Mali GPU Development

This guide covers GPU programming with the Mali-G610 MP4 GPU on the Rock 5B+ platform.

Mali GPU Architecture

The Mali-G610 MP4 is a modern GPU featuring:

• Architecture: Valhall (4th generation)
• Shader Cores: 4 execution units
• API Support: OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.3, OpenCL 2.1
• Memory: Shared with system RAM
• Performance: Up to 1.2 TFLOPS

GPU Architecture Overview

┌───────────────────────────────────┐
│           Application             │
├───────────────────────────────────┤
│  OpenGL ES  │  Vulkan  │  OpenCL  │
├───────────────────────────────────┤
│           Mali Driver             │
├───────────────────────────────────┤
│          GPU Hardware             │
│ ┌───────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │        Shader Cores           │ │
│ ├───────────────────────────────┤ │
│ │        Texture Units          │ │
│ ├───────────────────────────────┤ │
│ │        Rasterizer             │ │
│ └───────────────────────────────┘ │
└───────────────────────────────────┘

Development Environment Setup

1. Install Mali GPU Tools

# Install Mali GPU development libraries
sudo apt install -y libmali-g610-dkm libmali-g610-dkm-dev
sudo apt install -y libmali-g610-dkm-tools

# Install OpenGL development tools
sudo apt install -y libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev
sudo apt install -y freeglut3-dev

# Install OpenCL development tools
sudo apt install -y opencl-headers ocl-icd-opencl-dev
sudo apt install -y clinfo

# Install Vulkan development tools
sudo apt install -y vulkan-tools vulkan-validationlayers
sudo apt install -y libvulkan-dev

2. Verify Installation

# Check OpenCL devices
clinfo

# Check Vulkan devices
vulkaninfo

# Check OpenGL
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL"

OpenGL ES Development

1. Basic OpenGL ES Setup

// opengl_es_example.c
#include <GLES3/gl3.h>
#include <EGL/egl.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    // Initialize EGL
    EGLDisplay display = eglGetDisplay(EGL_DEFAULT_DISPLAY);
    eglInitialize(display, NULL, NULL);
    
    // Configure EGL
    EGLint config_attribs[] = {
        EGL_SURFACE_TYPE, EGL_WINDOW_BIT,
        EGL_BLUE_SIZE, 8,
        EGL_GREEN_SIZE, 8,
        EGL_RED_SIZE, 8,
        EGL_ALPHA_SIZE, 8,
        EGL_RENDERABLE_TYPE, EGL_OPENGL_ES3_BIT,
        EGL_NONE
    };
    
    EGLConfig config;
    EGLint num_configs;
    eglChooseConfig(display, config_attribs, &config, 1, &num_configs);
    
    // Create context
    EGLint context_attribs[] = {
        EGL_CONTEXT_CLIENT_VERSION, 3,
        EGL_NONE
    };
    
    EGLContext context = eglCreateContext(display, config, EGL_NO_CONTEXT, context_attribs);
    
    printf("OpenGL ES 3.0 context created successfully!\n");
    
    // Cleanup
    eglDestroyContext(display, context);
    eglTerminate(display);
    
    return 0;
}

2. Compile OpenGL ES Program

# Compile with OpenGL ES libraries
gcc -o opengl_es_example opengl_es_example.c \
    -lGLESv3 -lEGL -lX11

OpenCL Development

1. Basic OpenCL Setup

// opencl_example.c
#include <CL/cl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main() {
    cl_platform_id platform;
    cl_device_id device;
    cl_context context;
    cl_command_queue queue;
    cl_program program;
    cl_kernel kernel;
    
    // Get platform
    clGetPlatformIDs(1, &platform, NULL);
    
    // Get device
    clGetDeviceIDs(platform, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_GPU, 1, &device, NULL);
    
    // Create context
    context = clCreateContext(NULL, 1, &device, NULL, NULL, NULL);
    
    // Create command queue
    queue = clCreateCommandQueue(context, device, 0, NULL);
    
    // Create program from source
    const char *source = "__kernel void hello(__global float *a) { a[get_global_id(0)] = 1.0f; }";
    program = clCreateProgramWithSource(context, 1, &source, NULL, NULL);
    
    // Build program
    clBuildProgram(program, 1, &device, NULL, NULL, NULL);
    
    // Create kernel
    kernel = clCreateKernel(program, "hello", NULL);
    
    printf("OpenCL setup successful!\n");
    
    // Cleanup
    clReleaseKernel(kernel);
    clReleaseProgram(program);
    clReleaseCommandQueue(queue);
    clReleaseContext(context);
    
    return 0;
}

2. Compile OpenCL Program

# Compile with OpenCL libraries
gcc -o opencl_example opencl_example.c -lOpenCL

Vulkan Development

1. Basic Vulkan Setup

// vulkan_example.c
#include <vulkan/vulkan.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main() {
    VkInstance instance;
    VkInstanceCreateInfo createInfo = {};
    createInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_INSTANCE_CREATE_INFO;
    
    // Create Vulkan instance
    VkResult result = vkCreateInstance(&createInfo, NULL, &instance);
    
    if (result == VK_SUCCESS) {
        printf("Vulkan instance created successfully!\n");
        
        // Get physical devices
        uint32_t deviceCount = 0;
        vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices(instance, &deviceCount, NULL);
        
        if (deviceCount > 0) {
            VkPhysicalDevice *devices = malloc(deviceCount * sizeof(VkPhysicalDevice));
            vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices(instance, &deviceCount, devices);
            
            printf("Found %d Vulkan devices\n", deviceCount);
            
            free(devices);
        }
        
        // Cleanup
        vkDestroyInstance(instance, NULL);
    } else {
        printf("Failed to create Vulkan instance: %d\n", result);
    }
    
    return 0;
}

2. Compile Vulkan Program

# Compile with Vulkan libraries
gcc -o vulkan_example vulkan_example.c -lvulkan

GPU Memory Management

1. OpenCL Memory Management

// Allocate buffer on GPU
cl_mem buffer = clCreateBuffer(context, CL_MEM_READ_WRITE, 
                              sizeof(float) * size, NULL, NULL);

// Copy data to GPU
clEnqueueWriteBuffer(queue, buffer, CL_TRUE, 0, 
                     sizeof(float) * size, data, 0, NULL, NULL);

// Copy data from GPU
clEnqueueReadBuffer(queue, buffer, CL_TRUE, 0, 
                    sizeof(float) * size, result, 0, NULL, NULL);

// Release buffer
clReleaseMemObject(buffer);

2. Vulkan Memory Management

// Allocate memory
VkMemoryAllocateInfo allocInfo = {};
allocInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_MEMORY_ALLOCATE_INFO;
allocInfo.allocationSize = size;
allocInfo.memoryTypeIndex = memoryTypeIndex;

VkDeviceMemory memory;
vkAllocateMemory(device, &allocInfo, NULL, &memory);

// Bind buffer to memory
vkBindBufferMemory(device, buffer, memory, 0);

// Free memory
vkFreeMemory(device, memory, NULL);

Performance Optimization

1. OpenCL Optimization

// Set work group size
size_t globalWorkSize = 1024;
size_t localWorkSize = 64;

// Enqueue kernel
clEnqueueNDRangeKernel(queue, kernel, 1, NULL, 
                       &globalWorkSize, &localWorkSize, 
                       0, NULL, NULL);

2. Memory Access Patterns

// Optimize memory access
__kernel void optimized_kernel(__global float *a, __global float *b, __global float *c) {
    int id = get_global_id(0);
    
    // Coalesced memory access
    float a_val = a[id];
    float b_val = b[id];
    
    // Vectorized operations
    float4 a_vec = vload4(id, a);
    float4 b_vec = vload4(id, b);
    float4 c_vec = a_vec + b_vec;
    vstore4(c_vec, id, c);
}

Debugging GPU Programs

1. OpenCL Debugging

// Check for errors
cl_int err = clEnqueueNDRangeKernel(queue, kernel, 1, NULL, 
                                    &globalWorkSize, &localWorkSize, 
                                    0, NULL, NULL);
if (err != CL_SUCCESS) {
    printf("OpenCL error: %d\n", err);
}

2. Vulkan Debugging

// Enable validation layers
const char *validationLayers[] = {
    "VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation"
};

VkInstanceCreateInfo createInfo = {};
createInfo.enabledLayerCount = 1;
createInfo.ppEnabledLayerNames = validationLayers;

Best Practices

1. Memory Management

• Use appropriate memory types
• Minimize memory transfers
• Use memory pools for frequent allocations
• Monitor memory usage

2. Performance Tips

• Optimize work group sizes
• Use vectorized operations
• Minimize branching in kernels
• Profile your code

3. Error Handling

• Check all API return values
• Use validation layers in debug builds
• Implement proper error reporting
• Test on different devices

Next Steps

• OpenCL Programming
• Vulkan Development
• Performance Optimization

Resources

• Mali GPU Documentation
• OpenCL Specification
• Vulkan Specification
• Rock 5B+ GPU Documentation