I really want to use Linux but still get work done. I'm a gamedev who runs a few of my game servers on Linux of course (so I'm using cli pretty often), but the games run on Windows or consoles usually, and of course I primarily dev on windows. Lately though more and more dev tools are getting Linux support so I'd like to switch over if possible.
Here's the problem though, every time I've tried a Linux distro it's been an absolute fucking nightmare of debugging just to log in on either my PC or laptop. Shit like "oh your laptop has two gpus? Guess we're only using the integrated one forever no matter what PRIME has selected" when windows automatically knows when to switch between them when necessary. Or shit like display drivers crashing after a login when using official drivers (which I'd absolutely need for gamedev).
Recommend me a Linux distro that "just works" PLEASE.
So far all I've tried are Ubuntu and Mint. Ubuntu is horrible unstable. Mint kind of works on my laptop but touchpad doesn't work, prime doesn't work, and backlight settings are permanently fucked.
Nvidia PRIME is a mess because nvidia is absolutely uncooperative with the developers of the windowing and DE systems.
Dump your specs here and I can lead you to some water.
Justin Williams
If your hardware isn't supported, then it isn't supported. Try an older laptop if you have one or a desktop PC.
William Gonzalez
Laptop is mostly what I've had problems with so I'll show these.
>940m >i5 Installed on an extra ssd I put in It's an Acer aspire e15
Jace Martin
Laptop isn't brand spanking new, but is newer hardware typically not supported with most Linux distros? That's kind of a shame since I'd really like to use Linux daily.
Did you install nvidia from the .run file or did you install from the driver manager. You really really need to use the driver manager.
You need to install nvidia drivers, not use the default kernel nouveau driver or it will barely function. The performance is 1:1 with nvidia as it's the same driver codebase just ported over so it all depends on the API you're developing with.
Stick with Ubuntu if you can, the nice thing is that once you get a good config, you can back it up easy and replicate it anywhere. Drop a few more problems here you had.
Carter Turner
Do check in the BIOS if you have Optimus enabled. Did you update directly after installing?
Dominic Russell
Have you ever updated the BIOS on your laptop.
Cameron Edwards
Mint: When installing from driver manager I couldn't log in (black screen) so I tried installing through apt-get, which worked but prime wouldn't work.
Ubuntu just logs into a black screen no matter what. Other problems: no "advanced" support for touchpad (if enabled in bios, touchpad doesn't work). Brightness settings don't work. Prime as I mentioned doesn't follow settings and doesn't have a way to auto switch (why should I have to switch manually?)
I don't see it anywhere. No I didn't update anything yet.
I don't think so, no
Jonathan Cooper
You have nvidia optimus so here's what's going on:
1. Driver manager sees you have nvidia card 2. Downloads nvidia binaries 3. Nvidia binaries aren't aware of intel being the main GPU 4. Black screen
The 14.04 and later part of the guide lists the packages needed to make optimus work properly. You can start your games with primusrun XYZ And steam will use a start command of primusrun %command%
Seems to be a good start: itsfoss.com/fix-brightness-ubuntu-1310/ Try to find the PCI id of your intel GPU, with lspci, and replace the part in the config they say to paste.
Tyler Gutierrez
Manjaro or straight arch gets my vote. Unity runs native and i think cry does as well so you have great engines. Plus blender runs better on gnu linux than any other os
Carson Bailey
Fix what ya' got if you can, before hopping. Take a backup once you have it perfect. Ubuntu is a good start.
What does 'advanced' trackpad actually do? Most of the cool features can just be ticked in software options under gnome/kde/xfce's trackpad panels rather than having the BIOS shunt things.
Christopher Nguyen
is there a distro that just works without having to do all of this mess? will linux distros ever let me just install and work? i really don't want to mess with all of this, i have a lot to do
Luis Adams
Nope, Linux cannot just work without additional configuration on all hardware if companies who make hardware refuse to support it properly.
Anthony Morris
Arch based ones will probably make it easier but you do have to realize you only have to do this once. Always backup your system directory. Linux installs can run for decades with only simple upgrades added atop.
Antergos, Manjaro, and the like may be a quicker setup. It will save you much more time to salvage what you have. I'm willing to bet that fixing using bumblebee (a modified nvidia driver) in place of the nvidia binaries themselves that will allow you to use optimus, may fix the brightness.
Jaxson Lee
Fuck. Updated bios and now the drive with Mint refuses to boot. It was fun Jow Forums but Linux is turning into too much of a time sink. Meh. Maybe I'll try again in another 5 years or so :/
>is there a distro that just works without having to do all of this mess? Don't know, I've been using Linux Mint for years and nowadays it just works. I had more problems last time I installed Windows, and I still can't get basic stuff like mouse and keyboard to function perfectly under OSX.
Every OS has its problems, you've just been unlucky.
Joseph Martinez
Manjaro GNOME
Jaxson Perez
I feel like I've had to reinstall Windows quite often, since testing games usually means having a box around to fresh install everything and test your just to be extra sure you aren't accidentally doing something that needs some dependency or something. Through all those installs on various machines I've never once ran into an issue with windows. Even 10 automatically installs Nvidia drivers magically during setup, it's fucking great.
I've had a Mac in the past and osx seemed fine, never ran into issues.
Every time I've tried any Linux distro it's been nothing but headaches, unfortunately. It sucks because I want to use it daily but it's such a time sink I can't justify it when I should be working.
Every few years I see some nice news about how linux is gaining popularity because of some new thing (recently: Steamplay/proton). But it's always such a mess despite what seems like hype around it. Bleh.
Nvidia prime is an unsolved problem. The nvidia driver itself barely seems to work right, I can't suspend while using it, its easy to break xorg with it... My solution is just to use the Intel one and reboot to nvidia whenever I need something done with it.
Kayden King
>I've had a Mac in the past and osx seemed fine, never ran into issues. The problems I have specifically are turning off mouse wheel acceleration and fixing the movement (not possible without 3rd party utilities), and getting my external PC ISO keyboard to have all the non-alphanumeric keys (in particular / \ ~ ` @ " # £ etc.) behave. Difficulty mode: I also use the Colemak keyboard layout.
Arguably trivial problems, but when your mouse just feels rubbish to use all the time and the keyboard layout switches subtly between work and home despite being the same keyboard, it kind of taints everything.
Gabriel Gray
Ubuntu just works. If you don't like the DE use a different flavor of it Like Xubuntu or Ubuntu MATE
Sebastian Rivera
>nvidia theres your problem ill bite the falseflag, just use manjaro and pray that the hardware detection works
