn't able to get it working. Too much unfamiliar tech, too little time and possibly incompatible parts. QEMU was one of the biggest hurdles, I couldn't really get it to run like it should even without trying this.

Running a VM as its own window manager is technically not cheating (can always tty*). I wholeheartedly agree--level1techs is one of the most concise and thorough sources for Linux/IOMMU.