d2c87a8e19
TLP is often no longer the best choice since firmware provides power profiles instead. That's why we are removing TLP as the default option. We may want to bring back TLP to some old hardware if it makes sense i.e. certain thinkpad modules.
Derivations for Microsoft Surface notebooks
These derivatives use the patches from the linux-surface repo.
Importing
By preference, there will already be a specialised module for your model's configuration.
e.g. The microsoft/surface/surface-go module configures for the Surface Go.
If not, the microsoft/surface/common/ module can also be imported directly, and the options
provided can be used in your own system's configuration.
Alternatively, you can create a new specialisation for your model under microsoft/surface
configured for that model.
Common Modules
Most shared / common modules are under the common/ directory.
This includes the patched kernel build modules, as well as tools and service like IPTSd and surface-control.
Kernel
The kernel needs several patches to make it work correctly with some of the hardware on various Surface models, e.g. keyboard/trackpad, camera, wifi.
Not all hardware is fully supported, but the linux-surface feature matrix provides details on which devices are supported on which types of machine.
The kernel-specific derivations are under the common/kernel/ sub-directory. This directory defines patch sets for each supported kernel release (see Kernel versions below for more information).
NOTE: Some built-in Kernel config items need to be set, that aren't set by default:
Kernel versions
There are multiple versions of the Surface kernel available:
longterm, which tracks the latest long term support (LTS) release.stable, which tracks the most recent stable release.
This repo uses longterm by default, but you can switch it to stable by adding this to your configuration file:
hardware.microsoft-surface.kernelVersion = "stable";
Support Tools
IPTS
Enable this with the microsoft-surface.ipts.enable = true; config option.
IPTS is used on most of the Surface range, except for Surface Go and Surface Laptop 3 (AMD version).
Older kernels used specialised firmware which used a method that's no longer supported by the more-recent kernels.
Newer kernels use the kernel-space intel-precise-touch driver and user-space ipstd daemon.
The iptsd daemon works with the intel-precise-touch driver to convert raw touch data from the
kernel-space driver into events for the HID / input sub-system.
- https://github.com/linux-surface/iptsd
- https://github.com/linux-surface/intel-precise-touch
- NOTE: The patches from this repo are included in the above kernel patches, already.
DTX, surface-control
surface-control
Enable this with the config.microsoft-surface.surface-control.enable = true; config option.
For controlling the performance modes and other aspects of the device, the surface-control tool is included.
To be able to control the performance mode without using sudo, add your user to the surface-control group.
Firmware and Drivers
WiFi on Surface Go
For the Surface Go, please see the "Issues" sections below.
Including the microsoft/surface/surface-go/firmware/ath-10k/
module will replace the default firmware with the updated firmware.
ToDo's Not Done
See: TODO.org
Issues
TLP daemon
TLP is known to cause problems on Surface unless correctly configured. See: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/blob/master/README.md
Wifi Firmware for Surface Go
On the Surface Go, the standard firmware from the official Linux Firmware repo used to have issues
with the ath10k QCA6174 Wifi device.
This was fixed in Nov 2021:
Background:
With the older firmware, you would see messages like "Can't ping firmware".
The most effective fix was to remove the board-2.bin file or replace it with a copy of the
board.bin file.
The derivative in surface-go/firmware/ath10k/ can configure this, with the
config.hardware.microsoft-surface.firmware.surface-go-ath10k.replace = true config option.
NOTE: This is destructive, as it deletes all the board.bin and board-2.bin files for the
ath10k QCA6174 device, and replaces them with KillerNetworking's version.
This is the only way (currently) to force the driver to use the new firmware.
For more details, see: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Surface-Go#wifi-firmware
References:
- https://github.com/jakeday/linux-surface/issues/441
- https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/e8quqg/surface_go_official_wifi_fix/
- https://hackmd.io/@dasgeek/ryA5i5Dor
- https://github.com/thebitstick/surfacego-wifi
- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/ath10k
- https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/ath10k/firmware
Structural changes from earlier versions (2023-01-10 and earlier)
If you're upgrading from an older version of nixos-hardware, please read the Deprecated Behaviour README to understand how some structural changes to the code might affect you!