5 ms·

Perhaps it's time to give Linux on laptops another try? ;)

mcculley 5y ago
Okay, I'll bite. Which distribution works on modern hardware and supports suspend/resume, WiFi, sound, external monitors, and printing without me digging into a config file at every different place I visit? Just to be clear, I have been using Linux since 1992. I am completely comfortable with Linux on the desktop and the server. What I found is that Linux does not deal well with configuration, and configuration on laptops changes daily (or more).
- shaicoleman 5y ago
  The hardware support is pretty good nowadays, and almost everything works out of the box. There's a few caveats: * Sound works fine in general, but might be a bit buggy with Bluetooth. If you encounter any issues, installing Pipewire reportedly solves most of them. * External monitors works fine, as long as you don't mix HiDPI and LoDPI at the same time. In the future, Wayland should fix this. * HiDPI mostly works, but still requires some config tweaks for a handful of apps. * Suspend/resume still sucks, mainly due to buggy nVidia/AMD graphics drivers. Only the Intel GPU drivers suspend reliably in my experience. * WiFi works flawlessly, especially if you're using the Intel WiFi hardware, which is very common on laptops. * Printing works fine except with Windows-only printers, but they are pretty rare. * Distros don't really matter that much, but you'd might need to update your kernel if you use an LTS distro with newish hardware. The Ubuntu based distros, e.g. Mint/Ubuntu/Pop!_OS are good options and have the largest user base, so it's easiest to find solutions if you encounter any issue. * If you just want to test hardware compatibility, I recommend trying Ubuntu 21.10 on a USB stick. * You'd might want to look at /r/linuxhardware [1] for specific hardware recommendations for your needs. You can also look at the Ubuntu Certified Hardware [2] 1. https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/ 2. https://ubuntu.com/certified https://ubuntu.com/certified
  - mcculley 5y ago
    This sounds like 2004.
    - shaicoleman 5y ago
      Despite the list of caveats above, the bottom line is that almost everything works out of the box. If I would create a similar list of issues for Windows or macOS, it would be much longer. YMMV, so you might need to try it yourself before making a more informed decision. Testing the hardware support from a USB stick is something that can be done rather quickly.
      - mcculley 5y ago
        My current situation is that everything works fine and I have to reboot about once per week. I think I will stay where I am for now.
        jfrunyon 5y ago
        My current situation is that everything works fine and I haven't rebooted in a few months. (I should get around to that soon, there's a new kernel waiting. Or probably a couple.)
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  Literally any.

Okay, I'll bite. Which distribution works on modern hardware and supports suspend/resume, WiFi, sound, external monitors, and printing without me digging into a config file at every different place I visit? Just to be clear, I have been using Linux since 1992. I am completely comfortable with Linux on the desktop and the server. What I found is that Linux does not deal well with configuration, and configuration on laptops changes daily (or more).

shaicoleman 5y ago
The hardware support is pretty good nowadays, and almost everything works out of the box. There's a few caveats: * Sound works fine in general, but might be a bit buggy with Bluetooth. If you encounter any issues, installing Pipewire reportedly solves most of them. * External monitors works fine, as long as you don't mix HiDPI and LoDPI at the same time. In the future, Wayland should fix this. * HiDPI mostly works, but still requires some config tweaks for a handful of apps. * Suspend/resume still sucks, mainly due to buggy nVidia/AMD graphics drivers. Only the Intel GPU drivers suspend reliably in my experience. * WiFi works flawlessly, especially if you're using the Intel WiFi hardware, which is very common on laptops. * Printing works fine except with Windows-only printers, but they are pretty rare. * Distros don't really matter that much, but you'd might need to update your kernel if you use an LTS distro with newish hardware. The Ubuntu based distros, e.g. Mint/Ubuntu/Pop!_OS are good options and have the largest user base, so it's easiest to find solutions if you encounter any issue. * If you just want to test hardware compatibility, I recommend trying Ubuntu 21.10 on a USB stick. * You'd might want to look at /r/linuxhardware [1] for specific hardware recommendations for your needs. You can also look at the Ubuntu Certified Hardware [2] 1. https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/ 2. https://ubuntu.com/certified https://ubuntu.com/certified
- mcculley 5y ago
  This sounds like 2004.
  - shaicoleman 5y ago
    Despite the list of caveats above, the bottom line is that almost everything works out of the box. If I would create a similar list of issues for Windows or macOS, it would be much longer. YMMV, so you might need to try it yourself before making a more informed decision. Testing the hardware support from a USB stick is something that can be done rather quickly.
    - mcculley 5y ago
      My current situation is that everything works fine and I have to reboot about once per week. I think I will stay where I am for now.
      - jfrunyon 5y ago
        My current situation is that everything works fine and I haven't rebooted in a few months. (I should get around to that soon, there's a new kernel waiting. Or probably a couple.)
jfrunyon 5y ago
Literally any.