On Thu, 2 Mar 2017 08:55:26 +0100 Stanislaw Findeisen <fixpoint.combina...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi folks > > I have a simple task: find a developer (programming) laptop which works > reasobably well with current Debian Stable. I am particularly interested > in smooth hibernation and WiFi as I am often on the go. > > I can see DebianOn: https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/ but it > is very fragmented. For example the latest Dell XPS to claim it has > hibernation working is a 2013 model: > https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Dell/Dell%20XPS%2013%209333 . I'm runninng mostly stable, with some backports and unstable, and vanilla kernels self-built from upstream sources, on a ThinkPad W550s. * WiFi works well, currently with 'firmware-iwlwifi' from backports (ISTR having had trouble with disconnects and / or other flakiness using stable's 'firmware-iwlwifi'). * suspend-to-ram worked out of the box, but only via the Xfce4 mechanisms - the Fn key doesn't do anything. [I have not tried other mechanisms.] [I haven't tried suspend-to-disk, since suspend-to-ram is sufficient for me, although I suppose s2disk is better from a security perspective, insofar as one is using full disk encryption.] * In general, some of the Fn keys work, and some don't: screen brightness up/down work, but mute, volume up/down, suspend, and hibernate don't. * My version of the W550s has a "high DPI" screen: 2880*1620 ('3K'). Support for high DPI in stable is pretty spotty: installation went fine, but the console uses such tiny fonts that it is barely readable. Xfce4, too, needed tweaking to render it usable. In general, you can search the web to find the various tweaks that will improve usability, but it's a pain - the information is scattered, rarely authoritative, and often outdated (and as is often the case, much of the better documentation comes from other distros, such as Arch). * Battery charging control needs the 'tlp' and 'acpi-call' packages (the older 'tp-smapi' software no longer works on recent ThinkPads) - not well documented on ThinkWiki, which seems these days to be geared more toward older ThinkPads (I know, it's a Wiki, and I should update it with all this stuff ...) * This is a big one: support for the integrated Intel graphics (5500) is incomplete / buggy in stable's X packages. I had terrible screen tearing (and possibly other problems), which seem to have gone away with the installation of backport packages. [The machine also has a Quadro K620M, but I haven't tried it yet.] Celejar
