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System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

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Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#161

Post by admax88qqq »

aendruk wrote: post #100
loudtieblahblah wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i deeply hate being without a numpad. I understand it's duplicated space, but typing numbers on a numpad is just a million times faster than going above the alphabet keys.

A virtual numpad via a modifier key can be the best of both worlds; no extra space is used and your hands stay in the center. Example with image: https://andrew.kvalhe.im/2021-03-19 With this method you can customize the location and surrounding mathematical operators.

Sort of. But it's not ortholinear like most numpads and lacks the addition keys like a big Enter key, and the various math operations.

It's an impoverished numpad that requires different muscle memory that you probably don't use often enough to master.

Personally I never use the virtual numpad on my devices, I use the full numpad if available or I usr the top row of number keys.

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#162

Post by sodality2 »

zozbot234 wrote: post #62
Koshkin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and 4 GB of RAM

Nothing wrong with that for a lightweight Linux dev/browsing machine. More than that just goes unused.

As someone with a laptop like this, dev work in certain situations (compiling heavy code, like systems languages) is essentially unworkable. The ram is actually 3.33 GB (memory is shared with GPU) and the CPU's are often dual-core. Visual studio code escapes alright (somehow), so maybe for light web dev work. But when my rust code takes 8 minutes to compile and 20 seconds on a PC, it almost makes it easier to compile once on my desktop and rsync it over (so subsequent compiles are faster b/c incremental compilation). This is just the reality of a low end system, it's competent at web browsing and note taking, and surprisingly I can last about 6-8 hours on a ~$400 laptop. I certainly didn't expect a compiling powerhouse, but I can literally install ripgrep in 26 seconds and it takes about 7 or 8 minutes on the laptop.

TLDR: Don't use with systems languages. Rust takes ages to compile and I have almost switched to learning go just because of it. Of course, I am expecting way too much out of a laptop (systems programming? really?) but I didn't expect it to be so terribly slow.

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#163

Post by flemhans »

dragontamer wrote: post #98
scintill76 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many digits long does it have to be to pay for the time to move your hand to the numpad and back?

About 4 digits IMO. The "5" key on most numpads has a bump so I can reach it without even looking at a keyboard I'm familiar with. Any 4-digit security pin I use is entered from numpads. I always buy a laptop with a numpad. Its my preferred method of typing numbers. There are also a whole slew of video game applications, as well as Blender movement (camera angles, camera movement, etc. etc.) that's highly intuitively…

The bump may be ok for new keyboards you didn't try before but quickly become irrelevant after a few days. You know where the keys are then.

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#164

Post by Shorel »

caslon wrote: post #57
johnzim wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea who thought this was a good idea. The trackpad is even off to the left to accommodate it. I'm not a fan of symmetry for symmetry's sake, but I do think some affordances for the human body might be a good idea. How do southpaws enjoy this keyboard setup? The ergonomics of laptops are bad enough without stuff like this.

Southpaw here! I'd never buy a laptop without a number pad. The track pad being off-center is also good. Gaming? 78462 make for the best movement, and the number pad also has seven non-numerical buttons to bind things to. It also puts your index finger right next to lENTER, which is so useful for games that make use of it. Programming? Bind the buttons to commonly-used UNIX programs to make for a better IDE than an I…

Just put the damn thing in the middle.

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#165

Post by dragontamer »

flemhans wrote: post #163
dragontamer wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 4 digits IMO. The "5" key on most numpads has a bump so I can reach it without even looking at a keyboard I'm familiar with. Any 4-digit security pin I use is entered from numpads. I always buy a laptop with a numpad. Its my preferred method of typing numbers. There are also a whole slew of video game applications, as well as Blender movement (camera angles, camera movement, etc. etc.) that's highly intuitively…

The bump may be ok for new keyboards you didn't try before but quickly become irrelevant after a few days. You know where the keys are then.

I disagree.

The bump on the j-key on the keyboard, and the 5-key on the numpad is very much clear to high-speed typing.

On keyboards without bumps, I find myself off-aligned. Instead of typing "jumping jellyfish", I type "hynoubg hekktfusg", and have to realign my hands.

Could I do it without the bump? Probably. But having the bump there (both the j-bump and the 5 bump) is very useful at preventing this mistake.

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#166

Post by wott »

baron_harkonnen wrote: post #79
Aperocky wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it? I don't think it's any slower than typing other characters.

I haven't had a full keyboard with a numpad in years, but if you ever worked in any data entry job in your career and learned to properly touch type on the numpad it is wildly faster than touch typing with the regular keyboard and needing to use two hands to reach all of the numbers. I suspect the utility of a numpad is increased while the off center problems are decreased for touchtypers which is why there is such a…

> I suspect the utility of a numpad is increased while the off center problems are decreased for touchtypers which is why there is such a divide.

Ah? I would have thought the opposite. I cannot touch-type at all (and you could promise me a million dollars reward, I still wouldn't manage), nevertheless there is one part of the keyboard I can use without looking, and it is the numpad. Possibly because it is a limited area with a limited number of keys, and the numbers are placed in a "logical" order (compared to letters on the main part of a keyboard).

I am bad at entering numbers on the top row, a I am forced to do on most laptops (and unfortunately, I personally find the pseudo-numpad, which requires using the Fn key or similar, utterly unusable; I never could get used to it).

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#167

Post by stevenhuang »

jagger27 wrote: post #7

I say it every time every time one of these threads pop up and I’ll say it again here: if it’s not 16:10 or 3:2 I’m simply not interested. I buy devices like this for productivity. I don't care about black bars when watching videos because I don't watch videos on it. What I absolutely care about is the extra inch of text in my terminal or text editor. I didn't think this was a controversial opinion.

What makes you think this is controversial? Your antagonistic stance on this is strange.

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#168

Post by cassepipe »

teekert wrote: post #52
winter_blue wrote: post #38

The price is a bit too high (as always with System76). Last year, for the same price ($1,199) on sale, I bought a ASUS Zephyrus G14 with a Ryzen 4900HS and RTX 2060. Right now, you get it (for a bit more) with a 5900HS and RTX 3060. Both the 5900HS and the 4900HS will beat the low-wattage 5700U in performance handily. The G14 has a 76 Wh, so despite the “higher”-power (35 Watt) CPU, it’ll still get a LOT of battery l…

System76 is nice, in this podcast the CEO is interviewed: [0]. He is dedicated to transparency, open source and privacy. They’re worth some extra money to me. Although I’m still waiting for their custom designed, all aluminium top of the line laptop :) [0]: https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/linux-unplugged/id6875...

Is this custom design all-aluminum design on their road map? I'd buy it, I'd order it next year and pay right now even. The only thing preventing from buying one of their laptop is I am wary of all plastic laptops that break apart after five years although they are working perfectly. Basically I just want a MacBook that runs Linux perfectly.

Re: System76 Pangolin Linux-first laptop with AMD internals now in stock

#170

Post by baktubi »

protomyth wrote: post #2

I wish a person could order one of these without the numeric keypad. I deeply hate being off-center to the screen when typing on these larger portables.

What! I can’t imagine using a keyboard without a numpad. Any numerical entry is wayyyy easier using numpad!
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