Looking to upgrade from an old Latitude, curious as to what mobile hardware you folks use for writing your open source projects?
System76 has some good options. A little overpriced, but your money goes towards an open-source friendly company.
I have a framework 13 with fedora and I like it.
You beat me to it! I have the same setup. Did you have any issues with the 39->40 update? It broke my icons in plasma
I haven’t had time to upgrade yet actually
For me sound broke but I just had to rm a file and reboot
I currently use a Thinkpad L540. Durable af, but really big and thiccc. The screen viewing angles are super bad though, along with the trackpad being kind of weird.
ThinkPad X230 with 9 cell, 16 GB RAM, total 1TB storage, and an Atheros NIC. A bit limiting at times, but I ‘outsource’ heavier tasks to my much more powerful desktop. I’m quite uncompromising with laptop design and ‘ergonomics’, so I’m trying to piece together a custom laptop based around the Framework mainboard before the X230 no longer meets my demands.
For testing stuff on Windows and work stuff that requires it, an X1 Carbon Gen 7 with 16GB RAM and 256 GB storage.
Thinkpad T470, i stupidly got a dual core, i’m looking to upgrade to a T480 though
Yeah I’ve got a t480. Sweet spot between upgradeable, repairable, affordable, performant. I’ve got a secondary NVME in mine for Debian. It’s got an internal and external battery. I replaced the thermal paste and the internal battery in about 20 mins. Very pleased with mine.
To run Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, or some other FOSS OS?
I’m running Fedora on a refurbished Thinkpad P1 Gen 4, and I’ve had good luck running Linux and the BSDs on higher end refurbished Dell Optiplex, Latitude, and Precision equipment.
Apple hardware is nice, and MacPorts gives me access to the vast majority of my *nix tools.
Shopping for new hardware I’d look at the list below to get Linux preinstalled.
- Thinkpad X1 Carbon
- Slimbook
- System76
- Tuxedo Computers
- Juno Computers
- Starlabs Systems
Or buy refurbed equipment from Dell or Lenovo.
I personally use a ThinkPad Z13 (all AMD; it’s nice but pricey), but I’d recommend getting a Framework (which wasn’t an option for me back then). I think modular and repairable laptops are cool, plus they seem to be well supported by the Linux community.
The only caution I would provide on Framework is their relative lack of BIOS updates: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/frameworks-software-and-firmware-have-been-a-mess-but-its-working-on-them/
They don’t have a BIOS updater for Linux (yet) and they have a history of overpromising stable updates. I get they’re hamstrung by upstream providers, but it’s a bad look on them to basically deliver a promised Thunderbolt update 1.5 years after announcing it. The CEO did say at least that they’ve hired on a new development team to get things moving, so hopefully they’ll be able to catch up.
Everything else I’ve heard about Framework is stellar.
I updated my AMD framework BIOS using fwupd last weekend with no problem on arch.
Thanks for the info. I wonder if it’s just the older Intel laptops that need the catchup then.
I use Tuxedo InfinityBook since few weeks and I like it very much. :)
I’ve had a dell precision 5520 for several years now. Its been solid from a software support standpoint. Downside is the stock batteries swell up; I’ve settled for lower-capacity aftermarket batteries instead. On my second keyboard, second charge port and second power supply. Unfortunately a screw fell out and then the hinge broke as a result, and charging has gotten wonky, maybe since the charge port’s attachment point broke too. If you put the charge cable in just the right place it’ll charge, but sometimes I can’t find that position.
Pluses:
- 32g ram
- nvidia graphic accel
- replaceable keyboard, battery, memory
- touchscreen, webcam, etc all work.
- high dpi screen
- good linux support.
- daily driver for 5+ years
Minuses:
- USB3 dock doesn’t charge enough, still needs power supply.
- front edge of the laptop is a bit sharp
- swelling stock batteries, keyboard and mouse gradually stop working.
- should have used locktite on screws, some fell out and now hinge, power wonky.
I also have a thinkpad w520. Super solid, but gets hot when the gpu is enabled. Probably needs a thermal paste refresh. Still on the original keyboard. On second power supply, first one’s cable is getting sparky. Slow compared to the dell, short battery life, very heavy, still working though!
I use a NovaCustom laptop. As far as I know these are the highest end laptops that work with a Linux-libre system. I was interested in the Framework 13 (which I think can accommodate a Linux-libre friendly wifi card) but it’s too small for my tastes, however a Framework 16 with an Intel CPU would be ideal if/when it comes out, though.
I’m curious why you want an intel cpu over an amd one
In my experience Intel graphics have better compatibility with Linux-libre. I’m unsure about Linux-libre on AMD; according to at least one report it requires firmware blobs, which I’d rather avoid.
(I’m aware that firmware blobs are unavoidable with modern-ish hardware but I’d prefer to avoid as many of them as possible)
A Starbook from Starlabs.
Framework laptop, the 13 model if you don’t need a dedicated GPU
I currently use a 2021 Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition and I really enjoy it. It’s a bit pricey at $1650 MSRP but it comes with a high end all AMD 5900HX, 6800M, 2 SoDIMM slots, and 2 M.2 slots. Plenty of ports: 3x USB-A, 1x USB-C, Ethernet, HDMI, headphone jack, and power jack; I’ve needed all of them and it’s just enough. Quite good battery life for a gaming laptop and supports USB-C charging. I currently dual boot Windows and Ubuntu. Biggest flaws are the preinstalled SSD is crap and there’s no webcam.
I use an old Latitude
Framework, any laptop that has good qubes support is fine in my book
What is qubes?
It’s an open source operating system, that looks for the best level of practical paranoia using virtual machines as a form of isolation between processes
Because of virtual machine workloads, and the security requirements, it can be quite demanding on hardware, and also open source support. So if a laptop supports qubes it’ll support anything else
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https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/license/
This source code is made available under GPLv2, unless there is a
LICENSEfile in the root of the containing repository that specifies a different license.How is GPLv2 not FOSS?
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I admire your level of purity, but your distinction is not helpful in laptop selection.
I’m not aware of any FOSS operating system that only uses totally open source hardware drivers. even GNU HERD would run proprietary drivers if they actually ever finished.
For Qubes, I’m not sure how you can have a better approach to isolating binary drivers, then running them in a totally contained virtual machine.
Which operating system are you referring to without drivers?
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I’m not super informed about the kernel layer, so forgive me if this is a silly question, but how does that approach compare to atomic distros like Fedora Kinoite, UniversalBlue, or NixOS?
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Check the link in my comment above and you will see which laptops have been demonstrated to work with qubes
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I’ll second the Framework. I’ve had one since the 1st gen Framework 13 and love it.
Framework is also extremely expensive compared to ThinkPad.
Huh? Do you compare to a new thinkpad or used? Because new ones are not that cheap.
Framework laptops are undeniably expensive. I say that as a happy owner of both the 13 and the 16. The value is not the appeal. To be honest, I don’t even expect it to “pay for itself due to upgradability and repairability” like many people say.
More availability of refurbished mainboards should help over time, I guess.
New included. E/L series are affordable.
