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The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

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Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#41

Post by izacus »

cbpowell wrote: post #30
lars-b2018 wrote: post #7

Does System76 make a laptop with a high dpi screen? It seems that is table stakes these days...Seems like this is a pretty expensive laptop (portable desktop), but perhaps for gaming it's not a big deal. However, if you are programming or doing some other text intensive activity the low-dpi screens would be deal breaker.

As an owner of a HiDPI laptop, I'm here to tell you that if you want to connect it to an external monitor, you will be disappointed in Linux. For a laptop-monitor combination in Linux, standard resolution is absolutely the way to go. This isn't a rant. Mad, mad respect for Linux here, and longtime Linux user. KDE only offers a single scaling factor, so you must scale the laptop and the external screens identically. T…

Nope, GNOME actually supports mixed scaling with Wayland and works just fine on my Dell XPS 13. I regularly connect a normal DPI external monitor and things scale just fine across both HiDPI internal and normal DPI external screen.

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#42

Post by chrismorgan »

cbpowell wrote: post #30
lars-b2018 wrote: post #7

Does System76 make a laptop with a high dpi screen? It seems that is table stakes these days...Seems like this is a pretty expensive laptop (portable desktop), but perhaps for gaming it's not a big deal. However, if you are programming or doing some other text intensive activity the low-dpi screens would be deal breaker.

As an owner of a HiDPI laptop, I'm here to tell you that if you want to connect it to an external monitor, you will be disappointed in Linux. For a laptop-monitor combination in Linux, standard resolution is absolutely the way to go. This isn't a rant. Mad, mad respect for Linux here, and longtime Linux user. KDE only offers a single scaling factor, so you must scale the laptop and the external screens identically. T…

My understanding (not based in any experience, though I hope to get some this year) is that this is a limitation of X11, but that Wayland properly supports per-screen scaling (so long as the compositor does).

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#43

Post by holtalanm »

sscarduzio wrote: post #10
lars-b2018 wrote: post #7

Does System76 make a laptop with a high dpi screen? It seems that is table stakes these days...Seems like this is a pretty expensive laptop (portable desktop), but perhaps for gaming it's not a big deal. However, if you are programming or doing some other text intensive activity the low-dpi screens would be deal breaker.

THIS. Plenty of kinda nice Linux laptops out there, but with a terrible, terrible screen. For example, a MBP 13" has 2x resolution than this 15". This is a monumental deal breaker for the majority of people.

> This is a monumental deal breaker for the majority of people.

I highly doubt that a laptop not supporting >1080p on the monitor is considered a 'monumental deal breaker for the majority of people'.

1080p is just fine for laptops.

the screen on the Serval WS is 144hz, as well, which is much higher refresh-rate than most HiDpi displays.

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#44

Post by chrsw »

symlinkk wrote: post #13

Never understood this company. Lenovo and Dell sell computers with Ubuntu or Fedora pre-installed, that have been tested and are guaranteed to be fully compatible with Linux. Why would you go with System76, which is selling rebranded Clevo laptops with a markup, and PopOS, which is an Ubuntu derivative?

MNT Reform is the only "Linux laptop" I'm aware of that is designed from scratch and isn't based on common OEM hardware. I'm sure System76 offers value to their customers though. I'm personally not too interested in their offerings but it's good to see they're still around. And growing, it appears from a distance.

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#45

Post by chrismorgan »

29athrowaway wrote: post #6

As a former user of System76 laptops: they are not very lightweight and the keyboards are not very durable. You better get a bag with wheels if you plan on having one.

On the keyboard matter: I got a laptop based on the Clevo W550SU-1 in mid-2014 (not from System76, but the same hardware platform); its keyboard was fair when new, decidedly spongy after one year, and very terrible after two (if typing casually, about a third of the time Space wouldn’t activate, and a few of the most regularly-used letters would sometimes not activate either—the workaround is to press the keys more deliberately). I certainly hope they’ve completely redone the keyboards mechanism since then.

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#46

Post by mixmastamyk »

cbpowell wrote: post #30
lars-b2018 wrote: post #7

Does System76 make a laptop with a high dpi screen? It seems that is table stakes these days...Seems like this is a pretty expensive laptop (portable desktop), but perhaps for gaming it's not a big deal. However, if you are programming or doing some other text intensive activity the low-dpi screens would be deal breaker.

As an owner of a HiDPI laptop, I'm here to tell you that if you want to connect it to an external monitor, you will be disappointed in Linux. For a laptop-monitor combination in Linux, standard resolution is absolutely the way to go. This isn't a rant. Mad, mad respect for Linux here, and longtime Linux user. KDE only offers a single scaling factor, so you must scale the laptop and the external screens identically. T…

Get them the same resolution. I have a Dell laptop with Ubuntu Mate and two 4k screens. It has been running wonderfully for at least five years. I'd never go back to 1080.

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#47

Post by mixmastamyk »

holtalanm wrote: post #43
sscarduzio wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

THIS. Plenty of kinda nice Linux laptops out there, but with a terrible, terrible screen. For example, a MBP 13" has 2x resolution than this 15". This is a monumental deal breaker for the majority of people.

> This is a monumental deal breaker for the majority of people. I highly doubt that a laptop not supporting >1080p on the monitor is considered a 'monumental deal breaker for the majority of people'. 1080p is just fine for laptops. the screen on the Serval WS is 144hz, as well, which is much higher refresh-rate than most HiDpi displays.

I write text documents for a living. 4k at 60hz is what I need and it works perfectly from Ubuntu Mate on a Dell laptop. I'd never go back to 1080.

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#48

Post by mixmastamyk »

Scarbutt wrote: post #23
sscarduzio wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

THIS. Plenty of kinda nice Linux laptops out there, but with a terrible, terrible screen. For example, a MBP 13" has 2x resolution than this 15". This is a monumental deal breaker for the majority of people.

Is there much difference when looking at text on an 13" screen between 1080p and 2160p ? assuming both are high quality screens.

Do you like smooth or blocky text?

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#49

Post by commoner »

cbpowell wrote: post #30
lars-b2018 wrote: post #7

Does System76 make a laptop with a high dpi screen? It seems that is table stakes these days...Seems like this is a pretty expensive laptop (portable desktop), but perhaps for gaming it's not a big deal. However, if you are programming or doing some other text intensive activity the low-dpi screens would be deal breaker.

As an owner of a HiDPI laptop, I'm here to tell you that if you want to connect it to an external monitor, you will be disappointed in Linux. For a laptop-monitor combination in Linux, standard resolution is absolutely the way to go. This isn't a rant. Mad, mad respect for Linux here, and longtime Linux user. KDE only offers a single scaling factor, so you must scale the laptop and the external screens identically. T…

The following Linux distributions support different scaling factors on different displays by default: Pop!_OS, Ubuntu (and GNOME-based derivatives), Linux Mint. Arch Linux, Manjaro, and all distributions using GNOME + Wayland can also enable mixed scaling with a quick setting change.

Pop!_OS (developed by System76) created its own HiDPI daemon to handle HiDPI and LoDPI displays on X11 at the same time:

https://github.com/pop-os/hidpi-daemon

https://blog.system76.com/post/174414833678/all-about-the-hi...

It is preinstalled on all System76 computers and enabled by default.

Ubuntu's fork of the Mutter display manager (used by its fork of GNOME) includes a patch to handle different display resolutions for HiDPI and LoDPI displays on X11:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mutter/+bug/182085...

Ubuntu and all of its GNOME-based derivatives include this patch, unless it is specifically excluded by the maintainers.

Linux Mint implemented fractional display scaling, with different settings for each display, in Cinnamon 4.6:

https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3858

Arch Linux and Manjaro users can also choose Cinnamon as the desktop environment for the same features.

If you are using a GNOME on X11 on Manjaro, you can install the mutter-x11-scaling package to replace Mutter with a version that includes Ubuntu's changes:

https://gitlab.manjaro.org/packages/extra/mutter-x11-scaling...

https://github.com/puxplaying/mutter-x11-scaling

Finally, if you are using GNOME on Wayland, mixed scaling is already supported. To enable fractional scaling, activate the "scale-monitor-framebuffer" setting:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI#GNOME

On Wayland, scaled applications that do not use GTK 3+ or Qt 5+ may appear blurry. This affects all Electron applications. X11 does not have the same issue, but Wayland is generally smoother and more stable than X11.

Re: The Serval WS from System76: A Linux Workstation Running PopOS

#50

Post by commoner »

lars-b2018 wrote: post #7

Does System76 make a laptop with a high dpi screen? It seems that is table stakes these days...Seems like this is a pretty expensive laptop (portable desktop), but perhaps for gaming it's not a big deal. However, if you are programming or doing some other text intensive activity the low-dpi screens would be deal breaker.

The Adder WS has a 4K OLED display, although it's temporarily sold out:

https://system76.com/laptops/adder

The Bonobo WS has a 4K display option at a higher price point:

https://system76.com/laptops/bonobo

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