4 ms·

"occasional peripheral" is usually WiFi, trackpad, Bluetooth or GPU. Bluetooth may be manageable from that list, but if one of those 4 doesn't work pretty much

"occasional peripheral" is usually WiFi, trackpad, Bluetooth or GPU. Bluetooth may be manageable from that list, but if one of those 4 doesn't work pretty much out of the box, it's a non starter for most people

doix 4y ago
In my very small sample size, those things "work" well enough. What doesn't work is sleep state and power management. Just my personal experience, but that's what I'm always fiddling with. My laptop still drains much faster in Linux with the lid shut and "sleeping" despite my fiddling. Hopefully this will be sorted in the next few years and the technology doesn't change again.
- noirbot 4y ago
  Yea, power management is absolutely terrible. I've been messing with it for a year, but I can't really get my Linux laptop on any distro to have better than about 2 hours of battery life while running, and 5-6 while in "standby". That said, the wifi and mouse issues are often by far the worst. It's probably somehow related to the standby stuff, but sometimes I'll just log in and it'll decide my trackpad didn't reinitialize correctly, so rebooting is the only option to easily fix it. There's also a persistent issue with Gnome where the modal for asking for a password for a wifi connection just crashes consistently until you restart. It's happened to me on 4 different distros.
forgotusername6 4y ago
Install Linux. Find out that WiFi doesn't work. Manually transfer files to compile WiFi driver via usb. Compile WiFi driver. WiFi works. Boot a few weeks later. WiFi no longer works. Driver built without being signed. Kernel now requires signed drivers. Work out how to sign and trust driver. Boot a few weeks later, WiFi no longer works. Kernel has upgraded again. Signed driver not in the right place. Disable security on driver checking. Put laptop in draw forever. Even though I am capable of fixing all of these things I just don't have the energy. If I want Linux I'll just use WSL or a VM.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- haspok 4y ago
  The last I had this problem was in 2015, when Dell in their infinite wisdom (or because they got a deal) decided to ship _some_ of their XPS 13s with a "Killer" (?) wifi, which didn't have proper Linux drivers, it was too new. Actually, half of the hardware in that machine at that time was unsupported by Linux, I remember I had to wait for about 6 months to get audio working properly. Oh, and I bought an Intel card which solved all wifi issues immediately... I haven't had that problem since, in fact, I find that Linux runs more reliably on a typical laptop (OK, I'm a Thinkpad person, if that's "typical") than Windows (except bleeding edge hardware, I don't understand why Intel can't release their drivers for their next in line CPUs in time, but I'm sure they have their reasons...).
  - forgotusername6 4y ago
    My failed attempt was on an HP stream. It was the cheapest laptop in the store and was woefully underpowered for running windows that it came installed with. I thought maybe I could use it as a lightweight, cheap little Linux notebook to do some hobby projects away from the desk. It wasn't to be.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - itsoktocry 4y ago
    This is my experience. I've been using Ubuntu exclusively since 2015, having installed it on a variety of my own laptops and desktops, as well as a few systems of friends and relatives. Sure, on occasion something breaks, but I've not encountered any major compatibility issues or installation blockers.
- CameronNemo 4y ago
  Most WiFi drivers don't require a module. Recent Qualcomm, Intel, and MediaTek chipsets are supported OOTB. If you need an out of tree module to get your WiFi to work, it might be worth it to get a new WiFi card and get rid of the FakeTek chip your laptop came with.
yencabulator 4y ago
I've yet to see a laptop trackpad not work in Linux. I've run Linux on many, many, laptops, including Apple's PowerPC iBooks.

doix 4y ago

In my very small sample size, those things "work" well enough. What doesn't work is sleep state and power management. Just my personal experience, but that's what I'm always fiddling with. My laptop still drains much faster in Linux with the lid shut and "sleeping" despite my fiddling. Hopefully this will be sorted in the next few years and the technology doesn't change again.

noirbot 4y ago
Yea, power management is absolutely terrible. I've been messing with it for a year, but I can't really get my Linux laptop on any distro to have better than about 2 hours of battery life while running, and 5-6 while in "standby". That said, the wifi and mouse issues are often by far the worst. It's probably somehow related to the standby stuff, but sometimes I'll just log in and it'll decide my trackpad didn't reinitialize correctly, so rebooting is the only option to easily fix it. There's also a persistent issue with Gnome where the modal for asking for a password for a wifi connection just crashes consistently until you restart. It's happened to me on 4 different distros.

forgotusername6 4y ago

Install Linux. Find out that WiFi doesn't work. Manually transfer files to compile WiFi driver via usb. Compile WiFi driver. WiFi works. Boot a few weeks later. WiFi no longer works. Driver built without being signed. Kernel now requires signed drivers. Work out how to sign and trust driver. Boot a few weeks later, WiFi no longer works. Kernel has upgraded again. Signed driver not in the right place. Disable security on driver checking. Put laptop in draw forever. Even though I am capable of fixing all of these things I just don't have the energy. If I want Linux I'll just use WSL or a VM.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
haspok 4y ago
The last I had this problem was in 2015, when Dell in their infinite wisdom (or because they got a deal) decided to ship _some_ of their XPS 13s with a "Killer" (?) wifi, which didn't have proper Linux drivers, it was too new. Actually, half of the hardware in that machine at that time was unsupported by Linux, I remember I had to wait for about 6 months to get audio working properly. Oh, and I bought an Intel card which solved all wifi issues immediately... I haven't had that problem since, in fact, I find that Linux runs more reliably on a typical laptop (OK, I'm a Thinkpad person, if that's "typical") than Windows (except bleeding edge hardware, I don't understand why Intel can't release their drivers for their next in line CPUs in time, but I'm sure they have their reasons...).
- forgotusername6 4y ago
  My failed attempt was on an HP stream. It was the cheapest laptop in the store and was woefully underpowered for running windows that it came installed with. I thought maybe I could use it as a lightweight, cheap little Linux notebook to do some hobby projects away from the desk. It wasn't to be.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- itsoktocry 4y ago
  This is my experience. I've been using Ubuntu exclusively since 2015, having installed it on a variety of my own laptops and desktops, as well as a few systems of friends and relatives. Sure, on occasion something breaks, but I've not encountered any major compatibility issues or installation blockers.
CameronNemo 4y ago
Most WiFi drivers don't require a module. Recent Qualcomm, Intel, and MediaTek chipsets are supported OOTB. If you need an out of tree module to get your WiFi to work, it might be worth it to get a new WiFi card and get rid of the FakeTek chip your laptop came with.

yencabulator 4y ago

I've yet to see a laptop trackpad not work in Linux. I've run Linux on many, many, laptops, including Apple's PowerPC iBooks.