4 ms·

I tried this last year and eventually gave up. I definitely prefer the Ubuntu shell experience, command line, etc. They’ve done a great job. But the last mile

I tried this last year and eventually gave up. I definitely prefer the Ubuntu shell experience, command line, etc. They’ve done a great job. But the last mile is still too rough. Battery life, sleep/wake, font rendering, Bluetooth, all still have problems even on a Dell XPS 13 9370. After a few months I just didn’t want to mess with it and went back. Windows has gotten a lot better but still does a lot of befuddling and annoying things. WSL saves it.

jchw 8y ago
I think it's unlikely to have a great Linux experience on any random new-ish laptop. Even some Lenovo laptops are imperfect experiences with Linux, especially within the first year or two of launch. If you really want to try Linux seriously, I'd recommend trying it on a desktop instead. Most tower PCs with stock parts tend to work great, with only minor exceptions (some weird audio codec setups can be fidgety.) I don't buy specifically for Linux because I'm willing to deal with the incompatibilities, but in my experience battery life can be at least comparable, and sleep/wake/Bluetooth are fine out of the box on all of my machines. Worst problem I had was my Lenovo P51 and its Nvidia Optimus setup + docking, but that actually was also kind of tricky in Windows, so I can't complain too much (and it improved over time.) Font rendering is the only thing there that you probably want to tweak regardless. For me, I just prefer disabling hinting and subpixel rendering, for blurry-but-accurate rendering. And if you did ever want to switch to Linux as a primary OS, you can base your hardware purchases around it, which while isn't strictly necessary (I know I don't) but certainly helps a lot if you just want stuff to work out of the box.
- MayeulC 8y ago
  I would tend to agree with this. I just do not see myself going back to Windows any time soon. In my experience, battery use is comparable, and might be even better on Linux with a few tweaks (powertop/tlp). Fonts are likely a matter of taste. I personally can't stand how they look on Windows, to the point where I had difficulties reading off one of my monitor (and none of the cleartype settings helped). Having quite different font rendering on multiple screens is something that highly annoys me. As for hardware, I was probably lucky, and use a nice DELL laptop from my lab. Sleep doesn't work on my Ryzen desktop, which I don't know how to debug, though it's only a minor annoyance. The general reason I use Linux (aside from philosophical/ethical considerations) is to get my system as lean or as bloated as I want, but always exactly know what happens on it, how parts fit together and be able to diagnose and fix a problem is one arises.
  - shawnb576 8y ago
    This all has to exist within your tolerance and commitment. In my case I have limited time and patience (kids, etc). It’s different for everyone. But the battery and sleep issues aren’t close. On Windows I get probably double the battery, maybe more. With Linux I had to hard reset out of sleep on a regular basis, never mind if I had it connected to a monitor. Again I really want it to work. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. Maybe next year I’ll try again. But in reality I’ll prob just get a new MacBook, it’s really the best of all worlds imho.

jchw 8y ago

I think it's unlikely to have a great Linux experience on any random new-ish laptop. Even some Lenovo laptops are imperfect experiences with Linux, especially within the first year or two of launch. If you really want to try Linux seriously, I'd recommend trying it on a desktop instead. Most tower PCs with stock parts tend to work great, with only minor exceptions (some weird audio codec setups can be fidgety.) I don't buy specifically for Linux because I'm willing to deal with the incompatibilities, but in my experience battery life can be at least comparable, and sleep/wake/Bluetooth are fine out of the box on all of my machines. Worst problem I had was my Lenovo P51 and its Nvidia Optimus setup + docking, but that actually was also kind of tricky in Windows, so I can't complain too much (and it improved over time.) Font rendering is the only thing there that you probably want to tweak regardless. For me, I just prefer disabling hinting and subpixel rendering, for blurry-but-accurate rendering. And if you did ever want to switch to Linux as a primary OS, you can base your hardware purchases around it, which while isn't strictly necessary (I know I don't) but certainly helps a lot if you just want stuff to work out of the box.

MayeulC 8y ago
I would tend to agree with this. I just do not see myself going back to Windows any time soon. In my experience, battery use is comparable, and might be even better on Linux with a few tweaks (powertop/tlp). Fonts are likely a matter of taste. I personally can't stand how they look on Windows, to the point where I had difficulties reading off one of my monitor (and none of the cleartype settings helped). Having quite different font rendering on multiple screens is something that highly annoys me. As for hardware, I was probably lucky, and use a nice DELL laptop from my lab. Sleep doesn't work on my Ryzen desktop, which I don't know how to debug, though it's only a minor annoyance. The general reason I use Linux (aside from philosophical/ethical considerations) is to get my system as lean or as bloated as I want, but always exactly know what happens on it, how parts fit together and be able to diagnose and fix a problem is one arises.
- shawnb576 8y ago
  This all has to exist within your tolerance and commitment. In my case I have limited time and patience (kids, etc). It’s different for everyone. But the battery and sleep issues aren’t close. On Windows I get probably double the battery, maybe more. With Linux I had to hard reset out of sleep on a regular basis, never mind if I had it connected to a monitor. Again I really want it to work. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. Maybe next year I’ll try again. But in reality I’ll prob just get a new MacBook, it’s really the best of all worlds imho.