
Linux 4.14 released - jrepinc
https://lwn.net/Articles/738812/
======
jrepinc
Kernel Newbies Linux 4.14 changelog →
[https://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_4.14](https://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_4.14)

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vmarsy
Thanks, that's a useful additional link.

In Drivers -> Graphics, I see a lot of AMD GPU listed, that's expected given
what I read about Nvidia and Linux story and my personal experience trying to
get my Nvidia Optimus setup work on my laptop...

But this makes me wonder:

What are the most compatible laptops on the market these days for running a
Linux distro? Any brand that's famous for good Linux support? I heard Lenovo
Thinkpad were pretty good but I've been disappointed with my w520 and its
Nvidia Optimus setup...

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nirv
Intel hardware (CPU, NICs, iGPU) is well supported by modern Linux kernels.
AMD CPUs and GPUs are also hassle-free. NVidia is fine with proprietary blobs
only, while open-sourced Nouveau is barely usable on modern GPUs. I personally
run GTX1080Ti on ArchLinux with closed vendor driver with no complains.
However developers claim that there's a serious issue with the NVIDIA
support[1].

As for end-products: I've heard good things about Dell's XPS-series
(especially "Developer Edition")[2], Purism Libre-series[3], and System76[4]
laptops. Lenovo ThinkPads[5] are traditionally also well supported.

Generally it's always good to check Linux support on ArchWiki[6],
LinuxWireless[7] and other resources before buying any hardware.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15564611](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15564611)

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13359588](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13359588)

[3] [https://puri.sm](https://puri.sm)

[4] [https://system76.com/laptops](https://system76.com/laptops)

[5]
[https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki](https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki)

[6]
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category:Hardware](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category:Hardware)

[7]
[https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users](https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users)

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ahartmetz
It feels like half of all Linux developers use Thinkpad business models like T
and X series. Dell business models are also popular. Avoid Intel / nVidia dual
GPU if you don't really need the performance, it's still a bit of a hassle on
Linux.

Small vendor Linux models will obviously work, but build quality isn't as good
last I heard: they use medium quality OEM chassis. Correct me if I'm wrong -
these companies are worth supporting.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
> Avoid Intel / nVidia dual GPU if you don't really need the performance, it's
> still a bit of a hassle on Linux.

Even on Windows it's not perfect. Some programs will stop rendering properly
or just hang when switching between AC and battery, for example. Presumably
those are bugs in those programs not properly handling some kind of rendering
context invalidation, but it's still a hassle.

> It feels like half of all Linux developers use Thinkpad business models like
> T and X series

These are also very popular among OpenBSD developers [1], likely for similar
reasons.

[1] [https://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-
laptops](https://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-laptops)

------
MichaelMoser123
> The most noticeable last-minute change is probably that we had to revert the
> code that showed a good MHz value in /proc/cpuinfo even for the modern "CPU
> picks frequency dynamically" case

all sorts of applications take the tick count (rdtsc) times cpu frequency +
boot time in order to get some approximation of the current time (cheaper than
doing a syscall). In windows they even have an api function
QueryPerformanceFrequency for getting the frequency. Now that of course is all
wrong because of 'dynamic scaling of voltage and frequency' feature of the
cpu.

Whatever you do in software, it will be wrong in due time because of some
significant changes in a lower level...

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unilynx
Then apps should not do that. It’s been possible to get the current time
without using a syscall for years: [http://man7.org/linux/man-
pages/man7/vdso.7.html](http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/vdso.7.html)

~~~
MichaelMoser123
actually libc gettimeofday is calling __vdso_gettimeofday when available (if
compiled with SHARED).

[http://code.metager.de/source/xref/gnu/glibc/sysdeps/unix/sy...](http://code.metager.de/source/xref/gnu/glibc/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/x86/gettimeofday.c#40)

