I get suspicious when everything just works on a laptop.
this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
913 points (98.9% liked)
linuxmemes
27190 readers
2381 users here now
Hint: :q!
Sister communities:
Community rules (click to expand)
1. Follow the site-wide rules
- Instance-wide TOS: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
- Lemmy code of conduct: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/code_of_conduct.html
2. Be civil
- Understand the difference between a joke and an insult.
- Do not harrass or attack users for any reason. This includes using blanket terms, like "every user of thing".
- Don't get baited into back-and-forth insults. We are not animals.
- Leave remarks of "peasantry" to the PCMR community. If you dislike an OS/service/application, attack the thing you dislike, not the individuals who use it. Some people may not have a choice.
- Bigotry will not be tolerated.
3. Post Linux-related content
- Including Unix and BSD.
- Non-Linux content is acceptable as long as it makes a reference to Linux. For example, the poorly made mockery of
sudoin Windows. - No porn, no politics, no trolling or ragebaiting.
4. No recent reposts
- Everybody uses Arch btw, can't quit Vim, <loves/tolerates/hates> systemd, and wants to interject for a moment. You can stop now.
5. π¬π§ Language/ΡΠ·ΡΠΊ/Sprache
- This is primarily an English-speaking community. π¬π§π¦πΊπΊπΈ
- Comments written in other languages are allowed.
- The substance of a post should be comprehensible for people who only speak English.
- Titles and post bodies written in other languages will be allowed, but only as long as the above rule is observed.
6. (NEW!) Regarding public figures
We all have our opinions, and certain public figures can be divisive. Keep in mind that this is a community for memes and light-hearted fun, not for airing grievances or leveling accusations. - Keep discussions polite and free of disparagement.
- We are never in possession of all of the facts. Defamatory comments will not be tolerated.
- Discussions that get too heated will be locked and offending comments removed. Β
Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
Important: never execute code or follow advice that you don't understand or can't verify, especially here. The word of the day is credibility. This is a meme community -- even the most helpful comments might just be shitposts that can damage your system. Be aware, be smart, don't remove France.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I never had anything NOT work on a laptop. I installed Linux on 5 of them.
These days, that's pleasantly true :)
15 years ago was a different story. You'd have about a 50/50 shot of your trackpad working, one in three that your WiFi would work, and if you were hoping for a working webcam, you should just forget about it.
So even in modern times when you do an install and everything mostly just works, it still feels suspiciously miraculous.
These are the kinds of things that remind us how far we've come :)
I have a kink for installing Linux on Macs. The only thing I ever have trouble with is wifi, particularly on my 2011 MacBook Pro.
Oh, and the trackpad gets significantly shitter, but that's just life.
I installed endeavouros on my 2015 pro and nothing made the WiFi work. Reinstalled macOS.
After a few days I thought screw it, Iβll try other distros. Popos just boots and works out of the box β¦.
I kinda wish I hadn't sold my 2015 MBP Pro when I got my M2 Air. I wasn't messing about with Linux then, but with hindsight it would have been an excellent machine. I had it running Ventura (I think it was) via OCLP, which was great, but the fans were basically constant. Turns out that it was likely just macOS/OCLP.
Currently running Kubuntu off a thumb drive plugged into my 2011 MBP and I honestly don't think I've heard the fan on it. Running Ventura on the same machine was like trying to work next to a jet engine.
I'm currently still running macOS Monterey on a 2016 Macbook Pro which I use as my general purpose desktop. I'm considering going to Linux on it :)
I have other Linux machines already so this isn't a new foray - would just be interesting to see how it performs. Battery would be way worse I know, but this laptop serves basically as a permanent desktop anyway, so that's very much not a concern.
The last time I had something not automatically detected was on a ~2003 obscure "gaming" laptop (or what passed for gaming back then)
Yeah, it's been pretty straight forward for standard components for the last twenty years. (But I also tend to buy PCs that are known to be Linux friendly. That might be a reason for my lack of complaints in this area.)
When my laptop was pretty new, I would have to update Linux Mint's kernel for the trackpad to work. The older kernel it defaulted to didn't support it but the update manager could get a newer one that worked. The Wi-Fi driver actually worked better in Linux than in Windows.
I have barely had any of those issues in almost 20 years of linux use. The worst I remember dealibg with was cups back in the day. Certainly almost everything I've installed linux on in the last 10 years has just worked.
The only exception has been installing linux on old chrome books.
It used to be pretty bad before hardware standardization.
Is this some sort of Ubuntu joke I'm too Arch to understand?
Right? Arch detects all my hardware. Its my favorite Gentoo install medium.
If anything, Windows 11 is the OS where things don't work off of a fresh install (assuming it's a self-built PC). It requires an internet connection during regular setup yet the ethernet/wifi drivers simply didn't work. I had to cheat startup and install drivers through USB.
Bazzite on the other hand, worked instantly. The only thing needed was to set the right sound output.
I bought a media center pc around 2000 and installed Ubuntu. The only thing that didn't work out of the box was sound through HDMI. Figured it out the same day.
It's like magic.
Me when lenovo
It's wilder when it works in the installer, but not on first boot.
I have altered the drivers, pray I do not alter them further.
Ah yes, the 'Arch Linux' experience. To be fair, your machine boots really really fast when you don't read the install guide carefully enough and fail to put a network stack on. Valuable learning opportunity.
I have yet to be brave enough to try. I'm not sure my ego can handle how bad I'll fuck it up.
To be fair, their installation page is excellent, but it does require close reading. Where I'd messed up was the "install essential packages" section, where it just says to "consider installing" stuff which is essential really - firmware, network stack, a text editor. If you're able to access the internet and adjust configuration files, then you can install everything else you need.
Their suggested disk partitioning has a gigabyte for efi, which is twice what I'd recommend, and includes a swap partition, which I would not create. A swap file is just as good, and more flexible. Otherwise yeah, if you can install Arch, you can probably do all the Linux maintenance you'll ever need to do, and it's not that difficult - practise in a VM if you want - and will make you much more skilled and confident.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Regarding the title,
If you've enough distros then you must've encountered the scenario where the driver worked in installer but did not in the final installation
Lol yea, I was wondering if anyone was going to catch that, but at least then it was usually a "Why didn't you just install itβ½" rather than a 6 hour marathon of patches and drivers compiled from source or some shit LMAO
load more comments
(1 replies)
This is what I think is holding back Linux adoption for end user devices. Only a handful of hardware suppliers cater for Linux directly, the rest are supported by the Linux community developing drivers where needed which will always be a cat and mouse situation.
I believe as adoption rate begins to intensify, hardware companies will take more notice and Linux adoption will increase exponentially. I think we are already beginning to see this starting.
This isn't only an issue with Linux, it's an issue within the whole technology industry. Simple things like Wi-Fi cards and the like, should be all standardized.
Hardware shouldn't be catered to any particular os.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Yup. Big fan of [distro]. Never had a problem running [distro]. I CHOOSE to open [distro]'s terminal because its so perfect i don't ever NEED to.
I run Ironman btw.
Sheeeeeeeeit. I remember when that wasnβt even the case with Windows. Iβm old, though.
load more comments
(5 replies)
See, this is why I like Linux Mint. I've gotten lazy in my old age and just want things to function.
Funnily enough, me with Alpine Linux
I threw it at my laptop and it just worked without a hitch
view more: next βΊ