I apologize if this has been asked a ton, still migrating to lemmy. Still stuck on crappy reddit out of habbit, but i’ve found the lemmy universe to be much more helpful.
Basically I’ve had a Dell Xps 13 9310 laptop for 4-5 years maybe? and I’ve put the thing through hell and back. Always (I believe) fixing it though and bringing it back to life. However, it seemed as if any linux distro i ever installed always had some sort of problems. I don’t know Linux well enough yet to be able to trouble shoot because it seems there’s many different routes to do it in Linux.
I’ve gone through so many distros and DEs and have tried everything on this thing. Well I think I finally bricked it after tinkering around with it. So I’m trying to plan a new budget setup.
I’ve always been a laptop guy because I love being able to lay on the couch by the TV and also have my laptop right there in front of me. I suppose im open to a small form or mini form desktop or box and just get a small display and a wireless keyboard/touchpad combo.
I just don’t know how to find what’s better compatible with linux. I see so much talk about “X” computers being great for Linux and to avoid “Y” computers because they dont work well with Linux (which I found out the newer Dells kinda suck. becoming more locked down and proprietary like Apple). I know there’s companys like Tuxedo or Pine or Pop Os that sell their specific Linux friendly devices, but those are all too expensive for me.
I’m looking for a machine that can easily handle Linux but also handle I guess a system or network, basically something strong enough to be a stable link in my entire network; if that makes sense. Because I have many plans for things I want to learn about and add to my network or system down the road. Also something durable and fairly user friendly.
The million dollar question(s)… how am I supposed to know which machines are better or even “compatible” with Linux? like all linux distros or flavors? I ran into a firmware/driver issue with my Dell and linux… they provided only a handful of drivers/firmware for ONLY Ubuntu 20.04. super limited and meant as a windows machine. As far as ram and storage, those are probably not pertinent and more of personal preference. But I guess it boils down to things like the cpu, gpu, ram, idk, whatever is important for Linux? any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I want to finally take this serious and ensure I have the right equipment for what I want to do instead of falling for the newest, shiny things lol. Thanks
Have you considered a steam deck? Might work for you based on mentioning a small display and wireless keyboard.
Nope, i dont even really know what they are; always thought they were purely game related and im not a gamer. is it basically like a mini pc?
Disclaimer - it might require lots of tinkering depending on what the goal.
For example, install JRE from Flatpaks. It will “succeed”, but due to some partition mounted in read-only mode, no binaries would be installed. 🙆
something strong enough to be a stable link in my entire network; if that makes sense. Because I have many plans for things I want to learn about and add to my network or system down the road.
You need to check out Fedora Podcast EP: Getting Fedora with your Lenovo. For the first time they take laptop compatibility with Fedora Linux ecosystem seriously and announce it with such a deep detail on how they do that.
how am I supposed to know which machines are better or even “compatible” with Linux? like all linux distros or flavors?
I think Thinkpad line seems to be your right choice. Not for all linux distros, but at least Thinkpad has used by many developers in the world, so probably more compatible than other laptop brand IMO.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Getting Fedora with your Lenovo
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
thanks alot. are there certain thinkpad models to look at or will any thinkpad be ok? i think i’ve heard that after a certain model, lenovo started making changes or something and it affected the linux experience. idk i could be way wrong
You can check the hardware compatibility list in here. The level support begin with Ships Fedora, Supports Fedora, and Fedora Friendly.
I just collect junk from my friends and install Linux on them, lol, you get what you get and make it work
It’s just that my model is a newer generation Dell and I’ve heard from multiple people that Dell is getting more and more locked down and proprietary like Apple, so im thinking that’s why I haven’t had the best linux experience on this darn thing.
Have tried openSuse together with the community repo “packman”? OpenSuse was best distro with compatible driver yet.
On the other hand… https://threads.ruin.io/comment/247004 https://lemmy.ml/post/35749
yes Ive heard they are good too, but i’ve been having issues with mine. it came with windows pre-installed, i doubt that plays much of a role but Idk. like the system is naturally fitted for windows only, so the linux experience has been a little rough around the edges. I have no clue, just a thought maybe
they pretty much all run linux ootb. Question is: What devices run without binary blobs underneath the OS?
Sorry, over my head on what a binary blob is lol does it have anything to do with proprietary stuff?
IIRC it means a binary large object. Typically a proprietary part of firmware. Commonly needed for WiFi cards but there are other things too.
Aha! so im not so stupid after all lol I was pretty much right. so how do you figure which manufacturers or even models are more open source and less proprietary?
I usually go for business level dells, like latitudes. They’re the go-to for corporations so they’re usually pretty well supported simply because they’re so common
I have also heard this sentiment, that enterprise/business level hardware is best, even for personal use
AMD or Intel Graphics. Intel networking, Atheros, or a chipset that is known to be friendly with Linux.
CPU support is fairly diverse.
Sound is fairly well supported but with some devices can be a surprise, as are touchpads. Touchscreen and webcams are generally a bit more dubious.
With desktops, I very rarely have issues but it’s also easier to pick my own hardware. For laptops, I usually don’t buy something that’s new to market unless the component models are known to work. If it’s been around for a bit I can usually Google comments by somebody else who’s got one and tried to run Linux on it.
Do you mean like System76?
What the heck is System76??? I see it everywhere but only affiliated with Pop OS
They make computers designed for linux, Pop OS is their default operating system for the computers they make
Gotcha! I browsed their site a bit. I’d have to check ebay because I cannot afford the prices on their new stuff lol. I have a question that maybe you can answer. alot of folks recommend older laptops or whatever for linux. Does age of the computer matter much? I know you can always make upgrades to the internals and such, but say I got an old thinkpad for example maybe from 2010… and it’s certified linux compatible and all that… would i be able to run the latest versions of distros or would i be limited to older kernels due to the system being old? or is all of that determined by the hardware specs?
You don’t need to go that far back, 2015 should be old enough. Anything with 2+ GB of RAM, a 64 bit CPU and a SSD will be Ok for casual web browsing and email.
I guess in my case, for say software/firmware/driver purposes, i’m looking for a machine that is more open source maybe is the right word? less windows based and more agnostic with that sorta stuff
You don’t need certified Linux hardware to use Linux, and hardware is supported for a really long time once it’s there.
So you don’t have to worry about using latest distros, you should always welcome every update, they fix and add new things (unless it’s Ubuntu, screw them). And if you have new unsupported hardware, it will usually be supported in the next kernel release.
Meaning if you go with usual x86 CPU, Linux won’t have issues with almost anything that comes with it.
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Fully agree. Even though OP mentioned it, I personally find that the prices compared to others (Dell, Lenovo Thinkpads) way more affordable.
For near-guaranteed compatibility, there are dedicated manufacturers like System76 and Tuxedo. Framework also claims Linux compatibility but for set tested distros (Ubuntu and Fedora).
Generally, anything with Intel/AMD graphics and Intel Wifi is pretty much guaranteed to work in my experience. For laptops, high-DPI displays can be problematic but the fixes are on Wayland which is getting higher priority now.
ahh i think my dell xps 13 has a higher DPI and I always run Xorg or X11 or whatever it’s called
Dell is well known for their proprietary fuckery, both in hardware and software. Pretty much anything other than a Dell or an Ultrabook like the Surface or MacBooks (obviously) should give you very little issue. Look for something that uses Intel NICs and you should be fine, Realtek NICs are poorly supported in Linux.
I’ve had two Dell laptops that ran Ubuntu perfectly. Dell sells laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed and also certifies models for Linux. Their Linux support is top notch in my experience.
Seconding this, Dell has excellent support for Linux on their enterprise laptops (Latitude and Precision). XPS are another breed, and tend to be marketed as a ultrabook or a MacBook competition.
Yeah, obviously the ones they sell with Linux pre-installed support Linux perfectly, but that’s like 5 out of their 20 laptops. It would be shitty if they didn’t. People tend to buy a model with Windows preloaded and then install Linux on it though. Even though I used to work for Disney+ as a Linux System Engineer, which runs entirely on Linux, I had to fight with the helldesk to get a laptop that runs Linux, they would only support Windows and MacBooks. I told them straight up that I didn’t need their support and I was able to figure out things on my own. It took me about 5 months to get the Lenovo Carbon X1, granted this was during the end of the first year of COVID.
Perfect, good to know. I hear some of the older model dell laptops are great for linux, but these Xps models have been troubled
One of my coworkers had a Dimension or whatever the “base level” laptops are and absolutely hates it. He said it ran like shit but couldn’t get another one.
A key one is batteries
Dell, and other brands, sometimes have it so the device will reject all third party batteries. It has to be one made by Dell.
Meanwhile they stop selling the battery for older devices, which is usually when you need one of those batteries.
My Dell XPS is perfectly compatible with linux
I wiped Windows and have been running Linux without issues on a Dell XPS 13 9360 for some time, so it can be done at least with some of their models. For what it’s worth I’m using OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.
Is that a desktop or laptop? The desktops are generally better supported and they just make the case and motherboard proprietary. My dad had an XPS Gen3 desktop back in 2005. When it finally died I couldn’t reuse the case since it was the BTX form factor and the front panel connector was proprietary 😑
It’s a 13" laptop from late 2017, with an 8th gen Intel i7 in it. With Tumbleweed it feels faster than my other XPS 13, which has an 11th gen i7 but runs Windows. I actually thought the 2017 one was finished because under Windows the fans ran all the time and it overheated so badly it would slow to a crawl. I repasted it twice with no improvement. But once I switched it to Linux the fans hardly come on, and they’re quiet when they do. Linux has been a huge improvement on that machine.
Nice! Yeah there’s so much shit running in the background of Windows that it’s ridiculous. Linux practically has nothing running in the background.
With Windows it always feels like I get the dregs of the CPU cycles after all the corporate interests with software on the computer have taken their share.
Every Dell laptop I’ve ever owned has had a key repeat issue. Mind you, this was an issue on Windows too. Otherwise, I bought a Dell Latitude last year and it has worked great.
Generally it doesnt really matter but if you can it’s best to avoid using nvidia gpus although they will work under Linux they don’t have as good support doesn’t mean you can’t use a nvidia gpu under linux if you want or have to I mean I’ve got a nvidia gpu in my gaming laptop and while it’s a pain to setup it works somewhat well for gaming
Here, take some of these: . . . . , , , , ,
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Oh no, I couldn’t care less about graphics, but at the same time I don’t want a potato lol so no Nvidia for me
You’ll be fine just get whatever has best price to performance nvidia intel or amd generally amd gpus are best for linux because of there driver support
but its still shit a good exanple of this is the r7 370s last drivers being made in 2015Honestly people over do it with the Nvidia complaints.
Nvidia provides a rock solid driver for Linux. If you are a general consumer it works really really well and it’s easy to install.
Here’s the actual historical issue people have with Nvidia on Linux: it’s a closed source binary which is contradictory to the ethos of Linux.
But he’s the rub, Nvidia open sourced some shit this year, not all of it, but they’re becoming more open about the GPU drivers. But shitting on Nvidia is a hard habit to break lol
I’ve been using nVidia cards on laptops with Ubuntu much exclusively for ~15 years . Only problem I’ve ever had was once when I accidentally uninstalled something using apt-get and it took the nvidia drivers with it (because I’m was stupid).
Check out framework laptops
Thanks, will check out
Use a system76 laptop for work. Came with popos and works like a charm.
I oughtta browse ebay and see if anybody’s selling some system76 stuff. I gotta see what to do with my Dell Xps 13 9310 thats stuck in manufacturing mode first. probably sell for parts or idk?
I’ve been using Clevo laptops for years. Large user base, lots of great Linux support. I just run Ubuntu, haven’t had many issues (and no critical issues).
They usually get rebranded, and I’ve gotten them through IBuyPower, Origin, and… can’t remember the other one. My most recent one was just straight up marketed as a Clevo, got it on Amazon.
You might have one or two odd issues (like having to install custom code to configure the RGB key backlights), but there are plenty of users to ask for assistance on various forums and repos.
Buy it from tuxedo
man, can’t afford their gear unfortunately. my plan was to get my dell xps 13 9310 fixed (bios stuck in manufacturing mode) then sell that and use whatever I make to purchase my next device. in the mean time I get to use this old old probably decade old asus machine :)
