linux-drivers/
drivers/gpu/drm/radeon

AMD/ATI Radeon legacy GPU driver (pre-GCN through early Sea Islands)

Kernel-mode graphics support for older ATI and AMD Radeon GPUs, spanning the original Radeon and TeraScale generations of the 2000s through the early GCN-era Southern Islands and Sea Islands cards of roughly 2012-2016. It covers a huge installed base of desktop add-in cards, integrated graphics, and laptop GPUs from the era before AMD shifted its focus to the newer amdgpu driver.

keep-annotate conf=0.88 last_sold=2016 deploy=medium replacement=amdgpu subsystem=gpu category=graphics-display
88%

recommendation

Worth keeping but documenting as legacy-only because the hardware has not been sold new since around 2016 and the newer amdgpu driver is now the default for the Southern Islands and Sea Islands parts that overlap between the two. Even so, upstream is still actively fixing real bugs in 2026 (such as a January 2026 MSI address-limit fix and ongoing HAINAN ASIC workarounds), and plenty of older desktops and laptops still rely on it, so removal is not on the table. Users should simply be aware that for GCN-era cards, amdgpu is the recommended path forward.

repository signals

212 files
195,111 source lines
402 commits, 5y
+5,609 / −7,875 lines added / removed, 5y
135 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 402 total · active in 58/61 months
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2021-04: 9 commits · +64 −31 2021-05: 22 commits · +697 −531 2021-06: 13 commits · +115 −146 2021-07: 9 commits · +33 −91 2021-08: 5 commits · +73 −26 2021-09: 8 commits · +35 −23 2021-10: 4 commits · +18 −32 2021-11: 9 commits · +43 −39 2021-12: 3 commits · +24 −33 2022-01: 8 commits · +40 −34 2022-02: 7 commits · +16 −14 2022-03: 0 commits · +0 −0 2022-04: 14 commits · +1,048 −1,954 2022-05: 4 commits · +85 −68 2022-06: 7 commits · +19 −47 2022-07: 3 commits · +2 −3 2022-08: 3 commits · +11 −976 2022-09: 4 commits · +3 −14 2022-10: 7 commits · +179 −16 2022-11: 6 commits · +17 −17 2022-12: 4 commits · +7 −13 2023-01: 9 commits · +18 −25 2023-02: 4 commits · +64 −359 2023-03: 10 commits · +325 −294 2023-04: 2 commits · +22 −9 2023-05: 8 commits · +63 −34 2023-06: 7 commits · +14 −10 2023-07: 27 commits · +178 −284 2023-08: 9 commits · +79 −101 2023-09: 2 commits · +4 −2 2023-10: 4 commits · +25 −22 2023-11: 7 commits · +15 −21 2023-12: 5 commits · +26 −7 2024-01: 46 commits · +372 −563 2024-02: 3 commits · +31 −62 2024-03: 3 commits · +6 −11 2024-04: 5 commits · +29 −13 2024-05: 6 commits · +37 −42 2024-06: 7 commits · +190 −185 2024-07: 7 commits · +87 −83 2024-08: 2 commits · +32 −31 2024-09: 3 commits · +31 −117 2024-10: 5 commits · +32 −30 2024-11: 5 commits · +11 −19 2024-12: 3 commits · +9 −9 2025-01: 1 commit · +10 −24 2025-02: 1 commit · +5 −5 2025-03: 4 commits · +7 −7 2025-04: 5 commits · +2 −72 2025-05: 2 commits · +32 −14 2025-06: 6 commits · +101 −6 2025-07: 5 commits · +10 −19 2025-08: 5 commits · +26 −22 2025-09: 6 commits · +671 −655 2025-10: 9 commits · +22 −70 2025-11: 5 commits · +79 −116 2025-12: 4 commits · +116 −103 2026-01: 4 commits · +8 −16 2026-02: 5 commits · +271 −301 2026-03: 0 commits · +0 −0 2026-04: 0 commits · +0 −0

sources

  1. spinics.net

    Radeon still receives upstream functional fixes in 2026; e.g. MSI address-limit handling patch merged in January 2026.

  2. spinics.net

    Radeon still has amd-gfx patch traffic in March 2026 for specific ASIC workarounds (additional HAINAN variants).

  3. cateee.net

    CONFIG_DRM_RADEON remains present through Linux 6.19 and 7.0-rc+HEAD, indicating upstream retention rather than pending removal.

  4. cateee.net

    Southern Islands support overlaps with amdgpu, and LKDDb says SI dedicated GPUs are supported by both drivers with amdgpu the default.

  5. cateee.net

    Sea Islands dedicated GPUs also overlap with amdgpu; LKDDb says amdgpu can cover CIK parts while some CIK APUs remain on radeon.

  6. techpowerup.com

    A late supported Radeon part (R5 M420 / HAINAN, GCN 1.0) launched in 2016 and is end-of-life, supporting the view that new sales have long ceased.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Keep, but annotate as legacy-only. Prompt metadata already shows very high recent activity for a 17.8-year-old driver, and web-searching lore mirrors found 2026 functional fixes/backports rather than removal discussion. Source acquisition: spinics patch URLs were obtained by web search on recent drm/radeon patch subjects; LKDDb cateee URLs were obtained by web search for CONFIG_DRM_RADEON / DRM_AMDGPU_SI / DRM_AMDGPU_CIK; the TechPowerUp URL was obtained by web search for a late HAINAN-based product. Conclusion: upstream attention is real, installed base is still meaningful in old desktops/laptops, but the hardware family is commercially obsolete and successor deployments have moved to amdgpu where overlap exists.