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Linux is terrible on ARM, I don't agree that it runs perfectly fine at all. Try loading Ubuntu onto a Snapdragon laptop for example. It works but lots of issues

by gargan 4mo ago

Linux is terrible on ARM, I don't agree that it runs perfectly fine at all. Try loading Ubuntu onto a Snapdragon laptop for example. It works but lots of issues eg sound, webcam quality, etc

BatteryMountain 4mo ago
Webcam firmware & colour grading & programming is a black art btw.
BatteryMountain 4mo ago
Those are specific firmwares for those devices that are either closed-source binary blobs, open-source hackjobs/reverse engineered attempts, or just plain missing firmwares. The fault is not on Linux but rather on Qualcomm not releasing things for that specific SoC. Some SoC's have better support than others. ARM cpu's themselves works perfectly fine on linux. Intel has closed things down: some wifi and webcam firmwares are poop and a massive pain to get working on newer chips (if at all). Their wifi firmwares also don't respect certain kernel overrides (which is why I replaced my Intel Wifi 7 chip with a mediatek Wifi 6 one). Blame is 100% on intel and not linux. Broadcom is also pretty bad at being a team player in this regard. I basically recommend everyone to stick with AMD chipset & GPU's where possible, because they have mainline kernel support nailed down 95% of the time. Again, ARM works fine, their extra firmwares for extra devices on SoC's are to blame if you struggle.
- ChocolateGod 4mo ago
  > Those are specific firmwares for those devices that are either closed-source binary blobs, open-source hackjobs/reverse engineered attempts, or just plain missing firmwares This isn't fully the reason, Linux is infamous for requiring a specific build for each SoC (and usually each board of said SoC) where as Windows on ARM uses ACPI which Linux doesn't support to the same level. Linux prefers the landfill promoting device tree for each device approach.
  - tancop 4mo ago
    > Linux is infamous for requiring a specific build for each SoC no, thats just androids problem. desktop linux like ubuntu ships all the device trees from their supported arm variants. its still more work than acpi for kernel maintainers but you dont need device specific builds. > landfill promoting device tree for each device whats landfill promoting about this? you dont need to keep the trees updated they only depend on the hardware and follow a stable spec. and even if the vendors dont want to support linux a community user can write their own device tree and send upstream.
fragmede 4mo ago
GNU/Linux has trouble, but thanks to Android (and ChromeOS), we know Linux itself specifically on ARM does actually work. Freeing those drivers is another matter, unfortunately.
ranger_danger 4mo ago
I think you're referring to a specific SoC that's used on recent laptops which happens to have driver issues, something not specific to ARM at all. Other (usually embedded) ARM devices have been running just fine on Linux for over 20 years now.

by gargan 4mo ago

Linux is terrible on ARM, I don't agree that it runs perfectly fine at all. Try loading Ubuntu onto a Snapdragon laptop for example. It works but lots of issues eg sound, webcam quality, etc

BatteryMountain 4mo ago

Webcam firmware & colour grading & programming is a black art btw.

BatteryMountain 4mo ago

Those are specific firmwares for those devices that are either closed-source binary blobs, open-source hackjobs/reverse engineered attempts, or just plain missing firmwares. The fault is not on Linux but rather on Qualcomm not releasing things for that specific SoC. Some SoC's have better support than others. ARM cpu's themselves works perfectly fine on linux. Intel has closed things down: some wifi and webcam firmwares are poop and a massive pain to get working on newer chips (if at all). Their wifi firmwares also don't respect certain kernel overrides (which is why I replaced my Intel Wifi 7 chip with a mediatek Wifi 6 one). Blame is 100% on intel and not linux. Broadcom is also pretty bad at being a team player in this regard. I basically recommend everyone to stick with AMD chipset & GPU's where possible, because they have mainline kernel support nailed down 95% of the time. Again, ARM works fine, their extra firmwares for extra devices on SoC's are to blame if you struggle.

ChocolateGod 4mo ago
> Those are specific firmwares for those devices that are either closed-source binary blobs, open-source hackjobs/reverse engineered attempts, or just plain missing firmwares This isn't fully the reason, Linux is infamous for requiring a specific build for each SoC (and usually each board of said SoC) where as Windows on ARM uses ACPI which Linux doesn't support to the same level. Linux prefers the landfill promoting device tree for each device approach.
- tancop 4mo ago
  > Linux is infamous for requiring a specific build for each SoC no, thats just androids problem. desktop linux like ubuntu ships all the device trees from their supported arm variants. its still more work than acpi for kernel maintainers but you dont need device specific builds. > landfill promoting device tree for each device whats landfill promoting about this? you dont need to keep the trees updated they only depend on the hardware and follow a stable spec. and even if the vendors dont want to support linux a community user can write their own device tree and send upstream.

fragmede 4mo ago

GNU/Linux has trouble, but thanks to Android (and ChromeOS), we know Linux itself specifically on ARM does actually work. Freeing those drivers is another matter, unfortunately.

ranger_danger 4mo ago

I think you're referring to a specific SoC that's used on recent laptops which happens to have driver issues, something not specific to ARM at all. Other (usually embedded) ARM devices have been running just fine on Linux for over 20 years now.