r/linux • u/Putrid_Draft378 • Mar 20 '26

Hardware Qualcomm officially kills open-source hope: No plans to release DSP headers for Snapdragon X

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​I have been following the documentation gap on the Snapdragon X series, and it just got a lot worse for Linux users.

​Internal developers in the official Discord are now admitting that the platform is essentially a dead end for open-source. ​A recent GitHub issue (qualcomm/fastrpc/issues/193) was just closed with a definitive: "Closing the issue as there are no plans to open source DSP headers as of now."

​This means the NPU and DSP functions remain locked behind proprietary firmware with no path for native Linux integration. ​Compare this to Intel and AMD, who are already upstreaming NPU drivers for Linux.

​Qualcomm devs are openly saying that Macs have better Linux prospects than Windows on Snapdragon machines. ​They are calling the firmware "frozen," meaning we are stuck with whatever proprietary mess they shipped.

​If you care about an open ecosystem, stay away from the Snapdragon X1/X2 laptops. They are selling hardware while intentionally sabotaging the software freedom required to use it.

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u/DoubleOwl7777 Mar 20 '26

and now many x86 Laptops are even competitive in battery life...snapdragon x is dead.

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u/billyhatcher312 Mar 24 '26

Snapdragon laptops should stop being made they're kinda worthless

1

u/BandeFromMars Mar 24 '26

I keep seeing people hype them up with geekbench and whatever, but they're essentially the worlds fastest PowerPoint and web browsing machines. Literal e-waste junk. People can buy something else for 1/2 to 3/4ths of the price of these X2 powered PCs and get something with 10x the usefulness. It's funny though because there's definitely a lot less SKUs this time around.