High Definition Media Interface or HDMI is a video and audio data source transmission format that is quite popular and used by various parties in the audiovisual industry. But did you know that this HDMI technology needs to be licensed, and its use by technology brands that need it has to be paid for?
This is the reason why until now, HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 2.1 technologies are still not supported by open source operating systems such as Linux. Unlike Apple or Microsoft, Linux does not pay to use the technology, and until now, the limit of HDMI support on these open source operating systems is limited to HDMI 1.4.
Previously, leading CPU brand AMD has tried to talk to the HDMI Forum to allow them to introduce updated support for the latest HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 2.1 formats, but was rejected because it said that the Linux operating system did not meet the fair use standards set by the HDMI Forum.
However, it has been reported that AMD has joined forces with Valve to ask the HDMI Forum to allow the data connection technology to be officially supported on the Linux operating system.
This is because Valve is not only using AMD's processing chip components to power its upcoming Steam Machine game console, but the SteamOS operating system that the console uses is also powered by the Linux operating system.
Previously, AMD has already put in the work to introduce software support for HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 2.1 for the Linux operating system, but its confirmation was previously flatly rejected by the HDMI Forum even though AMD is a developer partner in the group.
Apart from better data security, the advantages of HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 2.1 can be seen through the support of much faster data transmission rates which are very useful for high-resolution screen displays (4K, 5K) and faster refresh rates.
With this latest collaboration, it is reported that AMD has submitted an update to support the HDMI 2.1 Fixed Link Rate feature for the Linux operating system for certification by the HDMI Forum. The feature is used to allow GPU chips to send graphics output data at a higher rate that supports high resolutions and refresh rates (4K, 120FPS for example).
With this, many expect that the Steam Machine will be able to be played at higher resolutions and refresh rates without any problems. As of now, it is not known when Valve will officially announce the Steam Machine's sales date and price tag.
