New laptop running Mint 17.3
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| seatex Dec 24, 2015 2:12 PM EDT |
So, I decided to replace my 10-year-old Core 2 Duo laptop with a new one this Christmas. I started looking at Intel Core CPUs, doing research, etc. I was looking for a great deal, as I will not settle for anything smaller than a 17.3" screen and I set my budget at $500. I started looking at Asus, Acer, and Dell models - all over my budget, even on sale. Kept looking... Then I stumbled upon an article about AMD's new A10-8700P APU (1.8GHz/3.2GHz Turbo) with two Excavator modules (4 cores) and R6 graphics (6 cores), all running at a TDP of 15W. Wow, impressive specs for an AMD mobile processor! But would it run my beloved Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon? Mint is still using kernel 3.19, and this is brand new hardware. Well, I might have to be a guinea pig. Then, I found an HP laptop at Walmart that had a 17.3" 1600x900 display (which I'm fine with, as text gets tiny at full HD res on a laptop (even 17.3"), 8GB memory, 1TB HD, and DVD reader/writer for only $499! I had to pull the trigger on this. So I wiped win10 from the HD and installed Mint 17.3. The open source AMD driver did not work and it booted up in software rendering mode. But after installing the proprietary fglrx Catalyst driver, all is running well! The laptop runs super cool, is completely silent, and yet runs plenty fast. The benchmarks on this AMD processor place it roughly between the new Core i3s and i5s (Broadwell). I couldn't be happier with how this turned out. I got a nice running and good looking Linux laptop for $500 with some AMD love. And I expect the performance will only improve as the driver support on Linux matures. HP Silver 17.3" Pavilion 17-g121wm Laptop PC with AMD A10-8700P Processor, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive http://www.walmart.com/ip/46429956?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=222... |
| BFM Dec 24, 2015 9:15 PM EDT |
FYI: Linux Mint 17.3 has options to install kernels up to 4.2.0-22 in their upgrade tree using Update Manager. They don't recommend it but it is there if you want to go near the bleeding edge. Neither do I. 3.19.0-32 works just fine. It's security patches are up to date and it is very stable. |
| seatex Dec 24, 2015 10:47 PM EDT |
> FYI: Linux Mint 17.3 has options to install kernels up to 4.2.0-22 in their upgrade tree using Update Manager. Oh yes, I'm aware of that. I am running the latest 3.19 version - 3.19.42, and not the the older one that comes with Mint 17.3. But I do prefer to stay in the 3.19.x versions. |
| CFWhitman Dec 28, 2015 10:03 AM EDT |
The last time I ran a Catalyst driver, the biggest annoyance in everyday use was the tearing during video playback. I worked my way around that by setting my media players to use OpenGL to render video rather than the default 'auto' (or sometimes 'xv') setting. This worked since you can activate the vsync setting when using OpenGL with Catalyst drivers. However, since then I have taken to using Compton in Xfce to eliminate other sources of tearing even when using the open source driver. Since Compton, with the proper settings, re-renders your entire desktop using OpenGL, I would expect that to have the same effect. Of course any other compositor which works satisfactorily and renders using OpenGL should have the same effect. So if you are running KDE with compositing turned on, Compiz, etc., you should also be able to eliminate tearing using them as well. |
| seatex Dec 28, 2015 1:23 PM EDT |
> The last time I ran a Catalyst driver, the biggest annoyance in everyday use was the tearing during video playback. Catalyst now has a control setting to fix that. But, I haven't experienced any tearing on this laptop, even with it off.  |
| CFWhitman Dec 28, 2015 4:23 PM EDT |
They had that control then, too, but it completely killed the performance of the card if you actually tried to use it. Remember that if you are using a composited desktop that outputs to OpenGL (like KDE), it will most likely fix the problem. Xfce does have a built in compositor, but that one actually increases tearing in video playback rather than reducing it (though it does practically eliminate vertical tearing when scrolling in a Web browser, but so do other compositors). I suggest that Xfce users turn it off and use Compton instead. |
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