I’ve been in a fortunate position this past year of having some extra money to throw at shiny new hardware and I’ve experienced a side of Linux I haven’t dealt with before…its poor support for shiny new hardware.
I grabbed a Ryzen 9000 CPU and an X870 motherboard…only to find that ethernet didn’t work on kernel 6.11. I had to use a usb-c to ethernet dongle for several weeks until 6.13 released.
Just today and what prompted this post, I splurged on a 4k 240hz HDR monitor. HDR is obviously in-progress and I did not expect it to work out of the box. Critically, what I did expect was for the 240hz part to work, but I couldn’t set it to anything beyond 120. Skip forward a couple hours, and I now know what EDID files are and how to use different ones. For more insight on my night, see this issue, this blog post, and this blog post. After all that, 240hz is smooth, goddamn.
For me, I’m not complaining. I love desktop Linux far more than shiny new hardware. I would return this monitor before considering not using Linux, and in the latter case it was a good chance to learn more about how Linux deals with display devices.
But I’m also one of many people here who wants to see desktop Linux become more popular, and if a regular person encountered either of those issues, they’re going straight back to Windows. While that monitor issue has been fixed upstream, it’s still broken in an up-to-date distro like Fedora and the monitor is over 6 months old at this point.
When it comes to stuff like HDR, that’s obviously progressing quickly and is likely to become a non-factor in the future. But new ethernet controllers and new monitors with invalid DisplayIDs are likely always going to be coming out. Unless you’re willing to tinker, your only option is to wait weeks or months before buying the new shiny thing if you want to use Linux.
That brings me to my question, is there a future where this isn’t the case? And what would be required to get there?
Do motherboard/monitor/IC/etc manufactures need to submit their own kernel patches well in advance of product releases, like what AMD and Intel do for their CPUs and GPUs? Are we just waiting for them to give a shit?
Is there any possibility of hardware support-related patches getting backported to older kernel versions sooner rather than waiting for new major releases?
This is kind of an ungooglable question, and I figured it might make for an interesting discussion topic if anyone has more insight or thoughts on this.
Minor update on this: I ended up returning the Samsung G80SD since it was being a finicky piece of shit in other ways and got an HP Omen Transcend 32 instead (I know, HP sucks, but I have nothing but good things to say about my HP Omen 27i so I took the chance). Same exact 3rd gen QD-OLED panel but this time it just works™. 240hz, VRR, all good out of the box.
So my point about the monitor is kind of moot, the G80SD just sucks, Linux is fine.
Not be an Arch Linux shill, I don’t use it (albeit a distro that is based on it), but try Arch or some other rolling release distro. There is a reason why Valve switched steamOS to Arch from Debian. Also, quit buying new shiny stuff, you a**hole? We get jealous over here 😂
Do motherboard/monitor/IC/etc manufactures need to submit their own kernel patches well in advance of product releases, like what AMD and Intel do for their CPUs and GPUs? Are we just waiting for them to give a shit?
Yes. There isn’t really any other good solution.
May I ask which motherboard was it ? I am planning to get soon exactly the same specs but with an X870e Taichi which is renowed for good compatibility with Linux.
Good advice is to ask in the Level1Tech forums before buying new hardware.
Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite Wifi7
I tend to avoid Gigabyte, but the only stock of 9800X3Ds available was in motherboard bundles on Newegg, so I ended up with it lol
I also noticed that Bluetooth still isn’t working, so I am still waiting for 100% compatibility.
Good to know thanks. For info all modern bluetooth chips have compatibility issues with Linux anyway.
Honestly if you want the best chance of brand new hardware working, a rolling release distro running the newest release kernel as soon as possible is pretty much your best bet.
What you’re asking is very difficult due to resources, creating new bugs etc. The reality is, go with true and trusted hardware. Linux can not possibly support every new shiny thing. That’s Windows’ job, because that’s where the drivers are made for. And since it’s difficult to install Linux drivers manually for most users, manufacturers don’t bother with Linux at all. Especially, since Linus doesn’t care about compatibility with older kernels as much as Windows does. Either support is in the kernel, or you’ll experience problems.
Personally, all my laptops and PCs are more than 4 years old, for that reason. I often buy refurbished too. I write this in a refurbished Macbook Air from 2015, where I nuked MacOSX to run Linux Mint (with a binary broadcom wifi binary which is thankfully well supported by ubuntu). On my main PC, the only new thing I bought was an Intel gfx A- card, a 2 years old card, but I knew it had support before I bought it.
And even then, if it’s some weird thing, e.g. some over-complicated sound capture device, gaming mouse with a thousand buttons, etc etc (in other words, non-standard hardware), don’t expect great support for it, even if the years are passed. Stay with vanilla hardware to be compatible. If you had bought a 60 Hz 4k monitor, you wouldn’t have had problems and you would have saved money. Personally, the only feature I look in monitors these days (apart from good color and enough ports), is that they are 32" instead of the usual 27", so that I don’t have to use scaling (which creates yet another problem with Linux). I use 4k in its 100% resolution, fitting lots of windows in it, and not destroying my eyes because they’re well visible.
the only feature I look in monitors these days
Not being smart.
I don’t game much, so it’s smart. As long as I have the color I want (I used to shoot music videos for bands, so I’m into filmmaking), and enough ports, the only other thing that I need is to not scale. I don’t need too much refresh rate, I don’t need hdr, I don’t need ethernet, I don’t need webcams etc etc.
Could the kernel makers create some sort of sandbox to run Windows drivers in - so we ride on Windows coat tails until true Linux drivers are available? Or is the Windows, um DPI (driver program interface) just too different to allow that?
Edit: Then we use the Windows drivers an make loud noises to the hardware mfg that we would really rather have a Linux driver and that they would sell many more of their $hardware if they make one.
Bring back the good old days of ndiswrapper.
I wasn’t around that early, was ndiswrapper, bad?
Not really, it generally worked in the end - so in fact it’s pretty great actually at getting you out of a hole.
It was just a load of extra steps - and usually a last resort after failing with whatever came on the installation disks. So morale had taken a few hits before you even started with it.
Everything is easier when you can connect to the network immediately.
Fair play to ubuntu (and i guess kernel improvements in early 2ks) - that was such a major step in ease of installation.
What do you do with 240hz on linux? I understand people who game on windows and need 240hz, is it even noticeable beyond 100hz when not gaming? Please elaborate
I understand people who game on windows and need 240hz
I don’t. Isn’t this just a numbers game? Above 100hz should be unnoticable even for sensitive people.
When i had 60hz in phone, i thought anything above that will be unnoticeable.
But if you use 120hz for some time, then 60hz feels so shitty. And my 144hz display also seems pointless(while not gaming) but when i use 144 for few days and set it back to 60, i can defenitely feel the lagginess. I think that will be same for 240 or so. You would not notice when you see it first, but older one feels bad after using it
My old monitor was 165hz and I didn’t expect the jump to be noticeable, but it actually was. It’s definitely well beyond the point of diminishing returns (120 is fine imo), but it’s still a nice upgrade.
It’s noticeable, and even reduces ghosting and motion blur.
