Which distro runs best on the Framework Laptop?

I’m talking about which one just installs and requires the least amount of tinkering to get EVERYTHING working?

I’ve tried Fedora and Ubuntu. 21.04 seemed to be the easiest.

I’m really interested in this, because I’d like to set up Linux on a drive, and I don’t feel like going through the effort of setting everything all up just to have to scrub it because I’m just tired of tinkering with it.

I saw that Mint was working? Fingerpint scanner working there as well? Bluetooth?

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I haven’t tested fingerprint scanning but Bluetooth works fine for me on Mint using the new 5.14 OEM kernel.

The edge ISO installs with everything working but the first update kills wireless. Installing 5.14 got it back for me and speeds are great. I guess the way to do it is install 5.14 then reboot, select 5.14 and then update.

I’m gonna dabble with NixOS first. Wanna try something different and NixOS has that Arch feel and yet if you screw up its easy to revert back to previous states. Been reading more about it and it’s intriguing. If I succeed I’ll keep it, if not, I’ll probably go Manjaro with Plasma DE.

Ubuntu. 21.04 with the fingerprint fix at linux_framework_laptop/fingerprint_reader/ubuntu_libfprint_v1.94.1_install.sh at master · cfsmp3/linux_framework_laptop · GitHub. All features work perfectly.

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Arch or bust. Everything is working perfectly :slight_smile: arch host with vms for personal and work os’s. Ordered expansion card storage cannot wait to try qubes

Ok, but was this install and play, or did you need to do a bunch of tinkering to get it there. What I’m looking for is a distro that just install,maybe requires one update, but then just works. Fingerprint scanner and wifi / bluetooth included.

It was install and play. You do have to install a package for fingerprint and Bluetooth/wifi. I think the only other thing I did was ensure sleep was using ‘deep’ instead of s2idle but that was easy to address. ‘echo deep | tee /sys/power/mem_sleep’ was the command. Bluetooth and everything worked no need to install custom kernel or nada. It has been butter smooth for me. I did arch uefi install with luks encryption. I highly recommend this tutorial if you haven’t installed arch before - https://wiki.learnlinux.tv/index.php/Arch_Linux_-_Full_installation_Guide

His tutorial sets it up perfectly. The only package you need to add to his install method is ‘linux-firmware’ when installing ‘base’. After you have gnome.up and running install Bluetooth and finger print packages and boom. Slimmed down host with suspend and everything working no issues

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Manjaro Gnome worked great for me out of the box. Adding fingerprint authentication was as easy as sudo pacman -S libfprintd. I’m sure you can do the same with the GUI package manager.

I was going to go with Arch, but I wasn’t comfortable setting up dual boot with the Arch install process even though I consider myself a fairly advanced Linux user. Manjaro (minimal installation) feels like a good compromise to get a stable, but up-to-date, Arch-based desktop environment set up easily.

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Thanks, I think I’m going to give Manjaro a try.

Elevated Systems just posted a video on the subject : Best Linux for Framework? 6 Distros Tested! - YouTube

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Interesting. I just tried Fedora 34 again and Wif and bluetooth are broke on it after an update, as it moves to a 5.14 kernel. Likewise Ubuntu 21.10 had some weird glitches going on. (mouse stuttering, etc.)

Honestly I prefer LTS releases because my experience has been that rolling just breaks drivers and hardware often and it is a pain.

I’m creating a Fedora 35 live disk now, and I guess I’ll take that for a spin. I was really digging Gnome 40 with Dash to Panel and the Arc Menu.

Here is a link of @CJ_Elevated video. A demo of 6 linux distro install.

Yep! LeLoupNeige already shared it. :wink:

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Despite the official Ubuntu thread recommending against Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, I found that 20.04.3 only required a workarounds for the WiFi and audio jack which are trivial. There are a few good to have tweaks for better operation like deep sleep during suspend, hibernate support and TLP for power saving on battery, but generally you won’t get those out of the box on any distro. I’m writing a Salt formula for automating that stuff so I don’t have to manually do any of it on the next Framework I put Ubuntu 20.04 on. It can be found here. It turns all of the workarounds and tweaks into running a couple of commands. You can use it as-is or fork it and tweak to suit your needs.

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Apart from the fingerprint reader, Fedora 35 is performing well enough on my Framework to take over as the main OS of the three I have currently installed (which include Ubuntu 21.04, formerly my favourite). I should mention that Ubuntu also worked quite well out of the box but Fedora just feels a little smoother. Maybe more of a UX thing than anything technical.

Using it right now (beta ver.) and it literally is true in that it works right out of the gate. Didn’t have to download anything else after install.

@Mdaly001 I think you mean “Arch BTW” :joy:

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Pop!_OS is my daily driver on my workstations but in my comparison of Pop!_OS 21.04 and Fedora 35 Beta on the Framework I found Fedora to be the better of the two in terms of performance and battery life.

I am also excited to experience Fedora 35 once it releases but since I received my laptop, I have been running Solus Budgie with 1.20 scaling factor using Tweaks. I have no other tweaks other than installing auto-cpufreq to improve battery life.

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Just got my DIY edition. Fedora 35 beta installed perfectly from USB.

Everything seems to work out of the box from the distro. (Haven’t checked fingerprint reader yet).

Off and running and couldn’t be happeir.