Comment by 🐙 norayr
and i dont know what you mean by gnu, probably you wanted to say 'gnome'?
in most linux distros you have lots of desktop environments and window managers available in rpositories for installation. you can install gnome, kde, xfce, lxde, mate, enlightenment, etc, and when logging in choose language and desktop environment.
Jan 14 · 4 months ago
Poll Results
1. KDE
████████████▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 50%
2. Gnome (I said GNU by mistake)
███▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 11%
3. Other... bearing in mind I'm not very experienced with linux.
█████████▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 39%
28 votes were cast.
24 Later Comments ↓
I've been thinking of sacraficing my old HP Laptop for Linux Mint, but I'm not even sure if it can handle duel booting or generally running Linux distros alone.
I've been happy with my Tuxedo computer for the last few years.
🐦 wasolili [...] · Jan 14 at 01:09:
framework laptops are built with supporting linux in mind. i think some of the major distros also have wiki pages that list working machines, and you can typically find results by searching "laptop model + linux" in a search engine. Most consumer laptops will be fine. If you're buying in person, you can also try booting from a live linux usb drive before committing to the purchase.
KDE vs GNU
Think you got a bit confused here. the GNU userland/coreutils are part of most Linux distros, to the point where if someone is running Linux you can assume it's GNU/Linux (insert Stallman copypasta here). KDE is a desktop environment. You probably meant GNOME, one of the other major desktop environments. XCFE is another big one and there's plenty to choose from.
But I would recommend you not think too much about desktop environments. Just find a major distro that you like the look of and use it and whatever DE it ships with. You can install a different DE (without installing a different distro) later if you want to play with different DEs and different window managers.
😎 flipperzero · Jan 14 at 01:16:
idgi
System76, Tuxedo, Framework ... everyone seems to be reading straight past the part about not spending a lot of money! Get a Lenovo Thinkpad. 3-4 years old. Refurb or old stock. You'll do just fine. I'm writing this on a refurb Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro running Debian. It's never given me an issue.
☯️ leoperbo · Jan 14 at 01:41:
I'm a ThinkPads fan, have 3, each one of them is 100% Linux compatible.
A promising alternative is the KDE Slimbook.
🚀 hooraa [OP] · Jan 14 at 03:17:
Thanks to all for the feedback, very good news to me. It seems more promising than I expected.
Sorry - I put GNU when I meant Gnome. I'm clearly no expert on these things - I get the impression that the KDE/Gnome distinction is not important to me, and that compatibility to hardware is independant of such distinctions???
@Ian_Grey - I've looked at lenovo Ideapads/Thinkpads on-sale before. They seem to be mostly 2nd-hand on-sale AFAICT. I've seen some 2nd-hand ones on Amazon. Is there a better place to buy them that you know of???
@leoperbo - Thanks for the KDE Slimbook suggestion, I'll have to look into that soon. I guess that's a laptop made by KDE???
Thanks again :-D
🚀 hooraa [OP] · Jan 14 at 03:24:
@gritty - Thanks for the idea - I looked at the Tuxedo computers website. Good shipping costs, but the price of the machines is probably a bit high for me at this time. I'll certainly bear them in mind though. I think I'll probably go a bit less expensive for my 1st linux laptop. Maybe next time. Thanks anyway, good to know. :-)
🚀 hooraa [OP] · Jan 14 at 03:25:
@norayr - Good insight, thanks :-)
Yeah, you were right I got confused. X-D
I'll have a look online at the companies you mentioned tomorrow, much appreciated. :-)
🚀 hooraa [OP] · Jan 14 at 03:30:
@wasolili - Great idea about booting from live linux USB, I hope they let me do it at the shop, I can always ask. X-D
Thanks for the clarification between GNU/Gnome. A classic example of I-knew-what-I-meant, not what I said. Ha, it's been a long day! :-D
🚀 hooraa [OP] · Jan 14 at 03:42:
For clarity - once-upon-a-time in the past I tried linux with an Acer laptop I got very cheap on sale. It didn't work out well with the hardware (I forget the details), but I think that made me a bit paranoid about compatibility. Seemingly things are not as bad as I thought. Good news! :-)
I love used business class laptops. Currently I'm running Linux Mint (good alternative for Ubuntu) on a HP Elitebook 840 G8, and it performs well enough to be my daily.
Gnome is completely nuts, and kde is very large and also opinionated... I've been using Xubuntu which is Ubuntu but instead of the gnome clown show it has a normal gui.
Thinkpad laptops work beautifully with linux and are ridiculously cheap used
🚀 SavaRocks · Jan 14 at 11:41:
doesn't really matter if you start with gnome, kde or xfce. There are a lot of desktop environments. you'll try a bunch and settle for the one that suits you
👻 darkghost · Jan 14 at 13:14:
Cinnamon as a GUI has been fine for me. It's GNOME without the strange (to me) interface. Much more standard application menu behind a logo button and task manager bar. I also use MX Linux which has an XFCE environment and that has been pretty good to me as well. All the options for the laptop here are great suggestions.
Just choose anything that you can easily customize and don't get in your way.
I'm not using any DE, if I choose one, it will be XFCE or Mint, KDE Plasma and GNOME is slow on my machine.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, install and use them all until you find DE you like.
ThinkPads are robust and easily repairable -- at least the slightly older ones are and I say that only because I have no experience with the newer ones. This is being written on a TP A485 which is the AMD equivalent of the T480 and a few years old. I bought it refurbished directly from Lenovo. My choice is Debian with KDE though I've used XUbuntu and Linux Mint in the past with good results. Depending on your specific needs, your mileage may vary as the old car ads put it. Nevertheless, any mainstream Linux on a ThinkPad is a very safe choice.
🐦 wasolili [...] · Jan 14 at 16:26:
Great idea about booting from live linux USB, I hope they let me do it at the shop, I can always ask. X-D
When I was a teenager, I used to boot as many of a store's display laptops into linux as I could without drawing attention. For some reason that is completely foreign to me now, I thought it was a fun prank.
But I never got in trouble, so I'd imagine most store's wouldn't give you a hard time for trying it.
I just paid $150 for a T14 (very similar to my older T480) with a 10th-gen I7. With 20GB RAM and 512TB SSD, and a good 10-hour battery.
I really should have gotten an 11th-gen CPU which is possibly 30% faster... But I rushed it a bit. It's still amazing.
T14 was introduced in 2020, so I would not even call it 'an older machine'.
@stack where'd you get this deal?
☯️ leoperbo · Jan 15 at 09:24:
OMG! I have a refurbished T14, the 11th-gen i7 with touch screen one:
@gritty: EBay is full of them! Just do a little research about what processor you find acceptable (11th-gen i7 is very possible, and keep in mind that a newer i5 is often faster/more cache/better than an older i7). Also avoid the ...s models -- T14s has no expandable RAM, for instance. T470 and T480 are really good if you want a reasonably modern system with a lot of reparability/configurability; T14 or even T15 (bigger 15" screen) are great with newer processors -- but you may have to make a bunch of offers before getting a bargain...
@leoperbo --That is the machine I wanted! 11th-gen i7 is maybe 30% faster than 10th in some single-thread benchmarks... Congratulations.
I love lowballing ThinkPads. They are kind of indestructible, so you are likely to get a decent machine. But if you don't, chances are you can replace the broken parts -- including the screen or the keyboard very inexpensively. If the worst comes to worst you will have a parts machine. But for around $150 for a T14 or a T480 you will get a clean and perfectly usable machine. My first T470 was $75, but I had to get batteries, a charger, an M2 drive and a caddy, so by the time I was done it was probably closer to $250.
This time I am happy as a pig in excrement with my $150 T14 -- I only had to get a USB-C 65W supply for $15- so good I am getting another -- power supply that is. I have too many computers now
❤️ fairlygood · Jan 16 at 22:24:
I bought a T440p for next to nothing and it lasted me for years. Fantastic machines.
GNOME 5ever because it's what I'm personally used to and therefore objectively the right choice for everybody. obviously
Original Post
Linux question... — Please, can anyone provide me with the following information: Is there anything in existence like a list of laptops (ideally) or desktops that have perfect compatibility with linux distributions. I am considering getting a new PC without windows, such that I can install linux myself. Probably a KDE distro, or perhaps GNU. I have never done this before and have limited experience with linux - enough to know I would be fine to use it for basic purposes. The main motivation...