Fedora 45 promises a smoother ride for Snapdragon X1 laptop owners, though some hardware will require the traditional Linux workaround approach.
According to Phoronix, improvements in the mainline kernel and distribution integration should make the forthcoming release easier to use on Qualcomm’s Arm-powered machines.
Much of the work involves Qualcomm engineer Hans de Goede, who previously worked on Linux laptop support at Red Hat. De Goede helped improve Snapdragon X1 support in Fedora 44 earlier this year. Fedora 45, due in October, builds on that progress.
He describes the result as “a much smoother experience” for users trying the distribution’s AArch64 images, while warning that some hardware may still need workarounds.
The immediate beneficiaries are machines using Snapdragon X1 Plus and Elite processors. Support for the newer Snapdragon X2 generation is starting to enter the mainline kernel, but Fedora 45 ships with Linux 7.2. Later kernel versions will bring further X2 improvements.
Buying the newest chip remains a splendid way to volunteer for the compatibility department.
