Linux 6.5 Adding Qualcomm Adreno 690 Open-Source GPU Support

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 6.5 Adding Qualcomm Adreno 690 Open-Source GPU Support

The upcoming Linux 6.5 kernel is poised to add support for Qualcomm's Adreno 690 GPU to the open-source MSM kernel graphics/display driver. The A690 is notably used by the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 (SC8280XP) platform that in turn is what's found inside the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s laptop and other hardware...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.5-MSM-Adreno-A690

[Alpha64]

The Lenovo Thinkpad x13s would actually be a good device if one could run virtual machines on it. Unfortunately Qualcomm's/Lenovo's UEFI starts the Linux kernel in EL1 only, and so no KVM or real VM support. This alone makes me regret having purchased one...

[scottishduck]

More relevant would be that the Windows Dev Kit 2023 uses this SoC.

[tunnelblick]

What's the current status regarding Linux support on the x13s? The information available is quite limited sadly.

[ayumu]

What's the current status regarding Linux support on the x13s? The information available is quite limited sadly.

You're better off holding up with x86 until RISC-V laptops.

[tunnelblick]

You're better off holding up with x86 until RISC-V laptops.

That's not the impression I get at all, it seems to run pretty good already. It's just that the information on how to get it run and even install is spread in bits on Twitter, Reddit and some GitHub repos.
But feel free to quote me when we have a riscv laptop with better support.

[coder]

You're better off holding up with x86 until RISC-V laptops.

LOL, with what GPU? Imagination PowerVR's in-tree driver is rubbish. I haven't heard anything good about their proprietary driver, either.

Even if someone comes along with a competitive RISC-V core, there's a lot needed to tie it together into a SoC that can successfully compete with something like this Snapdragon!

[coder]

The Lenovo Thinkpad x13s would actually be a good device if one could run virtual machines on it.

Do containers rely on these same virtualization mechanisms? I don't need to use VMs, but I'd be pretty bummed if I couldn't use containers.

[tunnelblick]

Do containers rely on these same virtualization mechanisms? I don't need to use VMs, but I'd be pretty bummed if I couldn't use containers.

No, they don't.

[ayumu]

LOL, with what GPU? Imagination PowerVR's in-tree driver is rubbish. I haven't heard anything good about their proprietary driver, either.

Even if someone comes along with a competitive RISC-V core, there's a lot needed to tie it together into a SoC that can successfully compete with something like this Snapdragon!

Let's be positive about Imagination Technologies finally actually starting to care about open source. They're paying some company to make this mesa3d driver for them.

It only took them several decades to understand, but they finally seem to do.

About snapdragon, I honestly think it's only a matter of time until Qualcomm introduces RISC-V snapdragon models.