4 ms·

I have a new Oryx Pro. I'm not an expert on laptop build quality but to me the Oryx Pro looks and feels great. It is in fact a Clevo P955ER, which I know I coul

I have a new Oryx Pro. I'm not an expert on laptop build quality but to me the Oryx Pro looks and feels great. It is in fact a Clevo P955ER, which I know I could get for cheaper, but personally I want to support System 76's selling and supporting Linux laptops. I'd actually be interested to see if a straight-up Clevo P955ER with Pop!_OS installed is any more or less stable than an Oryx Pro. Anyways here are my thoughts: Good things: - Keyboard is pleasant to use (for me) - Trackpad feels good (not as good as Apple's trackpads but much better than most non-Apple ones) - Desktop-level performance - No Linux jankiness -- everything has just worked for me so far on Pop!_OS - Battery life is not as terrible as I thought it'd be on Intel graphics (~5 hours depending on what you're doing. I haven't tested this too thoroughly) Complaints: - Need to reboot to switch between Nvidia and Intel graphics - Fans are always audible on Nvidia graphics no matter what you're doing - Nvidia graphics are required in order to use any external displays - Battery life is horrible on Nvidia graphics, so you basically have to switch graphics then shut down before unplugging from an external monitor if you plan on using it on-the-go

namibj 8y ago
No _need_ to reboot. Restarting the Xorg/Wayland server, maybe. You might be able to fool it into thinking you just hot-plugged the GPU, at least as far as the screen layout is concerned. Remember: the only reason you need to reboot linux is to get a new kernel, or because the kernel FUBAR'd and corrupted data.
- Cyphase 8y ago
  I hear you, and I've restarted the display server plenty of times on my computers instead of restarting them, especially on my main desktop where I have lots more stuff running independent of the display (daemons, etc). But, I feel like particularly on a laptop, if you're restarting the display server, it's not much different than just restarting the whole machine. Certainly that's the case for the large majority of users. Anyway, I think the point is that it's a hassle, which it is, not that you literally "need to reboot".
  - lmm 8y ago
    Would it be possible to start a second display server like we used to, one on ctrl-alt-F8 and one on ctrl-alt-F7? So when you want to do some gaming you start up your gaming workspace and switch to it, and when you want to turn off the nvidia graphics you destroy the gaming workspace, but your document workspace that was using the intel graphics is still there? That feels like it could be somewhat usable.
    - namibj 8y ago
      Should be. Windows is actually not crashing the desktop when the driver balks, so you can AFAIK run a Windows VM on a Linux and switch the PCIe GPU (yes, i915 counts from Haswell on) via KVM/QUEMU/IO-MMU between host and VM, with the latter not caring much, but the former crashing Xorg.
  - namibj 8y ago
    I prefer to keep things up/running, i.e. demon-based software, file transfers, mounts (including LUKS password unlocking), music players, etc. Even SSH sessions. I am still looking for a way to restart Xorg without having to restart the software on it, but so far I have not found a solution.
- resonious 8y ago
  That makes sense. Pop_OS! has a button for switching graphics that prompts you to reboot. I bet that could be updated to only restart X11 or something https://github.com/pop-os/gnome-shell-extension-system76-power/blob/4855752a7b72f999242f4a5ee64253be58ad36a7/extension.js#L342 https://github.com/pop-os/gnome-shell-extension-system76-pow...

namibj 8y ago

No _need_ to reboot. Restarting the Xorg/Wayland server, maybe. You might be able to fool it into thinking you just hot-plugged the GPU, at least as far as the screen layout is concerned. Remember: the only reason you need to reboot linux is to get a new kernel, or because the kernel FUBAR'd and corrupted data.

Cyphase 8y ago
I hear you, and I've restarted the display server plenty of times on my computers instead of restarting them, especially on my main desktop where I have lots more stuff running independent of the display (daemons, etc). But, I feel like particularly on a laptop, if you're restarting the display server, it's not much different than just restarting the whole machine. Certainly that's the case for the large majority of users. Anyway, I think the point is that it's a hassle, which it is, not that you literally "need to reboot".
- lmm 8y ago
  Would it be possible to start a second display server like we used to, one on ctrl-alt-F8 and one on ctrl-alt-F7? So when you want to do some gaming you start up your gaming workspace and switch to it, and when you want to turn off the nvidia graphics you destroy the gaming workspace, but your document workspace that was using the intel graphics is still there? That feels like it could be somewhat usable.
  - namibj 8y ago
    Should be. Windows is actually not crashing the desktop when the driver balks, so you can AFAIK run a Windows VM on a Linux and switch the PCIe GPU (yes, i915 counts from Haswell on) via KVM/QUEMU/IO-MMU between host and VM, with the latter not caring much, but the former crashing Xorg.
- namibj 8y ago
  I prefer to keep things up/running, i.e. demon-based software, file transfers, mounts (including LUKS password unlocking), music players, etc. Even SSH sessions. I am still looking for a way to restart Xorg without having to restart the software on it, but so far I have not found a solution.
resonious 8y ago
That makes sense. Pop_OS! has a button for switching graphics that prompts you to reboot. I bet that could be updated to only restart X11 or something https://github.com/pop-os/gnome-shell-extension-system76-power/blob/4855752a7b72f999242f4a5ee64253be58ad36a7/extension.js#L342 https://github.com/pop-os/gnome-shell-extension-system76-pow...