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Intel hardware (CPU, NICs, iGPU) is well supported by modern Linux kernels. AMD CPUs and GPUs are also hassle-free. NVidia is fine with proprietary blobs only,

by nirv 9y ago

Intel hardware (CPU, NICs, iGPU) is well supported by modern Linux kernels. AMD CPUs and GPUs are also hassle-free. NVidia is fine with proprietary blobs only, while open-sourced Nouveau is barely usable on modern GPUs. I personally run GTX1080Ti on ArchLinux with closed vendor driver with no complains. However developers claim that there's a serious issue with the NVIDIA support[1]. As for end-products: I've heard good things about Dell's XPS-series (especially "Developer Edition")[2], Purism Libre-series[3], and System76[4] laptops. Lenovo ThinkPads[5] are traditionally also well supported. Generally it's always good to check Linux support on ArchWiki[6], LinuxWireless[7] and other resources before buying any hardware. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15564611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15564611 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13359588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13359588 [3] https://puri.sm https://puri.sm [4] https://system76.com/laptops https://system76.com/laptops [5] https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki [6] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category:Hardware https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category:Hardware [7] https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users

ahartmetz 9y ago
It feels like half of all Linux developers use Thinkpad business models like T and X series. Dell business models are also popular. Avoid Intel / nVidia dual GPU if you don't really need the performance, it's still a bit of a hassle on Linux. Small vendor Linux models will obviously work, but build quality isn't as good last I heard: they use medium quality OEM chassis. Correct me if I'm wrong - these companies are worth supporting.
- 0xcde4c3db 9y ago
  > Avoid Intel / nVidia dual GPU if you don't really need the performance, it's still a bit of a hassle on Linux. Even on Windows it's not perfect. Some programs will stop rendering properly or just hang when switching between AC and battery, for example. Presumably those are bugs in those programs not properly handling some kind of rendering context invalidation, but it's still a hassle. > It feels like half of all Linux developers use Thinkpad business models like T and X series These are also very popular among OpenBSD developers [1], likely for similar reasons. [1] https://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-laptops https://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-laptops

by nirv 9y ago

ahartmetz 9y ago

It feels like half of all Linux developers use Thinkpad business models like T and X series. Dell business models are also popular. Avoid Intel / nVidia dual GPU if you don't really need the performance, it's still a bit of a hassle on Linux. Small vendor Linux models will obviously work, but build quality isn't as good last I heard: they use medium quality OEM chassis. Correct me if I'm wrong - these companies are worth supporting.

0xcde4c3db 9y ago
> Avoid Intel / nVidia dual GPU if you don't really need the performance, it's still a bit of a hassle on Linux. Even on Windows it's not perfect. Some programs will stop rendering properly or just hang when switching between AC and battery, for example. Presumably those are bugs in those programs not properly handling some kind of rendering context invalidation, but it's still a hassle. > It feels like half of all Linux developers use Thinkpad business models like T and X series These are also very popular among OpenBSD developers [1], likely for similar reasons. [1] https://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-laptops https://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-laptops