A Linux-related question......

[DeanL]

I am interested in a ROUGH idea about the timeline of being able to use the Xe driver instead of the i915 driver....I am available to do testing work if the possibility presents itself.

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @DeanL  

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.  

I will do my best to answer your questions within our scope, but we will need more details in order to understand your inquiry. 

• Can you please clarify what are you trying to do or perform?  
• What is the "i915 driver"?  
• Which Xe driver are you referring to?  
• What is the model of your graphics? 

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician. 

[DeanL]

Ok---I'm using an Arc A750.  I know that the Intel driver developers are submitting driver updates to the Linux kernel team & that in Linux, we are still using the Legacy i915 driver for all Intel video products. I have read ( please see:  https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-New-Xe-Linux-Driver    https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Starts-Lunar-Lake-Gfx    https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-L3-Partial-Write-DG2    https://www.phoronix.com/review/intel-anv-mod-boost ).  Note that this information does not reference the Xe driver after mid this year.

My question as above is/are there a development(s) on the Xe/Xe2 driver for the Arc series in Linux?  My reason is that there are several BOINC projects that I can not run due to the legacy driver...Specifically, SRBase runs on the Arc series in Windows & not in Linux due to the current driver. And, of course, gaming will be better in Linux with a more modern driver stack.

I hope that this is enough information for you......

[DeanL]

Also, please see:  https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Xe-Merge-Plan-April 

[DeanL]

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Mesa-Xe-2-MR-Remain   Is what I REALLY want to know of anything...is there a way to talk to the developers to do testing on this....I am VERY interested in furthering this & I currently do testing work for Arch Linux.

[Jocelyn_Intel]

Hello, @DeanL  

Thank you for the information provided. 

We have a forum for the Intel® Arc products and questions so I am moving it to the Intel® ARC™ Graphics Forum so it can get assistance from the correct team. 

Best regards,  

Jocelyn M.   

Intel Customer Support Technician. 

[Jean_Intel]

Hello DeanL,

Thank you for your request regarding a potential new driver update for the Linux Kernel. We have received your inquiry and will investigate this matter internally. As soon as we have more information, we will provide an update.

Best regards

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeanL]

Thank You for following up on this.

[DeanL]

As added information....I'm running Arch Linux, so I get new kernels & Mesa updates shortly after they are released.  Currently on Linux 6.5.5-zen1-1-zen & Mesa 23.2-2

[DeanL]

Getting close to Kernel 6.6 & a possible Xe driver...is there any information on this?

[Jean_Intel]

Hello DeanL,

We appreciate all the new information, and we want to thank you for expanding the information about your system. We are currently looking into this matter, and we will be posting back as soon as we have more details.

Best regards

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jean_Intel]

Hello DeanL,

We would like to inform you that, unfortunately, we are unable to comment or estimate a release date for the Intel Xe kernel drivers, as Development times can shift, and thus, we do not have an ETA. 

It is important to mention that, currently, the only supported Linux OS is Ubuntu. For further updates, you should contact your Linux distribution developer resources.

Best regards

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeanL]

Interesting....As the driver is an open-source module in the Linux Kernel....Arch Linux & other rolling distributions will be seeing the driver before Ubuntu does.......very well, I was just wanting more information than I have been able to gather so far.

My offer to do testing work on the future driver is still open & I would like to help bring it forward. Please supply my name (and I can supply information on my abilities if needed) to developers.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello DeanL,

We appreciate your offer, and we will proceed to review the inforamtion internally. We will be back as soon as we have more details.

Best regards

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DeanL]

Thank You for the reply. I will add that I have been working with Linux for 20 years now and have done testing work for Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint & Arch Linux.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello DeanL,

Thank you for your offer, but unfortunately, we dont have Beta tester programs for Linux or similar. However, you can still use our community forums to share your feedback and help us to improve.

Based on this information, and as we previously recommended you contact your Linux distribution developer resources for further updates, we will proceed to close this thread. If you need additional information, open a new question, as this one will no longer be monitored.

Best regards

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[GasparVardanyan]

Hi guys. I also use Arch Linux and want to buy a laptop with Core Ultra 9 185H processor.
I'v done a lot of research on the Internet, but still can't understand is this processor a good choice for Arch Linux or no?  Is performance good enogh? Does gpu work well?

Also with the old Core i7-7500U I had to manually enable HuC/GuC to have video decoding on gpu. I can't find any guide to configure Arch Linux to work with this processor as best as it can.

@DeanL please can you share your experience?