System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances • Hacker News Board

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#41

Post by morganvachon » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:27 PM UTC

dotnetcorenoob wrote: post #24

Do people actually buy laptop/desktop from system76? I tried to price a laptop from them before and it was quite expensive compare to main stream vendors like Dell. Its cheaper just buy a OEM laptop and slap ubuntu on it.

I consider the cost acceptable given they don't just "slap Ubuntu on it". The hardware is curated towards 100% Linux compatibility, and their custom OS (admittedly an Ubuntu variant) is tweaked to suit the hardware. It's a good marriage and to some it's worth the extra cost.

Look at it like you would a Macbook; Apple charges a premium but the benefit the buyer receives from that extra cost is hardware and software that feels cohesive and works perfectly together. I'm not saying System76 has reached that same mark just yet, but it's what they are working towards and they have made great progress in that endeavor.

With all of that said, there's something to buying a used or marked-down Thinkpad and installing your distro of choice; you'll (usually) get a great device with excellent Linux community support, and in my opinion the industrial design of the Thinkpad series is more appealing than System76 machines. Personally I don't care for Lenovo because of their past malware shenanigans, but they do make solid hardware.

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#42

Post by DataJunkie » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:31 PM UTC

dotnetcorenoob wrote: post #24

Do people actually buy laptop/desktop from system76? I tried to price a laptop from them before and it was quite expensive compare to main stream vendors like Dell. Its cheaper just buy a OEM laptop and slap ubuntu on it.

I worked for a startup that bought machines from System76. 2 out of 3 were defective and it was next to impossible to get technical support, though this was 7 years ago.

My laptop had a bad video chip.

My manager's desktop had either a bad SSD or a bad SATA bus.

I won't buy from them.

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#43

Post by dajohnson89 » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:34 PM UTC

dotnetcorenoob wrote: post #24

Do people actually buy laptop/desktop from system76? I tried to price a laptop from them before and it was quite expensive compare to main stream vendors like Dell. Its cheaper just buy a OEM laptop and slap ubuntu on it.

I bought my 3rd system76 laptop/desktop a few weeks ago. Every time I shop around, I try to find something comparable, esp in terms of flexibility (their build-your-own feature is excellent)...but I can't.

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#44

Post by HankB99 » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:39 PM UTC

morganvachon wrote: post #41

dotnetcorenoob wrote: post #24

Do people actually buy laptop/desktop from system76? I tried to price a laptop from them before and it was quite expensive compare to main stream vendors like Dell. Its cheaper just buy a OEM laptop and slap ubuntu on it.

I consider the cost acceptable given they don't just "slap Ubuntu on it". The hardware is curated towards 100% Linux compatibility, and their custom OS (admittedly an Ubuntu variant) is tweaked to suit the hardware. It's a good marriage and to some it's worth the extra cost. Look at it like you would a Macbook; Apple charges a premium but the benefit the buyer receives from that extra cost is hardware and software th…

Have you purchased a Lenovo lately? I've not had good luck with them. Despite 2 returns for service my Thinkpad T500 remained with a loose charging connector. My next Lenovo (notably not a Thinkpad) was a Y50 Ideapad. Audio to the speakers failed, the housing developed cracks at the hinge. The Ethernet connector broke (though used very little.) and now the SD card slot has failed.

I'm giving Dell a try. You can buy them with Ubuntu factory installed or buy with Windows and 'slap the distro of your choice' on it. I have an XPS-13 9370 and after nearly a year, the WiFi finally seems to be working reliably (using Debian Testing.)

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#45

Post by CoolGuySteve » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:46 PM UTC

morganvachon wrote: post #41

dotnetcorenoob wrote: post #24

Do people actually buy laptop/desktop from system76? I tried to price a laptop from them before and it was quite expensive compare to main stream vendors like Dell. Its cheaper just buy a OEM laptop and slap ubuntu on it.

I consider the cost acceptable given they don't just "slap Ubuntu on it". The hardware is curated towards 100% Linux compatibility, and their custom OS (admittedly an Ubuntu variant) is tweaked to suit the hardware. It's a good marriage and to some it's worth the extra cost. Look at it like you would a Macbook; Apple charges a premium but the benefit the buyer receives from that extra cost is hardware and software th…

In terms of hardware support, the ArchLinux people seem to be doing more than anyone to document and tweak whatever laptop I look up.

Kudos to them for doing so.

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#46

Post by cs702 » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:47 PM UTC

asveikau wrote: post #40

cs702 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I don't understand why everyone has NIH syndrome. Many free/open-source advocates have been complaining about NIH syndrome for years and years and years... to no avail. Consider, for example, the situation with window managers and desktop environments. Off the top of my head, we have Gnome, KDE, Unity, XFCE, Openbox, dwm, Gala, KWin, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, JWM, and Ratpoison -- to name only 12 of the remarkabl…

I am often reminded that there are multiple personality types showing up in many things, such as software. To my personality type, I would wonder why you wouldn't want a replaceable window manager, and I consider a reaction like yours to be the product of some kind of odd software design authoritarianism. But we're not both right or both wrong, this is just a point where we differ. PS: a bunch of those desktop enviro…

Thanks. Corrected!

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#47

Post by jplayer01 » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:48 PM UTC

ProAm wrote: post #36

Lowkeyloki wrote: post #26

This is cool and all, but I can't help but cringe when I see a corporate entity using Tumblr for official communication.

What would be better? Twitter?

Snapchat, obviously

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#48

Post by cs702 » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:48 PM UTC

Lowkeyloki wrote: post #25

cs702 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I don't understand why everyone has NIH syndrome. Many free/open-source advocates have been complaining about NIH syndrome for years and years and years... to no avail. Consider, for example, the situation with window managers and desktop environments. Off the top of my head, we have Gnome, KDE, Unity, XFCE, Openbox, dwm, Gala, KWin, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, JWM, and Ratpoison -- to name only 12 of the remarkabl…

I actually enjoy having choices. That's part of why systemd's feature creep to swallow everything bothers me. It represents choice being taken away from the administrator of the system.

Thanks. I made a note about the fact that many people -- including me, in fact -- like having variety and choices.

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#49

Post by faissaloo » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:49 PM UTC

dotnetcorenoob wrote: post #24

Do people actually buy laptop/desktop from system76? I tried to price a laptop from them before and it was quite expensive compare to main stream vendors like Dell. Its cheaper just buy a OEM laptop and slap ubuntu on it.

I bought an Oryx Pro 4, it's a great machine and I love being able to poke their Telegram group chat if something's up.

Re: System76 News: Coreboot and Linux Advances

#50

Post by faissaloo » Wed, May 01, 2019, 10:51 PM UTC

xeRTRex wrote: post #33

dotnetcorenoob wrote: post #24

Do people actually buy laptop/desktop from system76? I tried to price a laptop from them before and it was quite expensive compare to main stream vendors like Dell. Its cheaper just buy a OEM laptop and slap ubuntu on it.

I purchased one about 2 years ago. I am generally happy with purchase, but certainly don't feel like I saved any money. I did need to reinstall the operating system (and have since switched to Manjaro). The fan is loud and battery is lousy, but the hardware has not deteriorated other than the connection to the monitor needed tightening. They also don't void the warranty if you open up the machine and tinker, which wa…

You say you installed Manjaro, that probably explains your battery woes. Pop!_OS does alot good battery optimisation, I generally wouldn't recommend getting a System76 laptop if you don't like it out of the box.