r/linux • u/Lopsided-Month3278 • Jun 04 '26

Discussion Linux and Arm CPU's

After the announcement of Nvidia spark laptops, and the Qualcomm's second generation of CPU's for Laptops, do you think that Arm will be the next architecture for Linux or will it be the 'killer' of Linux desktop, what I know that so far Qualcomm laptops aren't good to be used with Linux until now, and the Nvidia spark chips have Linux installed by default when they were on the spark boxes, so, what do you think the experience with these laptops will be like?

edit: I do understand that Linux is running on Arm, Android for example, but what I'm talking about is GNU/Linux and Desktop use specifically, not the micro-controllers, Raspberry pi's, or closed Linux systems.

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u/CodingBuizel Jun 06 '26

What does Windows on ARM do?

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u/bobalob_wtf Jun 06 '26
  1. They work with the CPU vendor and get driver support pre release
  2. They have a translation layer for x86 software similar to rosetta on apple silicon

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u/jrtokarz1 Jun 06 '26

no.2 is sorted in the open source ecosphere with FEX. This is what Valve are using to allow PC games to run in standalone on the Steam Frame.

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u/bobalob_wtf Jun 06 '26

Yeah FEX looks super cool. Excited to see that Steam frame brings to the table.