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Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

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Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#401

Post by Beltalowda »

mid-kid wrote: post #70

Yeah, no. Maybe with old laptops, but newer laptops still have their fair share of issues. When I bought my thinkpad A485 kernels wouldn't boot without additional parameters, the graphics would freeze at times and cause a hardlock, sleep and hibernation have been fixed and broken again intermittently over several kernel versions, the wifi card's AP mode started causing segfaults in kernel 5.2 due to the driver's rewr…

Interesting; I got a A485 two years ago and everything except Bluetooth worked out of the box without problems (BT kind-of works but with a lot of problems, so I just got a USB one for €10). Never needed any kernel parameters, graphics work fine (including for some games), sleep always worked fine. Never tried AP mode or fingerprint scanner. Only reason I got a different laptop was due to hardware issues (some issue with the mainboard).

I only used Void Linux on it; maybe it's different with other distros.

Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#403

Post by bee_rider »

twblalock wrote: post #377
londons_explore wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wayland just generally is missing config files... Like just give me a big text file with hundreds of tweakables and tunables like X had... They hide behind 'you just need to get your client to make the right API calls'... but that just means most wayland compositors don't support most of the available options...

If we are talking about desktop Linux, a lack of config files is not a problem. If you expect people to edit files to get their desktops to work properly, you have already lost. The same config pane where I adjust my pointer speed should let me adjust my scroll speed.

Generally those config panels write to files for you (how else would their changes be persisted?)

Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#405

Post by wazoox »

stuaxo wrote: post #394

Wow, I wish. I've been using a couple of ryzen laptops (an HP with a 2500u, then an HP with a 3700u) for about 5 years. It works pretty well, except: When the laptop wakes up there's a good chance that the UI shows up but I can't click on anything or type. I can then reboot by holding Alt-SysReq and typing REISUB. Or: The screen is still black, and nothing works, as above. I can run games, though if I play something…

HP laptops are well known for their crappy linux support. I've bought a brand new Lenovo Ryzen laptop in 2020, slapped POP_OS on it and everything works fine ever since (excepting the fingerprint reader, that has no linux driver). It boots quickly, power management, bluetooth and Wifi work fine, I can hot plug screens and stuff to it no problem, and waking it up from sleep just works (OK it's getting a tad long recently, about 5 to 10s -- but it just works).

Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#406

Post by avl999 »

pharmakom wrote: post #322
avl999 wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - only one speaker works so volume is low Never had this issue. > - finger print scanner doesn’t work Can't speak for this as I don't have a device with an FP reader > - battery life is poor compared to Windows on same machine I get ~6hrs on my laptop running Ubuntu + XFCE. I haven't ran windows on it but Amazon reviews claim ~5-5.5 hrs battery life for the same machine so seems to be inline for me. > - suspend and…

What is your point here? How does you great Linux experience help those it didn’t work for?

My point is that Linux is a great desktop environment and people shouldn't write it off based on isolated complaints from people for whom it didn't work for as there are a lot of people who never encounter these issues that keep getting brought up in these threads.

Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#407

Post by wazoox »

mminer237 wrote: post #332
jll29 wrote: post #297

Linux worked out of the box (Ubuntu LTS or Lubuntu) with: - Lenovo ThinkPad T41 - Lenovo ThinkPad X61s - LenovWo ThinkPad X220 - Lenovo ThinkPad X230 - Lenovo ThinkPad X1 - DELL Latitude E7762 - DELL Latitude E7480 - Apple iMac 27" Problems encountered: - The touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad 240 mad random jumps, not sure if this is a Linux issue since I never tried Windows (I usually wipe it right after unpacking). -…

The worst thing about broken touchpads is that they're impossible to turn off in Ubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1408042/touchpad-cant-be-dis... There's a button to do so, but it's just been broken for months with no fix other than uninstalling part of the last update. Given that Linux typically has no palm detection, it's really a frustrating experience to use on a laptop.

Weird, I'm running Pop_OS which is a Ubuntu fork and the trackpad button just works (not that I use it at all anyway).

Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#408

Post by btdmaster »

stoplying1 wrote: post #305
btdmaster wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you checked ArchWiki? For example, it provides the kernel command line for enabling all speakers on the y530: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Lenovo_IdeaPad_y530

Unfortunately, that didn't help. Fwiw, I have a Ryzen not an Intel, not sure if that module name is a misnomer though.

That was only an example, you want to find the article for your specific laptop (you haven't mentioned the model, so I can't help!) and try the instructions there. If that article does not exist, or is not useful, you could always try this generic PulseAudio virtual device solution: https://askubuntu.com/questions/78174/play-sound-through-two...

(Side note: intel refers to the sound card, not the CPU.)

Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#409

Post by wazoox »

pharmakom wrote: post #180

How nice for OP. Just a handful of my issues: - only one speaker works so volume is low - finger print scanner doesn’t work - battery life is poor compared to Windows on same machine - suspend and hibernate doesn’t work - random freezes - charging indicator unreliable - trackpad wrist filtering is very poor - boot failures after OS updates I have now switched to a Mac with Apple Silicon. I really tried with Linux for…

> - only one speaker works so volume is low

I had this problem too on my old XPS, it's hardware, not software. Linux cannot magically fix broken cables.

> - finger print scanner doesn’t work

There is no driver for the common Chinese fingerprint readers. That's hardly Linux fault.

Re: Linux on the laptop works so damn well that it’s boring

#410

Post by adverbly »

I have a few old laptops kicking around still. We're talking 10+ year old laptops here that weren't even top of the line when new.

The differences in OS bloat between the two is night and day. The Windows 8 laptop that I swear takes 15+ minutes to boot and struggles to do simple web browsing. It reminds me of what happens to 5+ year old phones where they seem to get slower for no good reason.

My linux laptops are still going strong like the day they were new.

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