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Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

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Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#191

Post by jorgemf »

quincunx wrote: post #62
colordrops wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you referring to? Does it overheat? Battery run down?

I don't know what jorgemf is referring to but I own the same laptop. It's bad at switching between the intel and nvidia GPUs, most notably in Chrome it even causes lockups. Pretty sad they haven't resolved it yet, out of the box Chrome is now locked down to Intel on Win10.

You need to use Bumblebee for this, and then launch the apps with primusrun or optirun. Some programs like steam doesn't need anything, and work without issues.

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#192

Post by LeifCarrotson »

chatmasta wrote: post #155

It's funny how a primary criticism of consumer linux is "you'll have trouble running it on any laptop you pick at random." Isn't this an unfair criticism? If you apply the same logic to MacOS (only works on one laptop!) or Windows (only works on laptops specifically designed for it), Linux begins to look extremely compatible in comparison. Linux has demonstrated itself to be compatible with nearly any hardware combin…

> or Windows (only works on laptops specifically designed for it)

Windows also works well on laptops specifically designed for MacOS. It helps that all the commodity parts that Apple uses were designed for other Windows laptops. Plus, Apple has put some effort into Boot Camp to ensure that Windows can be loaded, and Microsoft has probably spent some effort making sure that Windows runs well on Apple hardware, but that's one example of a machine not designed for Windows which still runs it.

Unfortunately, that's basically the only example of a laptop which is not designed for Windows that I can think of. Perhaps the Novena laptop [1] is an example of a laptop not designed for Windows? Are there others?

[1]: https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/portable-devi...

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#193

Post by oblio »

rbanffy wrote: post #152
sigi45 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have plenty of experience with linux on laptops and windows. Yes it is very nice to have 1, 2 or even 5 Laptops which work with linux. Windows still runs on more devices, better. I had never the issue, that i had to sit it out that a specific bug came into the release cycle of a windows update but i had this 4 times in 3 years with arch linux. And i also have a strange experience with linux: One ssd does work flawl…

> Yes it is very nice to have 1, 2 or even 5 Laptops which work with linux. It's been a long time I haven't seen a general purpose laptop or desktop that didn't work flawlessly with both Ubuntu and Fedora. The only one I have is the MacBook Pro in front of me, but it comes with a decent OS anyway. > Windows still runs on more devices, better. Can it delete open files now?

> Can it delete open files now?

Does it matter? And how is this related to the rest of the discussion? :)

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#194

Post by qwerty654 »

bunderbunder wrote: post #160
gargravarr wrote: post #108

At my company, most of the developers use Ubuntu end-user machines, all from Dell. Not only does this avoid us having to pay for Windows licenses we never use, but we know the hardware is actually going to work fine with it. There's some quirks, of course - Ubuntu doesn't much like the 4k screens in our 13" XPSen so there's a lot of tweaking involved, but we're getting some very good hardware at a good price, and stu…

FWIW, Windows has problems with 4K screens, too. Most apps work fine, some display at the size of a postage stamp.

Swing apps (Tibco BW and DBVisualizer I think) all suffered on my latest XPS. There is a workaround though (adding some XML Windows guff to do with scaling next to the offending binary and/or java/javaw.exe.

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#195

Post by gargravarr »

erikbye wrote: post #180
bunderbunder wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and I'm pretty sure the reason's the same for Linux. Doesn't affect my opinion on the usability of the platform, though. For my part, I got my work to do, so I ultimately ended up back on a Mac (yet again, ugh) because, for all Apple's recent problems, none of them bother me as much as things like, "I just flat-out can't use this app that I need without a microscope."

Regarding usability, been a little while since I've used macOS now, so sincere question: Is it still true that you need third-party software to do keyboard-based window management? Even just something as simple as Windows' Win+arrow keys.

I think it is. I haven't dug much into Sierra, but there's no obvious window management options. I remember using BetterTouchTool on Snow Leopard to Mavericks which did the job very well, but I think you're correct in that there's still no native support.

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#196

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

madengr wrote: post #96

The dumb thing is that it was cheaper for me to buy my XPS 13 from Microcenter and delete Windows, than get the Developers Edition from Dell. Had to sticker over the damned Windows logo on the bottom with a Tux sticker; didn’t feel right.

Similar thing happened to me--was just browsing Craigslist one night (looking for a cheap ThinkPad, actually), and stumbled across a listing for a fully decked-out XPS 13, lightly used, for $800. I really had no choice. Wiped Windows, replaced the Broadcom wifi with an Intel chip, and loaded Fedora onto it.

That model was a 9343, however, and when my extended warranty runs out for it in 2019, I will likely buy a new Developer Edition. The Dell guys have said that loading Linux after purchase doesn't help their numbers--you need to buy the Developer Edition from them in order for their marketing people to gauge interest in Linux.

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#197

Post by oblio »

baldfat wrote: post #124
vetinari wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fedora is not kinda beta branch of RHEL. Fedora is a fast-moving distribution, similar to non-LTS Ubuntu. RHEL is a long-term supported distribution (way longer than LTS Ubuntu). It is for machines that you want to set up and forget about their existence. The difference is in target audience and the intent, what their machines have to do. More proper designation would be, that RHEL is a fork of Fedora, that is being…

> Fedora is not kinda beta branch of RHEL. I thought maybe Redhat changed their stance on Fedora and read from Redhat's page and well it is 100% a beta testing ground for RHEL. "The size and expertise of the Fedora community make Fedora an ideal incubator and proving ground for features that eventually get incorporated into Red Hat Enterprise Linux. To meet the quality and reliability requirements that make Red Hat E…

Based on your comment I assume you're an old timer. It's been 14 years since the bad blood days of Fedora Core 1. Fedora is way more polished than back in the day.

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#198

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

bitexploder wrote: post #182
lmm wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ubuntu doesn't much like the 4k screens in our 13" XPSen so there's a lot of tweaking involved > stuff just works I can't reconcile these two statements.

This harkens back to the classic Unix statement, "Unix is user friendly, it is just picky about its friends." I must agree that the support of high DPI displays is not optimal just yet. However, it is not that bad. At a corporate level one person can do the tweaking and create a great user experience for an entire organization. Given the amount of tweaking and "management" goo organizations foist upon the average OSX…

> "Unix is user friendly, it is just picky about its friends."

Specifically, all of its friends are masochists.

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#199

Post by oneweekwonder »

erikbye wrote: post #180
bunderbunder wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and I'm pretty sure the reason's the same for Linux. Doesn't affect my opinion on the usability of the platform, though. For my part, I got my work to do, so I ultimately ended up back on a Mac (yet again, ugh) because, for all Apple's recent problems, none of them bother me as much as things like, "I just flat-out can't use this app that I need without a microscope."

Regarding usability, been a little while since I've used macOS now, so sincere question: Is it still true that you need third-party software to do keyboard-based window management? Even just something as simple as Windows' Win+arrow keys.

Like spectacle[0]? I'm not on the latest macOS but I believe you still need a app like this for macOS.

[0]: https://www.spectacleapp.com/

Re: Dell’s gamble on Linux laptops has paid off

#200

Post by wlesieutre »

erikbye wrote: post #180
bunderbunder wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and I'm pretty sure the reason's the same for Linux. Doesn't affect my opinion on the usability of the platform, though. For my part, I got my work to do, so I ultimately ended up back on a Mac (yet again, ugh) because, for all Apple's recent problems, none of them bother me as much as things like, "I just flat-out can't use this app that I need without a microscope."

Regarding usability, been a little while since I've used macOS now, so sincere question: Is it still true that you need third-party software to do keyboard-based window management? Even just something as simple as Windows' Win+arrow keys.

Yes, still true. Lots of options though.

Divvy, Spectacle, ShiftIt, Moom, Amythest, SizeUp, Cinch, Slate, Flexiglass, probably others.

If you want something very configurable and don't mind writing some Lua, Hammerspoon is a fun utility.

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