I’m on the market to buy a new laptop, and Lemmy has successfully coaxed and goaded me to give Linux a serious try.
I’ve never used *nix as my personal OS.
Which hardware/laptop do you recommend? And which OS to pair it with for a Linux newbie?
I’m a software engineer, and quit my job to pursue an MSc in AI. So my uses will be:
- programming
- study
- browsing lemmy
- gaming
Get some live distro first and check it out without installation. You will be able to test some basic desktop environments very easily. Most of the distros will have live image. Even better run it in a virtual machine and play around. Test KDE, Gnome, Cinnamon and XFCE. Look at some themes and plugins. I think customizing your desktop is a nice, visual way to see how flexible it all is and get the feel of how configuration files work. If you will like what you can achieve with a bit of work you will just keep going. If you will find it ‘stupid and useless’ it’s probably not for you.
I have a Framework laptop and just installed Ubuntu on it the other day, it works great. Ubuntu and Fedora are officially supported by Framework and there’s a bunch of other distros that are confirmed tested. I have the 13" but the 16" just came out with a dedicated GPU, that’s probably the one to get if you’re going to game on it
deleted by creator
What tinkering do you think a framework laptop requires? Even the diy option is basically just install RAM, put case together. It’s an hour of work max if you’re being REALLY meticulous
But if you’re pursuing a MSc, you shouldn’t be wasting your time with gaming either, so that’s not a problem… /s
If you just want stuff to work with minimal hassle, Linux Mint is an excellent choice. PopOS is also often recommended, especially for laptops. If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, something Arch based might fit the bill.
Framework laptop 13
If you’re looking for something that can handle AAA games, I’ve had a great experience with my Dell G5. Linux Mint had everything working out of the box, including the dedicated Nvidia GPU (though I agree with others, AMD is easier in Linux).
My laptop also has the advantage of allowing you to do weight training every time you move it, so there’s that to consider.
Framework have support for everything, including the built-in fingerprint sensor. So I think my next laptop will be this.
Check if your university has a laptop program with sweet discounts, or look for other student discount offerings first. Could be worth it.
Just gonna throw in a recommendation for Nobara as a distro. Based on Fedora, maintained by Glorious egroll who makes great versions of proton. Distro is tuned for gaming but is great for regular use too. Used it for over a year and set my GF up with it as her first Linux desktop.
+1 for Nobara. I never could stand the farting around it took to get Fedora to use codecs and non-free software, so I was a little off-put trying Nobara, but it’s been a pleasure to use. I still miss the AUR but not as much as the last time I left the Arch ecosystem. And it comes out of the box ready to game, with everything you are going to need to have the best experience you’ll find on Linux without having to beat your head against all weird things you have to do to configure properly.
And KDE is a first-class citizen instead of sitting on the backburner waiting for a chance. I liked that change in the last release even though it was working well enough despite being non-default.
As someone who’s only ever used GNOME and has a Nobara install, what would the transition be like and is it worth it to reimage my machine with a KDE N39 install?
You could just add the plasma-full package or the more minimal group and log out, it’ll be a choice in the display manager login screen. I’d go with the Wayland session. If you can’t run Wayland because of GPU issues, you’re probably better off with Gnome.
Can’t tell you what laptop to buy, but distro wise I’d recommend either Pop OS, Zorin or Linux Mint. Zorin is most windows-like, with Mint coming in second. Pop OS is very different but incredibly user friendly.
Esp32
😂 can I also run Doom on it?
Of course it can…
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/rQdX9u-WM2M?si=LIAM2URRXvnh7nMQ
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I woke up my wife in bed laughing…
It’s real though, https://github.com/ESP32DE/Boot-Linux-ESP32S3-Playground
I know you can do it, it’s just a really tiny laptop 🤣.
A tiny PC you say… https://hackaday.com/2021/01/18/a-miniature-vt102-running-a-miniature-pdp11/
Some recommendations I would suggest are: -Linux-specific laptops (HP Dev One, System76, etc.) as they are built specifically with running Linux in mind. -Framework Laptops, as Framework has worked hard to make sure Linux works well with their devices. -ThinkPads, as their hardware usually tends to work really well with Linux.
I personally use the Framework Laptop 13 running Debian, and I love it!
I can’t seem to find an AMD GPU based laptop with 144hz display that isn’t absurdly expensive, does anyone know of one?
Thinkpads (p14s are a good example) are really great with everything except probably gaming. Having a good GPU usually just comes at the cost of battery life.
Fedora or Nobara for OS
If you reaaaaaally want gaming, you could look at external GPU via thunderbolt or USB 4
If you want something even lighter, Samsung makes some decent laptops with insane battery life and really thin metal casing. Only issue is they’re usually expensive and don’t drop in price like Thinkpads sometimes do.
