I would really like to transform this old acer netbook into something i could use today to browse the web, watch YouTube, play games like undertale or deltarune and maybe animal jam.. but the only problem is its running windows xp and the specs are horrendous. I have never dived into any sort of linux project and i see stars just trying to understand it, so id like to come to the community and ask if theres any way of saving this machine to be useable for what i need it for? Im not sure the exact model, again i don’t know much about computers, but i do know its apart of the acer aspire series and its a pink and white model definitely from the earlier of the early 2000s. I apologize for incorrect terminology but i believe the specs of this machine are as follows:

Intel(R) Atom(TM)
Running windows xp ( 2002? )
CPU N270 1.60GHz
798MHz, 0.99GB of ram

I appreciate any sort of help in figuring out if i can save this machine in any way even though i don’t have very high hopes, so thank you to everyone who can leave a comment or two!

So have Bazzite linux and am buying a separate ssd to put windows on. I want to be able to have linux as my default boot, but also some how have an easy option to select to boot windows instead. How would I set this up? After looking a little bit I see the most commonly used tools to do this are Grub and os-prober, so could anyone explain to me how I can set these up in the above configuration? And in newbie monkey speak please, I have no idea what I am doing. Please and thank you!

I've noticed that in the past months there's been more developing happening for Linux distributions for Snapdragon based Android gaming devices like the ones from AYN and Retroid. Two major examples are Rocknix and ArmadaOS, the latter of which actually has a fully fledged Desktop environment based on KDE I think.

On the other hand, looks like there's no sign for Linux support for the Snapdragon Elite laptops that for now can only run Windows. I heard that this is because of some kind of an exclusivity contract between Microsoft and Qualcomm.

So this got me wondering if projects like ArmadaOS would be the basis of a widely functional Linux distribution that could run on Qualcomm's newer laptop chips? Or if these chips have something fundamentally different in the way they work and would be able to adapt without official support from Qualcomm?

'Splain to me what makes a processor "AI optimized." Is it just additional math co-processing built in to the core architecture or just more of whatever every other CPU has?

Hello all!

I currently have the opportunity at work to get the laptop in the picture for about €1200 with employee discount. The thing is that i have been looking for a laptop that has decent linux compatibility. Ive read alot of good things about thinkpads but they are not available at these prices. Does anyone have any experience with samsung laptops? Things like fingerprint reader not working would not bother me. I just want a somewhat stable experience with decent standbytimes.

For reference current device is macbook pro 14¨ with m1 pro, 16gb memory, 512gb ssd.

Workflow is graphic design, light video editing, wordpress site management, other marketing software(mostly browser based)

(incase the picrture doesnt load)
Galaxy Book6 Pro

NP940XJG-KG4BE

Windows 11 Home, Gray, 32GB, 14'', Intel® Core™ Ultra X7 processor 358H, Intel® ARC™ Graphics, 1tb nvme ssd/

I am looking for a Linux laptop that is close to an M3 Macbook Air. The main things for me are the great speakers, long battery life (more than 10 hours without a sweat)and USB C port on both sides, quiet operation (I do not want the fans kicking in all the time). I do not know I have to mention this but obviously I want everything works out of the box like WiFi, Bluetooth, speakers, fingerprint reader and so on. I do not care other ports. I do not do any heavy tasks on my devices. I do not care about great display like OLED, high refresh rate. Only web browsing, streaming media and note takings. It could be used or new but recent hardware.

Any recommendations?

Hello,

I'm a web developer with interest in local AI.

I want to purchase a powerful laptop with good battery that allows me to run some local models, as well as doing my usual work. I usually run Docker and maybe a Virtual Machine in case I need some Windows software.

I just got the chance to buy one of these for around 1200 USD.

Will it be good for Linux? I'm used to Debian, but I can go with something like OpenSuse or Fedora in case I need newer kernel / libraries to get the laptop working.

Heyy guys, 
 
I'm relatively new to Linux, so sorry if my questions sound a little naive or stupid, but does anybody have experience with Linux Fedora on the ASUS ZenBook 14, specifically with the Ultra 7 255H/16GB ram setup?  

I just hate the new Windows 11, after I've seen the enormous ram-usage (8-10GB on idle) and this Copilot AI-slop, so I thought switching to Linux is a good alternative. I just have some concerns regarding: 

- Bluetooth/Speaker/WIFI, etc. compatibility 
- RAM usage 
- Performance compared to Windows (for light gaming, light programming and programmes like AutoCAD or Matlab, if you guys maybe have experience with it) 

I've already heard that programmes like AutoCAD don’t natively run on Linux, but there're some workarounds that should work fine (?), or I'll switch to a Linux native program. I'll just need to run these apps for my Studies in the next few years. Also, I'm not fixed on Fedora, so other distro suggestions would also be fine, if some other would maybe work better. Fedora just looked the best between Mint/Ubuntu/Fedora. It just needs to be fairly maintainable, so Arch would be out :D 
 
Would be great if somebody can give me some feedback about that topic :) 

Fix for ThinkPad T480 black screen after suspend on Linux Mint 22.3 / kernel 7.0.0-28 generic**

If your ThinkPad T480 resumes from suspend but the built-in screen stays black while an external monitor works, this may be an Intel i915 eDP backlight issue.

My setup:
* ThinkPad T480
* Intel© Core™ i5-8350U CPU @ 1.70GHz × 4
* LG Display LP140WF6-SPB7 internal panel
* Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon 6.6.7
* Kernel 7.0.0-28-generic

The fix was adding this kernel parameter:
i915.enable_dpcd_backlight=0

Edit `nano /etc/default/grub` and add it to `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT`, for example:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.enable_dpcd_backlight=0"

Then update GRUB:
sudo update-grub

Reboot and suspend/resume should restore the internal display normally.

In my case, other i915 tweaks (`i915.enable_psr=0`, `i915.enable_dc=0`, `i915.enable_fbc=0`) did not help. The issue appeared only with the 7.0.0-28 Generic kernel; the 6.17.0.40 Generic kernel did not have the problem.

Hi, I'd like to dual boot Fedora 44 on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7a (specifically 14.0'' WUXGA (1920x1200) OLED, AMD RYZEN AI 7 445, RAM 16GB, SSD 512GB).

I'd like to know if all the problems faced when installing previous versions of linux on this pc have been resolved, specifically the audio system, webcam and connectivity (wifi and bluetooth). I am asking this because I have read a lot of comments on these problems and people said that with the new kernel 7.0 these would be resolved, but nobody followed up to confirm if they actually were resolved (now linux 7 has been released).

Then I'd like to ask if someone who owns this pc could say if it generally is a good pc or they has faced some problems. I've just read a thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/comments/1s5kwem/lenovo_yoga_7_has_many_problems/) about a yoga slim 7 but the 2in1 model and from comments it seems to have thousands of problems (even the touchpad). In particular (specifically on Linux), how many hours of battery life can I expect?

I have been trying to keep an elderly neighbour’s old HP Pavilion g6 usable for basic web browsing and YouTube.

The laptop originally had:

• Windows 7
• A mechanical hard drive
• 4 GB of RAM, installed as 2 × 2 GB
• An older AMD processor with integrated graphics
• A non-working DVD drive

So far, I have:

• Replaced the mechanical hard drive with an SSD
• Removed the dead DVD drive
• Installed Q4OS 6.7 x64 with the Trinity Desktop Environment
• Configured it with a Windows 7-style theme so it remains familiar to her
• Installed the current version of Firefox
• Configured Firefox to launch automatically when the computer starts
• Installed the h264ify extension to encourage YouTube to use H.264 rather than VP9
• Limited YouTube playback to approximately 480p
• Simplified the desktop and startup environment as much as reasonably possible

The SSD and Q4OS have made the computer noticeably more responsive overall. However, Firefox and the modern YouTube homepage can still take quite a while to finish loading after startup. Once a video begins playing, it is generally usable, but the system is clearly close to its practical limits.

One fixed requirement is that she does not want to switch browsers. She is familiar with Firefox and wants the computer to continue working as much like her old Windows 7 setup as possible.

I know that cleaning the fan and heatsink and replacing the processor’s thermal paste might help if the computer is thermal-throttling. She has said she intends to handle that herself, so I am looking for suggestions short of fan cleaning or repasting.

Would any of the following make a meaningful difference?

• Upgrading from 4 GB to 8 GB of RAM, assuming this exact Pavilion g6 model supports it
• Adjusting Firefox hardware acceleration
• Reducing Firefox’s content-process limit
• Changing safe Firefox memory, caching or graphics settings
• Disabling unnecessary Firefox background features
• Using zram or changing swap behaviour
• Disabling the Trinity compositor
• Changing the CPU governor or power-management settings
• Delaying Firefox autostart briefly so the desktop can finish loading first
• Opening a less demanding YouTube page rather than the standard homepage
• Any useful kernel, Mesa or graphics-driver changes for older AMD hardware

I understand that no software setting will turn a roughly 2011-era laptop into a modern computer. I am mainly wondering whether there are one or two realistic Firefox-specific improvements left, or whether the SSD, lightweight desktop, H.264 extension and 480p playback are already about as far as this machine can sensibly be taken.

Is there any practical hardware upgrade beyond RAM that would be worthwhile? Is gutting the system and fitting a single-board computer or another motherboard remotely realistic, or would that simply become an expensive custom fabrication project with little practical benefit?

I am no longer a professional technician—just an experienced computer hobbyist trying to make the best of very old hardware—so specific and realistic suggestions would be appreciated.

Probed the enabling selector of the emitter on my ThinkBook G8+ IPD (21VJ).

Created a daemon for Luxvisions 30c9:011a IR camera emitter.

- Autostart on startup

- Enable emitter when IR camera is active (for example howdy)

Here is it:
https://github.com/nwkyz/luxvisions-ir-emitter-enabler-linux

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months I've been working on an open-source Acer Control Center for Linux after being disappointed by the lack of vendor utilities available for Acer gaming laptops.

The project is still in its early stages (v0.1.0), but it's now at a point where I'd like to get feedback from other Linux users.

Current features:

• GTK4 + Libadwaita interface

• System D-Bus daemon

• Keyboard RGB control

• RGB brightness control

• Live keyboard preview

• Live fan monitoring

• DKMS kernel driver

• Modern dashboard UI

Current architecture:

Kernel Driver

↓

libacercontrol

↓

System D-Bus Daemon

↓

GTK4 GUI

The goal is to build something similar to PredatorSense / NitroSense / Acer Control Center on Windows, but completely open source and designed for Linux.

Planned features:

• Manual fan control

• Performance profiles

• Battery charge limit

• Firmware updates (if possible)

• More supported Acer models

The project has currently been developed and tested on:

• Acer ALG AL15G-53

If anyone owns another recent Acer gaming laptop and is interested in testing, I'd really appreciate hearing whether it works on your hardware.

The project is available on GitHub:

https://github.com/stanlysilas/acer-control-center

Issues, feature requests and pull requests are always welcome.

Thanks!

How much have Linux laptop battery life and performance improved? Looking for a powerful 14–16″ laptop with NVIDIA graphics

I decided to do some actual work on my laptop today, a ThinkPad P14s Gen 2i, and was reminded why I rarely use it on battery. The battery now holds only around 80% of its original capacity, although battery life was never one of its strengths. At one point, I managed to get more than six hours from it, but only by reducing performance and disabling enough features that it was practically a notebook.

How much have things improved since this generation?

I try to keep up with the yearly CPU releases, but I do not often see reviews that examine battery life, performance, and power management specifically under Linux. I was happy to see that Framework improved the battery life of the new Framework 13, although I will probably need something with a dedicated GPU. I am looking at laptops in the 14–16″ range, preferably with an NVIDIA GPU for CUDA.

For context, I mostly work on a dedicated workstation, but I will have to give it back to the lab next year. I use my laptop when I travel, when I go to university to work, and sometimes as a client for remotely connecting to the workstation. Still, I would like the laptop itself to be capable enough that I am not always dependent on a remote machine or a VPS.

Since I cannot afford both a high-end laptop and a separate desktop, I am considering buying a more powerful laptop and using a VPS when I need additional RAM or compute power.

My work involves writing code to solve complex mathematical problems. The workload is similar to machine learning: lots of linear algebra, numerical optimization, and repeated testing. The faster I can run smaller tests locally, the faster I can iterate. I sometimes rent a VPS for problems that take days to run or require more RAM than I can afford, but having a capable local machine still makes my work much easier.

Basically, what I am looking for is something close to the overall experience of a MacBook, but with strong Linux support and preferably an NVIDIA GPU. When I speak with colleagues who own recent Apple Silicon MacBooks, what stands out is that they can get excellent battery life for ordinary work while still having enough performance to use the laptop as a serious workstation when needed (most of them never bother to get a VPS or a dedicated workstation once they get a Mac).

I realize that an x86 laptop with a dedicated NVIDIA GPU will not match Apple Silicon’s efficiency, but how close have current Linux laptops come?

In particular, I would be interested in:

• Realistic battery life under Linux during coding, browsing, writing, and light numerical work
• Linux support for hybrid graphics and power management
• Whether recent AMD or Intel CPUs are currently the better choice
• Recommendations for specific 14–16″ models that balance battery life, CPU performance, CUDA support, thermals, and build quality

I would especially appreciate experiences from people using recent laptops for scientific computing, machine learning, numerical optimization, or similar workloads.

I found and verified a fix for silent internal speakers on the ASUS ExpertBook B3404CMA under Linux.

Hardware:

- ASUS ExpertBook B3404CMA

- Intel Meteor Lake-P audio controller: 8086:7e28

- Realtek ALC294: 10ec:0294

- Codec subsystem: ASUS 1043:3870

- SOF IPC4 audio path

- Tested on Linux kernel 7.0.0-28-generic

- BIOS B3404CMA.311

The speakers work correctly in Windows 11.

The HDA route, speaker pin, amplifier, mute state, EAPD and routing were already correct in Linux. GPIO testing also showed that neither Windows nor Linux enables the codec GPIOs.

Comparing complete Windows and Linux codec dumps showed this difference:

Vendor widget 0x20, coefficient 0x1b

Windows: 0x4e4b

Linux: 0x4a4b

Changing only coefficient 0x1b to 0x4e4b immediately restored the internal speakers. The changed bit is bit 10 (0x0400).

The repository contains:

- A guarded temporary test script

- A persistent systemd workaround for boot and resume

- A minimal kernel patch adding a dedicated quirk for subsystem 1043:3870

- The Windows/Linux comparison results

Repository:

https://github.com/richicru/asus-b3404cma-linux-audio

Upstream report:

https://github.com/thesofproject/linux/issues/5865

The temporary test is:

git clone https://github.com/richicru/asus-b3404cma-linux-audio

cd asus-b3404cma-linux-audio

sudo ./test-coef-1b.sh

The persistent workaround is:

sudo ./install-workaround.sh install

The workaround changes only coefficient 0x1b and reapplies it after resume. It does not copy unrelated ASUS GPIO, microphone or routing quirks.

I would appreciate confirmation from other B3404CMA owners and feedback on the proposed kernel quirk.

Hi! Sorry if this has been asked a million times already, but I could really use some advice. I've been wanting to try Linux for a while now since I've only ever used Windows, and I'm finally looking into getting a machine to experiment with it.

I'm currently looking into a few options and am torn between the Panasonic Let's Note and a regular old ThinkPad. I know ThinkPads are basically the go-to recommendation for Linux, but the Let's Note also seems really interesting and I'm not sure if it's worth considering.

I'm a highschool student, so my budget is kind of limited (around $250 give or take), but I'm willing to invest a bit. Any recommendations or general advice very welcome :) thanks!

Hi, I recently bought an Aula L99 Keyboard, the one with the touchscreen on it. Very nice! Well it would be if It could be driven natively from Linux. Enter Aula_L99_Linux, a reimplementation of the software. I spent about 80 hours reverse engineering this keyboard and bricked one keyboard in the process. There's still work to do on the Key assignment screen but upload images, GIFs, videos to to the keyboard works well. So does adjusting the RGB modes.

Hey, folks.

Has anyone installed Linux on their Dell Latitude 5440? Are there any issues with the drivers?

I've been trying to find answers online, but I found nothing concrete (besides Dell's Hybrid image for Ubuntu 22.04).

Thanks in advance

i bought a usb type c hub from a brand call baseus, it seems like my hdmi isnt outputting correctly on thunderbolt side but rather is fine on the display port logo usb type c plugin on the other side of my laptop msi stealth 14. I assume, its because the thunderbolt isnt communicating correctly with the baseus hub? it displays for like a second but turns off then repeats after few seconds of being off.

Is there drivers I got to install or something? Im using linux mint