Live data from Hacker News

System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

blog.system76.com

201–210 of 330 posts

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#201
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will most definitely want a recent kernel (16.04 ships with 4.4 - you want 4.8 or later). Also check the Arch wiki about Intel video to see if you can fix your problems with X ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics ), eg. switching from SNA to UXA.

Thanks for the link -- I'm still hanging when unplugging from the dock, but switching to UXA and disabling 3D accel seems to have quieted the glitches down. I did try some newer kernels a few months ago, but then my wifi stopped working. But this should not be necessary when running a flagship LTS desktop Linux on extremely common hardware from two years ago! I expected more.

Linux hardware support often takes years to mature -- for example, the graphics hardware on my Haswell laptop has seen steady improvements despite being years old. I would strongly recommend against using a LTS linux release from around the time your computer was released. Its just going to be too old. Try Ubuntu 17.04, or take the jump and just use Arch. I use Arch on all my work and home machines, without issue. Maybe twice a year requires 5-10 minutes of extra work during an upgrade to ensure a package update works.

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#202
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will most definitely want a recent kernel (16.04 ships with 4.4 - you want 4.8 or later). Also check the Arch wiki about Intel video to see if you can fix your problems with X ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics ), eg. switching from SNA to UXA.

Thanks for the link -- I'm still hanging when unplugging from the dock, but switching to UXA and disabling 3D accel seems to have quieted the glitches down. I did try some newer kernels a few months ago, but then my wifi stopped working. But this should not be necessary when running a flagship LTS desktop Linux on extremely common hardware from two years ago! I expected more.

[deleted]

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#203
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which T is closest to a Macbook Air 11"? There are many fine linux laptops in the desk-home type, 14"-17". The selection isn't so fine if you're looking for something that'll fit in your lap on the plane or train, and have 8G of RAM. Or at least 4.

My wife has an X240, something in that series is equivalent to the Air. To be honest I would just go for the Apple, we have had quite a few problems with the Lenovo.

What problems? I have the same computer and love it.

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#204
post #183

Nice, isn't this 'lil bit expensive?

A lot of the target market is buying MBPs right now, demonstrating that they're not particularly price-sensitive. The new Galapago Pro is significantly cheaper than a similarly-specced MBP.

I had to google MBP :).

I would buy none of these two btw, unless they tell me that they didn't rip off little children in some remote place... In that case I'd even pay lil bit extra.

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#205
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MBP-quality trackpads and MBP-equivalent battery life. I can't understand why battery life isn't higher on the list of "must haves" for people who want a nice linux laptop.

Some laptops have a built in battery along with a swappable battery. The battery life people could get one of these and get enough spare batteries to smoke the mac several times over.

Except that you'd be required to reboot the OS every time you swap. Which is what a lot of developers would rather avoid.

Maybe they could have a tiny low power battery that could last 5-10 mins to reboot-less battery swaps

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some laptops have a built in battery along with a swappable battery. The battery life people could get one of these and get enough spare batteries to smoke the mac several times over.

Except that you'd be required to reboot the OS every time you swap. Which is what a lot of developers would rather avoid. Maybe they could have a tiny low power battery that could last 5-10 mins to reboot-less battery swaps

Re-read the post. Built in battery plus swap-able battery.

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that buying 6mths behind just under the state of the art gets you 90% of the performance often for half the cost. I've been custom building my desktops since the 90's and I can't remember the last time I had an issue with hardware, I think it was a Geforce MX440 so ~2003. The driver story on desktop hardware for Linux is absolutely great (in my experience) if the hardware has been out 6mths or more or uses a c…

I have given this advise on Hacker News before: on eBay 2-3 year old workstations can be had for 300-400 Euro. Typically these are workstations from companies that replace machines every 2 years or so. These are typically equipped with Xeon CPUs, plenty of memory, sometimes ECC etc. Moreover, since they are usually HP/Dell workstations, they are certified to be compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, so all the har…

This is very cool. I wonder how much the electricity costs would be if I let that machine stay on 7/24 for a year. Power, in Germany, is a bit expensive (learned the hard way).

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#209
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the link -- I'm still hanging when unplugging from the dock, but switching to UXA and disabling 3D accel seems to have quieted the glitches down. I did try some newer kernels a few months ago, but then my wifi stopped working. But this should not be necessary when running a flagship LTS desktop Linux on extremely common hardware from two years ago! I expected more.

Linux hardware support often takes years to mature -- for example, the graphics hardware on my Haswell laptop has seen steady improvements despite being years old. I would strongly recommend against using a LTS linux release from around the time your computer was released. Its just going to be too old. Try Ubuntu 17.04, or take the jump and just use Arch. I use Arch on all my work and home machines, without issue. Ma…

For what it's worth, I tried a few different OSes, including Ubuntu 16.10 (which was the latest at the time), before settling on 16.04 LTS (which was released a year after the laptop came out). I plan to try 17.04 when I get some time, but I also expect to be disappointed. I got about 10min into an Arch install before laughing myself into a coma -- I've seen smoother Unix installs from the 1990s.

But I will reiterate: this is clown shoes. Expecting this kind of effort from desktop users is hostile.

Re: System76 is moving product design and manufacturing in house

#210
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also add that if they can also get the same quality trackpad as that of MacBooks, I would also flock to it.

This has bothered me for a long time. Why are PC trackpads so awful? Why don't PC makers just do what Apple does with their trackpad?

Or even what phone manufacturers do with their screens. The problem isn't ability though it's cost. The market for laptops is seriously cost competitive and customers don't know if a trackpad will be good or bad until after purchased (with the exception of a few brands like apple).
Post reply on HN