Thunderbolt Networking Support Is Still Being Worked On For Linux

[starshipeleven]

All the modern "user-oriented" (usually netbook-like as-thin-as-a-MacBookAir) laptops I've seen to feature full advanced UEFI settings.

Ultrabooks. That's the name Intel gave to their macbook-lookalikes.

Good to know that they are at least advanced enough, will keep them in mind when I get a (proper) laptop. Most notebooks up to 800$ I work on tend to have VERY basic uefi settings.

Now if only AMD could release Zen for laptops....

It's getting to them which is becoming hard.

Cool, the firmwarification of WIndows has already begun. I have mastered the spells and rituals to root or unlock or tweak Android, so I'm not too worried.
I'm not that happy tho, but as long as I can still place rEFInd in them to act as a boot manager/loader I'm fine.

IOMMU isgetting widespread.

Nono I meant Thunderbolt getting widespread. I know IOMMU and VT-d are commonplace in hardware.

So chances are that most future hardware you'll buy will contain it.

I'm not worried about the hardware but about board firmwares not allowing me to turn it on (as it seems to be default-off 99% of the times in what I see here). Because I know pretty much how basic the settings are in most laptops I work on, and many office workstations, and how much things are missing.

[DrYak]

Now if only AMD could release Zen for laptops....

...and I dream about AMD's K12 for ultra books.

Given their track record of both:
- their GPU cores (the whole recent improvement of radeonsi-over-amdgpu and the amdgpu-pro over amdgpu)
and
- their collaboration with coreboot (most of their chipsets end up being supported)

I suspect that a hypothetical upcoming K12 based ultra-book could be a Linux user's dream:
- a cool ARM core
- with a decent onboard GPU core, which features a very good driver which is open-source friendly (unlike 99% of onboard cores found in most other ARM packages)
- and the possibility to install a good firmware which isn't crippled nor excessively buggy (don't get me started on Supermicro server boards which manage to b0rk their own boot table beyond repair)

Though I know I should hold my breath for it:
initial market for K12 seem to be light servers (i.e.: machine like those created by Synology).

Cool, the firmwarification of WIndows has already begun. I have mastered the spells and rituals to root or unlock or tweak Android, so I'm not too worried. I'm not that happy tho, but as long as I can still place rEFInd in them to act as a boot manager/loader I'm fine.

I still find the need to boot *into* the shipped-with OS, past through all the "Agree with our draconian license" shit, all these just so you can change the boot order to load you linux.

(either that, or needing to own an external mSATA reader)

The "hold an obscure key while turning on" method of Apple suddenly seems so much simpler.

Nono I meant Thunderbolt getting widespread.

Well, not so sure if this is really going to happen.

The way things seems headed, outside of the Apple world, only Lenovo seems to be consistently including Thunderbolt on their laptops.

Most of the rest of the market seems to lean more toward USB-C / USB 3.1 eventually with a VESA Display-Link over USB-C and/or USB over AUX.
(i.e.: working using USV instead of exposing PCIe lanes).

[Zan Lynx]

Most of the rest of the market seems to lean more toward USB-C / USB 3.1 eventually with a VESA Display-Link over USB-C and/or USB over AUX.
(i.e.: working using USV instead of exposing PCIe lanes).

USB-C is just a connector standard, and its already supporting all kinds of protocols as well as USB. Thunderbolt is one of them. As is DisplayPort. With over 40 Gbps to play with, there is a lot of room for ALL the protocols to play together.

I think DisplayLink is on life support from now on. Serious addon displays will start to use DisplayPort over USB-C instead. None of that obnoxious compression artifacting and 10 FPS update that DisplayLink has.

[DrYak]

Thunderbolt is one of them.

I haven't paid attention to that part. Thank you for the information.

I think DisplayLink is on life support from now on. Serious addon displays will start to use DisplayPort over USB-C instead. None of that obnoxious compression artifacting and 10 FPS update that DisplayLink has.

I think too that DisplayLink was a stop-gag measure. A quick hack to provide an extra display with a standard USB connector before newer connectors with better protocols start to get more popular and for lower-end embed devices that only have slow speed USB connector and nothing more fancy.

[starshipeleven]

I think DisplayLink is on life support from now on. Serious addon displays will start to use DisplayPort over USB-C instead. None of that obnoxious compression artifacting and 10 FPS update that DisplayLink has.

Technically speaking, DL works also over USB 3.0, ethernet and wifi, and was made for low-end devices mostly. WHEN and IF it works at all, anyway. Thankfully I didn't buy the docking station for its Display Link support.

I suspect that many many years will pass before the average 600$ laptop will have DP over USB-C.