Linux on the Framework Laptop

vaioware · September 2, 2021, 12:28am

I really hope this one gets ironed out somehow. Hearing from others in the forum about how little battery life they get out of Linux right now makes me want to use Windows for a while longer

George_Hart · September 2, 2021, 4:22am

Agreed about battery life. That’s my biggest hesitation about moving to a Linux laptop.

doug_demaio · September 2, 2021, 9:10am

Would make sense to also offer openSUSE with it.

Animesh_Sahu · September 3, 2021, 8:39am

Wow framework on arch wiki, amazing!

Brett_Kosinski · September 3, 2021, 12:59pm

@George_Hart @vaioware

BTW, it’s worth checking the battery thread. I’m reasonably confident, at this point, that we’ve figured out the right combination of base settings and conditions needed to get battery life on Linux comparable to that of Windows.

The challenge with Linux has always been that a) things often aren’t properly configured out of the box, and b) finding the right settings can be a bit of a needle-in-the-haystack exercise.

So it’s not that Linux can’t perform as well as Windows (my old X1C5 performed better under Linux than it did under Windows!), it’s just that it doesn’t happen automatically, which is certainly frustrating.

vaioware · September 3, 2021, 1:36pm

Well there’s a lot of posts to go through but thanks for mentioning Brett

Andrew_Gallant · September 3, 2021, 3:16pm

I’ve added some more sections to the Archlinux wiki page:

Tips for dealing with the HiDPI display. (My setup is a bit “retro” in that I use my own X11 window manager (that doesn’t support HiDPI) with no desktop environment.)
How to enable two/three finger click for right/middle click.
Making xbacklight work. (It did not work for me out of the box.)

Other than that, installation was smooth sailing. I haven’t tried to play with bluetooth or the fingerprint reader though, since I don’t use them.

CraigO · September 3, 2021, 3:29pm

Thanks for the update - question for you: any particular reason you don’t use bluetooth? I mean, I can imagine life w/o bluetooth but .

Andrew_Gallant · September 3, 2021, 4:00pm

I don’t want to get too off topic here, but I just don’t have any use for it I guess. The only peripheral I use with my laptop are my headphones, and those are specifically wired. (I specifically got a phone that has a headphone jack.) There’s nothing else I’d use bluetooth for.

CraigO · September 3, 2021, 5:01pm

Agreed - thanks for the answer nevertheless.

horizonbrave · September 17, 2021, 6:25am

Thank you framework, and I’m placing an order as we speak!
I don’t need a “Linux” key but I’d love the Windows key replaced with something more universal. Please

CraigO · September 17, 2021, 1:32pm

+1

Or, even more “framework-ish.”

KOSTYANTYN_RUKHLIS · September 17, 2021, 7:08pm

Have you guys tried “playing” with eGPU on your Frame.Work’s Linux? It’s not an issue with Frame.Work, but rather an issue with Linux itself. For Win10 the eGPU is a real plug and play. For Linux it’s a nightmare.
Especially considering mobility aspect – your OS should automatically adjust to use either built-in gpu or eGPU. Win10 does it smoothly. With Linux – good luck( at least with Ubuntu 21.x). I have even tried multiple automated scripts that dynamically regenerate X.org config during the boot based on the eGPU availability. Unfortunately, these scripts do not work all the time properly. Also, it’s not a plug and play experience – you have to shutdown Linux and attach or detach eGPU in order to regenerate the X.org config for your new setup( well there is a ugly workaround – kill the X session and re-run these scripts manually and then restart your X-session). Compare to Win10 experience – you need it – you plug eGPU, Win10 automatically switches to eGPU. You don’t need it – you unplug it. And Win10 automatically switches back to Intel’s GPU. No reboot needed. Also, as far as I know eGPU with NVidia and Wayland are incompatible, you have to use X.
P.S. Sorry for emotional post, I’ve wasted 1.5 days to make eGPU work at least in such ugly way under Linux. I was not pissed off even with my ex-girlfriend to such extent.

Isidoro_Cosentino · September 18, 2021, 12:08am

I would love to see what distributions people are running on their laptops and with what hardware?

Val · October 4, 2021, 5:08pm

I hope the Framework laptop’s display having such an oddball resolution motivates people to improve hiDPI support in Linux.

2disbetter · October 4, 2021, 5:49pm

Framework, was Canonical given any pre-production models to help with the integration of Ubuntu?

It is very evident how much Fedora’s team getting a laptop helped that distro.

It would be awesome if Canonical could give us some similar results with Ubuntu.

cameron_lambert · October 8, 2021, 1:23am

@KOSTYANTYN_RUKHLIS have you tried autorandr? I don’t have the framework laptop but I’ve used autorandr a few times with some troublesome display configurations

nomb85 · October 11, 2021, 2:24am

I really think the windows key should have had the gear that is on the F12 key instead. I was really disappointed having the windows logo on it when I got it.

lightrush · October 18, 2021, 6:11am

We need Framework to get the hardware certified by Canonical for 22.04 like the ThinkPads and XPSes are/would be. I’ve gotten a bit spoiled running Ubuntu-certified machines over the last 10 years. I don’t recall the last time hardware did not work as expected.

pyguydev · October 18, 2021, 9:37am

I’m sure it’ll be soon. I’m using Fedora right now and it worked 100% out of box flawless. It wasnt the first distro I went with but I kept running into road blocks so for now I just need a working OS. I’m gonna use my extra 1TB expansion card for experimenting with other distros.