[RESPONDED] I'm about to go back to Windows

[Jeremy_Kastner]

Thanks for taking the time Matt

@Matt_Hartley

Not entirely sure which release you are using, however we do ask folks looking to Ubuntu to consider using the guide for the Long Term Support release we mention in the welcome email.

Step 9 and step 10 are important as this is what we test against.

For the release version, I am using Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS. I did follow the guide you linked, including steps 9 and 10 for the configuration and bios update. I’m not sure I caught the kernel update stuff, my current kernel version is 6.2.0-37-generic. I will at least give those steps a go.

@Matt_Hartley

Ah, I see what is happening. Yes, some docks do not do well. We test against and recommend using the HDMI and DP expansion cards as we can’t control what the docks are doing. Some docks work fine for video output, some are a hot mess. It’s frustrating and I totally get how annoying this is. We’re simply unable to vet and then collaborate with all the dock manufacturers to make sure everyone’s firmware is on the same page.

Ok, fair enough. I will try just connecting to the display, I don’t really need the dock these days anyway. Had the window issue happen again, here is a screenshot:

As you can see, the window is small but the elements haven’t reorganized themselves. I think it happens randomly when I move Firefox from my laptop screen up to my big monitor. I can still move it, but can’t resize the window in this state. I just have to restart the app.

@Matt_Hartley

This is something I’d need to see logs for (in a ticket). If it is crashing on the Framework, that would be odd. Crashing on the Xbox using the Framework as source, could be a variety of factors that the logs might shed light on.

The crashing happens on Windows, either on PC or Xbox, while playing the mkv that came from the Linux Framework. I put the video on a USB and plug it into the Xbox to watch. Admittedly, the media player app on Xbox is garbage, but it has always worked for this purpose. It’s bizarre that the same video, downloaded from the same place doesn’t work when downloaded from the Linux OS. Could be the software I’m using. There’s more that I can tinker with there, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

@Matt_Hartley

Is this connected through the USB-C dock to your TV’s HDMI port? If so, we recommend the HDMI expansion card. If this was using a HDMI expansion card for this instance, we’d want to see logs in a ticket. I use my TV frequently for this and have not experienced any issues with this on the HDMI expansion card.

This was directly from the Framework to the TV, using HDMI expansion card and a good HDMI cable. Funny enough, I tried again today and it connected just fine, albeit with some noticeable lag. Just now, I also tried connecting my monitor via HDMI and expansion card like you said, and it worked for a while, but when I re-enabled fractional scaling (tinkering with the scale issues again) the signal went out, similar to the TV. Had to go back to the dock for now. Also, I confirmed I am using Wayland.

@Matt_Hartley

Now for reasons of practicality, this is not always possible. Some folks have work they need to get done. If this is the case, creating a persistent Live USB may be a better approach.

The advantage is you have an escape hatch when something isn’t going well. You shrug, reboot back to Windows. But, as time and patience allows, you’re able to boot to said USB key and bang away on those challenges that might crop up.

That’s actually a really good idea, I might do that. I wonder if it would be better to do development in such an environment or stick to the more complex Windows + WSL experience? I mean, I need a development environment (mostly php), but I also need the reliability of Windows for more basic work.

Thanks again Matt!

And thanks for the other replies everyone. I did confirm on the terminal it looks like I am using Wayland. I am familiar with Linux in the context of doing server admin stuff, ironically it’s the casual stuff that I’m struggling with here. I have used WSL on Windows before as well, it worked but also felt like it added layers of complexity to things (and was sloooooowwww), so I was hoping a pure Linux experience would be easier. I haven’t tried Fedora, I kind of thought Ubuntu would be easier, but I will take a look at that as well.