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Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

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Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#51

Post by sz4kerto »

jimmies wrote: post #38
lostmsu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, why don't you just use Windows or Mac laptop? You'd have all the same advantages without hardware/firmware problems.

>why don't you just use Windows or Mac laptop? Linux tooling support is still very important to me. I want to be able to enjoy Konsole and Sublime text. Windows Subsystem for Linux is getting there, but I don't think it's as advanced as ChromeOS' yet. Besides, I don't like the Metro interface and Windows 10 in general. Mac means tying to Apple hardware. Apple hardware means crappy keyboard, heavy laptop, and no touch…

I'm just using Windows with Linux in a VM. All the hardware support and all the Linux goodies. (Some extra memory is required, but my thin-and-light 14" laptop had 32G, so it's ok.)

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#52

Post by zozbot123 »

pjmlp wrote: post #46
bubblethink wrote: post #14

This is all very cool stuff of course. Somewhat tangentially, I wonder if, collectively, a lot of recent developments such as WSL and crostini push the year of the linux desktop even further out. A new generation of people will experience traditional GNU/linux as we know only in the context of walled garden setups like windows, chromeos, and android (samsung dex I think has something similar). Objectively, this is an…

You are pretty much right, GNU/Linux as mass market desktop has lost its opportunity. ChromeOS market share is irrelevant outside North America, just check the worldwide market share in your favourite source. Only Android/Linux has really taken off and even there we still don't know what are Google's plans regarding Fuchsia. It might pretty well be that some future Android version will get a new kernel, announced at…

I agree that ChromeOS is largely irrelevant but IME, GNU/Linux is more popular than ever on the desktop. The other operating systems in common use are all terrible in their own ways, and users are increasingly aware that Linux may be a meaningful alternative depending on their needs.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#53

Post by moron4hire »

sz4kerto wrote: post #51
jimmies wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>why don't you just use Windows or Mac laptop? Linux tooling support is still very important to me. I want to be able to enjoy Konsole and Sublime text. Windows Subsystem for Linux is getting there, but I don't think it's as advanced as ChromeOS' yet. Besides, I don't like the Metro interface and Windows 10 in general. Mac means tying to Apple hardware. Apple hardware means crappy keyboard, heavy laptop, and no touch…

I'm just using Windows with Linux in a VM. All the hardware support and all the Linux goodies. (Some extra memory is required, but my thin-and-light 14" laptop had 32G, so it's ok.)

I finally sprung for VMware instead of VirtualBox and running a Linux guest on Windows has gotten so much better for me.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#54

Post by pjmlp »

zozbot123 wrote: post #52
pjmlp wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are pretty much right, GNU/Linux as mass market desktop has lost its opportunity. ChromeOS market share is irrelevant outside North America, just check the worldwide market share in your favourite source. Only Android/Linux has really taken off and even there we still don't know what are Google's plans regarding Fuchsia. It might pretty well be that some future Android version will get a new kernel, announced at…

I agree that ChromeOS is largely irrelevant but IME, GNU/Linux is more popular than ever on the desktop. The other operating systems in common use are all terrible in their own ways, and users are increasingly aware that Linux may be a meaningful alternative depending on their needs.

If by more popular than ever, you mean a bigger market share than on the beginning of the century, yes that is quite true.

However since we are talking about graphics acceleration, not that much looking at the Steam community numbers, or the posts from a couple of game studios a couple of weeks back.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#55

Post by benologist »

rayiner wrote: post #47
jimmies wrote: post #2

I am a hardcore Linux user. I went so far as buying Chromebooks to wipe ChromeOS and run Linux on them in the last 5 years. As of late, I have decided to leave ChromeOS alone on my new Pixelbook. There are two reasons for that decision: - I just love having the ability to have a pen to draw when I needed to share the screen to explain something for my friends when we talk about technical crap. ChromeOS supports the p…

> But all in all, I am actually quite happy with my Pixelbook purchase. If the hardware/firmware experience could improve a bit, then it would have been a very, very good purchase despite all the hates from Youtube reviewers. How do you forgive something like that? The LTE on my Lenovo X1C 6th gen fails randomly (with recent driver updates, it’s just once a week). I’m never buying a Lenovo again, basic functionality…

It's just code bugs, they're easy to forgive when they get fixed. How much code is in a laptop prior to installing an operating system, it must be a lot with modern hardware.

Management bugs on the other hand are harder to forgive, like that time Lenovo shipped rootkits, or the many times Apple has simply lied about bad hardware design, or that time Facebook decided not to refund children based on if it was their parents asking...

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/9gsp0m/what_is_t...

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#56

Post by tootie »

jimmies wrote: post #38
lostmsu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, why don't you just use Windows or Mac laptop? You'd have all the same advantages without hardware/firmware problems.

>why don't you just use Windows or Mac laptop? Linux tooling support is still very important to me. I want to be able to enjoy Konsole and Sublime text. Windows Subsystem for Linux is getting there, but I don't think it's as advanced as ChromeOS' yet. Besides, I don't like the Metro interface and Windows 10 in general. Mac means tying to Apple hardware. Apple hardware means crappy keyboard, heavy laptop, and no touch…

I had a Win 10 laptop with WSL and a touchscreen as my main workstation for a year and I loved it. Sublime is already superceded by VS Code in my mind. Haven't tried Konsole, but I've seen some threads to indicate it can be done. My new job requires me to have a Mac because we do some iOS work and generate a lot of Keynote decks and I just hate it.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#57

Post by keypress »

pqz wrote: post #33
zozbot123 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A "crap" Windows notebook becomes perfectly usable, even quite snappy, when the Windows install is wiped out and replaced with Linux. (Barring hardware issues, of course.) It's not like low-end Chromebooks have better hardware specs for the price.

I'm not talking about the hw specs, I'm talking about the shitty build all cheap Windows laptops have. Correct me if wrong but I think all Chromebooks are sturdy and durable regardless of the price.

My partner has an Acer £250 Chromebook and their work machine is a £1000 HP, I bought a £140 Lenovo, and the build quality of the HP and Lenovo is on par. The case and screen on the ACER is better than both. The battery is quite poor on the HP, but compared to the other machines it has a better CPU - so could explain it. I'm not saying machines are much of a much-ness, but sometimes more money doesn't buy you better quality. There are HP lines that start from £200 - £1000, and they have the same cases but different flavours of memory and CPUs, I doubt there is much between them in build quality.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#58

Post by keypress »

grondilu wrote: post #22

Only slightly related, but I once had a chromebook I was very happy about, until after a few years it just failed to boot. I've repaired many linux laptops in my life, usually using an USB key to boot a live system and fix the disk-drive or something. But with this chromebook, there was absolutely nothing I could do. No access to something like a DOS or anything, nothing booted from the USB port. Just a black screen.…

I'd get annoyed with many sealed offerings with soldered hardware. It's not just Chromebooks.

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#59

Post by BossingAround »

rayiner wrote: post #47
jimmies wrote: post #2

I am a hardcore Linux user. I went so far as buying Chromebooks to wipe ChromeOS and run Linux on them in the last 5 years. As of late, I have decided to leave ChromeOS alone on my new Pixelbook. There are two reasons for that decision: - I just love having the ability to have a pen to draw when I needed to share the screen to explain something for my friends when we talk about technical crap. ChromeOS supports the p…

> But all in all, I am actually quite happy with my Pixelbook purchase. If the hardware/firmware experience could improve a bit, then it would have been a very, very good purchase despite all the hates from Youtube reviewers. How do you forgive something like that? The LTE on my Lenovo X1C 6th gen fails randomly (with recent driver updates, it’s just once a week). I’m never buying a Lenovo again, basic functionality…

The problem is, if you are a Linux user, what else can you buy but Lenovo? Maybe some Dells, but the durability of the laptops is definitely not on par with Lenovo laptops. And other than that? System76? Last time I heard, their laptops were rebrands of another brand, and the quality actually really bad (though this was some years ago, maybe it has changed).

Re: Pixelbook and “Nami” Chromebooks the First to Get Linux GPU Acceleration

#60

Post by keypress »

fhrow4484 wrote: post #8

This feature, along with the sound support, is what's gonna finally make the pixelbook a game changer for Linux desktops. I can't wait for those, and the pixelbook 2.

Sound support? I still have various sound issues on Debian, to the point I just can't be bothered to sort it out. It kind of works.
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