Have been keeping half an eye on framework laptops as a potential next daily driver as and when I'm ready for one.
Just wondering what people's experience of using them on linux has been, particularly nixos
I'm assuming all the drivers are in the kernel given the way the company is
Have been using a 2016 thinkpad for the past year or so and have had a decent experience with it, with the way lenovo have gone with their newer thinkpads it seems like framework is now the best for maintainability/upgradability
(not planning to upgrade in the immediate future as this machine is doing fine, but frameworks are a strong contender in my mind right now and I'm curious as to people's experience)
I run NixOS on my Ryzen Framework 13 and it works flawlessly, including fingerprint reader. I run KDE now but I’ve also used Gnome with no issues.
I used this nixos-hardware module for some of the fancier hardware tweaks I don’t really understand: https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware
How's the fan noise? I've got quite accustomed to silent fans on my current laptop
if i have it on a table, it’s fine, mostly silent. if i have it on my lap blocking the vents then it can get noisier and hotter pretty fast
Ah that is irritating, I tend to have my ThinkPad on my lap every now and again and it's usually because it's in a public place without a desk. Would be pretty annoying for the fan to suddenly go crazy in public
it isn’t so loud that other people would notice, i don’t think - and usually just a bit of readjustment of my position is enough to unblock the vents
don’t let me dissuade you from buying the best laptop i’ve owned!
Hm, I think I need to try and track down someone local who's got one and see for myself to be honest, I would guess places like pc world won't have tester models
I have the 16 and use NixOS. I haven't had any issues. I'm able to use the fingerprint scanner and all of the function keys do what they're supposed to.
If you're not already aware, there's a nixos-hardware repo with common settings for various devices that you can import. All of the Framework laptops have a module there. Although, if I recall correctly, everything worked fine before I pulled that into my config, so it seems like the hardware scan did a good job making everything just work.
Is the 16 the one with the GPU slot? Thinking of getting that one myself at some point possibly without the GPU to begin with to save a bit of money then upgrade if I need it
Yep, that's the one. I can't speak to the compatibility though because I got the one without a dedicated GPU.
I'm running Fedora on my Framework 13 - works great, no issues. I have only had it open to install the RAM so far, but it appears to be as upgradeable and repairable as advertised. Looks great, feels premium, nice and light. Not great battery life is my only complaint, but there are larger batteries available for the 13 since I bought mine.
Ooh battery upgrades are a good sign, what kinda battery life do you get now with an unupgraded one?
I haven't evaluated it properly in a while but I'm pretty sure it was under 8 hours with the CPU throttled and the screen brightness low. I am usually just writing or coding on it, nothing too intensive.
I mean I use it in power saver mode. It goes as low as 400MHz but it's not fixed at that. 12th gen i7 btw.
I've got a 16 without dGPU currently. Running Fedora Silverblue after a bad experience trying out NixOS. Battery life could be better but, it's been pretty awesome and flawless so far. I've barely started my tinkering on it since I have a ton of other projects but, I'm really enjoying it and do recommend.
Ouch if nixos doesn't work well that's a deal-breaker, what were the issues and how long ago? Other people seem to have had decent experiences with it
Oh. The problem wasn't the hardware. Don't let my experience dissuade you, especially if you already know and like NixOS. It was the NixOS docs and my unfamiliarity with Nix/NixOS. Following the official docs gave me an install that worked perfectly but had no networking. I might give it another go once the docs are more mature but the experience and need of a DSL left a bad taste in my mouth.
Ahh I see ok makes more sense
Already got thousands of lines of nix config so not about to hop distro lol
Yeah. You shouldn't have an issue then - all of the nix stuff worked as it was supposed. Really a documentation problem more than anything.
Do you know if the fans are particularly loud? Something I love about my ThinkPad is that it's basically silent
I meant the framework, but fair enough
Supposedly the newer macs were quite good at heat dissipation, was that iBullshit?
I just learned about the fans, and my plans to get a framework next time tanked.
I have a Framework 13 with the Ryzen 7640U. I absolutely love it! When I first got it, it had a really weird issue where alternating lines on the screen went black for a quarter of a second randomly, but I contacted support and got a new display and it's been great! The fingerprint sensor is amazing. I have the config from nixos-hardware for whatever improvements that adds, and it's been working well! I get pretty good battery life for it being an X86 laptop too. You do have to remember to configure the regulatory domain if you get the AMD one or else you'll be stuck with 2.4GHz wifi! The archwiki page for Framework has instructions!
My brother has a Framework 13 and mainly uses a combination of NixOS and Windows. Most of the time he uses NixOS, but sometimes the software he needs is broken on Nix. When that happens, he reverts to a previous version of Nix or he boots onto Windows. He has Windows installed in one of the external-drive socket thingies that he keeps plugged in at all times in case he needs Windows.
Apart from the occasional broken Nix package, he has had issues with the hyper-sensitive two-finger scrolling in Gnome (which I would say is not directly a Framework or Nix problem). Also, a while back, when I bought the computer with him, we bought Oloy RAM because it was fast and cheap, but that lead to weird crashes. Framework support helped us test the sticks and eventually we sold those sticks and got the Framework-tested Crucial sticks, which solved the problem. Finally, I remember he had to be careful about not just closing the laptop but actually clicking "sleep" and then closing it, because otherwise it would get super hot and lose a lot of battery.
Despite these struggles, he recently told my Mac-loving girlfriend that he will not get a "disposable" computer. I take this to mean he will keep using his Framework laptop.
I imagine the broken packages thing are less about the framework itself, he's probably using discord or other electron stuff right?
I've found when an electron package gets marked as insecure it takes everyone a while to update to the secure one
The clicking sleep thing is interesting one but at the moment I'm doing something very similar anyway
I have the Framework 13 and am currently running the COSMIC alpha on Pop!_OS. I love my current setup, but have tried Fedora Kinoite as well, and also had a great experience. Apart from running a few commands to get the fingerprint reader working, I haven't really had to troubleshoot anything. Its been a solid experience from Day 1.
