An XPS with Ubuntu is very hard to beat for work. I used to have a setup like that. My needs changed lately and now is most efficient to run Win10/11, however, possibly 2nd quarter next year I'll be back to running Ubuntu mainly after I finish some Windows related projects.

@Pete-S said in Experience with HPs small laptops/chromebooks?:

On faster computers I don't notice much of a difference between chrome and firefox and actually prefer firefox personally. But in this particular case I'm not sure it's the CPU at fault, it could also have been lack of RAM.

Same here, about the same and tend to use Firefox.

@Dashrender said in Laptop for my daughter:

@travisdh1 said in Laptop for my daughter:

@Dashrender said in Laptop for my daughter:

@JaredBusch said in Laptop for my daughter:

@ITivan80 said in Laptop for my daughter:

Here one that might perk your interest:

I will never buy Lenovo. I did not like them before they got caught stealing info.

ALso, tha tis Windows 10 S mode. No thanks.

Wait - stealing info? I don't know about that one.

I know about Superfish - installed shim in network stack you couldn't get rid of to allow advertisers, etc access into encrypted transmissions
and the BIOS thing would would reinstall the Lenovo tools under windows...

That's what Superfish does, sends data back to a Lenovo "partner" company. They can steal any data they want, and you can do nothing about it.

OH I didn't realize it was actually sending data back to partners.. I thought it's general purpose was to insert ads... of course, it could do any damned thing it wanted....

Right, exactly, it was an unlimited capability device. It could inject or retrieve data in either direction. In order to inject, it would have to send back first.

@gjacobse said in Wifi Card Not Being Seen:

have you tried using a Linux OS? This could be helpful in determination of the Hardware and OS

everything else works fine except the wifi for some reason just kicks off to the point the card itself is not recognized even with drivers re loaded , until you physically unplug and plug back in.

@Dashrender said in Companies that use a Linux distro on workstations:

@JaredBusch said in Companies that use a Linux distro on workstations:

@Dashrender said in Companies that use a Linux distro on workstations:

@JaredBusch said in Companies that use a Linux distro on workstations:

@Dashrender said in Companies that use a Linux distro on workstations:

@travisdh1 said in Companies that use a Linux distro on workstations:

@Dashrender said in Companies that use a Linux distro on workstations:

I ask - does saying Linux really matter though? Isn't it much more important to actually list the distro? At least the OP asked specifically Linux Distro.

Which is why I listed the specific distribution and desktop. imo, it should always be linux as it is a generic term. Kind of like Windows, which one?

I read your statement like this "it should always be linux as it is a generic term.

HUH? so which side are you on?

Personally - I think the term linux should be dropped by everyone (well at least by 99.9%) because it's nearly meaningless.

Asking if something runs on linux is meaningless. Asking if something runs on Fedora or Ubuntu has meaning - because you know the actual OS you'll be running them on.

the generic nature of 'linux' is one of the most confounding confusers for laypeople. We should just drop it. it doesn't matter. We never talk about the Windows Kernel, or the Mac OS Kernel - We talk about Windows 10 (OK, we're starting to run into a problem here too because there are 7 versions of Windows 10 - and the same can be said for Mac OS). But if we drop the word linux, people can start talking about Fedora or Ubuntu, etc and suddenly the world becomes a smaller, much more manageable place.

Actually Linux should mean the same as Windows or MacOS anymore as you pointed out.

What specific build is what matters. W10R1510, W10R1809, Fedora, MacOS wtf ever those are called.

No - I disagree - Linux isn't like Windows or MacOS at all - Linux is not an OS - Windows/MacOS are OSes.

If you say, runs on Windows, you can be pretty damned sure it's going to run on Windows 10. if you say it runs on Linux, you have no clue if that's Fedora, Ubuntu, etc. And while we might be able to get it to work, the layperson would never even try with the requires to get onto a linux Distro it's not designed for.

Actually if it says runs on linux, it will run on pretty much all of them.

The developer may only provide binaries or packages for certain specific distros. But if it builds on one, it will build on pretty much all of them.

I gave you that out already - but I also said - normals will never do that. Which is the whole purpose of my comments... it's about normals, laypeople. Not IT pros.

people like me !
Well worse than me I guess.

We have both the Dell USB-C docks and a couple of the Thunderbolt models. So far we have had no problem with the USB-C. I even use one for my machine. The Thunderbolts were a bit problematic around the first part of 2017, but after several firmware updates they seem to have stabilized.

@irj said in Sentio, an Android Laptop Dock:

I kinda like the idea, but I hate the way they mount the phone. It looks really cheesy.

But for $129 i think it's a not a bad price

It was $150 when I looked, which seems awful given the $179 price of a great Chromebook.

it should be noted that

it's current build is Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.112]

it is possible that rolling back (if possible) to 16299.492 would resolve - which at a point - becomes a 'fresh install' as roll back expires.
And since this is a remote system, not convenient to do.

@ramblingbiped said in Check battery status in Linux:

I recommend this: https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-battery

Will have to give it a look.

Thanks

@scottalanmiller posted here too
https://mangolassi.it/topic/16567/dell-machines-unable-to-vpn-due-to-smartbyte-bloatware

Double the RAM and that could be a great laptop!

@penguinwrangler said in Looking for an Ultrabook for Linux and Development:

@hobbit666 said in Looking for an Ultrabook for Linux and Development:

@scottalanmiller said in Looking for an Ultrabook for Linux and Development:

I tried customizing those, and 16GB of RAM wasn't available.

Yeah I've noticed the customization option on all products has gone down hill a lot.

Yes, I started looking and it is like WOW this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have to say though I haven't looked for a "powerful" machine in such a long time.

No kidding!

@NerdyDad said in Laptop suggestions/advice, or connections for purchase in DFW:

If you go to Fry's, stay clear told the sales people. They know less than you do. Check out what they have, read the specs, and test it out. Whatever they do buy, I suggest just wiping out the Windows install with some form of Linux.

Stay away from Best buy, of course. Microcenter might be a good bet, but I've never been in there. Pawn shops and local eBay would be some of my last contenders to consider.

They bait and switch too. They also lie about used products and pretend that they are new.

@Mike-Davis said in MS VPN connection; Account locked:

@JaredBusch said in MS VPN connection; Account locked:

@scottalanmiller said in MS VPN connection; Account locked:

To sign into the domain, your VPN goes up first. To sign into the laptop, you sign in cached and then fire up the VPN. There is a reason that VPN-first systems like OpenVPN, Pertino, ZeroTier, etc. are so important. They let you do things like central revocation because they always get updates from AD.

Correct. this is the problem. always.

How does that work when they are on a wifi connection that doesn't connect until after they log in to their laptop?

You have cached creds for that. Log in, connect, reboot.

@EddieJennings said in Laptop and Korora:

And now I wait. 🙂
0_1496191617931_upload-efac311a-1e5b-4550-bc65-501dd4808a49

Awesome

About the laptop, not the waiting.

@Kelly said in HP Laptops Found with Keylogger Built Into Audio Driver:

@DustinB3403 said in HP Laptops Found with Keylogger Built Into Audio Driver:

@Kelly said in HP Laptops Found with Keylogger Built Into Audio Driver:

Fun update:

I looks like Windows Defender is now flagging the MicTray process.
0_1495726120711_2017-05-25 09_27_34-Windows Defender Security Center.png

Only after HP released a fix for it.

Well playing catchup is better than playing "don't care"

I'm going to see if my HP Support Assistant will patch it, and then I'll see if Defender flags it again.

And there are no patches available for my system. Thanks Obama.

Expensive, but looks like some really great hardware. I could definitely get by with a less expensive model.

Sadly booting the system on another similar laptop didn't resolve the clean shutdown. And when I try to boot on a different computer, I get a Partition Table error.

So mounted as Read Only and am in the process of moving the user profile(s) to an external drive.

sudo mount -o remount,ro /dev/sdb1 /media/username/Ubuntu

Is what I had to use.

@travisdh1 So our preferred linux distro on a laptop should be enough.

Thanks @travisdh1