news
Kernel: Hardware Support, Bluetooth Regression, Vivado, and More
-
It's FOSS ☛ A New Linux Driver Could Make USB4 Cables a Blazing Fast Way to Move Data
The incoming driver would let you move data between two computers over a USB4 cable without needing a network interface.
Large data transfers are one of those things that always seem to find a way to be annoying. Tools like LocalSend make it easier over a local network, but wireless is not always an option, and some transfers are simply too important to leave to a Wi-Fi connection.
In such a scenario, a wired solution that does not require setting up networking at all would be ideal.
Intel's Thunderbolt maintainer Mika Westerberg and fellow Intel engineer Alan Borzeszkowski have been working on exactly that.
-
Collabora ☛ Simplifying Bluetooth qualification for Linux/BlueZ: New upstream documentation
New upstream BlueZ documentation helps simplify Bluetooth qualification for Linux-based products by mapping supported profiles, test requirements, software versions, and manual steps in one place.
-
Hackaday ☛ Linux Fu: The Bluetooth Regression
Of course, the problem is often caused by a previous upgrade. Recently, I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the NVIDIA proprietary drivers, so I updated them yet again. After a huge amount of effort to sort out the video problems, I found that the latest kernel didn’t like my MediaTek Bluetooth adapter, which is built into the motherboard’s WiFi chipset.
This post isn’t about how to fix your Bluetooth problem. You probably don’t have the same setup I do, and even if you do, it will be sorted out in a week or two anyway. But how I temporarily fixed this issue is worth documenting. The details are going to apply to Tumbleweed and this particular adapter, but the general approach should work anywhere with any sort of kernel module problem.
-
Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD leaves Linux FPGA users in the lurch with controversial Vivado licensing update — new tier model restricts future free versions to Windows
AMD has been accused of 'bait-and-switch' tactics following changes to the licensing of Vivado on Linux. As reported by It's Foss, AMD has decided that Linux users of the Vivado chip design environment need to pay up or stick with an older version that will become unsupported soon.
-
New Intel USB4Stream Driver and Protocol Enables Low-Latency Device-to-Device File Sharing in Linux Kernel 7.2
A new Linux driver developed by Intel maintainer, Mika Westerberg, has been revealed to be merging in the Linux kernel version 7.2, which is slated to launch in June 2026. The new driver will enable users to more easily share files over USB4 while bypassing the network driver. The developer pitches the new protocol as a way to easily back up, transfer, and access files across two or more connected systems, or even share hardware, like a webcam or input peripherals. For now, the protocol requires some setup, currently requiring users to set up devices using the ConfigFS interface, and the developer details a number of examples and commands to configure them. More importantly, because the stream is controlled by the receiving side, it seems as though after a little setup, the protocol could be used by app developers to create apps with similar functionality to LocalSend without the need for a network connection. The upstream request reads: