This post is part 4 of the "Let me try to use an AArch64 system as a desktop" series:
- AArch64 desktop: day one
- AArch64 desktop: day two
- AArch64 desktop: last day
- Arm desktop: 2025 attempt, part one
Almost ten years ago, I tried to use an Applied Micro Mustang as a desktop. And it was painful.
Now, with my Altra-based system, I decided to try it again.
Hardware used
Compared to the Pinkiepie (the Mustang), Wooster (the current system) looks beefy:
| component | Pinkiepie | Wooster |
|---|---|---|
| cpu model | X-Gene 1 | Altra Q80-30 |
| core model | X-Gene 1 | Neoverse-N1 |
| core arch | v8.0 | v8.2 |
| core count | 8 | 80 |
| memory speed | 1866 MHz | 3200 MHz |
| memory amount | 16 GB | 128 GB |
| storage | SATA SSD (500 MB/s) | PCIe 4.0 NVME (6200 MB/s) |
| graphics card | Radeon HD5450 | Radeon RX6700XT |
| resolution | 1920x1080 | 3440x1440 |
Both systems ran the latest, stable release of Fedora with the KDE desktop.
Generic use
I started by rsyncing my home directory from Puchatek (my x86-64 desktop) to Wooster (the AArch64 system). To have the same environment in both places. Of course, I had to replace a few binaries in the ~/.local/bin directory with their AArch64 equivalents. And I regenerated some Python virtual environments.
The desktop worked as before, Thunderbird fetched mail and sent it, files could be edited in Neovim-qt as before etc.
Films from the local NAS share worked just fine using the same “mpv” as on Puchatek.
Multimedia online
But then you realise that it would be nice to listen to some music. For several reasons, I am using Spotify for this. And their app is x86-64 only…
Firefox refused to play anything. So did Chromium. I Installed the “widevine-installer” package, ran one command and, thanks to binaries from ChromeOS, both web browsers started playing. But Firefox was stopping after each song, so I had to revert to Chromium for it. Widgets on the KDE Plasma desktop recognised it, and I had information and playback controls embedded in the top panel.
Films on streaming services
But what about films on streaming services? Well, let me create a table, as I was surprised by the results:
| Streaming service | Firefox | Chromium |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Prime Video | Works | Works |
| Disney Plus | Works | Works |
| Max | Works | Works |
| Netflix | Fails (E100) | Fails (E100) |
| YouTube | Works, up to 4320p | Works, up to 1440p* |
Chromium
For Chromium it depends which build of it you are using. I used Fedora package and then was pointed to Flathub build of Chromium as better one.
Flathub’s Chromium plays 2160p videos on YouTube and does not have an option to choose higher resolutions so I could not test 4320p ones.
Again, let make a table of “Graphics Feature Status” information:
| Entry | Fedora build | Flathub build |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas | Software only | Hardware accelerated |
| Direct Rendering Display Compositor | Disabled | Disabled |
| Compositing | Software only | Hardware accelerated |
| Multiple Raster Threads | Enabled | Enabled |
| OpenGL | Disabled | Enabled |
| Rasterization | Software only | Hardware accelerated |
| Raw Draw | Disabled | Disabled |
| Skia Graphite | Disabled | Disabled |
| TreesInViz | Disabled | Disabled |
| Video Decode | Software only | Hardware accelerated |
| Video Encode | Software only | Software only |
| Vulkan | Disabled | Disabled |
| WebGL | Software only | Hardware accelerated |
| WebGL2 | Software only | Hardware accelerated |
| WebGPU | Disabled | Disabled |
| WebNN | Software only | Disabled |
WebGL
How does the 3D hardware acceleration situation look? I tested it with the WebGL Aquarium.
| Amount of fish | Firefox | Chromium/Fedora | Chromium/Flathub |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 75 | 18 | 75 |
| 1000 | 75 | 9 | 75 |
| 5000 | 42-71 | 4 | 29-37 |
| 10000 | 33-39 | 1 | 15-17 |
I do not remember numbers I got with the same graphics card in my x86-64 system.
To be continued…
I am planning to write a few more posts about using my Ampere Altra-based system as a desktop. So stay tuned.