I got my Framework Laptop a couple weeks ago coming from a 2013 rMBP and I wanted to give Linux a try. I’ve used Linux on virtual servers a bit before but I am brand new to Linux desktop.
I tried to follow the instructions here to install Linux Mint 21, I got almost everything right except I got mixed up and installed the Cinnamon version, instead of the XFCE version that the guide recommends.
Fortunately, things have still worked pretty well, outside of browser activity I mainly use the laptop for hobby coding and data projects (mostly Python and R) and all of that has gone smoothly. There are however a few minor issues I’m still trying to resolve, mainly that the laptop won’t suspend on battery power when the screen is locked (appears to be a permissions issue) I’ve read through a couple forums (one example) and so far nothing I’ve come across has worked.
I’m curious if others have faced this specific issue of the power manager not being able to suspend, but more broadly, I was wondering if it is advisable to run Cinnamon on a framework laptop at all, or if I should switch to the XFCE version before I spend too much time troubleshooting spot-fixes. Thanks!
Well you’re right too, I see that the link points to the XFCE edition and didn’t realize that. At any rate, Cinnamon works fine. I haven’t tested XFCE or MATE editions but I’d be surprised if they didn’t work.
There may be some few niggles like power management. Here’s my power management settings on LM21 Cinnamon:
with the “When the lid is closed” options being “Suspend”, “Shut down immediately”, “Lock Screen” and “Do nothing”.
I have not done anything to enable suspend. I tried it a while ago and it seems to work although it drains the battery. I just shut down now and restart, it starts quickly enough that it’s not an issue for me.
This is what the system events in my log look like when I lock my screen and then close my laptop, it seems like the system is interpreting the suspend command for battery as hibernate, which is blocked by kernel_lockdown.
According to the kernel_lockdown.7 manpage, it looks like there’s no way to enable hibernate why the system is locked, and I’m not quite sure if hibernation is even what I want.
I’m not really sure where to go from here, is the problem here that the suspend command is trying to hibernate instead, or should I try to disable
For anyone who finds this by searching, I ended up staying with XFCE. Suspend and suspend-then-hibernate seem to work after following the instructions in this post. Note that you need to disable secure boot for it to work (repeatedly press F2 after rebooting to enter BIOS menu), its mentioned in the guide but I missed it the first time.
Note that in addition to adding the statements mentioned in that post to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/default/grub, I also added module_blacklist=hid_sensor_hub to it based on recommendation in the main Framework installation guide for Linux Mint in order to make the brightness up/down buttons work , so my /etc/default/grub entry looks like:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash mem_sleep_default=deep resume=UUID=[UUID for my disk] resume_offset=[physical offset for my disk] module_blacklist=hid_sensor_hub"
I have not actually monitored idle drain since doing this, will update here if it looks like it didn’t work
Interesting to note, and thanks for circling back. I’ve used Cinnamon exclusively with minor tweaking. Someone in some thread complained that Secure Boot makes Linux management a PITA so I disabled it from day one and forgot about it. A good example of why, I suppose!!
If you need to enable Hibernation, that did take some additional steps, and there’s two major paths of executing that. I can search out the thread if you’re wrestling that. Also be sure to spend the time tweaking power settings with TLP. Nothing earth-shattering, but it’s nice to fit the device to your use.
I hope your linux adventures have been rewarding so far!! It definitely got me learning a lot more about what my computer does, what things I wish it did not do (and how to correct that). I moved over in 2012 and have not done a Windows install since.
