[PATCH v3 2/4] Documentation/gpu: include description of some of the GC microcontrollers

[Yann Dirson]

This is Alex' description from the "Looking for clarifications around gfx/kcq/kiq"
thread, edited to fit as ReST.

Original text: https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg71383.html

Originally-by: Alex Deucher <alexander.deucher at amd.com>
Signed-off-by: Yann Dirson <ydirson at free.fr>
Acked-by: Harry Wentland <harry.wentland at amd.com>
Reviewed-by: Rodrigo Siqueira <Rodrigo.Siqueira at amd.com>
---
 Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/driver-core.rst | 35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/driver-core.rst b/Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/driver-core.rst
index a4aaf7088220..ebf5932845a9 100644
--- a/Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/driver-core.rst
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/driver-core.rst
@@ -76,6 +76,28 @@ VCN (Video Core Next)
     decode.  It's exposed to userspace for user mode drivers (VA-API,
     OpenMAX, etc.)
 
+Graphics and Compute Microcontrollers
+-------------------------------------
+
+CP (Command Processor)
+    The name for the hardware block that encompasses the front end of the
+    GFX/Compute pipeline.  Consists mainly of a bunch of microcontrollers
+    (PFP, ME, CE, MEC).  The firmware that runs on these microcontrollers
+    provides the driver interface to interact with the GFX/Compute engine.
+
+    MEC (MicroEngine Compute)
+        This is the microcontroller that controls the compute queues on the
+        GFX/compute engine.
+
+    MES (MicroEngine Scheduler)
+        This is a new engine for managing queues.  This is currently unused.
+
+RLC (RunList Controller)
+    This is another microcontroller in the GFX/Compute engine.  It handles
+    power management related functionality within the GFX/Compute engine.
+    The name is a vestige of old hardware where it was originally added
+    and doesn't really have much relation to what the engine does now.
+
 Driver Structure
 ================
 
@@ -83,6 +105,19 @@ In general, the driver has a list of all of the IPs on a particular
 SoC and for things like init/fini/suspend/resume, more or less just
 walks the list and handles each IP.
 
+Some useful constructs:
+
+KIQ (Kernel Interface Queue)
+    This is a control queue used by the kernel driver to manage other gfx
+    and compute queues on the GFX/compute engine.  You can use it to
+    map/unmap additional queues, etc.
+
+IB (Indirect Buffer)
+    A command buffer for a particular engine.  Rather than writing
+    commands directly to the queue, you can write the commands into a
+    piece of memory and then put a pointer to the memory into the queue.
+    The hardware will then follow the pointer and execute the commands in
+    the memory, then returning to the rest of the commands in the ring.
 
 .. _amdgpu_memory_domains:
 
-- 
2.31.1