When it comes to AMD’s incredible Strix Halo platform, the leading laptop option is the HP ZBook Ultra G1a. The HP ZBook Ultra G1a works great overall on Linux with the main caveat being the web camera due to making use of AMD’s latest SoC capabilities for offloaded image processing. The AMD ISP4 open-source driver fixes that for the ZBook Ultra G1a and is also important for future laptop models employing AMD’s ISP IP.
After landing various preparation patches touching other drivers (like AMDGPU integration) and areas of the kernel for enabling the AMD ISP4 enabled web camera, we’ve just been waiting for the actual ISP4 driver to land in the Linux kernel. A few weeks back AMD sent out their latest ISP4 driver code with hopes of having this buttoned up in time for the Linux 6.18 merge window. Unfortunately, it’s still not clear that the driver will be queued up and sent in for the upcoming Linux 6.18 merge window.
This has been one of the most common Phoronix reader questions is if/when the ISP4 driver will be merged for enabling the HP ZBook Ultra G1a web camera and in turn it also being important for other future AMD Ryzen laptops. That revised driver is still pending review and latest commentary on the kernel mailing list sounds like there may not be immediate action.
When being pinged about it, Laurent Pinchart who co-maintains the media controller framework and does a lot for the Linux media scene at large, commented that he’s overloaded at the moment so he isn’t able to guarantee any review time frame. Sakari Ailus is the other media controller framework co-maintainer and reviewed prior versions of the AMD ISP4 patches though hasn’t yet commented on the latest ISP4 revision.
So it’s coming down to the wire for getting these patches reviewed and if they are now in shape for merging. The Linux 6.18 merge window is expected to open at the end of September while the stable Linux 6.18 LTS kernel should be out in December. Otherwise it will be another few months before seeing AMD ISP4 in the mainline kernel for a nice web cam experience on the HP ZBook Ultra G1a.
