I’m considering to buy a new laptop onto which I’d like to install OpenSuse Leap 15.0. Problem: the laptop I’d like has a WiFi chip Wireless-AC 9260 from Intel. Intel provides the drivers for the chip, but only for kernel versions 4.14 and up. And the kernel in Leap is version 4.12.
Now I’ve read somewhere that even if the version is 4.12, there are many patches from later kernels included in it. So how can I figure out if the Intel driver will work? Obviously, I’d like to be sure before I buy the laptop, since if it doesn’t work, a laptop without WiFi is not he most useful computer in the world…
Does anyone has experience with this chip and can tell me if it works, or if I should look for another laptop?
If it’s a brick and mortar shop, take a USB Live stick with Leap 15.0 with you and ask if you’re allowed to boot from it.
A second option you have is to add the kernel repo, which currently provides you with kernel 5.0
Hi
Try a live 15.1 beta release as there are many backports to the kernel for newer hardware, else raise a bug asking if it can be backported.
If you boot from a live Tumbleweed release and it all works you can then get the USB id information which will help in identifying if it can be made to work.
Sadly, no, it’s an online shop, so I can’t do that.
I’ve seen this was possible, but also that it was not really advised, as it could break the system or cause issues during upgrades. And since it’s a machine for my work, I was hoping I could find another solution than that.
I don’t have the computer yet, so sadly, I can’t try anything. And I’m buying it for my work, so I’d really prefer to make sure it’ll work reasonably quickly before I buy it…
malcolmlewis;2897081 Wrote:
> Hi
> Try a live 15.1 beta release as there are many backports to the kernel
> for newer hardware, else raise a bug asking if it can be backported.
>
> If you boot from a live Tumbleweed release and it all works you can
> then get the USB id information which will help in identifying if it
> can be made to work.
I don’t have the computer yet, so sadly, I can’t try anything. And I’m
buying it for my work, so I’d really prefer to make sure it’ll work
reasonably quickly before I buy it…
Thanks for your answer anyway.
Hi
Then I would suggest plan to get a USB wifi device as well in case you
can’t get things to work… I would suspect something can be done since
it’s supported in a later kernel…
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
SLES 15 | GNOME Shell 3.26.2 | 4.12.14-25.28-default
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!
Just in case anyone’s interested: it does work out of the box. The WiFi chip in recognized and works fine without even the need for any other driver than those already in the distribution.