I never really see hardware lacking Linux support mentioned, which got me caught by surprise when a computer with a Broadcom network card couldn’t use the card. What other hardware don’t work with Linux?
Not going to surprise anyone but Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets aren’t great on Linux, at least with controllers
Although that is improving!
Fingerprint sensor on most laptops
This has been a real issue yeah.
the new one😂
I am surprised to unable to find this type.
Honestly, Linux has better support for the old hw, even better than m$ win.
About 10% of the hardware in my 2016 MacBook Pro. Twice I’ve tried to install Debian on that Satan spawn using various gists online, and each time I ended up deciding it wasn’t worth the time
Every other piece of hardware I’ve tried in the past works without fail, that MacBook irks me.
My two biggest issues have been HDR and simulation hardware.
It’s been a good few years since I’ve tried it but every time I’ve tried HDR my saturation just gets cranked to 11 and it looks like those nature photos that are edited to hell and back. Not sure why, and I’ve heard other people got it working so idk. I think it’s just the Nvidia drivers doing their thing and not working.
But controllers for flight and racing Sims are the biggest headache to get working. And then when you do get them working you’ll have issues with games running well and detecting them (I think this is actually due to proton/lutris), issues with force feedback, issues with the various buttons and sliders that aren’t the primary axis. And then, after you spend hours getting them to work, it’ll just break again the next time you want to play. My sims and FPS games are the only reasons I still have a windows install.
Anybody ever get Winmodems to work or did they all give up on it?
Back in the day, it was hard enough getting dialup internet working on Linux (especially before you had internet in your pocket, so you had to print out HowTos or write down a bunch of notes before you tried to do it).
But it was downright impossible with a class of modems that was designed essentially as a softmodem, heavily reliant on closed-source firmware and drivers, making them practically impossible to work on Linux.
Not technically hardware itself but Nvidia + Intel hybrid graphics have never really worked for me
I just bought a laptop yesterday (NVD GPU+AMD APU), and graphics hybrid work just fine for me, maybe AMD is that good that it make NVD GPU work on Linux.
That was a nightmare I’ll never recover from. That laptop is now running windows 11. It’s what made me promise myself to never ever touch Nvidia ever again. I’m now all Red on my desktop and life is so much better.
Similar story here. I had a laptop running nVidia/Intel dual graphics for a few years and it was so fucking finicky. Primusrun this, optirun that. Ugh. Once upon a time, whenever I heard the word Optimus, I thought of transforming trucks with laser guns. Hearing that same word now puts me in a fetal position.
To any GeForce owners that are considering going Linux full time: do a test run first and see how it works out, because nVidia support on Linux is spotty at best.
Yes, that and bbswitch. Never got it working.
Probably not the kind of hardware you’re thinking of but I have an old Roland synthesizer, an Edirol SD-90, that did not work on Linux. Now, I didn’t expect it to given the hoops I had to jump through just to get it to work on modern windows. So Linux seemed out of the question already. But can be a big deal depending on what you use your computer for.
nvidia cards are always giving people grief, especially on Wayland. Technically supported but practically not recommended if you want an easy time
If you have a GTX 10xx card or later, their are virtually no issue with Wayland anymore. I have two PC with nvidia cards and had almost 0 issue with gnome plasma and hyprland in the last two years.
i have more problems with them on x11 honestly
Sadly I bought my PC before switching to Linux was on the agenda. And I don’t have the money to change to AMD.
Don’t be too sad, I’m playing and working daily with an NVIDIA for years now and it’s just working.
The lack of support seems very daunting at first.
I started thinking “Oh I wish I could transition to Linux, away from Windows, but what about the latest hardware or random gadget?”
The trick is to flip the question around, namely not “Does my current hardware work with Linux?” but rather “Am I sure my next hardware work well with Linux BEFORE I buy it?” then this remove 99% of headaches. It’s typically 1 Web search away from either a lot of complaints or positive feedback… or not much, and then it’s up to you to see if you are ready for an adventure. If there is not much but there is some standard interface, e.g. Bluetooth, and no need for a proprietary application, it’s nearly sure the main features will work. If a proprietary application is needed, then safer to avoid.
So… yes maybe surprisingly a LOT of hardware does work well with Linux!
What does not work for me, to give a random example, is the LED controller of my desktop case, which I bought several years ago while Windows was still my main OS. I didn’t put a lot of effort into it, cf https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB/-/issues/1683 but the recent article posted on this instance, namely https://lemmy.ml/post/32389687 makes me want to give it another go at some point!
This is my plan going forward. Linux wasn’t on my radar when I bought my laptop (and my PC but that’s a different story about just being scared to try since I use it for work and I’m not convinced Linux has comparable software I need).
I got a wicked sale on a Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, and of course a few months after I started cutting BIg Tech out of my life (I was an idiot for buying Samsung to begin with but too late now haha). No more Meta, Amazon, or Google accounts or devices for me, and all I have left of Big Tech is Microsoft on my laptop and PC. I tried Mint as my first Linux attempt, and put it on my Samsung laptop. It…didn’t play well unfortunately. I’ve read Bazzite may work better but haven’t tried it yet.
Moral of the story, you nailed it. Going forward every bit of tech I buy will be vetted for FOSS support first.
Neat! Two quick things :
I’m not convinced Linux has comparable software I need).
Feel free to ask here. I might not know alternatives but others could, no matter how niche.
Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra […] didn’t play well unfortunately
Same advice. I don’t have one of these but what fails and how? Any specific error message?
As far as my main PC, I’m a freelance voice actor, artist, and musician. My main concern is recording software and to a lesser extent, art software (I’ve tried Inkscape, but it’s a hard transition from photoshop). For recording I really don’t like Reaper, and I use Audition (I know, Adobe, haha) and Cubase for music which unfortunately doesn’t have a Linux option.
As per the laptop, it had some standard driver issues which were no big deal but apparently Mint doesn’t play well with Nvidia graphics cards. The webcam didn’t work but that’s a semingly standard issue. The biggest thing was Samsung chips and such from what I read really don’t play well with Linux, or at least Mint.
voice actor, artist, and musician. My main concern is recording software and to a lesser extent, art software
Even if you are not based in Brussels where we have https://resonance-mao.be/ you might have a local equivalent, namely open source and open hardware music enthusiast and profesisonals who meet monthly at least to learn and jam. They know this domain a lot more than I do. There are a LOT of software for all that but I wouldn’t go as far as advising you. That said yes it mostly likely will require a bit of re-training. Still IMHO you have done the hardest, namely you understand the concepts behind what the tools do. The interface will be different but how it is actually done should be the same. My advice is to find “your people” and discover together.
Regarding hardware Mint is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian. I have an NVIDIA GPU and I play (and work) with it daily. Sometimes sleep/resume is buggy but pretty much never ever while actually working or playing. Regarding the Webcam, it’s not super convenient but until it gets supported (hopefully) you might have to rely on an external camera.
Appreciate the advice, I’ll look into it more. I didn’t even think about an external cam haha. I use the laptop cam daily to video call family, I used to use Google home hubs for that but since I’ve deleted my Google account and stopped using the hubs I switched to Signal on the laptop. I’ll consider an external cam, though it’s not ideal. I’ll start digging again for options with Samsung chips.
external cam haha. I use the laptop cam daily to video call family
I actually did that on desktop recently and I enjoy being able to unplug and physically remove it as I don’t use it daily. Same for the large external microphone, it’s only on my desk when I’ll have meetings planed. Maybe you could also use a mobile phone as camera.
Anyway kudos on leaving Google! It’s a great step.
For Samsung chips maybe https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Samsung could help.
Thank you! Yep dumped Amazon, Meta, (never had anything Musk), and Google. All I have left is Microsoft for big tech, so Linux is my new focus.
Certain less well known smaller brands might not work as too few people know the HW
Same goes for very specialized hardware, if it wasn’t on Linux to begin with, it probably won’t work
Also my Ricoh SP211SU Laser printer is not supported, my workaround is using Windows via VirtualBox if I need to print anything.
There’s this printer that I wanna use for my job but when I went through the process of connecting it the driver wasn’t listed among the massive amount of options. So I gotta print using a work computer instead of my laptop 😪
On the peripheral end, ElGato. You can usually get their stuff to work but they provide little to no support, usually have issues to work out, and you’ll always be relying on third party replacements for their software.
I got a stream deck plus with the xlr dock, since even though I quit content creation I like what it provides and have no reason to downgrade my mic, but the thing has been a headache and a half ever since I switched to cachyOS.
Many cheap chinese web cameras from non know brands,really problematic to make work printers which older from 2015 for example canon ,Lexmark cause they use proprietary communication protocols and thus drivers for inux or exist in shitty state which would not work on modern system but worked on Ubuntu from 2012 or not driver not exist at all and so on other very specific type of devices
