Needed distro for new laptop - Soplos Tyson is it!
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Hello from Canada!
I just bought the new Dell XPS 16 laptop and needed an up-to-date distro to handle the new Panther Lake hardware. I tried CachyOS and Fedora 44 and a few others, but I really prefer a Debian based system. Then I discovered Soplos and it's AWESOME!
Unlike most distros, the extra tools and custom software you include are actually helpful and useful and the distro works great on the new Panther Lake platform. (except for the webcam - Intel IPU7)
But - great looking Linux platform, based on Debian, that stays up-to-date so it works. I will be sticking with this distro. Thank you for the great work
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Hi HappySoplosUser, welcome from Canada!
Awesome to hear Soplos is running well on such fresh hardware โ Panther Lake support this early is no small thing, so glad it's mostly smooth sailing on the XPS 16.
Regarding the webcam (Intel IPU7) โ that's a known pain point across the whole Linux ecosystem right now, not something specific to Soplos. IPU7 support is still maturing in the kernel/libcamera stack, so most distros are in the same boat until upstream support catches up. We'll keep an eye on it and pull in improvements as soon as they land upstream.
Really glad the extra tools are actually proving useful rather than just clutter โ that's exactly the goal. Thanks for giving Soplos a shot and for the detailed feedback, and welcome aboard!
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Hi HappySoplosUser, welcome from Canada!
Awesome to hear Soplos is running well on such fresh hardware โ Panther Lake support this early is no small thing, so glad it's mostly smooth sailing on the XPS 16.
Regarding the webcam (Intel IPU7) โ that's a known pain point across the whole Linux ecosystem right now, not something specific to Soplos. IPU7 support is still maturing in the kernel/libcamera stack, so most distros are in the same boat until upstream support catches up. We'll keep an eye on it and pull in improvements as soon as they land upstream.
Really glad the extra tools are actually proving useful rather than just clutter โ that's exactly the goal. Thanks for giving Soplos a shot and for the detailed feedback, and welcome aboard!
@subdes Hello again
I have no idea how much work this would be (unfortunately I'm not a kernel developer) but I noticed on Omarchy's website that they have a special version (3.5 - not sure if the fixes carried over to 4) and they've apparently created drivers for all of the Panther Lake hardware, including the camera.
See here: https://github.com/basecamp/omarchy/releases/tag/v3.5.0
"Add full compatibility with Intel Panther Lake machines using a patched 6.19.10 kernel (until 7.0 includes everything) and IPU7 camera driver for webcam compatibility by @spencerbull, @TsaiGaggery, @dhh"
Perhaps that would be available to add to your distro as well?
No worries if it's not possible yet, just thought I would mention it.
Thanks again for creating such a great distro -
Hi HappySoplosUser, thanks for digging that up and sharing it!
That's a great find โ we're currently looking into it, and it's possible we could put together a patch for our kernel based on what Omarchy did for the IPU7 driver and the rest of the Panther Lake fixes. No promises on timing yet since it depends on how well it applies to our kernel base, but we're on it.
Thanks again for following up and for the kind words!
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Hi HappySoplosUser,
Quick update on the IPU7/Panther Lake camera investigation: the driver did land in mainline Linux 6.17, so it's technically available in our 7.2 kernel base โ but it lives in the staging tree, which means it's not enabled by default and still considered immature upstream. Getting it working also needs a separate firmware package and a userspace camera stack (libcamera + HAL) for apps to actually use it, not just kernel changes.
What Omarchy did is essentially enabling that staging driver plus packaging the firmware and userspace bits โ not a custom patch of their own. Worth noting it's still not fully stable everywhere; there's an open issue on their repo where the camera isn't even detected on another Panther Lake laptop.
So it's a smaller, more contained task than something like our BORE or Zen kernels, but it does mean touching kernel config + evaluating whether to package the firmware/camera stack. We're looking into whether it's worth doing for Soplos โ no ETA yet, but it's on our radar now that we understand what's actually involved. Thanks again for pointing us to it!
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Hi HappySoplosUser,
Quick update on the IPU7/Panther Lake camera investigation: the driver did land in mainline Linux 6.17, so it's technically available in our 7.2 kernel base โ but it lives in the staging tree, which means it's not enabled by default and still considered immature upstream. Getting it working also needs a separate firmware package and a userspace camera stack (libcamera + HAL) for apps to actually use it, not just kernel changes.
What Omarchy did is essentially enabling that staging driver plus packaging the firmware and userspace bits โ not a custom patch of their own. Worth noting it's still not fully stable everywhere; there's an open issue on their repo where the camera isn't even detected on another Panther Lake laptop.
So it's a smaller, more contained task than something like our BORE or Zen kernels, but it does mean touching kernel config + evaluating whether to package the firmware/camera stack. We're looking into whether it's worth doing for Soplos โ no ETA yet, but it's on our radar now that we understand what's actually involved. Thanks again for pointing us to it!
@subdes Hi - thank you for the quick response! Again, no problem if it's not possible or not a quick job, just thought I would mention it.
Aside from the camera issue, I am really enjoying Soplos. It's fast, stable, looks great and is working fine on my XPS. Overall a very pleasant experience. -
Thanks for the message, and for understanding these things take time!
Really glad to hear that aside from the camera issue, the overall experience has been so good โ fast, stable, and looking great on your XPS is exactly what we're aiming for. We'll keep you posted here once there's any news on the IPU7 front. Thanks for sticking with us!
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