4 ms·

One of the things that has kept me from trying Linux in earnest (and yes, I'm very lazy) is concerns about which hardware is supported by which flavors, and how

One of the things that has kept me from trying Linux in earnest (and yes, I'm very lazy) is concerns about which hardware is supported by which flavors, and how much.

hellcow 7y ago
Buy a one- or two-year-old Thinkpad, and it'll be supported as well as anything.
- recursive 7y ago
  > it'll be supported as well as anything. But how well is that exactly? Don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question.
- clarry 7y ago
  My Thinkpad was very poorly supported by Debian Stale when I bought it. I guess it would've been roughly one-year-old at that point.
  - toyg 7y ago
    Debian Stable is never going to be a “laptop” distro, to be fair. One needs Ubuntu, Fedora, or some other quick-turnaround distro.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
      > Debian Stable is never going to be a “laptop” distro, to be fair. Will never be a new laptop distro - I'll bet you I can run Debian stable on my Thinkpad X200 without issue;)
  - kick 7y ago
    Stable's entire selling-point is to be the Linux of yesterday, tomorrow. You probably would have had better luck with a distribution that didn't intentionally aim to be ancient.
  - passthejoe 7y ago
    A year-old laptop is just getting into the sweet spot for Linux in general and Fedora in particular. The new kernels that keep on coming into the release will help with hardware compatibility. Debian Stable is definitely not so hot on a year-old laptop, though a newer kernel from Backports can really help. I have a 3-year-old HP laptop and have been running Debian Stable on it for about 6 months now. It's been a fairly seamless experience, as these things go. For newer laptops, I definitely recommend Fedora. It's the easiest way to get new kernels -- which are what you need for new hardware -- on the regular.
- kyazawa 7y ago
  While this is probably generally true, the 2018 6th gen X1 Carbon (I have one and run Fedora on it) has had significant problems with Linux trackpoint support, which still aren't fully resolved. I had to run a firmware update from Lenovo to get things more or less working. Even though Lenovo provides some firmware via fwupd, this particular trackpoint firmware was only available via a Windows utility, which sucked since I wiped Windows off the machine as soon as I got it. (I had to make a Windows live USB for the sole purpose of installing this update.) The trackpoint still occasionally dies after waking up from sleep (but much less often since I installed the firmware update.) When this happens I have to run a shell script I set up to bring the trackpoint back. So, I can't say the Linux experience with my laptop has been great. I'm guessing the device support for these new laptops with Linux preinstalled will be much better.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
intrepidhero 7y ago
For the last couple years I've had very good luck running linux on Dell laptops.
fidelramos 7y ago
Buy a laptop from a maker that gives Linux first-class support. I can recommend System76.
recursivedoubts 7y ago
System76 just released the lemur pro: https://system76.com/laptops/lemur https://system76.com/laptops/lemur You can option it up to 40GB of ram, it comes with a banging CPU and it weighs less than a macbook air. System76 makes sure that PopOS and Ubuntu both work flawlessly with their hardware. I bought one the day it was released to replace my Carbon X1 (gen 6) and it has been perfect. In particular for me, USB-C charging + monitor works flawlessly when I disconnect and reconnect, and the power button is on the side, which is great because I use my laptop as a workstation most of the time. Highly recommended if you want a linux machine.
- gtf21 7y ago
  Really tempted by the System76 machines but my worry is the screen res. My MBP (2014) has 2880x1800 and I really don't want to go down to something less crisp than retina.
  - gtf21 7y ago
    Also would love to hear about the keyboard compared e.g. to the older MBPs and the Thinkpads.
    - recursivedoubts 7y ago
      I plug in to a big monitor and full size keyboard for getting work done, but... Regarding the monitor, I find the 1920×1080 resolution fine at 14 inches. Super high resolution monitors this small ended up being annoying to me. Regarding the keyboard, I prefer the Carbon X1, which has deeper keys and more key travel. The Lemur has keys similar to the macbook keyboard, very low profile and very short travel.
      - gtf21 7y ago
        As in, the post-2015 unusable MBP keyboards or the nice ones? That might be enough to push me towards the X1 instead of the Lemur although I'd love to get a System76 just to have something from an independent shop from whom I might expect decent service.
swebs 7y ago
You can install Linux on part of your hard drive, and your other operating system on another part. Just reboot your computer to swap between them. It's called dual booting. If you don't like your experience with Linux, just delete its partition.
axaxs 7y ago
Just download Ubuntu, or Fedora. Both have great hardware support baked into the live image. Boot from the USB drive, and test all your hardware. There's absolutely zero cost or headache to you, outside of the 10 mins or so it takes to download and flash the iso to the thumb drive, and lets you 'try before you buy'. I've been a full time Linux user since 2004, and can't remember having -any- hardware issues in the last five years. Prior to that, closer to 2004, I would have agreed. Finding and compiling alsa drivers, network drivers, graphics drivers, etc was a real pain in the ass. Not so today, AMD and Intel graphics are built into the kernel, even!
jsight 7y ago
Ask a Red Hat employee which Lenovos are currently being handed out to employees. Those usually work pretty well.

One of the things that has kept me from trying Linux in earnest (and yes, I'm very lazy) is concerns about which hardware is supported by which flavors, and how much.

hellcow 7y ago

Buy a one- or two-year-old Thinkpad, and it'll be supported as well as anything.

recursive 7y ago
> it'll be supported as well as anything. But how well is that exactly? Don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question.
clarry 7y ago
My Thinkpad was very poorly supported by Debian Stale when I bought it. I guess it would've been roughly one-year-old at that point.
- toyg 7y ago
  Debian Stable is never going to be a “laptop” distro, to be fair. One needs Ubuntu, Fedora, or some other quick-turnaround distro.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
    > Debian Stable is never going to be a “laptop” distro, to be fair. Will never be a new laptop distro - I'll bet you I can run Debian stable on my Thinkpad X200 without issue;)
- kick 7y ago
  Stable's entire selling-point is to be the Linux of yesterday, tomorrow. You probably would have had better luck with a distribution that didn't intentionally aim to be ancient.
- passthejoe 7y ago
  A year-old laptop is just getting into the sweet spot for Linux in general and Fedora in particular. The new kernels that keep on coming into the release will help with hardware compatibility. Debian Stable is definitely not so hot on a year-old laptop, though a newer kernel from Backports can really help. I have a 3-year-old HP laptop and have been running Debian Stable on it for about 6 months now. It's been a fairly seamless experience, as these things go. For newer laptops, I definitely recommend Fedora. It's the easiest way to get new kernels -- which are what you need for new hardware -- on the regular.
kyazawa 7y ago
While this is probably generally true, the 2018 6th gen X1 Carbon (I have one and run Fedora on it) has had significant problems with Linux trackpoint support, which still aren't fully resolved. I had to run a firmware update from Lenovo to get things more or less working. Even though Lenovo provides some firmware via fwupd, this particular trackpoint firmware was only available via a Windows utility, which sucked since I wiped Windows off the machine as soon as I got it. (I had to make a Windows live USB for the sole purpose of installing this update.) The trackpoint still occasionally dies after waking up from sleep (but much less often since I installed the firmware update.) When this happens I have to run a shell script I set up to bring the trackpoint back. So, I can't say the Linux experience with my laptop has been great. I'm guessing the device support for these new laptops with Linux preinstalled will be much better.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

intrepidhero 7y ago

For the last couple years I've had very good luck running linux on Dell laptops.

fidelramos 7y ago

Buy a laptop from a maker that gives Linux first-class support. I can recommend System76.

recursivedoubts 7y ago

System76 just released the lemur pro: https://system76.com/laptops/lemur https://system76.com/laptops/lemur You can option it up to 40GB of ram, it comes with a banging CPU and it weighs less than a macbook air. System76 makes sure that PopOS and Ubuntu both work flawlessly with their hardware. I bought one the day it was released to replace my Carbon X1 (gen 6) and it has been perfect. In particular for me, USB-C charging + monitor works flawlessly when I disconnect and reconnect, and the power button is on the side, which is great because I use my laptop as a workstation most of the time. Highly recommended if you want a linux machine.

gtf21 7y ago
Really tempted by the System76 machines but my worry is the screen res. My MBP (2014) has 2880x1800 and I really don't want to go down to something less crisp than retina.
- gtf21 7y ago
  Also would love to hear about the keyboard compared e.g. to the older MBPs and the Thinkpads.
  - recursivedoubts 7y ago
    I plug in to a big monitor and full size keyboard for getting work done, but... Regarding the monitor, I find the 1920×1080 resolution fine at 14 inches. Super high resolution monitors this small ended up being annoying to me. Regarding the keyboard, I prefer the Carbon X1, which has deeper keys and more key travel. The Lemur has keys similar to the macbook keyboard, very low profile and very short travel.
    - gtf21 7y ago
      As in, the post-2015 unusable MBP keyboards or the nice ones? That might be enough to push me towards the X1 instead of the Lemur although I'd love to get a System76 just to have something from an independent shop from whom I might expect decent service.

swebs 7y ago

You can install Linux on part of your hard drive, and your other operating system on another part. Just reboot your computer to swap between them. It's called dual booting. If you don't like your experience with Linux, just delete its partition.

axaxs 7y ago

Just download Ubuntu, or Fedora. Both have great hardware support baked into the live image. Boot from the USB drive, and test all your hardware. There's absolutely zero cost or headache to you, outside of the 10 mins or so it takes to download and flash the iso to the thumb drive, and lets you 'try before you buy'. I've been a full time Linux user since 2004, and can't remember having -any- hardware issues in the last five years. Prior to that, closer to 2004, I would have agreed. Finding and compiling alsa drivers, network drivers, graphics drivers, etc was a real pain in the ass. Not so today, AMD and Intel graphics are built into the kernel, even!

jsight 7y ago

Ask a Red Hat employee which Lenovos are currently being handed out to employees. Those usually work pretty well.