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Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

qualcomm.com

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Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#211

Post by amadeuspagel »

makeitdouble wrote: post #54
otterley wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone buy these?

For people complaining about battery control and android emulation on linux, ChromeOS is a boon. You effectively get an actual Linux distro + most of android, with a side of Chrome. It's way closer to "a real computer" than an iPad for instance, and only loses to the Surface Pro/Z13 line in term of versatility IMHO. It really wasn't bad, my only deal breakers were keyboard remapping being non existent and the bluetoo…

ChromeOS (at least Flex) supports keyboard remapping now.

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#212

Post by jogu »

MisterTea wrote: post #193
jeroenhd wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't dug deep, but it looks like Qualcomm has been working on merging code into the Linux kernel: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Qualcomm-X2-Elite-Linux-8EG5 With them only merging upstream now, it'll be a while before you can actually use Linux on these devices. You can build your own kernel from upstream, but it's probably a better idea to wait until Arch or Gentoo package the necessary pre-configured kernels.…

That means nothing for the community who may need or want to fix and patch issues on their own. Instead we're beholden to Qualcomm to fix major issues on an OS it may or may not care about supporting. It also excludes other open source operating systems such as the BSD's who have to then reverse engineer the undocumented Linux drivers. A better question: can a small company like Framework or even MNT Research build a…

While not this chip, MNT Research has been working on a processor module for Qualcomm Dragonwing QCS6490 and is manufacturing the first wave of test PCBs now:

https://source.mnt.re/reform/reform-qcs6490

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#213

Post by intothemild »

jeroenhd wrote: post #171
MisterTea wrote: post #168

Here's my big question: are there datasheets/programmers manuals available or is this yet another proprietary mess of a SoC that ships undocumented Linux drivers with binary blobs? No thanks. I will not spend money on hardware no one can reliably patch or write drivers for. I also want other operating system maintainers to be able to write drivers and get booting.

I haven't dug deep, but it looks like Qualcomm has been working on merging code into the Linux kernel: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Qualcomm-X2-Elite-Linux-8EG5 With them only merging upstream now, it'll be a while before you can actually use Linux on these devices. You can build your own kernel from upstream, but it's probably a better idea to wait until Arch or Gentoo package the necessary pre-configured kernels.…

This article seems to be about Qualcomm adding the device trees for the X2 CPUs. Which isn't the first gen.

As someone with a first gen, the device trees are, as I understand it, one of the issues with trying to just install any distro, except for that special Ubuntu one.

I can't just (for example) grab the latest fedora, and try and run that.

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#214

Post by intothemild »

KTibow wrote: post #197
rkangel wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or Fedora, which tracks kernels pretty closely (e.g. this Fedora, running the normal update channel is on 6.16)

Last time I checked the Fedora ISOs didn't include the device trees necessary to even begin installation.

Correct, you kind of have to do a bit of work to it to get it to boot.

Now, I haven't tried the latest beta of Fedora 43, but my guess is this won't change.

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#215

Post by gbin »

MisterTea wrote: post #200
wmf wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Framework doesn't even develop their own firmware; most of the engineering in PCs is done by Intel/AMD/ODMs/IBVs. The whole ecosystem is based on vendor support not datasheets.

Firmware is not preventing Framework or anyone from offering a repairable laptop. Firmware also doesn't matter once the kernel is loaded. We need the datasheets.

"Firmware doesn't matter once the kernel is loaded".

ACPI enters the chat... It can send pieces of code interpreted by the kernel on any hardware event.

I have a Framework laptop and yeah the ACPI firmware is totally buggy and the Linux kernel fails at interpreting it in various cases.

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#216

Post by MisterTea »

gbin wrote: post #215
MisterTea wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firmware is not preventing Framework or anyone from offering a repairable laptop. Firmware also doesn't matter once the kernel is loaded. We need the datasheets.

"Firmware doesn't matter once the kernel is loaded". ACPI enters the chat... It can send pieces of code interpreted by the kernel on any hardware event. I have a Framework laptop and yeah the ACPI firmware is totally buggy and the Linux kernel fails at interpreting it in various cases.

I was under the impression that the firmware is responsible for loading the ACPI tables but the OS takes over and runs the code in its ACPI VM once running.

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#217

Post by tangotaylor »

yoavm wrote: post #140
tangotaylor wrote: post #84

We’ve been using X Elite Snapdragon laptops (Thinkpad T14s and Yoga Slim running Ubuntu’s concept images) to build large amounts of ARM software without the need for cross-compiling. The hardware peripheral support isn’t 100% yet (good enough) but I’ve been impressed with the performance. ARM seems to be popular in the server space and it’s nice to see it trickling down to the PC market.

How's the battery life?

Hard to say, we keep them on the chargers most of the time. I haven’t measured it. No one’s complained yet, for what it’s worth.

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#218

Post by bfrog »

MisterTea wrote: post #168

Here's my big question: are there datasheets/programmers manuals available or is this yet another proprietary mess of a SoC that ships undocumented Linux drivers with binary blobs? No thanks. I will not spend money on hardware no one can reliably patch or write drivers for. I also want other operating system maintainers to be able to write drivers and get booting.

This is exactly the issue with Qualcomm. If they actually had datasheets/ref manuals/open drivers... it'd be a no brainer. The part looks great.

The reality is this company is notoriously a law firm with a small technical staff on the side.

Re: Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU

#220

Post by wtallis »

my123 wrote: post #169
canucker2016 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the snapdragon x2 elite extreme (X2E-96-100) SoC supports "128GB+" but qualcomm hasn't specified what the max limit is. this soc also has higher memory bandwidth (228GB/s over 192-bit bus) than the x2 elite. also see https://wccftech.com/snapdragon-x2-elite-extreme-die-package...

128GB is what they can ship using RAM chips available today, but the SoC supports more.

128GB can't be the current or future limit for a 192-bit bus. There's a missing factor of 3.
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