2014 ซื้อ "serious" laptop สำหรับ real productivity work และ gaming portable backup system for conventional desktop PC layout moderate price nice specs: i7 processor, Nvidia GTX 860M, 16GB RAM, 4K display Windows 8.1 decided keep it that way
Fast forward present laptop getting old still super-capable runs Assetto Corsa 4K, ArmA 3, Cities Skylines, BeamNG.drive modern tasks with jolly flair but think should relegate secondary backup role still productivity system but not always first port of call decided add Linux to OS range specifically Kubuntu new adventure begins
Why is this interesting?
Over years used Linux testing semi-serious serious purposes many occasions not spam links just jump Linux section good long read TL;DR: Linux typically gives older devices fresh vitality but almost all endeavors hardware compatibility issues
Example: Asus eeePC Fn keys fan control problems G50 laptop networking issues HD scaling issues first encounter on Y50 Ubuntu 14.04 handled 4K really well better than Windows 8.1 decided "downgrade" resolution UHD to HD in Windows to use effectively but since new challenges on Slimbook Pro2 with Kubuntu Plasma
Kubuntu 18.04 didn't handle scaling perfectly workarounds needed since improved immensely recent Plasma builds HD scaling almost superb give or take odd regression today only Linux DE that does whole HD display well is Plasma brings me to decision Y50 laptop change production setup but also experiment
- Use Kubuntu 20.04 because Plasma is the best. Fact.
- Scaling element interesting because 4K display new development
- Even more interesting because hybrid graphic card setup first for me using Linux on Intel + Nvidia graphics parallel plus 4K display
- All other questions considerations previously come up whenever chose Linux serious productivity on hardware
Commence to start
Experiment begins TL;DR this happened:
Boot live session no issues desktop not really usable default non-scaled 4K resolution know technology needs progress but makes little sense super-UHD displays need magnify everything 100%
Repartition hard disk install Kubuntu 20.04 distro asked configure Secure Boot because chose install additional proprietary drivers during setup weird how why functionality required for simple Nvidia drivers anyway let it be next reboot went BIOS disabled Secure Boot didn't affect Windows 8.1 or Kubuntu
After installation GRUB menu hidden by default why! system dual-boot what logic hiding menu lets users select OS boot had to change edit /boot/default/grub change GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE from "hidden" to "countdown" simply silly
Menu visible but tiny 4K GRUB menu not ideal necessitated menu resolution change separate guide but another problem non-scaled display result enter realm many many pixels...
UHD tweaks
Login desktop pleasantly surprised Wireless network correctly preserved live session no KDEWallet prompts Nvidia drivers up and running decided scale desktop full 100% scale transform 4K to 1K apply reboot see what gives
Scaling works, doesn't it?
Well yes and no desktop scaled but panel height not changed had to do manually mouse cursor remained old 4K size way too tiny another manual trick
Mouse only changed when hover over applications not desktop guess Plasma shell restart (or system reboot) needed shame then noticed not every component obeyed scaling rule e.g. Wallpaper utility rendering sub-menus at 4K instead new scaled resolution login menu also stuck at 4K
Back to 1080p
Like Windows 8.1 decided easiest solution reduce resolution to 1080p did it shame couldn't make integral change but Kubuntu 20.04 running Plasma LTS (5.18) not 5.20 where HD scaling really good so for now this what I have to do
Added bonus: screen refresh rate at 3840x2180px only 48 Hz at lower 1080p setting 60 Hz why oh why but didn't fix all problems:
- GRUB menu still tiny
- Login menu still 4K tiny not fun to use
Solution to second problem far from trivial took while find optimal tweak not clash with logged-in desktop session separate tutorial optimize SDDM for HD/UHD screens including scaling
Snags
Few other problems wanted check proprietary drivers in use Kubuntu doesn't ship drivers utility default had to install manually
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-drivers-manager
Utility wouldn't display results stuck collecting information had to rebuild search index manually before deigned showing driver list
sudo update-apt-xapian-index
Why should this EVER be an issue beats me
Desktop also set for single-click why? With Nvidia drivers nice hi-res boot splash finally but rotating wait-for-application icon animation inside desktop renders too fast typically wait animation clockwise-spinning circle colors 1rpm frequency here circle spinning rapidly 4-5 rpm
Other things
Performance, heating, applications all that decent laptop sprightly enough fans kick in quite a lot resource usage ~550 MB idle CPU revs up fair deal hence noise but settles almost zero no other activity not different from Windows 8.1 battery usage similar second resident OS maybe 2 hours light-moderate usage 50% brightness
Hardware side decent everything worked including sleep & wake only "bad" thing KWin notification desktop effects restarted after resuming can't find negative effect
Touchpad correctly configured no silly tapping contrast single-click mouse thingie impression Synaptic driver works better under Plasma than Windows 8.1 normally hate touchpads on this box particular but less so with Kubuntu
Application fronts really good all software including GTK applications renders fine GIMP LibreOffice look sharp clean elegant no problem installing using all sorts programs like or need encryption installed both TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt without problems no libraries missing promising start
สรุป
End of part one IdeaPad Y50-70 Linux saga overall experiment went well but problems cardinally HD/UHD scaling in Plasma before 5.20 still rather meh needed lot manual work get things sorted desktop rough edges for no good reason
Bright side: hardware compatibility top-notch performance responsiveness more than reasonable for seven-year old laptop 5,400rpm mechanical disk Kubuntu looks the part plus decent spread good applications but now must up the game [sic] intend test gaming side as well surely interesting anyway that all for now hopefully entertaining little exercise GRUB and SDDM 4K scaling tutorials coming soon
Cheers.
