Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 • Hacker News Board

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#21

Post by saagarjha » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:12 PM UTC

jeroenhd wrote: post #19

miyuru wrote: post #13

> Hardware-accelerated video playback of H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC) and VP9 video streams > Hardware-accelerated video recording into H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC) formats no mention of AV1? Surprised since most websites including YT uses it heavily.

The Qualcomm marketing spec sheet mentions AV1 decoding: https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets... Maybe that part of the driver isn't finished yet?

Or licensed.

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#22

Post by jsheard » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:13 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #21

jeroenhd wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Qualcomm marketing spec sheet mentions AV1 decoding: https://www.qualcomm.com/content/dam/qcomm-martech/dm-assets... Maybe that part of the driver isn't finished yet?

Or licensed.

Isn't the whole point of AV1 that it's royalty free, as opposed to H264/265/etc?

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#23

Post by RobotToaster » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:15 PM UTC

modeless wrote: post #4

Has Qualcomm seen the light after working with Valve on Steam Frame? The news that Steam Frame would be running an open source Adreno GPU driver really caught me by surprise.

It wouldn't surprise me if they're full of binary blobs

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#24

Post by sl-1 » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:17 PM UTC

coffinbirth wrote: post #15

micw wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#25

Post by bsimpson » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:17 PM UTC

modeless wrote: post #4

Has Qualcomm seen the light after working with Valve on Steam Frame? The news that Steam Frame would be running an open source Adreno GPU driver really caught me by surprise.

I just checked: Frame is Gen 3 and the article is Gen 5.

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#26

Post by alganet » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:19 PM UTC

kop316 wrote: post #18

As someone who uses Mobile Linux, I am pretty excited to see this, but I can't help but wonder if this is only a "Business decision" and not necessarily Qualcomm turning over a new leaf for being FOSS friendly: - Their Snapdragon X laptop didn't do very well, and they likely realize an ARM Windows laptop will always be a second class citizen: https://www.techpowerup.com/329255/snapdragon-x-failed-qualc... . - Likewis…

A businesss decision would be great. What would suck would be a marketing decision.

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#27

Post by jeroenhd » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:19 PM UTC

modeless wrote: post #4

Has Qualcomm seen the light after working with Valve on Steam Frame? The news that Steam Frame would be running an open source Adreno GPU driver really caught me by surprise.

They've been working on better mainline Linux support for a while now, but their last generation is still catching up on the driver side of things.

I hope they succeed but the last generation has only recently become mostly usable for specific distros. General support may take a while.

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#28

Post by mathfailure » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:21 PM UTC

coffinbirth wrote: post #15

micw wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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[flagged]

Does it even matter with such a logic?

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#29

Post by tensegrist » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:21 PM UTC

the year of linux on the arm desktop cannot come soon enough

also, not to beat a horse that is by now six feet under, but

> No delays, no hurry-up-and-wait, no registration. Just go get the new features.

i'm so tired

Re: Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

#30

Post by jsheard » Thu, Nov 27, 2025, 5:21 PM UTC

RobotToaster wrote: post #23

modeless wrote: post #4

Has Qualcomm seen the light after working with Valve on Steam Frame? The news that Steam Frame would be running an open source Adreno GPU driver really caught me by surprise.

It wouldn't surprise me if they're full of binary blobs

They are, but that's hardly unique to Qualcomm. Tons of hardware with "proper" upstream Linux drivers still requires closed-source firmware blobs, and in particular with anything wireless that's probably an unwinnable battle due to regulatory constraints.