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I just would like to know if freya 0.3.2 supports the new Intel Skylake chipsets (I'm looking into buying a new laptop that has an i7-6500U CPU). I've read that the new Linux kernel 4.3 will support it out of the box, but I guess it'll be a long way until that one will be implemented into freya.
So what would I do with my new laptop? Is there a way to get the system running without having to install the latest kernel? If not, what would I have to do to get the newest kernel?
Thanks!
Please define "supports" :) I'm writing this on my new Dell Precision 5510 featuring an Intel i7-6820hq (Skylake chipset), running elementaryOS 0.3.2 (Freya). My only kernel related issue has been the lack of out-of-the-box support for the Intel Wireless chipset responsible for wifi and bluetooth, but that was solved by installing a back-ported driver after installation.
So, getting the system running is absolutely no issue if you have a Skylake processor/chipset. Download the .iso and put in on a USB/CD and give it a spin (no need to install it to test it), and if it works, it works - and you can choose to install if so desired. Just a side note: if you already have an OS installed (like Windows 8/10), make sure to disable support for "legacy mode" (MBR) in the firmware a.k.a. BIOS. The risk is otherwise that the installer will install grub2 into the MBR instead of the EFI partition. I'm talking out of personal experience here :) (See http://elementaryos-on-dell-5510.compio.it for details)
Hope this answered your question!
I run a NUC6i3SYK (Skylake Core i3-6100U)
elementary OS Freya (Ubuntu 14.04.)
After trying several other Kernels I now successfully run the 4.2.8 Kernel.
Below kernel 4.x (3.19 is now the stock Freya/ Ubuntu 14.04 Kernel I think) I don't have Wifi and I see quite the CPU load even in idle.
On kernels 4.3.x - 4.5 I do have Wifi but terrible ripping graphics glitches and interruptions.
Kernel 4.2.8 runs perfectly fine for me, including WiFi and smooth graphics, While typing this on Firefox I have a CPU load of 1-2% and a 34°C cpu temp.
Please note: To get hardware graphics acceleration you need to add "i915.preliminary_hw_support=1" to Grub kernel parameters.
Easiest way to do is with Grub Customizer. My kernel parameters are now:"i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 quiet splash". Then save in Grub Customizer and to make sure it is really really saved you should finish with "sudo update-grub" in terminal and reboot.
So yes, in my case Freya with Kernel 4.2.8 "supports" a Skylake CPU (6100U) perfectly fine.
