Hey everyone,
I have just updated our kernel in unstable to 5.13.0 and am making this post to gather feedback from brave Solus unstable repository users on how well their hardware is supported and if there are any notable regressions that need to be handled before our Friday sync. If you are interested, feel free to read on.
Overview
Overall, this kernel is a fairly tame release in my opinion (which I am thankful for). I have done some supplemental enablement of new modules and features introduced in this kernel, listed below, but you will otherwise mostly see some filesystem changes, HDMI Support for AMDGPU FreeSync, support for upcoming hardware like Alder Lake S, and some IO performance improvements. I haven't opted to enable the new LSM Landlock system for unprivileged processes, seeing as nothing actually uses it yet, or at the very least nothing notable enough to show up on my radar.
Here is a list of enablement I have done:
- Enabled ECDSA Crypto Signature Verification.
- Enabled Gigabyte WMI.
- Enabled KVM guests to create SGX enclaves via X86_SGX_KVM.
- Enabled support for hardware monitoring for the NZXT Kraken X42/X52/X62/X72 all-in-one CPU liquid coolers via SENSORS_NZXT_KRAKEN2.
- Enabled support for SemiTek keyboards via HID_SEMITEK.
- Enable multiple new Microsoft Surface kernel capabilities
- BATTERY_SURFACE
- CHARGER_SURFACE
- SURFACE_AGGREGATOR_REGISTRY
- SURFACE_DTX
- SURFACE_HID
- SURFACE_PLATFORM_PROFILE
- Enabled Microsoft network devices via NET_VENDOR_MICROSOFT.
- Enable VIRTIO SND.
- Enabled WWAN + WWAN CORE.
Testing Info:
I would strongly encourage that, if you are solely changing your repo from shannon to unstable for the purposes of testing 5.13.0, you immediately switch back after our next sync. Unstable is really only otherwise intended for those that want to basically live on the #Solus-Dev IRC channel on Libera and check for when they should not update. If you are on the LTS kernel, you should not be updating to 5.13. For realsies.
If you are intending on testing 5.13.0, I ask that you do a once-over on how your system is supported currently under 5.12.13, such as graphics support, WiFi, Bluetooth, suspend and wake, etc. and write down what does and doesn't work under 5.12.13 before upgrading to 5.13.0, so you can provide objective information rather than just "I think xyz worked on 5.12.13".
If there is no change, I consider that a plus. No change is better than a regression.
sudo eopkg ar Solus https://mirrors.rit.edu/solus/packages/unstable/eopkg-index.xml.xz
sudo eopkg up
Switch back to stable repo is as simple as: sudo eopkg rr Solus && sudo eopkg up
