Guide: Getting Intel IPU7 camera working on Panther Lake (Dell XPS)

[jibsta210]

Summary

I got the Intel IPU7 webcam (OV08X40 sensor) fully working in browsers on CachyOS with kernel 7.0.0-rc7-2-cachyos-rc on a Dell XPS (Panther Lake). Sharing the solution since this was a multi-day debugging effort and the fix isn't documented anywhere.

The missing piece: intel_cvs driver

The critical blocker is that the intel_cvs driver from intel/vision-drivers is required but not included in the kernel or any AUR package. Without it, the ACPI dependency chain for the sensor is never satisfied and the camera doesn't appear.

Quick summary of what's needed

1. intel_cvs.ko — build from intel/vision-drivers with CC=clang LLVM=1
2. Module load ordering — softdep to ensure USBIO I2C is ready before IPU7 probes
3. Blacklist PSYS — the DKMS PSYS module is incompatible with in-tree 7.0-rc7 ISYS
4. libcamera + GStreamer relay — software ISP since hardware ISP (PSYS) doesn't work
5. v4l2loopback — bridge for Firefox/browser compatibility on Wayland

Full guide + install script

I've written a complete step-by-step guide and automated install script:

Key configuration files

/etc/modprobe.d/ipu7-usbio-order.conf

softdep intel_ipu7 pre: usbio gpio_usbio i2c_usbio intel_cvs intel_skl_int3472_discrete
blacklist intel_ipu7_psys

Camera relay service (~/.config/systemd/user/ipu7-camera-relay.service)

[Unit]
Description=IPU7 Camera Relay via GStreamer to v4l2loopback

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/gst-launch-1.0 libcamerasrc ! videoconvert ! videoflip method=rotate-180 ! video/x-raw,format=YUY2 ! v4l2sink device=/dev/video33
Restart=no
Environment=LIBCAMERA_LOG_LEVELS=*:ERROR

Known limitations

• Software ISP only — ~65% CPU during capture, green tint in low light
• intel_cvs.ko must be rebuilt after kernel updates
• PSYS (hardware ISP) permanently defers — filed intel/ipu7-drivers#63

Related issues

• intel_cvs: Critical for IPU7 camera on Panther Lake - should be upstreamed to mainline intel/vision-drivers#36 — requesting intel_cvs upstreaming
• PSYS DKMS module permanently defers on kernel 7.0-rc7 (in-tree ISYS) intel/ipu7-drivers#63 — PSYS DKMS incompatibility with in-tree ISYS

Would it be worth adding intel_cvs to the CachyOS kernel config or creating an AUR package for it?

[ptr1337]

Does the dkms driver in the AUR not work?

[jibsta210]

Does the dkms driver in the AUR not work?

The DKMS PSYS module (intel-ipu7-dkms-git) crashes on load when used with the in-tree IPU7 ISYS driver on 7.0-rc7. Root cause is a struct layout mismatch: the DKMS struct ipu7_device has a struct dentry *ipu7_dir field (under #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_FS) that the in-tree version lacks. This shifts all subsequent fields by 8 bytes.

When PSYS calls debugfs_create_dir("psys", psys->adev->isp->ipu7_dir), it reads the offset where ipu7_dir should be but gets hw_ver + bool fields interpreted as a pointer (0x0000000001010002), causing a page fault:

BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0000000001010002
RIP: lookup_noperm_common+0xce/0x110
Call Trace: ipu7_psys_init_debugfs+0x2c/0x80 [intel_ipu7_psys]

The fix is one line in drivers/media/pci/intel/ipu7/psys/ipu-psys.c:

- dir = debugfs_create_dir("psys", psys->adev->isp->ipu7_dir);
+ dir = debugfs_create_dir("ipu7-psys", NULL);

With this patch, PSYS loads cleanly and the hardware ISP works — proper 3A (auto-exposure, white balance, etc.), dramatically better image quality than the software ISP fallback, and lower CPU usage.

This also fixes a reboot hang some users may experience — the PSYS crash leaves IRQs disabled, which prevents clean shutdown.

Confirmed working on Dell XPS 16 (Panther Lake), kernel 7.0.0-rc7-2-cachyos-rc, OV08X40 sensor.

Would it be possible to either:

1. Include this one-line patch in the CachyOS DKMS package, or
2. Add the missing ipu7_dir field to the in-tree ipu7.h in the CachyOS kernel config?

[ptr1337]

I think the best would be if intel would fix the dkms driver to be comatible with the linux kernel, but ill look into later.

[jibsta210]

I was able to get the regular camera firing automatically... Going to clean it up and then send it in.... We can't wait on Intel they haven't even pushed it for last year's chip....

…

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On Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 09:43 Peter Jung ***@***.***> wrote: *ptr1337* left a comment (CachyOS/linux-cachyos#804) <#804 (comment)> I think the best would be if intel would fix the dkms driver to be comatible with the linux kernel, but ill look into later. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#804 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/CBJB236DML3NVDNQWN2BIT34VJDY7AVCNFSM6AAAAACXUNZG3WVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHM2DEMRZGUZDGNBVHE> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>