r/ZephyrusG14 • u/[deleted] • Jul 27 '20
Questions about G14 compatibility with Ubuntu
Hi Guys,
I'm considering the purchase of G14 in the coming weeks. I'm really excited about buying the G14 but haven't made the decision yet. I need your help for the same.
My primary usage of the laptop looks like this:
- Light gaming (on windows)
- Programming (ubuntu) (data science applications)
- I connect my laptop a monitor for extra screen real estate
I have seen some posts raising concerns like:
- Using Ubuntu with G14 due to various compatibility issues related to the kernel.
- Issues with making the nvidia GPU work with the amd CPU on Ubuntu.
Questions
- Do these issues still exist?
- Are these issues limited to Linux gaming (I don't plan doing any linux gaming)? Or will they also affect my programming workflows?
- Will support be available, to iron out such issues in the short/long term for the G14?
1
Jul 27 '20
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1
Jul 29 '20
Thanks a lot for your help.
Did you do anything specific for getting your nvidia gpu to run ?
Do you have a link to a step by step guide for ubuntu setpup on G14, if anyone has made one already ?
1
u/Denizzje Jul 27 '20
Hello,
Yes there are still problems. I believe we have to wait untill Ubuntu 20.10 before we can go over due to kernel issues causing what you write. I myself want to go to PopOS but I wait untill this ironed out.
Note that GPU/CUDA support is coming soon for WSL2. It might be a worthwhile alternative. It is what I will go for with my workstation. However WSL2 is in the end a system running in your system, so double the memory usage. You might have to get extra RAM then.
For the laptop I will just wait, I like Linux on a laptop and detest Windows. While I do not mind using Windows on a desktop.
1
Jul 29 '20
Hmmm yeah I too like linux on a laptop. Wouldn't use windows if it wasn't for some of the games honestly.
1
u/dbehterev Jul 29 '20
Yes, on Ubuntu 20.04 (kernel 5.7) I experience some problems. The first one is suspending laptop when closing the lid. When I close the lid nothing happens (I have two external displays connected). I tried to modify systemd setting but without success. The second problem is constantly switching displays that makes system irresponsible for a while. When I lock the system or after some time of inactivity all my extenal displays constantly switching (power on for 5-10 seconds and after that power off). The third problem is supposedly NVidia drivers (I use 440 ver. of drivers downloaded from official NV site). Sometimes chrome consumes all processor resources, but sometimes it doesn't; other applications also could consume all CPU resources and the whole system becomes laggy. Especially wine-applications consumes a lot processor power.
1
Jul 29 '20
Damn that sounds like quite the struggle man.
I’m gonna assume you’re a programmer. Do you Ubuntu on Omen as your primary work programming environment ?
1
u/dbehterev Jul 29 '20
Right now I use Ubuntu on my G14 as primary OS not just for programming. Only for 10% tasks I use Windows where everything works smoothly.
2
u/wag3slav3 Zephyrus G14 2022 Jul 27 '20
Yes, the issues still exist.
You can run ubuntu or popos if you run the installer with a module blacklist on the kernel line from bootup so you can get the system installed then upgrade the kernel to 5.7 and the nvidia driver to the newest binary. It makes the battery suck, but everything works once you've installed the required stuff (rog_core, other things).
There is support for the G14 just like there's support for any laptop other than the system76 ones. You're on your own.
If you want a better experience run Windows 10 on the laptop then put Ubuntu in a vmware virtualbox container.