4 ms·

Unless this has great, zero-issues unix support, I'll have to pass. Is there a laptop like this that is supported by linux or any of the BSDs well?

mladenkovacevic 12y ago
I don't think you'll get anything officially Linux "supported" unless you got for one of Dell's developer "Sputnik" laptops that comes with Ubuntu installed. But I have had no problems installing Linux on older Acer and Asus laptops (with very minor driver tweaks post-installation). I'm not sure, however, if that has changed for the better or for worse with newer Windows laptops.
- michaelbuddy 12y ago
  There's always the System76.com laptops and desktops. If I could get away with just Linux, I would get one of those in a minute.
wyldfire 12y ago
AFAIK the Pixel is one of the best around this class, but it's a bit more expensive at 1000 USD.
- bentcorner 12y ago
  The big problem is the 64GB SSD. The difference in retail cost with a 256GB is about $50, in bulk it'd probably be closer to $20-25. I really don't understand Google's logic here. I guess they see people buying the Pixel for non-Googley things to be a problem?
  - joshuapants 12y ago
    I remember reading an article stating that the vast majority of Pixels go to Google's internal developers, with some sold to the small number of enthusiasts who just really want one. I assume that Google developers are not relying on a lot of storage space on these machines, and since it's not really intended to be a consumer machine there's no point in offering more SKUs with different storage.
tdicola 12y ago
The 2015 Dell XPS 13 sputnik edition is similar and will have full support for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS out of the box. It's still in the last stages of development & bug fixing from what I understand though: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19613910?pi22229=6 http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/46...
- wtbob 12y ago
  Yeah, but 'full support for Ubuntu' doesn't necessarily mean 'full support for Linux'; I've learnt that the hard way.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    What do you mean?
    - pwnna 12y ago
      Sometimes vendors will include proprietary kernel modules that's only licensed to Ubuntu or works only on Ubuntu. I think this happened to some broadcom chips.
      - icebraining 12y ago
        Can't they just be copied? It's not like other distros use a different kernel (maybe a different version, but that's usually easy to adapt to).
        hobarrera 12y ago
        Copying binary kernel modules isn't guaranteed to work across kernel versions. There's a stable API, but not a stable ABI. Heck, Ubuntu's kernel actually has lots of patches, so unless you carry those along, the modules may even not-work on a same kernel version for some other distro.
this_user 12y ago
I have been using the UX31E for some years now and Linux runs just fine. I got the laptop right when it came out and initially had to do some tweaking under Arch (mainly enable some newer features needed by the hardware), but all in all I am perfectly happy with the machine and its quality.
ams6110 12y ago
OpenBSDs 5.7 includes "New iwm(4) driver for Intel 7260, 7265, and 3160 wifi cards."
scrollaway 12y ago
I've used two UX-line netbooks and they have had excellent Linux support. Of course, YMMV when it comes to touchscreens and hidpi as those are heavily DE/config-dependent.
Nullabillity 12y ago
My old ASUS laptop (must have been from 2011/2012) ran nicely on both Ubuntu and Arch out of the box. My only needs to tweak stuff manually were 1) installing Bumblebee (2 lines of bash) and 2) tweaking some PulseAudio settings so my crappy USB headset would work well with Skype. I just got a new ASUS ROG laptop, and so far my experience has been almost the same with Ubuntu. The new issues were that 3) that while the key backlighting works fine, the screen brightness buttons don't work (although the GUI controls do) and 4) touchpad drivers weren't set up with any way to do a MMB click.
hobarrera 12y ago
Except for the webcam, the MacBook Air works flawlessly with Linux. As far as BSD goes, I at a loss. :(

mladenkovacevic 12y ago

I don't think you'll get anything officially Linux "supported" unless you got for one of Dell's developer "Sputnik" laptops that comes with Ubuntu installed. But I have had no problems installing Linux on older Acer and Asus laptops (with very minor driver tweaks post-installation). I'm not sure, however, if that has changed for the better or for worse with newer Windows laptops.

michaelbuddy 12y ago
There's always the System76.com laptops and desktops. If I could get away with just Linux, I would get one of those in a minute.

wyldfire 12y ago

AFAIK the Pixel is one of the best around this class, but it's a bit more expensive at 1000 USD.

bentcorner 12y ago
The big problem is the 64GB SSD. The difference in retail cost with a 256GB is about $50, in bulk it'd probably be closer to $20-25. I really don't understand Google's logic here. I guess they see people buying the Pixel for non-Googley things to be a problem?
- joshuapants 12y ago
  I remember reading an article stating that the vast majority of Pixels go to Google's internal developers, with some sold to the small number of enthusiasts who just really want one. I assume that Google developers are not relying on a lot of storage space on these machines, and since it's not really intended to be a consumer machine there's no point in offering more SKUs with different storage.

tdicola 12y ago

The 2015 Dell XPS 13 sputnik edition is similar and will have full support for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS out of the box. It's still in the last stages of development & bug fixing from what I understand though: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19613910?pi22229=6 http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/46...

wtbob 12y ago
Yeah, but 'full support for Ubuntu' doesn't necessarily mean 'full support for Linux'; I've learnt that the hard way.
- icebraining 12y ago
  What do you mean?
  - pwnna 12y ago
    Sometimes vendors will include proprietary kernel modules that's only licensed to Ubuntu or works only on Ubuntu. I think this happened to some broadcom chips.
    - icebraining 12y ago
      Can't they just be copied? It's not like other distros use a different kernel (maybe a different version, but that's usually easy to adapt to).
      - hobarrera 12y ago
        Copying binary kernel modules isn't guaranteed to work across kernel versions. There's a stable API, but not a stable ABI. Heck, Ubuntu's kernel actually has lots of patches, so unless you carry those along, the modules may even not-work on a same kernel version for some other distro.

this_user 12y ago

I have been using the UX31E for some years now and Linux runs just fine. I got the laptop right when it came out and initially had to do some tweaking under Arch (mainly enable some newer features needed by the hardware), but all in all I am perfectly happy with the machine and its quality.

ams6110 12y ago

OpenBSDs 5.7 includes "New iwm(4) driver for Intel 7260, 7265, and 3160 wifi cards."

scrollaway 12y ago

I've used two UX-line netbooks and they have had excellent Linux support. Of course, YMMV when it comes to touchscreens and hidpi as those are heavily DE/config-dependent.

Nullabillity 12y ago

My old ASUS laptop (must have been from 2011/2012) ran nicely on both Ubuntu and Arch out of the box. My only needs to tweak stuff manually were 1) installing Bumblebee (2 lines of bash) and 2) tweaking some PulseAudio settings so my crappy USB headset would work well with Skype. I just got a new ASUS ROG laptop, and so far my experience has been almost the same with Ubuntu. The new issues were that 3) that while the key backlighting works fine, the screen brightness buttons don't work (although the GUI controls do) and 4) touchpad drivers weren't set up with any way to do a MMB click.

hobarrera 12y ago

Except for the webcam, the MacBook Air works flawlessly with Linux. As far as BSD goes, I at a loss. :(