TUXEDO Computers' laptops received some heat in the past from upstream Linux kernel developers over their out-of-tree kernel drivers but fortunately that situation has been improving. The Uniwill driver premiered in the Linux 6.19 kernel with that OEM manufacturing many of the TUXEDO Computers laptop models. That Uniwill x86 platform driver enabled more functionality for TUXEDO hardware in the mainline kernel and has continued improving since its upstreaming. More features are on the way for Linux 7.1.

The Uniwill x86 platform driver being upstreamed was a notable achievement in enabling more TUXEDO laptop functionality without having to resort to out-of-tree drivers. For the current Linux 7.0 driver, more functionality has been tacked onto the Uniwill driver like setting custom cTGP values for laptops with discrete graphics. For Linux 7.1 in turn are several more additions.

Queued into the x86 platform drivers "-next" branch is USB-C power priority setting for the Uniwill drivers. For some models it's possible to set the USB-C port to either prioritize charging or performance. That option is now exposed to user-space via sysfs and available on all TUXEDO devices supporting it. So user-space can now set a "charging" or "performance" preference.

There is also a fix for detecting XMG Fusion 15 (L19) models. Additionally, applying more features across all TUXEDO devices available. TUXEDO's Werner Sembach explained:

"Uses the more fine granular and/or new feature defines to enable more features across the TUXEDO device lineup.

Also adds features to TUXEDO devices that where already present in the driver, but not tested until now."

It's great seeing the continued improvements in the mainline kernel for the laptops from this Bavarian Linux PC vendor.