[GUIDE] Linux Mint on Laptop 13 with AMD 7040

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
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Sadly it doesn’t work in GNOME. As mentioned, it lets me in but fails to load any user profile data, does not save customizations, and no apps are able to launch. It’s a “ghost” profile, nearly identical to behavior I’ve seen on other machines when Windows fails to load the user profile service. It only loads my user profile if I log in with my password. I don’t understand why, but given the reader works for anything within a user session as well as lock screen unlocks (once logged in) I think it’s more a Mint issue than a driver/firmware issue.

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Just adding to success: Using 6.5 kernel (also works with 6.1) fixed my USB/HDMI connection and added OpenGP hardware acceleration instead of llvmpipe software renderer in the 5.x kernels.

Big change there is that therefore cinamon isn’t sitting there taking up lots of CPU resources.

I’m using linux mint 21.3 (2024) with kernel 6.5 and so far everything is working except that I have not tried/played with finger print scanner.

One thing to note - 6.5 does not work with Virtual PC - problem known in the drivers that is being fixed - but 6.1 seems to work well with Virtual PC and all my hardware.

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I’m going to add my Mint experience here, just for searchability (since it took me a while to get here). My basic install went fine, but the laptop wasn’t sleeping properly: battery use with the lid closed seemed to be about the same as idle.

The results of running amd_s2idle.py (which is what I search for and didn’t find) were:

:white_check_mark: HSMP driver amd_hsmp not detected (blocked: False)
:x: PMC driver amd_pmc did not bind to any ACPI device
:white_check_mark: USB4 driver thunderbolt loaded
:x: GPU driver amdgpu not loaded
:white_check_mark: System is configured for s2idle
:white_check_mark: NVME Sandisk Corp is configured for s2idle in BIOS
:white_check_mark: GPIO driver pinctrl_amd available

I installed the linux-oem-22.04 package and now:

:white_check_mark: HSMP driver amd_hsmp not detected (blocked: False)
:white_check_mark: PMC driver amd_pmc loaded (Program 0 Firmware 76.70.0)
:white_check_mark: USB4 driver thunderbolt loaded
:white_check_mark: GPU driver amdgpu available
:white_check_mark: System is configured for s2idle
:white_check_mark: NVME Sandisk Corp is configured for s2idle in BIOS
:white_check_mark: GPIO driver pinctrl_amd available

Now it sleeps just fine (and likely having the graphics driver is helping too).

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Hi all, any updates on the Linux Mint experience on FW13? I’m interesting in trying it.

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I’m interested in running Linux Mint on my AMD FW 13. The most up to date thread I can find is for the FW 16:

It seems it’s been a while since people have posted about their experiences with it. It seems like in the 16 thread, people recommended Cinnamon EDGE over regular Cinnamon, would that still be the case?

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Hi Tam,
as you can see in my earlier post there, i started with plain Mint Cinnamon 21.3 with a Kernel 5.15.something, and it worked, after some jumping through hoops.
IMHO Edge just contains the newer Kernel 6.5.0.21 IIRC, which i installed anyway.
As i believe, the mainboards are the same for FW13 and FW16, so i hope my experiences can still give you some hints.
Best regards, W_L

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Hi @Tam,

The reason you don’t see much about Mint is that it generally just works.

If you can get it to boot with the default 5.15 kernel (indications are you should be able to) and install the 6.5 kernel, it should work well. If you install the Edge version, you get the 6.5 kernel by default.

Even more advanced kernels are coming to Mint 22, probably out in a month or two, but for now, 6.5 should be able to handle the FW13 Intel 11th gen, 12th gen and 13th gen, FW13 AMD 7040 and FW16s.

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I had to do the “completing setup” instructions for Ubuntu to get the last of the drivers etc working. But with that, my 13 inch Ryzen 7040 is working beautifully with Mint.

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21

Do you remember which version of Linux Mint you installed Greg?

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And dear all I appreciate you taking the time to post your experiences. I think I will go with the Cinnamon Edge edition on a spare SSD later this week. Will report back too.

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I installed Linux Mint Cinnamon (I think originally 21.2, and have since upgraded to 21.3).

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Hi all. I got around to installing Mint Cinnamon Edge 21.3 on my 13 AMD 7840 and I absolutely love it. I am so thrilled with what a complete and thorough experience it offers out of the box.

I was slightly dismayed though to find that Unity (the game engine) is unusable as it is so laggy / has an issue with performance. It is odd as I was using it perfectly on Ubuntu 22.04, which is what LM 21.3 is based on right?

Are there any obvious things anyone might recommend to check?

I completed the Ubuntu setup instructions here and also the firmware is on 3.05.

I also checked and in the BIOS I am set to gaming mode.

Any help massively appreciated.

EDIT: the issue was with fractional scaling. Turning this off in Mint led to normal performance again.

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Did anyone try the Mint 22 beta yet on the F13 AMD? I ordered the version with the new display etc. which will hopefully arrive soon. I’m still undecided between using Mint 22 and Fedora 40.

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Hi. I am a relatively new Linux user and I just installed Mint Cinnamon Edge 21.3 on my 13 AMD 7840U and everything seems to be working but I am having trouble setting up the fingerprint sensor. I followed the guide in the first post and I went to the GitHub page it linked which redirected me to this: Updating Fingerprint Reader Firmware on Linux for 13th Gen and AMD Ryzen 7040 Series Laptops

I followed these instructions exactly except where it said to run snap install fwupd, I instead sudo apt install fwupd however once I arrived at the section where it asked me to run this: fwupdmgr get-devices 1e8c8470-a49c-571a-82fd-19c9fa32b8c3
When I ran it, the resulting output did not match what was shown in the screenshot and did not list the fingerprint scanner at all. What can I do to get this working?

EDIT: I am also not sure if this is a OS issue or just my wifi right now but I am having an unbearably slow internet connection.

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Hello there. Fractional scaling in Mint is well known to be a performance killer. The situation may have improved over the last couple of Mint releases (21.3 and 22) but only marginally. I found in a video by Framework (but I lack the link - sorry) that the new(ish) 2K panels were designed to have a sufficiently high resolution that one could use integer scaling on Linux.

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FWIW I’m running linux mint mate 22 with no real problems. I’m on the FW13 AMD Ryzen 5 7640U with the 2.8k Display. So far monitor scaling isn’t a problem with the exception of a couple cranky applications (Java 11 and Dropbox), but the work arounds are tolerable. Everything else is automatically running nicely at integer scaling 2.0. Mint’s move toward newer kernels and the phasing out of Edge is timely for new Framework owners.

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Good to know.

So far monitor scaling isn’t a problem with the exception of a couple cranky applications (Java 11 and Dropbox)

In my experience the DropBox Linux application is poorly written.

Mint’s move toward newer kernels and the phasing out of Edge is timely for new Framework owners.

Indeed!

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Hi all

I’m running Mint 22 on a F-13 AMD. I’ve a 6.8 kernel and the latest firmware updates. The laptop does not sleep properly, at least upon lid close. (I have yet to test other ways of initiating sleep.) For, occasionally, the fans on the closed laptop go like the clappers. (I’ve installed this fan control software, but surely that is not the issue.)

I don’t think I have any magnets very near the computer.) Nor did I plug in the power whilst the laptop was asleep.

I see that here there is a troubleshooting script (but how does one use it?) and (same page) there is a kernel parameter (but what does it do?)

Also, apparently there is some Python script - but where - that one can run (via e.g. systemd’s ‘sleep’ directory?).

Can anyone advise? Thanks. EDIT: Perhaps this is the wrong place to post my problem.

EDIT 2: I tried the libinput command mentioned here and thus i can verify that the lid sensor is being triggered upon-lid-close. Indeed, when I told Mint to make lid-close shutdown the computer, that did work. in the thread that I linked just now, someone said that, under the Plasma DE, toggling the set lid-action worked; so I will see whether that works on Mint Cinnamon.

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I started getting suspend issues on lid closures. System restarts shortly after resuming. I suspect its AMD Ryzen sleep/suspend power issues based on what I read here:

Hopefully it gets worked shortly out in some future kernel/BIOS release. For now I just changed lid closures to a restart.

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I should say the following first. I have found a workaround, on Mint Cinnamon, for lid close not suspending the laptop. (I think that I found the workaround somewhere on this forum.) The workaround consists in enabling one of Mint’s settings. That setting is the one, in the Settings window, that enables suspension-on-lid-close even when an external device is attached (even though I had no external device attached).

Still: I have had, and continue to have, on Mint, a problem similar to that which Pierre reports on Ubuntu. Here is that problem. Upon suspend, or perhaps it is upon resume, the computer reboots. (Pierre reports that a reboot happens ‘a few seconds’ after logging back in. In my case, the reboot is in progress as soon as I have lifted the lid.)