from the my-old-XF86Config-fears-realized! dept.
PSA: Users running Linux on laptops with Intel processors should avoid Linux Kernel 5.19.12 due to an error that might physically harm the display. Fortunately, kernel 5.19.13 has already fixed the issue. Versions 6.0 and 6.1 have also begun rolling out with many significant changes.
Recent reports from Intel laptop users running Linux Kernel 5.19.12 describe "white flashing" on their screens. A Linux engineer found that the issue could ruin the LCD, urging users to immediately roll back to an earlier iteration. The critical flaw prompted developers to issue a quick update.
The problem appears to originate from a faulty Intel graphics driver, which Linux kernel engineer Ville Syrjäl describes as a bad panel power sequencing delay. Greg Kroah-Hartman, the developer who released 5.19.13, said that users should only upgrade to the new kernel if they're experiencing this issue.
[...] Most Linux users likely have to wait until kernel 5.19.13 is available for their specific distro. The engineers examining the LCD problem didn't say whether the newly-released kernels 6.0 and 6.1 also include fixes for the issue.
Released for most major distros this week, Linux Kernel 6.0 supports the newest hardware architectures, including Raptor Lake, Meteor Lake, Arc Alchemist, and RDNA 3. [...]
Kernel 6.1 closes a significant Bluetooth security hole and makes the first steps towards supporting the Rust programming language, which Google uses to develop Android. [...]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2022, @08:05PM
I'm on 5.19.14... Slackware is ahead of the curve
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday October 06 2022, @09:45PM (1 child)
In the late 80s/mid 90s it was easy to fry your monitor by not looking at it's specs before farting around with X11 settings. As in, a bad setting looks good until the magic smoke comes out a few hours or days later.
This got fixed by hardware vendors when you gave them a stupid setting, I don't remember which were the problem ones, the hardware said "yeah, I'm not gonna be doing that".
Soooo, What's This Feature?
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday October 07 2022, @02:14PM
This feature is a faulty patch provided by Intel for Intel hardware. https://lore.kernel.org/all/e3e2915d-1411-a758-3991-48d6c2688a1e@leemhuis.info/ [kernel.org] Yeah, this isn't someone dinked around in the kernel and oopsie! This is Intel screwing things up. Gives me great confidence in the new ARC GPUs. Drivers are tough to do right and this is probably just a inopportune time for this kind of thing to happen with an Intel graphics driver. Here's hoping that Intel can pull things together and actually be a true 3rd option when it comes to GPUs.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday October 06 2022, @11:35PM
This sort of shenanigan is why I only buy laptops with CRTs.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday October 06 2022, @11:38PM
Oh that's great.
What interests me more however is: does it make the BT stack any more stable? Because really, the state of Bluetooth in Linux is really tragic.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday October 07 2022, @08:53AM
It is a rule that hardware should never rely on software to protect it. Any required protection should always be done in hardware. So headline is incorrect.
Note this also applies to bigger pieces of kit - I have seen people leaving superconducting thingamies and high voltage wotsits vulnerable in this way. It's a hardware bug.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Friday October 07 2022, @08:58AM
The latest kernel in kernel.org is still 6.0. I would assume that the next kernel will be 6.0.1, but that is still not available. Kernel 6.1 should be a long way away, as there isn't even a release candidate available.
(Score: 1) by MonkeypoxBugChaser on Friday October 07 2022, @01:56PM
I don't update all the time but I caught that nasty grub bug even after finding out about it... surely they would fix such things immediately. Now I learn that due to my laziness I am running 5.19.13 and not sure what I had previously. My LCD didn't flash but it's great to know updating religiously could have taken out my screen.