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How to choose a computer/laptop/device that is better compatible with linux? Are there certain things to look out for when shopping?

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

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  • In general its not about the CPU or GPU. Even Nvidia works kinda okay on some Devices, at least according to Nick from TheLinuxExperiment. Some apps like Davinciresolve require it, and cuda is also only supported on Nvidia. Mobile AMD graphics are kinda underpowered for some tasks.

    Its more about weird hardware that isnt supported, Fingerprint readers, even keyboards going into some weird hibernation and you need to hard reset the PC as you cant control it anymore (Acer swift). Some devices like Microsoft Surfaces need a custom kernel.

    Lots ot refurbished business laptops like the Lenovo T series, HP or Dell business series works well, as they also dont have weird components.

    Check linux-hardware.org and if you have a running laptop, install their HWprobe and run it, to share that your laptop is working. With comments you can add what is really working etc.

    Personally I would also care about Coreboot. Checkout Novacuston (EU) or System76 or Starlabs, they have Coreboot laptops. I mean, installing Linux on some laptop with a proprietary garbage Bios that doesnt get updates (!!!) anymore is pretty hypocritical. Coreboot is awesome but rare, its awesome that there are some companies and people making it run on new hardware, so I would check those out.

    And... maybe dont get an M1 Macbook ;D

    • good advice, thank you! oh ok, so since im on a budget and i'll likely be buying refurbed or used, it'll likely be an older machine. would older computers but from the good companies mentioned still be capable of running newer versions/kernels of distros?

      • Welcome to Linux! Every hardware runs everything. Its not Mac or Android. Old Devices work always, as the drivers already exist. Only reeeally old stuff gets thrown out of the kernel.

        Thinkpad T430's have a pretty high price on Ebay currently, I have one and its a great laptop, nice keyboard, Coreboot/Heads/Libreboot/1vyrain custom BIOS all run. But it is a really old Laptop.

        Bought a Clevo MZ41 on Ebay, will attempt to flash coreboot. Was not pricey too.

        Try Thinkpads, Dell, Hp. Normally older Acer or Asus too. If you find a laptop with

        • good 1080p display
        • good keyboard in your language/ you dont care about stickers
        • good battery life
        • everything normal broken, not completely old

        Just search for "Linux MODEL" and you will probably find some reports.

        For new hardware you want a recent Distro, Fedora (try Kinoite! ublue.it), OpenSuse Tumbleweed (try Kalpa) or EndeavorOS for easy Arch, are all good. Maybe avoid ubuntu, or use something like PopOS or TuxedoOS, which are better versions of Ubuntu, with newer packages and less annoying crap like Snap.

        I am not sure if you already use Linux, but some general tips:

        • try to use Flatpaks from Flathub as much as possible. They are already often officially supported and have less bugs. Also the apps are isolated from your system, so they are more up to date, dont break your system, keep system upgrades small, and they have privacy advantages
        • use a Distro that supports Wayland very well. X11 is stupidly old and will be completely unsupported in a few years. Its already dead since a few years, as nothing changes.
        • try an "immutable", image based Distribution like Fedora Atomic (Kinoite (KDE), Silverblue (Gnome)) or Opensuse Kalpa (KDE) or Aeon (Gnome). They are simply modern, stable, resettable and your changes are transparent.
        • if you want to do any crazy stuff like code, install apps with many dependencies, do it in a Distrobox. You can install apps normally, but they are still not bloating your system. If you dont need them, delete the Distrobox and your system is clean again. This goes especially for strange University etc. software that needs to be installed with some script or something.
        • use a root Distrobox if you need things like USB
        • use fish as your normal shell, simply by editing the Terminals "open command". That way your shell in the Distroboxes has a different configuration, fish looks nice and colorful and has stuff like autocompletion.
        • do backups of your system and your data. Just do that always, on an extra drive. It saves so much horror of losing everything, if a drive breaks or your laptop gets stolen or whatever. If you want Cloud backups, use Cryptomator and any cloud you want.
        • use Syncthing, maybe disable global discovery for LAN only, for syncing your data between two or more specific devices.
        • use soundbound, SoundCloud Downloader (Firefox Addon) and youtube downloaders as long as they work. Download all of your music to not be dependend on those companies
        • try waydroid for Android apps on Linux. Use F-Droid basic as the application store, and check for "list of f-droid repositories" and add some.
111 comments