Messages in this thread | | | From | Hanno Zulla <> | Subject | Status/Progress of CherryTrail / BayTrail support in mainline Linux kernel | Date | Fri, 9 Sep 2016 10:56:00 +0200 |
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Hi,
sorry for asking a possibly obvious question, but:
The support for Cherry Trail / Bay Trail devices is pretty bad in mainline, at least if one tries to use a mainstream distribution (in my case, Ubuntu 16.04 with Kernel 4.4).
I have browsed the archives of LKML and of related mailing lists and saw that there is development here and there going on to improve this (huge thanks for this!).
But is there a central place where can I see the current *status* and progress of the support for these chipsets and where help is needed?
E.g., there is a Wifi driver in the works at
https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723bs/issues/96
and a newer version from the vendor at
https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723bs/issues/98 https://github.com/anthonywong/rtl8723bs
But it's unclear to me if these drivers will ever make it to mainline. How can a non-kernel-dev / just-a-normal-user like myself help with getting this driver up to speed? I *really* want this device's support to be improved.
Recently, I bought a Win10 netbook to install Linux on. It's a beautiful small device with a fanless Z3735F CPU. Just right for my kids as their first own computer.
After using Intel hardware since several years without a hitch, it was surprising to find this not being fully supported by current 2016 Linux distributions.
The rtl8723bs wifi is not running at all, the netbook lost the network with a wifi usb stick that works fine on RPi. And the system freezes every now and then for no reproducible reasons. Googling around, all I found were similar complaints by other Linux users and a confusing array of incomplete third-party driver projects not ready for mainline.
Also, there's a litany of "don't buy Cherry Trail or Bay Trail devices for Linux" articles, which probably would have been helpful to read before buying that fateful device.
Oh, what a letdown. This is sad to watch, as I considered Intel a safe choice when buying hardware for Linux. I tried to find a different device for my kids, but all of the netbook-like devices on the market now share this problem. A whole generation of very interesting devices appears to be lost for Linux users.
Kind regards,
Hanno
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