linux and "new" (i'd say new < 3-5 months) is always tricky in terms of support from the major distributions without having to fuzz too much. But i won't have ANYTHING else than linux on my laptop.
Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
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Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#22I'm writing this from my XPS 13 using the latest Ubuntu and once I've spent a few hours configuring everything, it works almost perfectly. There's still a few bugs, like Ubuntu not remembering the audio settings.
XPS 15 9560 here. The audio thing seems to be very recent. I've noticed that my (usually muted) audio is always re-enabled on boot now, but only in the past week or so. I've been running Cosmic since the early alpha days. A minor annoyance as everything else works perfectly on this machine - hopefully it'll get fixed soon in an update.
Audio is similarly broken under Windows too on my XPS13.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#23>once I've spent a few hours configuring everything This is what stops noobs from using it.
The article author touched on this as well. The single biggest hurdle that comes up when my sphere of influence talk about installing a linux distro is the amount of manual fussing and finicky driver work you "have to do". Whether that is the reality in today's distros compared to people trying distros out in years past (hello XUbuntu 7!) is to the side. Perception is reality, and no amount of my arguing has been able to change people's minds unless they are already a tinkerer or an anti-Microsoftie.
A sibling comment talks about using xorg vs Wayland and the difference it makes in making the mouse work well or not. That is a perfect example of what holds Linux back from it's (hopefully soon) year of the Linux desktop.
If a given Linux distro would target a consistent set of apps that are familiar to users/"noobs" out of the box (the list the author used is pretty representative) as well as some more visible attempts at automatic driver selection based on known hardware IDs, it would dramatically lower that friction and thus help combat the possibly unfair perception Linux currently runs into in the mind of plain users.
I will say, Microsoft has been bungling things so epically with their windows update boondoggles that I'm starting to encounter users who seem more open to that Linux thing, at least if you pitched it with a distro that tried to have Windows-like look and feel, like the ZorrinOs/Lindows/KDEs of the world.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#24I'm writing this from my XPS 13 using the latest Ubuntu and once I've spent a few hours configuring everything, it works almost perfectly. There's still a few bugs, like Ubuntu not remembering the audio settings.
What? So XPS 13 which you can buy with Ubuntu preinstalled still has parts of the hardware not working after "a few hours configuring everything"? I can't understand how that's acceptable to anyone. Literally every laptop I've installed Linux on had a litany of driver problems.
I want to downvote you and shout/hope it aint so.. but your right :(
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#25The only issue I face with Linux on my Dell XPS 13 is the sub-par touchpad experience. If I use Ubuntu with XOrg, I don't have features like touch rejection while typing etc. If I use Ubuntu with Wayland, my cursor is all over the place.
> If I use Ubuntu with XOrg, I don't have features like touch rejection while typing etc.
I'm guessing that when you say "Ubuntu with XOrg" you're referring to a specific window manager?
On Debian with Xorg my touchpad and touch screen are both easily toggleable with a keyboard shortcut, the touchpad automatically disables itself when I'm typing or when a mouse (bluetooth or logitech solaar) is detected.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember when I installed Debian on my old Toshiba laptop in 2004 (all 16x CDs of it, which a friend had to download for me coz I had no broadband), I couldn't update it because the ethernet network adapter (no wifi) on my laptop was not supported... nice to see that this curse still occasionally persists! If I remember correctly I fixed it by installing a different distro (Ubuntu or Kubuntu, which surprisingly des…
> nice to see that this curse still occasionally persists /s FTFY Seriously, though, that's a huge outlier. I haven't touched a machine in the last 10 years where Ethernet and Wifi were not supported out-of-the-box. (Including my new Thinkpad, which I was weary about since it came with an Atheros Wifi module, but it too worked out-of-the-box without any tinkering). These days, the biggest issues are with Nvidia GPUs…
It still does occur though. A while ago I bought an Asus mini-pc to be used as a media server, only to be stumped by issues with the Realtek drivers. Apparently they're no longer available after kernel version 4.15.
From what you're saying, I guess those devices just aren't that common anymore?
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#27I'm writing this from my XPS 13 using the latest Ubuntu and once I've spent a few hours configuring everything, it works almost perfectly. There's still a few bugs, like Ubuntu not remembering the audio settings.
I'm curious, are you using the 18.04 LTS version which come with the system or the latest 18.10 version ?
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#28There was an interesting thread on Reddit [1] the other day which did a breakdown of the state of gaming in terms of native games and games that can be run easily via Steam Play (aka 'Proton', Valve's in-built WINE+DXVK layer). The results were quite interesting and, as one of the replies pointed out in another breakdown, Linux now competes with (and in some ways beats) gaming on macOS in terms of size of catalogue.…
Beating macOS at gaming sounds like a punchline, that's just not impressive, macOS has only ever been an afterthought for gaming.
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#29I recently switched to an XPS 15 9570 from my Macbook Air. I'm giving windows a shot for my secondary dev machine (python, docker, php, etc...), while being fully aware of the persistent Windows 10 issues. So far, the hardest part was adjusting my keyboard workflow from Mac to Windows. For the time being, I'm extremely happy with the hardware and satisfied with Windows. I'll give dual boot a shot in my spare time.
Same here, except I bought a precision 5530, after 12 years on Mac (2 MBP, then a MBA). It’s been a few months and I like it, I don’t regret it. I don’t mind Windows 10 at all, it feels a bit more customizable than MacOS actually. I do find the way it puts all the files that makes an app work all over the place. But a lot of people are experts in this.
My Linux need is limited so I run the Ubuntu installed from the Microsoft App Store. Rest of my time is splitted between Firefox, Conda and Office. I am not doing any serious CAD, so I didn’t really need the Quadro or the 4K screen, but I have none of the problems that some are complaining about the XPS and it just looks so great. Onyx case also!
Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13
#30I'm writing this from my XPS 13 using the latest Ubuntu and once I've spent a few hours configuring everything, it works almost perfectly. There's still a few bugs, like Ubuntu not remembering the audio settings.
What? So XPS 13 which you can buy with Ubuntu preinstalled still has parts of the hardware not working after "a few hours configuring everything"? I can't understand how that's acceptable to anyone. Literally every laptop I've installed Linux on had a litany of driver problems.
It's possible they don't mean hardware, but rather Ubuntu does not save the settings properly. I have had that issue with the Unity WM