EDIT: We now have an official guide! https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Mint+20.3+Installation+on+the+Framework+Laptop/110?lang=en
I haven’t seen anything specific to Linux Mint on Framework, so I thought I would post my first impressions and workarounds.
To get the AX210 working on install, install the “edge” ISO, which comes with kernel 5.11. It works out of the box.
On first update, the newer 5.11 kernel will break the AX210. To resolve this, find and install the 5.14 kernel using either apt-get or Synaptic. There’s an 5.14 OEM kernel. There are also several 5.13 OEM kernel versions, these might work - I have not tried them.
I haven’t tried the fingerprint reader yet, I’ll tackle that later.
In regards to display scaling, I don’t like the look of “Automatic (2x)” or “Double (Hi-DPI)” (which looks the same as “Automatic (2x)”). I tried fractional scaling and 150% or 125% had a good size but the text was fuzzy. What I find is a good compromise is to set it to “Normal” or 100% scaling and adjust the default font, icon and panel sizes accordingly. Text scaling factor also helps, I have to research the difference between keeping the font sizes small vs. setting text scaling to 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 etc.
I’m using QRedshift to control the screen brightness and colour temperature. 6500K/100% in the day, 4000K/70% at night. That takes care of the pinkish cast some say the panel has, although I did not notice it.
So, really, everything just works. I keep reading extensive workarounds to get the newer hardware working and I didn’t need this or never encountered it. Just use that 5.13 or 5.14 kernel and everything seems to work!
Finnicky items I’ve seen mentioned that I tested and work fine:
- AX210 wireless
- Bluetooth
- second monitor over a dock, HDMI or VGA
- wired networking over a dock, 2.5 GbE (through a USB 3.0 adapter) or Gigabit in the dock
- suspend, on timeout or with the lid closing
The only thing I tried that does NOT work is a third monitor over a dock. I cannot get an HDMI and a VGA monitor over a dock working simultaneously. It just seems buggy but the situation may improve. It’s minor in the grand scheme of things.
EDIT: The Linux Mint 20.3 edge ISO is out. Kernel is now 5.13, which may have a problem with the wireless card, hopefully someone can confirm or deny. Before confirmation, install 20.3 edge with an Ethernet adapter or older wireless adapter ready and update the kernel.