At Linaro Connect 2025 Linaro, thanks to its work within the Qualcomm ecosystem, and TUXEDO Computers, showcased an off-the-shelf prototype ARM64 Linux laptop using the Snapdragon X Elite SoC, demonstrating progress in enabling Linux on Snapdragon devices to meet the increasing demand for ARM computing.
But wait! This is just the tip of the iceberg of a long journey!
Advancements in Linux Support for Snapdragon X Elite:
Over the past year, substantial progress has been made in integrating Linux support for Snapdragon X Elite laptops.
Qualcomm and many laptop vendors worked together to bring to market a new family of Snapdragon-powered personal computers. This new processor family ticks all the boxes for powerful and productive machines, and the collaboration with Microsoft brought the support for Windows on Arm on these devices as the main operating system (which Linaro has contributed to as well).
Unfortunately, like Apple computers, there is no native out-of-the-box Linux support.
The effort from Qualcomm and Linaro has been crucial to bring a functional Linux to the new family of ARM64-powered laptops. The engineering experts from Qualcomm, Linaro and the kernel community have made a stable Linux experience possible across many Qualcomm processors, including the newer Snapdragon X Elite.
But we are still missing pre-installed Linux laptops. In the x86 processor-based laptop market, many vendors now offer Linux options.
State of the art:
Where are we now with the Linux support on these Snapdragon laptops?
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