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Desktop - Ubuntu 20.04. Everything works and my requirements are quite advanced - bunch of games on Steam, pro level audio production studio just to mention a f

Desktop - Ubuntu 20.04. Everything works and my requirements are quite advanced - bunch of games on Steam, pro level audio production studio just to mention a few things. Laptop - Dell Precision 7750, Xeon CPU, 64 GB RAM, bought with Ubuntu pre-installed. Beast of a laptop, superior thermals, wipes the floor with a mac. Phone - Google Pixel. I consider that a lesser evil choice to Apple's walled garden. It's rooted, I don't see any ads, etc. Tablet - Google Pixel Slate. High end tablet with 16 GB RAM running Chrome OS which supports native linux apps for a while now. These were all more or less state of the art devices at the time of buying, I have absolutely no need whatsoever to to even think about Apple or Microsoft.

gazby 5y ago
I have the 7550 (15 inch version of the 7750), also with 20.04 on it (Dell shipped it with 18.04 though) and am also very happy with it, so +1 there. I also have an Android tablet and Android phone running LineageOS without Google Play Services, and piggy-back off the SO's Google Maps when we're going places. F-Droid is fantastic here and, where needed, proprietary apps (Slack, Discord etc) can be installed via Aurora with various limited functionality (e.g. no notifications from either of those apps).
- neverminder 5y ago
  Dell Precision 7xxx line is easily the most advanced laptop with official linux support there is. Every person who bought it after I recommended this laptop was impressed. I've got Ubuntu 20.04 on mine and the only thing that doesn't work (yet) is the power button fingerprint reader which is a non-issue.
  - gazby 5y ago
    As a counterpoint there are a number of things I don't like: * I can only have Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs * They've removed all but one external indicator light (there used to be four), and its behavior is completely useless (there's no way for me to tell externally what the power state of my machine is) * They've killed the trackpoint * This is the second of this series I've owned where neither of the fingerprint reader options are Linux compatible (no warning at purchase) * The keyboard layout has regressed substantially - no more media keys, home and end keys are now fn-modified in the F row, page-up and page-down are also fn-modified where they used to be dedicated physical keys * The e-port dock is gone in favor of a USB-attached version that occupies both USB-C ports on the chassis (and only provides two on the dock) When I first received it my initial impulse was "if I wanted this level of regression per generation I'd still be buying Apple", but I've learned to live with it, embodying the grouchy sysadmin stereotype even further (in a hyperbolic way), much to the delight of my coworkers. P.S. Why are you doing this to me Dell?!
    - neverminder 5y ago
      Well, some of those points are down to personal preference. I for instance always hated the trackpoint thing and I am fine with the new clean and simple keyboard approach. Don't even get me started on Apple. If removing the physical Esc key is not the biggest ever fuck you to pro users, then I don't know what is.
      - knownjorbist 5y ago
        Didn't they add it back for some if not all models? I have a 2019 16" with a physical Esc.
  - stereoradonc 5y ago
    ThinkPad E series owner here. I find the default specifications worthwhile (including the keyboard). Dell was a contender but they priced the "business line" more expensive than ThinkPad. I got a sweet deal on Amazon and bought it in a heartbeat!
    - neverminder 5y ago
      I did consider Thinkpad at the time too, but they did not have an option to select linux OS when buying, so I went with Dell, because they don't just pretend to support linux, they officially do.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
username91 5y ago
May I ask what software you use for pro audio production? I'm looking for an alternative to Logic. Thanks!
- neverminder 5y ago
  I use Bitwig Studio. It has that polished feel of Jetbrains products and has very good MIDI production tools among other things. Of course the downside it's not free and rather expensive, but it's linux native. All the VSTs that I need work through wine/yabridge flawlessly - Ample Guitars, Pianoteq. Even the crappy Kontakt works, but I don't use it much. Backend audio server is JACK2 with Pulseaudio sink. Ardour is probably most popular DAW on linux and it's OSS/free, but I found Bitwig better for my use, mainly due to MIDI functionality.
  - username91 5y ago
    Great info. Surprised to hear Wine gets the job done for some of that stuff. Thankyou. :)
    - neverminder 5y ago
      I was just as surprised. Not only it works, there are no performance issues like audio cracks and stuff like that. It's awesome.
  - realaether 5y ago
    When you purchase Bitwig, is it a one-off, rather than working on a subscription model? Sad to say that's rather refreshing if so.
Dracophoenix 5y ago
Are you able to run Protools and the Adobe Suite your Linux desktop is that no yet possible? And how long do you plan to keep the Precision before upgrading?
- neverminder 5y ago
  I don't use ProTools, I use Bitwig Studio which is a full blown DAW with native linux support. There's also Ardour and Reaper, so linux has plenty of DAWs to choose from. Also as I have mentioned in another comment - all VSTs that I need work just fine with wine/yabridge. I don't use Adobe's stuff either, but I know other people run Photoshop on wine, I just don't know what issues they're facing.
timbit42 5y ago
When you realize Snaps suck, you can switch to Linux Mint or Debian.
- TylerLives 5y ago
  Why switch the OS instead of just removing snaps?
- MrDresden 5y ago
  There is literally no requirement to use snaps.
mullingitover 5y ago
> Phone - Google Pixel Pretty sure your photos are still getting scanned for CSAM anyway, then. Google Photos normally are backed up in their cloud, and they do scanning there.
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  Yeah, so don't upload your pictures to google photo. The main take away here is find an alternate backup cloud spot or host your own. Apple is forcing spying software on their phones on the customer to use your very own device to spy. Unless you're simply trying to avoid false positives as a reason, most people are complaining about apple turning their device into a government 4th amendment free zone.
  - mullingitover 5y ago
    > The main take away here is find an alternate backup cloud spot or host your own Every cloud provider has been scanning for CSAM all along. If you're rolling your own on a major hosting company they're probably doing it as well. > most people are complaining about apple turning their device into a government 4th amendment free zone. Apple is a large company but they're not the government, so the 4th amendment has nothing to do with this. It's like saying a hotel that doesn't let you bring crates of assault rifles up to your room is violating your 2nd amendment rights.
    - rendall 5y ago
      Your point is valid but offers cold comfort. The government raiding your cloud without a warrant grants you more legal protection than Apple handing it over.
      - mullingitover 5y ago
        I mean I get it, I don't like people snooping in my stuff, but on the other hand I can't fathom why any online service provider would be okay with hosting criminal activity on their platform. If we want constitutional rights to extend to our online hosting, we should be asking for the government to own and operate a public cloud platform paid for with our taxes.
alecco 5y ago
Did you try/consider GrapheneOS for Pixel?
- neverminder 5y ago
  No, for now I am fine with rooted stock Android. I keep an eye on Librem 5 and Pinephone and in the future I think I'm gonna get one of them as a secondary phone with hopes of eventually switching completely.
- mickotron 5y ago
  GrapheneOS is my daily driver and immensely happy with it. Never been more satisfied with a mobile experience. On a Pixel 4a

gazby 5y ago

I have the 7550 (15 inch version of the 7750), also with 20.04 on it (Dell shipped it with 18.04 though) and am also very happy with it, so +1 there. I also have an Android tablet and Android phone running LineageOS without Google Play Services, and piggy-back off the SO's Google Maps when we're going places. F-Droid is fantastic here and, where needed, proprietary apps (Slack, Discord etc) can be installed via Aurora with various limited functionality (e.g. no notifications from either of those apps).

neverminder 5y ago
Dell Precision 7xxx line is easily the most advanced laptop with official linux support there is. Every person who bought it after I recommended this laptop was impressed. I've got Ubuntu 20.04 on mine and the only thing that doesn't work (yet) is the power button fingerprint reader which is a non-issue.
- gazby 5y ago
  As a counterpoint there are a number of things I don't like: * I can only have Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs * They've removed all but one external indicator light (there used to be four), and its behavior is completely useless (there's no way for me to tell externally what the power state of my machine is) * They've killed the trackpoint * This is the second of this series I've owned where neither of the fingerprint reader options are Linux compatible (no warning at purchase) * The keyboard layout has regressed substantially - no more media keys, home and end keys are now fn-modified in the F row, page-up and page-down are also fn-modified where they used to be dedicated physical keys * The e-port dock is gone in favor of a USB-attached version that occupies both USB-C ports on the chassis (and only provides two on the dock) When I first received it my initial impulse was "if I wanted this level of regression per generation I'd still be buying Apple", but I've learned to live with it, embodying the grouchy sysadmin stereotype even further (in a hyperbolic way), much to the delight of my coworkers. P.S. Why are you doing this to me Dell?!
  - neverminder 5y ago
    Well, some of those points are down to personal preference. I for instance always hated the trackpoint thing and I am fine with the new clean and simple keyboard approach. Don't even get me started on Apple. If removing the physical Esc key is not the biggest ever fuck you to pro users, then I don't know what is.
    - knownjorbist 5y ago
      Didn't they add it back for some if not all models? I have a 2019 16" with a physical Esc.
- stereoradonc 5y ago
  ThinkPad E series owner here. I find the default specifications worthwhile (including the keyboard). Dell was a contender but they priced the "business line" more expensive than ThinkPad. I got a sweet deal on Amazon and bought it in a heartbeat!
  - neverminder 5y ago
    I did consider Thinkpad at the time too, but they did not have an option to select linux OS when buying, so I went with Dell, because they don't just pretend to support linux, they officially do.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

username91 5y ago

May I ask what software you use for pro audio production? I'm looking for an alternative to Logic. Thanks!

neverminder 5y ago
I use Bitwig Studio. It has that polished feel of Jetbrains products and has very good MIDI production tools among other things. Of course the downside it's not free and rather expensive, but it's linux native. All the VSTs that I need work through wine/yabridge flawlessly - Ample Guitars, Pianoteq. Even the crappy Kontakt works, but I don't use it much. Backend audio server is JACK2 with Pulseaudio sink. Ardour is probably most popular DAW on linux and it's OSS/free, but I found Bitwig better for my use, mainly due to MIDI functionality.
- username91 5y ago
  Great info. Surprised to hear Wine gets the job done for some of that stuff. Thankyou. :)
  - neverminder 5y ago
    I was just as surprised. Not only it works, there are no performance issues like audio cracks and stuff like that. It's awesome.
- realaether 5y ago
  When you purchase Bitwig, is it a one-off, rather than working on a subscription model? Sad to say that's rather refreshing if so.

Dracophoenix 5y ago

Are you able to run Protools and the Adobe Suite your Linux desktop is that no yet possible? And how long do you plan to keep the Precision before upgrading?

neverminder 5y ago
I don't use ProTools, I use Bitwig Studio which is a full blown DAW with native linux support. There's also Ardour and Reaper, so linux has plenty of DAWs to choose from. Also as I have mentioned in another comment - all VSTs that I need work just fine with wine/yabridge. I don't use Adobe's stuff either, but I know other people run Photoshop on wine, I just don't know what issues they're facing.

timbit42 5y ago

When you realize Snaps suck, you can switch to Linux Mint or Debian.

TylerLives 5y ago
Why switch the OS instead of just removing snaps?
MrDresden 5y ago
There is literally no requirement to use snaps.

mullingitover 5y ago

> Phone - Google Pixel Pretty sure your photos are still getting scanned for CSAM anyway, then. Google Photos normally are backed up in their cloud, and they do scanning there.

stjohnswarts 5y ago
Yeah, so don't upload your pictures to google photo. The main take away here is find an alternate backup cloud spot or host your own. Apple is forcing spying software on their phones on the customer to use your very own device to spy. Unless you're simply trying to avoid false positives as a reason, most people are complaining about apple turning their device into a government 4th amendment free zone.
- mullingitover 5y ago
  > The main take away here is find an alternate backup cloud spot or host your own Every cloud provider has been scanning for CSAM all along. If you're rolling your own on a major hosting company they're probably doing it as well. > most people are complaining about apple turning their device into a government 4th amendment free zone. Apple is a large company but they're not the government, so the 4th amendment has nothing to do with this. It's like saying a hotel that doesn't let you bring crates of assault rifles up to your room is violating your 2nd amendment rights.
  - rendall 5y ago
    Your point is valid but offers cold comfort. The government raiding your cloud without a warrant grants you more legal protection than Apple handing it over.
    - mullingitover 5y ago
      I mean I get it, I don't like people snooping in my stuff, but on the other hand I can't fathom why any online service provider would be okay with hosting criminal activity on their platform. If we want constitutional rights to extend to our online hosting, we should be asking for the government to own and operate a public cloud platform paid for with our taxes.

alecco 5y ago

Did you try/consider GrapheneOS for Pixel?

neverminder 5y ago
No, for now I am fine with rooted stock Android. I keep an eye on Librem 5 and Pinephone and in the future I think I'm gonna get one of them as a secondary phone with hopes of eventually switching completely.
mickotron 5y ago
GrapheneOS is my daily driver and immensely happy with it. Never been more satisfied with a mobile experience. On a Pixel 4a