Linux 5.17 To Introduce A New Driver Just To Deal With Buggy x86 Tablets

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 5.17 To Introduce A New Driver Just To Deal With Buggy x86 Tablets

The Linux 5.17 kernel when it kicks off next month is slated to introduce a new driver "x86-android-tablets" just for dealing with all the quirky/buggy x86 tablets out there...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...-Tablet-Driver

[direc85]

I always had suspicions; Android tablets are trash. They only work with the binary blobs they are shipped with. They have so much hardcoded information that Linux kernel has no chances.

[marlock]

except the linux kernel does have a chance despite the horrid mess those manufacturers made


I'll avoid saying it's on purpose, because I actually don't know so... but if Michael described the behaviour accurately, I do find the Xiaomi bootloader issue to be a convenient oops for them to keep control over their hardware and sabotage alternative OSs.

Exactly the kind of BS we've come to expect from Android devices, Apple and the rest of their OS-locking buddies.

[Nille]

nice, i have an old baytail tablet with 32GB emmc and 2 GB Ram. windows i pure garbage on it and android would be chance but most functions are not working with linux. but the touch screen has ghost inputs, so maybe the digitizer is broken :/

[V1tol]

I have Chuwi Hi12 and tried Elementary OS 5 (because GNOME was laggy as hell and Windows was wiped immediately) on it some time ago. It even worked, I had only to recompile touchscreen driver and correct accelerometer orientation. But rolled back to Cyanogen. Will be interesting what will change for me with the new kernel.

[mradalbert]

Some of those tablets do work, but installing Linux on them is a hassle. Mine Cherry Trail tablet for example does not recognize accelerometer and tochscreen AND has issue showing mouse pointer upside down and registering clicks on the opposite side of screen.

Sad because these quite capable devices are forced to run windows 8 or 10 which are a bit heavy for them not mentioning that windows can be unstable on them. Mine experiences regular blue screens. Maybe it's the drivers, maybe I cannot install different ones because there are none.

[sfrieske]

I happen to have a Chuwi Hi8 just as a display for temperature etc. I'm very happy to read this good news. Thanks Michael for this article and thanks Hans for this driver (de Goede is very likely Dutch and probably means "the good one"

[tildearrow]

nice, i have an old baytail tablet with 32GB emmc and 2 GB Ram. windows i pure garbage on it and android would be chance but most functions are not working with linux. but the touch screen has ghost inputs, so maybe the digitizer is broken :/

Lucky because my Bay Trail tablet is even worse (half RAM, half storage), and the touch panel is broken too (doesn't detect input in one region, and when it does, it is very jittery/jumps from side to side when changing fingers).

[caligula]

Lucky because my Bay Trail tablet is even worse (half RAM, half storage), and the touch panel is broken too (doesn't detect input in one region, and when it does, it is very jittery/jumps from side to side when changing fingers).

Well.. 1GB 16GB tablet is just a steaming pile of crap in late 2021. Even web browsing pretty much assumes 2GB.

[some_canuck]

How is this different compared to broken device tree files on arm?