docs/asahi: Add hardware glossary

Explains some of hardware units referenced throughout the driver.

Signed-off-by: i509VCB <git@i509.me>
Part-of: <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/merge_requests/22200>
This commit is contained in:
i509VCB
2023-03-29 20:55:27 -05:00
committed by Marge Bot
parent 44fb5ceb36
commit 54d01db8a8
+38 -1
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@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ below.
Vertex shader
`````````````
A vertex shader (running on the Unified Shader Cores) outputs varyings with the
A vertex shader (running on the :term:`Unified Shader Cores`) outputs varyings with the
``st_var`` instruction. ``st_var`` takes a *vertex output index* and a 32-bit
value. The maximum number of *vertex outputs* is specified as the "output count"
of the shader in the "Bind Vertex Pipeline" packet. The value may be interpreted
@@ -295,3 +295,40 @@ with the IR:
The drm-shim implementation for Asahi is located in ``src/asahi/drm-shim``. The
drm-shim implementation there should be updated as new UABI is added.
Hardware glossary
-----------------
AGX is a tiled renderer descended from the PowerVR architecture. Some hardware
concepts used in PowerVR GPUs appear in AGX.
.. glossary:: :sorted:
VDM
Vertex Data Master
Dispatches vertex shaders.
PDM
Pixel Data Master
Dispatches pixel shaders.
CDM
Compute Data Master
Dispatches compute kernels.
USC
Unified Shader Cores
A unified shader core is a small cpu that runs shader code. The core is
unified because a single ISA is used for vertex, pixel and compute
shaders. This differs from older GPUs where the vertex, fragment and
compute have separate ISAs for shader stages.
PPP
Primitive Processing Pipeline
The Primitive Processing Pipeline is a hardware unit that does primitive
assembly. The PPP is between the :term:`VDM` and :term:`ISP`.
ISP
Image Synthesis Processor
The Image Synthesis Processor is responsible for the rasterization stage
of the rendering pipeline.