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I have a laptop, running Linux Mint, which uses multiple monitors through a docking station. Since when does using a laptop preclude having multiple monitors?

• scythe 10y ago
  I think you're misinterpreting my comment. Pretty much the last reasonably common piece of desktop hardware that Linux had trouble supporting was multiple monitors, which was largely a solved problem by 2009. As of then, you could use Linux on a desktop and get all the functionality you had on other OSs. By contrast, suspend and Wi-Fi on laptops has been a perpetual headache, and suboptimal GPU utilization is a common cause of battery life issues on Linux laptop setups. Furthermore, the peculiarities in laptop keyboards, webcams and touchpads are often incompletely supported; generally only the most common laptop models will get support for the topbar keys before they're obsolete. These problems all have a common root, which is that installing an OS on a laptop is fundamentally harder than a desktop and often requires some intervention/software from the OEM, and this happens because of the more idiosyncratic nature of laptop hardware, which is necessary to exploit the small form factor as efficiently as possible. However, because OEMs are forever tied to the commercial enterprise market, the patent encumberance of some popular Linux software creates big legal problems for any manufacturer who wants to ship a laptop with the kind of hardware support usually reserved for Linux laptops. The result is that only huge companies (Dell, IBM) and a few dedicated "ideological businesses" like system76 ship Linux on the laptop, and the preinstalled OS often requires significant intervention from the user in order to do tasks which are mundane on Windows, like playing mp4s or Flash, or watching Netflix. These factors combine to stymie the deployment of quality Linux laptops at a reasonable price point despite the apparent technical and economic feasibility of the project.
  • Arizhel 10y ago
    >By contrast, suspend and Wi-Fi on laptops has been a perpetual headache I completely disagree about WiFi. I haven't had problems with that on Linux in many years. Maybe you're buying some really crappy WiFi chips, but I've done fine with both Broadcom and Intel. I'd stick to Intel though. >and suboptimal GPU utilization is a common cause of battery life issues on Linux laptop setups I'd say that GPUs are the perpetual headache on Linux with regards to hardware support. More than anything else. All the problems with getting Linux to run on desktop/laptop machines has usually come down to poor GPU support for many years now. >Furthermore, the peculiarities in laptop keyboards, webcams and touchpads are often incompletely supported; generally only the most common laptop models will get support for the topbar keys before they're obsolete. I haven't had any trouble with this stuff for ages. It all "just works" on Latitudes and Thinkpads. I don't do anything special; I just install the latest Linux Mint and it just works. >and the preinstalled OS often requires significant intervention from the user in order to do tasks which are mundane on Windows, like playing mp4s or Flash, or watching Netflix. Watching Netflix hasn't been a problem for a while now. All you have to do is install Google Chrome and use that.