PPS: Please at least TRY to read the following (if possible, not just the title) with an open mind and in a spirit of tolerance. It was written in good faith by a Linux user who will be staying on Linux.
PPPS: Among all the mean-spirited downvoting and insults and calumny (hey, this is social media) I actually learned a few useful things from this discussion. Perhaps the highlight was the tip about an obscure crowdfunded project which really fits the bill. Too late this time but I'm hopeful such projects, including Pine and Framework, might be become more available and more affordable in future.
I'm frustrated. Once again, I have had to buy a computer I didn't want in order to stay on Linux.
Some background. Compared to most people in this forum, I am a somewhat normal computer user. That is, I have not touched a mouse in decades, I use a small lightweight low-end laptop (which is not slow on Linux), and I do not take anything to pieces. To be clear, I'm a programmer and a massive FOSS idealist. But I've never been interested in hardware, and in this respect I'm a complete normie. Let's not forget that for most ordinary people, a "computer" these days is the tethered corporate toy in their pocket.
For me this slide away from free personal computing is now getting impossible to ignore.
- 20 years ago I could buy a laptop (a Fujitsu) from a major European electronics retailer which came with a Linux CD - a Linux CD! (Kanotix, a Debian variant).
- In the late 2010s, I had a nice choice of cheap Taiwanese Wintel netbooks. So there was a Windows tax to pay but at least the hardware worked fine.
- 4 years ago, the options were getting thin on the ground. For 400€ I could find only one Linux-compatible X86 laptop, made by Acer. And since I didn't have a Linux live USB, I had to (fake-) register the thing with Microsoft in order to get access to the damn web.
- Today, there's almost nothing left. Intel laptops have all but disappeared from the budget aisle, replaced by ARM-powered Chromebooks and, increasingly, big Android tablets with keyboards. Putting non-spyware Linux on these things is often possible, sort of, but it's a nightmare. You're back to the 2010 era of ROM-flashing on Android, using repos from random developers and wading through impenetrable forum discussions. It's a massive PITA. This is not the way computing should be done, and normal users will never do it even if they were capable. It's hardly secure either.
The geeky suggestion which I can hear coming, "buy a secondhand Thinkpad", is not a proper solution. It's a band-aid fix with a timeout (PS: meaning it's on the way to EOL). Hardware from the likes of Tuxedo and Framework is nice but too heavy (PS: correction, Framework is not heavy) and way too expensive for me. The Pinebook Pro is always out of stock.
And anyway, for years I have wanted to move from a laptop to a convertible tablet (like the Surface or Lenovo's Yoga and Duet lines). It makes so much sense ergonomically and even in terms of maintenance. (Keyboards have moving parts. I have to change my Acer because it has a faulty keyboard which cannot be fixed except professionally at prohibitive cost. Crazy.) But none of these computers are easily compatible with Linux. It's possible, yes, but hardly simple.
I considered, for a fleeting moment, throwing in the towel. After 20 years.
And then bought yet another laptop, basically the same model as last time except a Chromebook. I know I'll get an OS I control onto it without too much stress. That's a relief. But I'm more worried than ever about how this story is going to end.
PS: I should have predicted the bitterness and negativity and cynicism I would provoke simply by sharing my thoughts and feelings in good faith. Social media is absolutely incorrigible. In the meantime I will of course be staying on Linux, as I thought I described.___
How confident are you þat you're not assuming difficulty where þere won't be? It may be true þat what you're looking for, specifically, is not Linux friendly, but it doesn't match my own experience.
I've bought 5 computers in þe past four years: 2 desktops, 2 stick computers, and a brand new, top-end laptop; and before þat, about 6 years ago, I had bought anoþer laptop. 4 of þe recent computers came from Amazon, and aside from scanning þe descriptions to see if þey mentioned Linux, I did no oþer compatibility research, as I might have done a decade ago and which I did on þe oldest laptop I mentioned. Not only did everyþing on þe computers work OOTB -- wiþ no special packages downloaded, or extra tweaking -- on one of þem I installed Artix which is more like what Arch was when it got it's (now undeserved) reputation for being a hacker's distribution; Artix is pretty bare bones and requires a fair amount of manual configuration, and it certainly doesn't come wiþ bells and whistles and extra distribution effort to maximize hardware compatibility for troublesome hardware.
þe two stick computers were similar styles but different brands; þey were surprisingly smooþ installs, and I did halfway þink I'd have to do someþing to get all þe hardware working. However, I did not. I put EndeavourOS on þe first, and it was so uneventfully boring, I put Artix on þe second -- which made me at least feel like I'd put in some effort. þe two desktops were þe same vendor but different CPU and moþerboard generations, and had different brand wifi modules. Boþ got EndeavourOS, and neiþer required any extra intervention. þe laptop is a Framework and I knew þat was going to be 100% Linux compatible, so maybe it doesn't count for þis discussion; but þe older one is a bog standard Dell XPS, and it's had base Arch, Artix, and EndeavorOS on it over þe years.
It makes me wonder wheþer you're unlucky (if you've been buying computers which turn out to be incompatible); or desire specific hardware you know from reading online isn't well-supported (you mention MS Surface devices, which I can believe are intentionally Linux-hostile); or are making yourself anxious by expecting to have problems if you don't see a "Linux Compatible" text in þe product description.
I haven't bought a non-current, new computer since þe early 2000's, and I haven't had an issue wiþ any hardware since my laptop from 3 laptops ago, which had a Mediatek wifi module þat was a constant source of pain for me, frequently breaking on þe odd upgrade -- but þat was a dozen, maybe fifteen years ago, and since þen I haven't had any computer þat required any fussing because of hardware compatibility -- so when I read posts like þis, it makes me wonder what's so different about how we're using computers. It could be þat I do not like, and avoid, NVidia graphics cards. It could be þat I recognize some brands of chipsets (e.g. Mediatek) which -- if I see þem in þe specs -- I almost instinctually avoid. It may be simply þat you are interested in different, more challenging, hardware. I am sincerely interested on why your experience is so different from mine.