Please add GPU support / passthrough - need it for CAD (solidworks, NX, Fusion 360, Solid edge)

[stasb80-arch]

IF there is GPU passthrough support, this project would be invaluable, even if I need to use one more, discrete GPU.

[allankoechke]

Important feature needed for CAD, video editing, 3D works, etc. Saw the team teasing about this feature 10 days ago on X, but no dev branch for this work so far.

https://x.com/winboat_app/status/1981029897683235218

Similar Discussions/Issues:

• Simplified GPU Integration + Virtual GPU #234
• [Feature] GPU Acceleration #239
• need access to (Nvidia) GPU and driver. #202
• [Feature] GPU passthrough support #8

[stasb80-arch]

I got Solid Edge to work on WinBoat, the community edition, of course, which is completely free for hobbyists, but it struggles quite a bit without the GPU acceleration, nor does it launches as a stand alone app, only in windows desktop, but that's a minor issue.

Hope they'll add GPU acceleration soon enough - would be a game changer for so many people: easily move to linux and run your CAD in a EASILY configurable VM with GPU acceleration.

[Anhengineer]

It would be super useful for us to switch to Linux.
So far BricsCAD is the best but can not be the same as the one in windows.

[stasb80-arch]

I really hope that they'll figure out a way to use the system's GPU for GPU acceleration inside of the VM - having a dedicated GPU just for the VM's GPU passthrough is quite wasteful.

[Alexander-Egistov]

It would be super useful for us to switch to Linux. So far BricsCAD is the best but can not be the same as the one in windows.

Well, BrycsCad is nice, but there is no free version, SolidEdge has a community edition which is 95% as functional as the full edition, and it's free.

[sprinteroz]

install the right windows drivers it should do it on its own also game ready drives, or you could use the bash terminal in windows if you have wsl2 installed you can then install the Linux drivers into the back-end if you in Ubuntu on windows bash there are a few ways to approach it.

The problem with pass through is it dismount the hardware from Linux and assigns it to windows so if you did this with GPU on pass through it would crash the whole desktop as you just signed full control to windows

same as if you give windows your mouse once the USB pass through is activated for windows you no longer have control of the mouse in Linux to get out of this you use TAB key to go down in winboat pass through and remove the mouse from pass through when you have Tabbed to it press enter and you will have your mouse control back in Linux

[Alexander-Egistov]

wait, what do you mean? It already works?

[pugly-tech]

so if you had a second gpu you could dedicate to Windows it would work?

[Alexander-Egistov]

well, then it would be like KVM/virt-manager with a gpu passthrough. The exact yet cumbersome setup I currently use for some CAD programs like Solid Edge. How do you choose which GPU to use in the Winboat though? Is that even possible there?

[drveni]

d gpu you could dedicate to Windows it would work?

same problem i use virtual machine manager and have second gpu for passtrue. I only use it for fusion 360 and other cad programs. if there was native support I would never have a VM for win

[Alexander-Egistov]

d gpu you could dedicate to Windows it would work?

same problem i use virtual machine manager and have second gpu for passtrue. I only use it for fusion 360 and other cad programs. if there was native support I would never have a VM for win

Isn't winboat a sort of a virtual machine, which only uses docker?

[Dimacat-exe]

Hi guy, I'm using Docker and Winboat. I have igpu and dgpu. Can i use Adobe software with gpu passthrough and what is the progress now?

[Alexander-Egistov]

I am curious as well - is it possible to get gpu passthrough working with winboat?

[lumos675]

even without pass through you can use adobe products even premiere works on fresh winboat install

[drveni]

i gotta igpu and 2 gpu. one is on mainboard other is over oculink.

if there is a way to passtrue this via oculinka to winboat win. that would be great. i need the same thing just for fusion360 and cad work.

i don't know if there is also HDD passtrue? I installed it today, I accidentally found it on winboat so I'm trying it out. i'm currently using virtual machine manager. passtrue works perfectly there. if there is a way to push it through and it works it would be great.

thx for info

[Alexander-Egistov]

Got the same problem - want to run SolidEdge community edition, which is completely free, and almost fully functional on a VM, but currently winboat lacks GPU acceleration :(

[richdemars]

Virtual Manager with GPU pass through with Looking Glass is the way I run AAA games like COD at near bare speeds on RichARCH installed Arch.

[Alexander-Egistov]

What happens if a person has no additional GPU to passthrough?

[drveni]

if a person has no additional GPU to passthro

I did a little research
winboat does not support GPU passtrou at least not for now and I don't know if it ever will. until a solution is found there is no help. no 3d acceleration.

it only have a virtual machine manager!

if you have a processor that already has a GPU in it, then you need another graphics card(found cheap ati rx580). and processor need to be hypervisor support Most new ones have it.
You use the GPU processor natively in Linux. and if you want virtual manager and win10/11, you pass the second graphics card (rx580)and monitor only for win.

In the end, that's how I went down and it works perfectly.

either stop using win completely, or you can fix it like this vm for cad, or just use win. or should wait for developers to create native applications only for linux. linux has only 10% of the total market.. the vast majority are win or macos.

they will probably never make them. there is fusion360 online over the web, but it pays a lot, this is the best and cheapest solution I found for cad only. I don't even play games on a computer, there are consoles

[Alexander-Egistov]

So, essentially at the moment, WinBoat is not that different from windows running in a VM, like KVM with VirtManager, it is just that the applications are more easily accessible.