Intel-powered laptops are in danger if a Linux replacement is utilized because the pocketbook show could be bodily broken.
That is a kind of horror eventualities that PC house owners dread, in fact, and the replacement in query is the just lately launched model 5.19.12 of the Linux kernel.
Sadly, a bug within the graphics driver – for built-in Intel GPUs, that is – triggers an influence sequencing problem which, as Phoronix studies, manifests as very quick white flashes taking place on the display screen. And as talked about, these can doubtlessly harm the panel, so this can be a very critical {hardware} problem attributable to a software program flaw.
As you may think, the motion has been rapidly taken, and Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman promptly launched Linux 5.19.13 the place the defective patches for the Intel graphics driver have been reverted.
Kroah-Hartman famous: “This launch is to resolve a regression on some Intel graphics programs that had issues with 5.19.12. In the event you would not have this drawback with 5.19.12, there isn’t any have to improve.”
Just some distros are reported as having the difficulty, having upgraded to kernel 5.19.12, particularly Arch, Fedora, and openSUSE Tumbleweed. Hopefully, these distros will present the recent launch in a swift method.
Evaluation: A worrying lapse that could be very pricey
Going by consumer studies, some of us with Intel GPUs in our pocketbooks have been unaffected by model 5.19.12, however, others have been hit. Maybe the latter is within the minority, which is perhaps an element of how this gremlin survived the secure launch.
It’s a worrying – and uncommon – lapse for Linux, in fact, given the potential gravity of the harm that is perhaps induced. A ruined laptop computer show is a nasty affliction, and never one thing that’s going to be straightforward or low cost to repair.
Even these Intel laptop computer house owners not experiencing the issue after putting in 5.19.12 must be seeking to improve to five.19.13 anyway, we’d assume, simply to be protected (who is aware of if the flaw may nonetheless pop up, even when it didn’t initially).
Don’t neglect that this may be a difficulty for those working with an Nvidia GPU and Intel CPU with Optimus tech, because it intelligently makes use of each discrete and built-in graphics respectively, which means that with the latter, the terrible flashing display screen may rear its head.