I very regularly complain about the eGPU issue on Linux, since I want to swap so badly–every program I use (with the exception of Drawboard PDF, which operates on a universal standard) is cross platform, and I have successfully installed a wide variety of linux distros on my laptop and got everything working well (even pen input on Xournal!!).
However, I use an Nvidia eGPU to drive three additional monitors I use for work, and on Linux I am unable to hotplug my eGPU, instead requiring a login/logout (or at least me closing all my open programs, which defeats the purpose of hotplug). I’ve tried Wayland/Xorg, and distros varying from Fedora to Pop OS (so far, my best experience was on Kubuntu/Wayland, but the computer still regularly crashed when disconnecting). I wish I were a better programmer, since then I could figure the issue out myself!
As soon as the Linux kernel has better support for hotplugging, I will never need to boot Windows again!
Edit: I am not unfamiliar with Linux, and I’ve been running Linux servers for well over a decade–I just have little experience in the realm of graphics drivers
Jerboa errored on sending this, hopefully not a double post:
I’m not sure when the last time you tested it out is, but I’m seeing a few things online about kernel 5.14+ bringing in a lot more support for eGPU, albeit AMD and not Nvidia. I could definitely see how that’d be a deal breaker, but it looks like if it’s not working with the newest kernels yet, maybe someone’s working on it as we speak? Fingers crossed!
Fingers crossed indeed!!! Latest kernels do for sure work better, but not quite there yet (crashing ~80% of the time when hot unplugging, more often if programs are running)
My last test was last week with the latest distros, I’ll definitely follow along with the latest kernel updates. I was just testing with the default installed kernel (which I think is above 5.14)–eventually I’ll need to throw on the surface-linux kernel which lags behind a bit, but I’d be happy to help contribute to that once eGPUs are supported by mainline
I very regularly complain about the eGPU issue on Linux, since I want to swap so badly–every program I use (with the exception of Drawboard PDF, which operates on a universal standard) is cross platform, and I have successfully installed a wide variety of linux distros on my laptop and got everything working well (even pen input on Xournal!!).
However, I use an Nvidia eGPU to drive three additional monitors I use for work, and on Linux I am unable to hotplug my eGPU, instead requiring a login/logout (or at least me closing all my open programs, which defeats the purpose of hotplug). I’ve tried Wayland/Xorg, and distros varying from Fedora to Pop OS (so far, my best experience was on Kubuntu/Wayland, but the computer still regularly crashed when disconnecting). I wish I were a better programmer, since then I could figure the issue out myself!
As soon as the Linux kernel has better support for hotplugging, I will never need to boot Windows again!
Edit: I am not unfamiliar with Linux, and I’ve been running Linux servers for well over a decade–I just have little experience in the realm of graphics drivers
Jerboa errored on sending this, hopefully not a double post:
I’m not sure when the last time you tested it out is, but I’m seeing a few things online about kernel 5.14+ bringing in a lot more support for eGPU, albeit AMD and not Nvidia. I could definitely see how that’d be a deal breaker, but it looks like if it’s not working with the newest kernels yet, maybe someone’s working on it as we speak? Fingers crossed!
Fingers crossed indeed!!! Latest kernels do for sure work better, but not quite there yet (crashing ~80% of the time when hot unplugging, more often if programs are running)
My last test was last week with the latest distros, I’ll definitely follow along with the latest kernel updates. I was just testing with the default installed kernel (which I think is above 5.14)–eventually I’ll need to throw on the surface-linux kernel which lags behind a bit, but I’d be happy to help contribute to that once eGPUs are supported by mainline