Ubuntu will improve ARM64 support
Ubuntu had conducted a very interesting test for the ARM64 processor architecture support on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite machine during the development of Ubuntu 24.10. It was a huge success, seeing as the ARM64 laptops and desktops are being more popular in today’s computer stores, alongside the existing ARM64 machines.
As Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin gets closer to the stable release, the Ubuntu team is considering improving support for the ARM64 machines, especially those that use the Snapdragon X Elite processors. The ubuntu-x1e-settings meta-package, which is necessary for such computers, has been promoted to the main repository. At the same time, the qcom-firmware-extract package, which is necessary for Qualcomm machines and is a script that provides a way to extract Qualcomm firmware files from the Windows partition and to create a Debian package for a specific machine, has been uploaded to the universe repository. The script currently provides support for the following Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite machines, with more machines to be added to the list:
- Acer Swift 14 AI (SF14-11)
- ASUS Vivobook S 15
- Dell XPS 13 9345
- HP Omnibook X 14
- Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6
- Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
- Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 (13.8 inch)
- Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge
The Linux kernel package and the Ubuntu installer will be updated to support such machines to make sure that they run Ubuntu without any problems. This is going to be done starting from 25.04 to make sure that the next LTS, which will be released in the next April, runs flawlessly on such machines.
Alongside that, the Ubuntu team plans to improve support for all ARM64 machines by distributing a single working Ubuntu ISO file for ARM64 systems and by eliminating device-specific installers to make installing Ubuntu on such systems easier than never before. This will be a single official Ubuntu image that works on all the platforms, be it an Ampere powered workstation, a Snapdragon X Elite laptop, an ARM64 server, or in a virtual machine on your Apple Silicon Mac.
The Raspberry Pi machines will also experience improved system compatibility by changing the camera stack to work with such machines. The new PiSP driver has been added to the camera stack to make sure that the Raspberry Pi machines be able to use the camera on Ubuntu, in addition to the rpicam-apps
(userspace apps), picamera2
(Python API for camera), and their dependencies. This allows for a smooth migration from the original OS, which is Raspberry Pi OS.
However, the AI features for the official AI camera that uses the Sony IMX500 imaging sensor are not available in this version of Ubuntu due to licensing concerns, but the Ubuntu team will be working on it to resolve the licensing issues so that Raspberry Pi machines will be able to use the AI features for such cameras outside the original OS.
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