Kaby Lake Support Linux Mint Forums

Questions about hardware, drivers and peripherals

csimonLevel 1

Posts: 17Joined: Fri Mar 10, :09 amI’ve searched through these forums and it looks like people have been able to install Mint 18 with Kaby Lake processors, maybe with a little bit of trouble such as graphics drivers not working initially and/or requiring an update to at least kernel 4.8.

But generally speaking, are there any reasons not to buy Kaby Lake for installing Mint 18 on? Does it work generally? Or does it depend on individual motherbaords? Does it actually require a version of the kernel that is not yet supplied from the Mint repository?

The reason I ask is I’m having trouble with a couple of suppliers who I want to buy a PC from. One, who has always listed Linux in the past along with Windows, strangely omitted Linux from their new PC which is Kaby Lake. I asked why this week and they said their supplier tested it and Linux would not install on the i5-7200U, no possibility until Ubuntu release new version.

So I went to another supplier who did list Linux as supported on their i7-7500U PC, but just to make sure I emailed them to ask and they said they haven’t tested it and they won’t accept returns on working hardware if Linux doesn’t work on it therefore they don’t recommend me buying from them.

However, I’ve seen examples of other suppliers saying Linux is fine on both CPUs, including Dell and Compulab. I particularly wanted those PCs from the two suppliers I contacted though and am wondering whether to take the risk. Basically, suppliers are being suppliers and not being committal and saying buyer-beware rather than actually providing some sort of customer service, so I’m looking for advice from the Mint experts!

csimonLevel 1

Posts: 17Joined: Fri Mar 10, :09 amOK, thank for the pointers!

I don’t actually need audio for the purpose I have in mind, it just needs to boot and run one program with a working LAN, but the temperature issues are a worry. I’ll have a think and may take a gamble anyway, I’m sure in time things will settle down!

A bit strange though that Compulab are certifying their i5-7200U and i7-7500U Intense PCs for Linux, in fact Mint being their “official Linux”. They’ve got a relationship with Mint though, I wonder if they’re supplying “after installation” fixes, if Linuxes out of the box are having such trouble with Kaby Lake. /fanless-minipc-r … kaby-lake/

xenopeekLevel 25

Posts: 27585Joined: Wed Jul 06, :58 amNevermind; I got two things crossed. Intel Kaby Lake should work fine with kernel 4.10, aside from audio needing kernel 4.11. AMD Ryzen is the one lacking temperature and fan speeds support and having motherboard BIOS issues. Do mind that early test of Kaby Lake showed the chips to have heat issues (being much hotter than Skylake).

csimonLevel 1

Posts: 17Joined: Fri Mar 10, :09 amAh, that sounds promising, thank you. Today, you’re my favourite!

КобылакLevel 1

Posts: 1Joined: Sun Mar 19, :53 pm> xenopeek wrote:Do mind that early test of Kaby Lake showed the chips to have heat issues (being much hotter than Skylake).

Are heat issues on Linux only? Or this is a Kaby Lake problem?xenopeekLevel 25

Posts: 27585Joined: Wed Jul 06, :58 amThat is a Kaby Lake problem. It’s mostly an issue if you want to overclock; the headroom available can reportedly vary quite a bit from one chip to the next (as in, some chips will run much hotter at the same speeds as others, leaving them less room for overclocking).