Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Linux Distro For Hybrid Laptop?
Steve Parrish writes: I needed a new laptop and found a great deal on an Asus Transformer TP500L. It's one of the laptops where you can flip the screen back and use it as a tablet. I'd like to replace Windows 8.1, and I'm having a difficult time finding a Linux distro that will work on it. I'm familiar with Mint, SolydX, and older Ubuntu versions. I tried the latest Ubuntu with Unity and didn't like it, but the OS installed with only a few minor issues. Has anyone tried any other distros on a hybrid laptop with a touchscreen? I've used Linux for several years, but I'm no guru -- I'm not comfortable with the command line or other advanced workings. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I have Ubuntu 14.04 running on an 'older' Acer aspire one (a pretty shitty machine, but actually works okay with SSD disk and Ubuntu).
. It's probably easiest to install, you get used to the Unity interface after awhile really. The things it doesn't install correctly I just googled with mostly easy fixes (apt-get this and that).
There are actually ways of not using Unity but the old Gnome interface for example. Again, Google is your friend (in this case).
Then "apt-get update && apt-get install xubuntu" or "apt-get update && apt-get install kubuntu"
Don't give up just because the default GUI blows chunks.
I have the exact same laptop model, and am currently running Ubuntu 14.10. Not saying it is perfect, but it runs well enough. The laptop is new enough that current drivers for the WiFi hardware are not included with Ubuntu (I have tried a few things, with marginal success, currently using a WiFi USB dongle). The touch pad (not screen, that works well off the bat) settings needed to be tweaked in order to be used as well. One other thing I have noticed is that sometimes during certain operations, the cursor and/or tooltips can flicker.
Overall, it runs well with those things being the only issues.
Link to wifi workaround:
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1796
Link to touchpad workaround:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=179238
Good Luck!
I just put Linux Mint 17.1 MATE 64-bit on a Lenovo IdeaPad S415. Everything just worked out of the box, and that includes both the multitouch touchpad and the touchscreen. Also the network, wifi, sound, and graphics. Everything.
http://notebookplanet.blogspot.com/2013/12/lenovo-ideapad-s415-specs.html
That IdeaPad is a year old. A year ago, no Linux that I tried worked out of the box with it; graphics didn't work. X always got confused by the fact that the machine has two graphics adapters (one built-in to the AMD APU chip, and a discrete one).
I've really been enjoying Linux Mint 17.1; it seems to be a big improvement over Linux Mint 16. You can easily and non-destructively try it, just by booting from a USB flash drive that has Linux Mint on it. (You can use UNetBootIn to make the USB flash drive.)
While I can't guarantee that Linux Mint 17.1 will work on your hardware, it worked great on mine so I think it's worth your time to try it out.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Does anyone else remember a time when the rolling own your kernel modules for devices to work properly was considered advanced? And now almost everything works out of the box. I guess I'm getting old.
I remember when installing Debian GNU/Linux required either downloading a set of diskettes
You had diskettes? We used to dream of having a diskette. Why, we even considered using a Hollerith card reader to be a luxury. Most of the time we had to toggle in the boot instructions on a punch down block.