Ask HN: What is the best way of using Linux on a laptop (currently)? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the best way of using Linux on a laptop (currently)?

7 pointssandromario3 comments

I'm planning to get a new laptop soon, and there's a problem: I really do like good hardware such as the Surface Pro, and also think that having a tablet-laptop combo is a good thing (also saves you from buying yet another device on top). However, I've so far been using Ubuntu on my Thinkpad X1 (oldest version probably, from 2012). While the Linux workflow was flawless, I wasn't happy at all with Ubuntu's hardware support for that particular model. Battery life is horrible, the fan spins up quite often, and so on. Basically I wasn't able to work on the go because the battery was dying after 2 hours. I don't want to make the same mistake again.

I'd be interested to know how you Linux-philes out there are using Linux on a laptop?

- Natively

- Through a VM

- Windows 10 Bash Shell

Would be really great to hear about your experiences with the various alternatives.

Thanks!

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Leaving Ubuntu out of the subject for personal reasons I would like to recommend you use Debian stable as you must already be accustomed to dpkg and apt utilities.

The way to use Linux that works best for everyone is to start with a very clean installation, and really only install what you need.

This does not only work best because you don't end up with unwanted processes eating up resources but you also get to understand a bit more about each part as you install them, if you're curious enough to seek information on dependencies and explore around the configuration files of every software component you add to your installation.

To do this with Debian is really easy, just deselect every single item in tasksel during the installation process, and later use apt/aptitude to install what's missing.

I prefer not to install meta-packages that are meant to bundle "everything you need" for X (example: task-gnome-desktop) but you get to decide if you like having system components you do not fully understand...

For the sake of an example here is a list of all the packages that would be installed on my laptop if I would install task-gnome-desktop (897 packages / 2,175 MB disk space): http://paste.lisp.org/display/325002

Of course if you have time, or just interest, but mostly if you never went through it before I would recommend Slackware.

Have a fun ride!

So if you prefer the Ubuntu ecosystem, but are willing to go for a more traditional desktop environment, I would recommend KDE neon with the muon package manager. It's a distribution based off Ubuntu Long term support releases but tracks the KDE Plasma desktop packages more closely.

To improve driver support, you might consider updating to the latest 4.7.2 kernel from the Ubuntu mainline ppa. Tracking Mesa more closely by adding the padoka ppa. And by adding proprietary drivers by running ubuntu-drivers --auto-install. Manually setting the DPI for sddm might also help if you have a high DPI screen.

To improve power consumption, consider adding powertop, and setting powertop --auto-tune to your rc.local

Currently running KDE neon on my Dell XPS dev edition, and everything works. Wifi, graphics, sound, touchpad, special fn keys. Arguably, the wifi and touchpad are even better than under win 10 AU.

Thanks a lot guys. These are very valuable pointers. On a more general note, would you always prefer running Linux natively on your laptop to using it in a VM or through the new Windows 10 Bash Shell? Does it give it you any added benefit?

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