this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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Hey there, just using a single GPU in this system. If you have multiple adapters, you can try something like LookingGlass instead. In my case, I would need a single GPU that supports SRIOV, which is typically relegated to data centre products (I believe someone actually managed this with an Intel iGPU + and experimental sriov driver!).
I'm just passing my GPU through to a virtual machine; it takes precedence over the graphical session, leverages all connected displays and relevant peripherals, and gracefully resumes back into GDM / GNOME once the VM is powered off (can do this conventionally within W10).
I mostly followed this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTWf5D092VY
key thing for AMD gfx is to set ROMBAR = 0 in virt config, this will allow you to actually get functioning display output once the VM is started up.
As for your buying choices, consumer AMD GPUs have issues with GPU reset (unlike Intel or Nvidia). I think your experience with nvidia graphics here will be better than mine here with amd.
Byt yeah, since you have multiple gfx adapters at your disposal, it should be possible to get started with LookingGlass (a VM in a movable, resizable window that is fully hw accelerated with shared memory). The Level1Techs forum for LG is very helpful, though I believe the creator of the video above also has a relevant guide for this.
Thanks for sharing the details! I'm gonna check out the video. So if I understand correctly, when you start your VM, it completely takes over video, and you're not seeing the host desktop at all, but then when you shut down the VM, it returns to your host desktop? So the resulting experience is like dual booting, but a lot faster? I Heard about looking glass, but hadn't delved into it since I couldn't even get the igpu to passthrough in the first place (testing with a cable going to another input in my monitor, which AFAIK, would be the part that looking glass solves)
Very welcome! Yes, exactly as you described. The nice thing is that you have greater control over Windows in this virtualized environment, particularly with regards to limiting device and network access.
I gather that display dummy plugs are pretty common in the looking glass community.
Ha, I was about to edit to say I watched the video. It's a pretty smooth transition into the client machine!
It's kind of crazy to me how well it works! It's hard for me to wrap my head around it sometimes.
My end goal is to not have to eventually not need to use windows at all but I'm still very impressed with how this behaves.
Yeah, I have one piece of software where I need Windows with a GPU (Fusion 360, got it running on wine once but an update broke it), and my wife needs my PC for Adobe stuff sometimes. I might buy a cheapo used older GPU, I don't need much since it's not for gaming. That said, the video showed something that might fix where I got stuck last time trying to pass the integrated GPU, so I'm trying that again. I have a Ryzen 9 with 24 cores, so plenty of juice to go around If that if I can pass the igpu through. Then I could try looking glass and be all set. Thanks for sharing, gave me some hope to try again haha
Best of luck with this, let us know how it goes