I'm nearing a year of using this Linux laptop as a 50% daily driver and I really have to say…
Linux's quality of life on an ordinary laptop is *embarrassing*.
Like, I'm able to use it. But it is embarrassing. No normal person would put up with the garbage desktop Linux puts me through. I put up with it because I'm stubborn and ideologically motivated.
I see problems including, but not limited to
- When I close the laptop lid and open it again, a shocking percentage of the time it does not wake up and I have to force power it off ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-oem-6.8/+bug/2064595 , ongoing since April)
- Every time I briefly brush my fingers against the screen, GNOME enters an entirely broken "touchscreen mode" in which it pretends my keyboard and mouse don't exist. It fixes itself after an unpredictable amount of time ranging from 5 to 30 seconds. Can't be disabled
[Impact] On some OEM platforms observed bad suspend occurs on lid close and power LED stays on without normal sleep behavior at that time. Needs to call GFXOFF to the right state during the suspend stage. https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/ca299b4512d4b4f516732a48ce9aa19d91f4473e Closes: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3132 Fixes: ab4750332dbe [Test case] test that s2idle works after installing the update [Regression potential] minimal
- Firefox can't show image previews when selecting attachments (because of "security", somehow)
- Often, when I direct a program to open a new window, GNOME refuses to let the program do it, and instead opens the window at the back of the stack and shows a top-of-screen notification letting me know there's a new window (I guess also "security")
- Just fresh weird stuff happening at random intervals. Since last week, when I right click in Firefox, I can't click on the menu. It's happening RN
@mcc I didn't see it in the thread, but what laptop are you using?
(Not that it's relevant to your case, but I've used Ubuntu on Thinkpads -- never, ever the latest model, however -- for a long time with good results.)
@dangillmor Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 (AMD). I specifically selected this machine for Linux compatibiliy… >_>
I think that my most serious problems stem from:
- Using newest versions of Ubuntu instead of 22.04
- Third parties having poor support for HiDPI and high resolution scrollwheel events
- Me trying (at first, not now) to use Wayland
- Intentional features of Snap, and my refusal to use non-Snap methods of installing software when a Snap is available
mcc
Dan Gillmor
Cameron