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Linux 4.7 Released

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Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#41

Post by voltagex_ »

ashitlerferad wrote: post #37
grawlinson wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>mainly because the wifi chipset vendor refuses to open source their code and refuses to update the BSP In that case, never. Trying to get vendors to open source anything is a hilarious exercise in futility.

If you want to help the folks who are trying to get vendors to open source their Linux drivers/patches, check out these pages: https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ http://gpl-violations.org/helping/

I'm a big fan of both of those - but their backlogs are massive.

I'm hoping there's another donation matching campaign at LCA2017 for Conservancy next year - I was able to donate somewhere close to $300 via that last year.

Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#42

Post by jolan »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #16

I see there's support for the new Radeon RX480. I've been thinking about picking up a Radeon card. Can anyone speak to their experience of Radeon support on Linux and whether or not you think it's a good idea?

The RX480 w/AMDGPU-PRO works pretty well in most cases for desktop/gaming/OpenCL use.

AMD's Linux team is in the middle of a big push to modernize the driver and software stack. It seems they consider it a mostly working preliminary version.

You can choose-your-own-adventure with the totally open amdgpu+mesa stack or use the proprietary AMDGPU-PRO. You can follow development of the open source parts on this mailing list:

https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/amd-gfx/

I do agree with others that NVIDIA is a better choice if you want something that just works and you don't care about proprietary vs. open source.

Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#43

Post by beefsack »

chrisper wrote: post #18
dopeboy wrote: post #14

Could anyone comment on the state of power management in Linux? Are we up to par with OSX and Windows yet?

By default it is pretty bad. But if you install powertop and tlp you should be good. I get pretty good battery life on my Thinkpad this way. http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-man...

The Arch Wiki[1] has some good docs on power management, it's an interesting read even if you're not using Arch.

The short of it though is as you suggest, even just installing TLP makes a monumental improvement to battery life.

[1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Power_management

Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#45

Post by chrisper »

beefsack wrote: post #43
chrisper wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By default it is pretty bad. But if you install powertop and tlp you should be good. I get pretty good battery life on my Thinkpad this way. http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-linux-advanced-power-man...

The Arch Wiki[1] has some good docs on power management, it's an interesting read even if you're not using Arch. The short of it though is as you suggest, even just installing TLP makes a monumental improvement to battery life. [1]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Power_management

I love Arch Wiki. It's always useful even if not using Arch.

Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#47

Post by stephenr »

voltagex_ wrote: post #33
pmorici wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to look at it from their perspective. Why spend money updating something that works? The number of people who care that their device firmware uses a recent Linux kernel version is so infinitesimally small satisfying them wouldn't even move the needle on sales and you apparently bought one any ways so why should they care? If you want hardware you can tinker with build your own from parts you know work with r…

I've been told I bought the wrong device repeatedly. Annoyingly a day after I bought it, I didn't need the ADSL modem any more. For years, I needed Broadcom ADSL chipsets to get >5 megabit downstream at home, but my next upgrade will probably be a separate router and WiFi AP.

> but my next upgrade will probably be a separate router and WiFi AP

Personally I go the "other" way. Router + WiFi (I use an Airport, but pick your poison), and then the most basic modem possible for the location - this might be a provider-supplied DOCSIS Modem/Router in bridge mode, right now it's a provider-supplied "1 port" ADSL2+ modem/router in bridge mode. With an ADSL setup, you'll probably need to use PPPoE from the router, with a DOCSIS setup, the auth is usually on the MAC address so your router doesn't need to know anything, it just connects via IP to the bridged cable modem.

If the modem ever gives me issues, I'll just replace it with a plain-jane ADSL2+ modem. If the ISP's expand their docsis/fibre network past our new house, I'll just swap the ADSL modem for a DOCSIS modem/router in bridge mode.

This setup has given me the least headaches in every scenario across several houses in both Australia and Thailand. The only hard part really has been trying to express "I want a DOCSIS router that i can turn off the router" in a way that a Thai-speaking technician or my non-technical english&thai speaking wife can all understand.

Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#48

Post by viraptor »

broodbucket wrote: post #46
qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #13

Just so long as kdbus hasn't been merged yet...

I'm a bit out of the loop on kdbus, why didn't it get merged? It was my understanding that it had a brief stint in linux-next, so it must have been getting close...

It was so big not many people wanted to review it properly. There weren't many steps of implementation (essentially a single-patch dump) and it had some high level features which don't necessarily belong to the kernel. Developers of kdbus also brought up performance gains a few times, even though it's been pointed out the userland is not the problem. It was the actual implementation that was bad.

It's being reworked into bus1 which is a slim, generic bus implementation. Full dbus can be implemented over it, but it's not forced on people who just want a nice, light bus interface with some security guarantees.

Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#49

Post by voltagex_ »

stephenr wrote: post #47
voltagex_ wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been told I bought the wrong device repeatedly. Annoyingly a day after I bought it, I didn't need the ADSL modem any more. For years, I needed Broadcom ADSL chipsets to get >5 megabit downstream at home, but my next upgrade will probably be a separate router and WiFi AP.

> but my next upgrade will probably be a separate router and WiFi AP Personally I go the "other" way. Router + WiFi (I use an Airport, but pick your poison), and then the most basic modem possible for the location - this might be a provider-supplied DOCSIS Modem/Router in bridge mode, right now it's a provider-supplied "1 port" ADSL2+ modem/router in bridge mode. With an ADSL setup, you'll probably need to use PPPoE…

The problem I've found is that a few of the ISP supplied devices no longer allow bridge mode, or you lose access to features ("free" city wifi).

Re: Linux 4.7 Released

#50

Post by snuxoll »

voltagex_ wrote: post #49
stephenr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but my next upgrade will probably be a separate router and WiFi AP Personally I go the "other" way. Router + WiFi (I use an Airport, but pick your poison), and then the most basic modem possible for the location - this might be a provider-supplied DOCSIS Modem/Router in bridge mode, right now it's a provider-supplied "1 port" ADSL2+ modem/router in bridge mode. With an ADSL setup, you'll probably need to use PPPoE…

The problem I've found is that a few of the ISP supplied devices no longer allow bridge mode, or you lose access to features ("free" city wifi).

Which ones? Sometimes the configuration is confusing, but I haven't found one I can't disable yet (my Ariss/Moto SBG5580 doesn't have a simple 'bridge mode' toggle, I have to disable NAT/NAPT to put it into bridge mode).
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