Arch-Powered Manjaro 22.0 Released With Xfce 4.18 Desktop, Linux 6.1 Kernel

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Arch-Powered Manjaro 22.0 Released With Xfce 4.18 Desktop, Linux 6.1 Kernel

Among many open-source software project releases timed for the holidays is Manjaro 22.0 now being available for this popular desktop distribution built atop Arch Linux...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Manjaro-Linux-22.0

[M@GOid]

Manjaro used to be my recommendation for a Ubuntu alternative, but after they dropped H264 GPU acceleration, I cannot seriously recommend it to novice users anymore. Liking it or not, Canonical's offerings still are the most user-friendly experience.

[V1tol]

but after they dropped H264 GPU acceleration

I definitely felt something when decided to migrate from Manjaro to EndeavourOS this summer.

[user1]

Liking it or not, Canonical's offerings still are the most user-friendly experience.

Agree, but I feel that unlike more than a decade ago when Ubuntu based distros were unquestionably the most user friendly option in pretty much every aspect, these days they're the most user friendly simply because Ubuntu is the least strict distro regarding proprietary software and codecs. For example, if you have Nvidia, you'll have the easiest experience with it because the driver is already included in the iso. So things "just work" especially for those with hardware that needs proprietary drivers.

I do wonder though if Canonical will eventually also disable h264 acceleration in Ubuntu because it seems different distros disable it one after another these days.

[M@GOid]

Agree, but I feel that unlike more than a decade ago when Ubuntu based distros were unquestionably the most user friendly option in pretty much every aspect, these days they're the most user friendly simply because Ubuntu is the least strict distro regarding limiting proprietary software and codecs. For example, if you have Nvidia, you'll have the easiest experience with it because the driver is already included in the iso. So things "just work" especially for those with hardware that need proprietary drivers.

I do wonder though if Canonical will eventually also disable h264 acceleration in Ubuntu because it seems different distros disable it one after another these days.

If I'm not mistaken, Canonical already pays for the privilege of proprietary stuff, but don't quote me on that.

I'm from a time where ejecting your CD from the drive required a command line entry, in your typical Linux distro. When other smaller "kiddies friendly" and then Ubuntu appeared, there was no shortage of "Gretas", screaming "how dare you" for the inclusion of a script to eject the disc with a button press. The would actually argue with you why doing it in the terminal was the better way...

If Canonical stands as the last one offering hardware acceleration working out-of-the-box, I bet you anything there will be someone critiquing them for doing it, while everybody else don't.

[Toggleton]

In the next few years more and more patents expire (2022 2023 and 2024. Wikipedia claims "although one of the US patents in the MPEG LA H.264 pool lasts at least until November 2030")
https://www.mpegla.com/wp-content/uploads/avc-att1.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanc...Patent_holders
Would hope with less and less patents active will it mean that there will be found solutions to enable h264 acceleration without getting into trouble or needing to pay a lot of money.

[kozman]

In the next few years more and more patents expire (2022 2023 and 2024. Wikipedia claims "although one of the US patents in the MPEG LA H.264 pool lasts at least until November 2030")
https://www.mpegla.com/wp-content/uploads/avc-att1.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanc...Patent_holders
Would hope with less and less patents active will it mean that there will be found solutions to enable h264 acceleration without getting into trouble or needing to pay a lot of money.

Yes, there is this patent component as well. Back in the day, patent control, licensing and lock-in sold units (TVs, GPU, video devices, etc.) but I think those days are numbered as many off-brand tech companies are getting away from this patent lock-in with growing and free alternative (hello AV1). I think it's still in it's infancy as compared to h264/h265 and others but the whole industry sees the value and utility and is pushing for the one-codec-to-rule-them-all model since it doesn't cost them a dime and allows them to wait out the other patent protected codec until they expire. By then, AV1 will have matured with larger industry backing and will have become far more universal and cross-platform among produced devices. I can see cheap AV1-centric chips for decoding being common in off-the-shelf hardware. Streaming will eventually be ruled by some standard of AV1, no doubt about it. And, IMHO, h264/h265 will become fall-back or even tertiary support codecs. Maybe not tomorrow, in a month or a year but it's trending in that direction.

[direc85]

It looks like one distro after another disables h264/h265... I'd be surprised if EndeavourOS could find a way to dodge the legal bullet forever. Luckily Manjaro (and Arch) is a distro that trivializes recompiling/self-compiling core packages. I started to compile my own kernel a few weeks back with one const changed to fix a power drain bug, it couldn't have been easier! It's impact was greater than the software decoding, everything in its perspective...

[ms178]

Arch still has a toolchain problem though, it is still on LLVM 14.0.6 - with no update in sight. Sigh.

[caligula]

In the next few years more and more patents expire (2022 2023 and 2024. Wikipedia claims "although one of the US patents in the MPEG LA H.264 pool lasts at least until November 2030")
https://www.mpegla.com/wp-content/uploads/avc-att1.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanc...Patent_holders
Would hope with less and less patents active will it mean that there will be found solutions to enable h264 acceleration without getting into trouble or needing to pay a lot of money.

If we look back, mp3 ISO standard was published in 1993. It contained inventions already presented in the draft version from 1991. The patents finally expired in April 2017. According to online posts Fedora didn't enable mp3 support even in 2018: https://linuxconfig.org/enabling-ama...port-on-fedora
So, I don't expect the patent threat to go away before 2030. It was the same with mp3. The patent threat is equally serious no matter the number of active patents. Also it will take few years before distros will enable the support after the legal dispute.