- cross-posted to:
- linux@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- linux@lemmy.ml
Russia is beginning the process of transitioning from Windows to Linux. Most likely as a way to avoid sanctions and to no longer be under the control of a US multinational corporation.
Russia is beginning the process of transitioning from Windows to Linux. Most likely as a way to avoid sanctions and to no longer be under the control of a US multinational corporation.
Certainly not a kernel hacker, but I know quite a bit about the inner workings of many userspace programs and the kernel. I’ve even patched WiFi drivers in the kernel a few times and have gotten things like chromebooks with no official Linux support to run mainline distros with all their features (touchscreen, audio, suspend, etc.). I had to do that because unsupported chromebooks, due to them being controlled by Google, have no audio, no touchscreen, no suspend, etc. on non-ChromeOS distros, and often they’ll even get bricked if you try suspending due to the TPM being unhappy that it can’t communicate with the OS.
Nice to hear. I go down that road also with configuring hardware. Figure I will do it a lot again with the new exotic workstation project.
I mean the best way to get in the Linux kernel would probably be to help with writing a device driver. Which is a fine and useful thing to do actually and I can think of open source drivers that may benefit. Particularly graphics drivers and novel hardwares that may not be supported optimally.
Do you have a chromebook to recommend as a good and cheap thin client and generally good ultra portable device?
The chromebook I have probably wouldn’t qualify as ultra portable. It’s a 15 inch 2 in 1 laptop that is quite heavy and doesn’t have much power. Also, getting them to run Linux isn’t the easiest task.
You have to enter developer mode, remove the firmware WP (sometimes a screw, sometimes you have to disconnect the entire battery), flash an alternative firmware, compile a custom kernel with a custom config, find and download Google’s ChromeOS recovery image, mount it, find their audio server, touchscreen drivers, etc., copy them to the right place on the system, properly configure CRAS (Google’s audio server) to interface with PulseAudio, create a newer ALSA topology file for the sound card (the one included in the recovery image uses an old format), and then reboot and hope it works. Depending on the kernel config, systemd might just hang and never even start working. Also, if the TPM isn’t properly utilized by the kernel, your chromebook will brick itself the second you try to suspend it. I pieced this all together from code and documentation from various different places. Also, after all of this, you’ll likely be stuck on an old kernel (usually 4.4) missing a lot of features.
I don’t recommend using a chromebook unless it’s your only device as it was for me when I did this.
what about the old x86 chromebooks that can run Windows and ChromeOS?
Yeah, my chromebook is x86. It’s using an apollolake pentium. The older your chromebook, the better the support. Braswell chromebooks are basically perfect in terms of mainline support, for example. It usually takes years to get chromebooks to a usable state on an unmodified install because Google doesn’t want to contribute anything and there aren’t many people working on them.
If you want a relatively cheap Linux laptop, I’d look at the Pinebook Pro, which is designed to run Linux, so it will be a much better experience.
you need some chunky battery for 22nm. also those things aren’t seemingly vulkan compatible.
Xiaomi and lenovo make some good android tablets with great battery life. As long as you can code remote, an android tablet or a chromebook do make great thin clients.
yeah I might try to stream desktop over the LAN encoded with VP9. LAN might need to be upgraded.
also would really like something that can take calls and data with Verizon.
How did you learn about this? Relatively new to linux but i’m very interested in working on the kernel.
Mainly just as a byproduct of trying to make something work. I wanted WiFi to work, so I spent hours researching and trying to make it work. That’s how I learned most of what I know. If I try learning something just for the sake of learning, I find it much more difficult than if I am doing it for the sake of a separate goal.