[NEWS] Debian 13 Trixie is out!

[tle]

The distro runs kernel 6.12 LTS and GNOME 48, GCC 14.2, OpenJDK 12, Python 3.13 and various updates (https://www.debian.org/releases/trixie/release-notes/whats-new.en.html#what-s-new-in-the-distribution)

Please be mindful about the problems with VMs on ppc64el (https://www.debian.org/releases/trixie/release-notes/issues.en.html#problems-with-vms-on-64-bit-little-endian-powerpc-ppc64el)

[MauryG5]

I'm still waiting a bit before updating, what kind of problems are you talking about?

[Hasturtium]

I'm still waiting a bit before updating, what kind of problems are you talking about?

Sounds like issues of a mismatch between Debian's new default 4KB kernel page size and VMs with 64KB page sizes. You can install a kernel package enabling 64KB page size handling, or there are published workarounds if you're sticking to 4KB page sizes.

[MauryG5]

I've always installed with the 64K option; I'm talking about when I compile my own kernel. However, on Debian 12, I couldn't do that on the latest versions because it never worked, and I don't know why. I've always had to fall back on the long-supported 6.1.1xx versions because I never had any problems with those, but with versions after 6.2, it never worked on my computer. Perhaps the problem lies in some driver that doesn't work on the Radeon 5700, but I'm not sure exactly. I hope they've solved it with Debian 13...

[Hasturtium]

I’ve been running it on my Blackbird with a Radeon W6600 for the past week and it’s been great. This is the happiest I’ve been with a distribution since Void Linux ppc64le.

[MauryG5]

As a distribution, I can say the same. I've been using Debian steadily for a few years now, and I have to say I'm happy with how well it runs on Power. Since version 11, they've improved the overall distro, and now it runs very well on Power. Unlike Fedora, which always has major problems of various kinds, Debian is always stable and runs well. Now, however, I've noticed that Ubuntu has finally achieved excellent stability, and they've finally fixed those major bugs that plagued that distribution for years. The great thing is that performance-wise, Ubuntu is truly the best I've seen on Power. So now I run perfectly on both distributions.

[MauryG5]

Are any of you using Trixie regularly? I'd like to know how it's going. I haven't updated yet.

[Hasturtium]

I've had good luck with it so far. Would be nice to find a repo that would let me use the Firefox + JIT, but otherwise I don't have any complaints yet.

[MauryG5]

Thanks for your report, I just updated to Trixie recently too. The system works well, but unfortunately the problem I had on Bookworm regarding the kernels after version 6.1.X persists. From version 6.2 onwards, something must have changed in the Radeon 5700 drivers and it hasn't been resolved, so I can no longer use the new kernels on Debian. Even the current version of Trixie, 6.12.48, doesn't work the same way as all the others from 6.2.X onwards. The driver must have broken and hasn't been updated since the 5700 is now an old card... I think I'll have to change my graphics card in the future if I want to use the new kernels, but for the Radeon 4 I think it's still early on Power, I'll have to wait for support to arrive and stabilize...

[MauryG5]

The strange thing is that on Ubuntu, for example, kernels older than 6.2 work, using version 6.8 and doing just fine, so I don't understand why Debian continues to have problems after kernel version 6.2. If I try to compile and install the latest kernel on Debian 11, everything works fine, but if I try Debian 12 or later, it no longer works when switching from AST to Radeon 5700 XT. I'd like to know if people like Daniel Pocock, for example, are aware of this problem and could offer me a solution...