Intel 12th gen compatibility

[txemamint]

Hello,
I'm going to switch hardware and at the same time go from Mint 19 to 20.2. I am thinking of acquiring a PC with the new generation of Intel (12th), specifically the chipset + mother board: Z960 + i7 12700 KF. In the Intel page appear as compatible with Linux without specifying distribution.
I would like to know if anyone is running Linux Mint 20.2 on 12th Gen Intel and if everything works fine.
Regards;

[xenopeek]

See this article from last month: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... 00k-12900k. It looks like Intel hasn't added all drivers and optimizations to the Linux kernel yet for its 12th generation CPUs.

I expect if you'll use the Edge ISO it will work: https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedoc ... /edge.html

But Intel hasn't added optimizations to the Linux kernel yet for its big-little architecture:

The most pressing matter when it comes to Alder Lake on Linux is the new hybrid architecture with the mix of performance (P) and energy efficiency (E) cores... To date Intel has not posted any Linux kernel patches for providing any software optimizations around this hybrid architecture and the new Intel Thread Director. Hopefully they will soon but already it is too late for seeing in Linux 5.16.

I think that means the CPU won't be as efficient as designed. It will work but you'll need some patience while awaiting Intel to add necessary code to the Linux kernel.

And perhaps more pressing Intel has no Linux driver yet for the IGP:

One of the other immediate issues Linux users may face with Alder Lake is if planning to use the integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770. While Intel has been bringing up Alder Lake graphics for a while as covered in many Phoronix articles over the past year, up through the recently released Linux 5.15 kernel the Alder Lake graphics are not enabled by default.

Thus when initially booting these new processors on recent Linux distributions like Ubuntu 21.10 or even going with Linux 5.15 mainline, the system will fallback to software acceleration.

You will have graphics but it won't be hardware accelerated. It will be fine for office use but won't work for gaming. If you're planning to use a discrete graphics cards (AMD/Nvidia) this is a moot point.

Read the rest of the article. To sum it up I think it will work with the Linux Mint Edge ISO but you'll be waiting for Intel to add all needed code to the Linux kernel (and for the HWE kernel update from Ubuntu, or install mainline kernel manually) before you have a fully optimized CPU running under any Linux.

[txemamint]

ok, it is very useful information. Thanks a lot.