I am not here to rock the boat about Linux distros and hardware compatibility/detection but so far what prevented me to use “semi-professionally” Linux has exactly been this issue.
I do remember a long time ago (90ies…) when so many distros (mandriva then fedora, corel, debian etc… and opensuse) failed to recognize a device on my very mainstream desktops and froze mid installation or later, though opensuse was already the one spearheading with their comprehensive graphical installation manager. Maybe it was bad luck but I had to turn to Ubuntu which, considering its users base, was doing better in this regard. Unfortunately I never really enjoyed it with, for instance, its deb package manager (especially in terms of external repositories f… compatibility/dependencies management). I trashed a couple of upgrades to newer versions of Ubuntu (graphic drivers & X server issues) which made me smashed my fist on my office desk more than I care to remember. Some would argue that non free upgrades of windows did exactly the same to many (e.g. my own win10 upgrade did not want my multi-screens config initially and a photographer, friend of mine, who had to re-install win10 on her laptop because she literally had to “punch” her keyboard to get some text typed).
Then Unity came about and that was really too muchhttps://forums.opensuse.org/images/icons/icon8.png , not to mention Ubuntu’s mir vs everyone else’s wayland. What I needed was ideally a rolling distro, suitable for web development, UEFI compliant and that I could install on both my 4 year-old AMD desktop and my cutting edge Intel laptop (clone linux config like my win10s in dual boot on both). I tried rolling Linux kali 2016 on the laptop, very good at recognizing hardware and very stable, and I was quite happy with it though not interested in network penetration, rather unsafe with root login. Sadly, it did not do too well with UEFI/secure boot on both laptop/desktop, the former I fixed using CSM mode but it does not exist on the latter’s bios option. There is a lengthy manual work around by installing kali without boot loader and to do it manually later but I felt uneasy risking to have to play with a recovery disk if I had messed something up along the way and there was this deb package manager… Then I tried Mint but it froze out of the box on the laptop, again …So I tried Opensuse tumbleweed and the setup was a blow of fresh air with a very good work on the partition module from opensuse’s team, which is usually the weak (but so vital in dual boot) point of other’s distro installation software. My laptop intel wifi card not initially recognized but that was quickly fixed and I am working to get my networked devices up and running in suse.
So far so good but I will see over time if opensuse keeps its promises.
.
I’m glad you like openSUSE. It’s always interesting for me to read complaints about hardware detection on various distributions. In my experience it never has to do anything with the distribution and it has to do everything with the kernel version. Usually the newer the version of the kernel the better but sometimes that is not the case. The good thing is that on any distribution I’ve tried (Slackware, Ubuntu, openSUSE, CentOS, Xubuntu) you can install various kernel versions from some packages or repositories. For example for openSUSE i usually use: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/
So the best way is to go with the defaults but if for some reason your new laptop is crashing when plugging into docking station or on sleep/resume usually it’s best to try the latest stable kernel and usually it’s working properly with it
It’s always interesting for me to read complaints about hardware detection on various distributions. In my experience it never has to do anything with the distribution and it has to do everything with the kernel version
I do agree but I consider myself an average Linux user and I don’t see myself tweaking with the kernel at this stage, let alone doing my own distro install built. I have done low level programming/compiling but that was a long time ago when a CPU’s number of bits did not exceed one’s fingers number…
for some reason your new laptop is crashing when plugging into docking station or on sleep/resume
Funny you said so Glistwan because in my own limited experience with Linux and laptops, those later ones (including my last one) have been doing pretty well (i.e. I do not recall any crash at all, ever, with sleep/resume). On the other hand the above mentioned desktop with an AMD 990FX chipset and an ATI radeon 5650 has done so when connected to a 2560x1080 screen using the display port: it dropped to a low resolution and when I tried to increase it in the opensuse control panel the refreshing frequency must have been set up incorrectly (“out of range”), though I used display port for the initial install. I tried the HDMI port but strangely I could not get more than full HD resolution. Finally I switched to the DVI port and everything came back just fine. That will have to wait as I need to to make my printer and network work properly first.
Installing a different kernel is really not hard if installing from a package. Just install it using your package manager like any other new software you install.
If you want to post your individual display issues in the Technical Help Forums,
There’s a good chance your problems can be resolved, particularly as you describe them.
AFAIK your HDMI port will try to configure your display similar to a TV (720p for instance) by default and allow some resolution modification by artificial means which would be dependent on the installed display driver and the Desktop software you’re running (You’ll have to identify what Desktop is installed, even multiple if you have more than one installed).
Your DVI and VGA ports would likely output your display differently, and specific to that port but be modifiable within limits.
In the 90’s there was no OpenSUSE, nor Fedora. In 1998, I used RH 5.x, and it was not easy to install on mainstream computers, such as a Compaq. Nowadays, most are easy to install, including OpenBSD & FreeBSD. Currently, I am experimenting with FreeBSD 11.0, OpenBSD 6.0, and the occasional Linux such as Fedora 2x or OpenSUSE Leap 4x.x, all in VM’s. For me, the only desktop Linux worth using day to day anymore is Ubuntu Mate. Ease of use, ease of updates/upgrades, the best software repositories, best corporate support, plus fantastic compatibility with VMware. Use what you like, but I have been using PC’s since 1986, including an Apple G4, and a Sun Blade 100, and as long as I stay with Intel based arches, in my view, nothing works better than Ubuntu Mate.
