[RESPONDED] Chimera Linux?

I’ve preordered an AMD framework 13 and I’m considering running Chimera Linux (not to be confused with ChimeraOS) on it. Has anybody tried this distro on framework hardware before? are there any known issues?

Chimera OS is pretty cool, and it runs great on my Steam deck. I have not used it on a framework. However it is far from my first choice in general desktop use.

Does the distro have changelog? we could start from there, like what kernel version they’re using. Always test the live version first to check for basic compatibility and performance issues.

oh and welcome to the forums :slight_smile:

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I see the edited post, not the Chimera Os I thought of sorry. I did find the GitHub

Can’t find a changelog from a quick glance, but the package search has the kernel version at 6.5.9. I can look around for a proper changelog in a little bit.

thank you! :smile:

What am I thinking. It’s rolling release, so there is no changelog. derp.

Honestly, Chimera OS looks interesting. The only other operating system I know with the BSD utils (not including the BSDs) is Mac OS.

yeah I’m running void as my daily driver currently but also really like freeBSD, so this seems like a good option in the same vein, and a new device is a good time to give it a try.

my main concern in terms of compatibility is the power management stuff that normally gets handled by systemd or elogind. chimera uses a custom, standalone seat manager called turnstile that i guess i just have to hope works out

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As Loell pointed out, no known issues. However, please bear this in mind:

I tried Nobara 38 on the amd fw13 over the weekend. It uses a very similar kernel patchset to chimera. Unfortunately that excludes the ec controller patchset which is in 6.5 mainline fedora and 6.7 so you’re missing fan controls. I also go random soft lockups from power state switching. I would advise not running it at the moment until the various patches are ported to newer upstream kernels which include the ec i2c patches required for proper telemetry from the fan controllers.

I am currently running the rawhide (fc40) 6.7 kernel and getting better idle behaviour than the fc39 release one; despite the rawhide kernels having debug symbols turned on.

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sorry I got confused there are two chimeraOS’s one is a gaming one and the other is the bsd ish one you linked.

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Oh really! Sounds like I will be spending some time this week in Rawhide, I’d like to gather some log data for AMD.

Yeah, super not for prime time, I understand. Thanks @jwp

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Here is idle powerstat in plasma wayland on rawhide - with firefox (from rpms) installed with gmail open and a couple of tabs; wifi connected (with AX ap - which reduces power better than AC for reference) BT off and screen at 20%. The only thing I was doing was moving mouse to prevent screen shutoff.

I am running this little systemd service which sets powersave suggestion and balanced_performance on AC - as I don’t trust the power profile daemon and Desktop applets to do it well enough (especially on FC39 it was pretty arbitrary wether the kde profile rules I set actually applied).

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Interesting, appreciate the insight here.

(this is intel, but i don’t expect any special issues on amd)

(i had to create /etc/modprobe.d/iwlmvm.conf and add options iwlmvm power_scheme=1 in it to get full wifi speed however, otherwise i would get capped at speeds of around 110 Mb/s; this seems to be an issue people on other distros are also experiencing with the AX210)

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