The return of Gnome
- Thread starter Stephen M
- Start date
manioa
Member
Hi, I did...
Bought the Defiance XS recently and installed Ubuntu 17.04. Then upgraded to 17.10.
My sound stopped working.
Also , only the headphones worked under 17.04.
The rest works smoothly.
Currently seeking solutions to make audio work.
L.E You can install Unity and have the option to login to it.
My specs:
Bought the Defiance XS recently and installed Ubuntu 17.04. Then upgraded to 17.10.
My sound stopped working.
Also , only the headphones worked under 17.04.
The rest works smoothly.
Currently seeking solutions to make audio work.
L.E You can install Unity and have the option to login to it.
My specs:
Last edited:
mishra
Rising Star
Unity has no future tho... It never had it. Canonical has no resources to keep this project going for much longer. It is better this way.
Gnome has has been on the market for like +15 years, it's stable and very flexible. Latest Ubuntu is a perfect example of it. Since they made it to look like Unity anyway. I bet most people wouldn't even notice the difference (if not for all the fuss on the media). We will end up with better Desktop Environment in long run. It may not be with 17.10 but let's wait for next reiteration of it. IMO project Unity has cost Ubuntu 6 years of lost innovation into their Desktop Environment.
Gnome has has been on the market for like +15 years, it's stable and very flexible. Latest Ubuntu is a perfect example of it. Since they made it to look like Unity anyway. I bet most people wouldn't even notice the difference (if not for all the fuss on the media). We will end up with better Desktop Environment in long run. It may not be with 17.10 but let's wait for next reiteration of it. IMO project Unity has cost Ubuntu 6 years of lost innovation into their Desktop Environment.
I would strongly disagree that Unity had no future. It had a larger footprint (usage) out there than all the other desktop environments combined. I find the metric people use for "successful" quite odd - "It's not successful because I don't like it". There's a reason why ALL the most successful desktop Linux OEMs chose Ubuntu (with Unity).
Until they have to do something like install an extension. Sure, "power users" who are familiar with Gnome won't have a problem, but for new Linux users - good luck!
Love 'em or hate 'em, Canonical did more for desktop Linux than anyone else.
Anyway, not trying to start a flame war, just disagree with your opinion about Unity.
Hey Manioa - I currently have the Defiance II and love it so much I'm thinking about getting the Defiance XS within the next month. I have a couple of questions:
Does the 120Hz screen work at 120Hz (using the proprietary Nvidia driver)? Or does it drop to 60Hz?
Are you able to cut power to the Nvidia GPU and use the Intel GPU?
What kind of battery life are you getting?
On my Defiance II, I have a setting in the BIOS to switch between "DISCRETE" and "MSHYBRID" GPU. Is there something similar on the Defiance XS?
Any info would be much appreciated.
mishra
Rising Star
Discussions were always highly welcomed here 
I'm totally in the camp of "love" for Canonical, they do amazing work and rarely disappoint. Dropping Unity was just a smart move as it will free up their resources. Since Gnome is backed by thousands of contributors (professionals, amateurs, companies) it's much easier for Canonical to use it. Rather than reinvent the wheel (like it was with Unity), in fact Unity itself is based on Gnome afaik.
Canonical tried to go bold with Unity. It was fresh and new when it came out, it took a year to really shine... but the dream of having phone and desktop environment just didn't work out and something had to be done. It's not only Unity that's being killed of by Canonical.
In the end it was a decision made by them. From now on, we will get Canonical take on Gnome and not Unity. We, users, can still choose whatever we like
I'm totally in the camp of "love" for Canonical, they do amazing work and rarely disappoint. Dropping Unity was just a smart move as it will free up their resources. Since Gnome is backed by thousands of contributors (professionals, amateurs, companies) it's much easier for Canonical to use it. Rather than reinvent the wheel (like it was with Unity), in fact Unity itself is based on Gnome afaik.
Canonical tried to go bold with Unity. It was fresh and new when it came out, it took a year to really shine... but the dream of having phone and desktop environment just didn't work out and something had to be done. It's not only Unity that's being killed of by Canonical.
In the end it was a decision made by them. From now on, we will get Canonical take on Gnome and not Unity. We, users, can still choose whatever we like
Hi Stephen - good to see you're still active in these forums.
In regards to Ubuntu 17.10, I "upgraded" to it, used it exclusively for a month on my desktop and laptop, then went back to Kubuntu 17.10. I tried to like Gnome, I really did, but just couldn't.
I'm really enjoying KDE Plasma 5 and can't see myself switching to something else any time in the near future. I've found Kubuntu to be rock solid on my systems - even while it was still in alpha! ->
https://youtu.be/4vjQiZAKZW8?t=887
A thing of beauty
Hi Monioa - this is the setting I'm asking about on the Defiance XS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqlpGdrhKlE
Do you have the option to switch between "MSHYBRID" and "DISCRETE"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqlpGdrhKlE
Do you have the option to switch between "MSHYBRID" and "DISCRETE"?
Stephen M
Author Level
Thanks Mnemonic, I am still on 16.04 on my main work computer and have not used 17.10 that much but struggling to like Gnome and KDE looks like being my best option now. Initially Yunit (https://yunit.io/) looked interesting but it seems slow to progress and I wonder whether it will really get going.
manioa
Member
Hi,
The 120 Hz refresh rate works perfectly.
Don't know how to do that switch between Nvidia and Intel GPU's.
Battery lasts about 3 hours.
The only GPU setting in the BIOS is enable or disable GPU performance scaling.
Attaching a pic.
I first installed Ubuntu 17.04. Everything worked fine, except I could only use the headphones to have sound.
So I upgraded to 17.10.
I did whatever I could possibly do, upgraded the kernel etc, played with Pavucontrol, Alsamixer, nothing works.
Also I can't figure out how to switch off the keyboard leds...
Other than that it works smooth. Absolutely love it.
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Thanks so much for the info - really appreciated!
Just a stab in the dark, but perhaps you could try setting your acpi_osi to "Windows 2015" to help out with your keyboard backlighting issue?
Edit your /etc/default/grub file and add the acpi_osi setting to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, so it's something like this:
Then run:
and reboot. Then try to use your key combinations to dim/brighten keyboard backlight.
Just a stab in the dark, but perhaps you could try setting your acpi_osi to "Windows 2015" to help out with your keyboard backlighting issue?
Edit your /etc/default/grub file and add the acpi_osi setting to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, so it's something like this:
Code:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=\"!Windows 2015\""Then run:
Code:
sudo update-gruband reboot. Then try to use your key combinations to dim/brighten keyboard backlight.
manioa
Member
Tried that, not working in my case. Also changed the Xml file org.freedesktop.UPower.conf in /etc/dbus-1/system.d. from allow to deny in
How did you deal with that? You have a Realtek codec, right?
How did you make it work?
Nothing worked. Anyway , the most annoying thing is I have no sound , except for my HDMI monitor.
How did you deal with that? You have a Realtek codec, right?
How did you make it work?
Sorry for the really late reply. Did you manage to get your backlighting or sound working?
In regards to the sound hardware/drive on the Defiance II - I didn't have to do anything (never have, from Ubuntu 15.04 to Kubuntu 17.10):
In regards to switching between the Nvidia and Intel GPUs, you use:
The Nvidia drivers (PRIME, in particular) seem to have improved on Linux, so I no longer have to go in tot he BIOS to switch - just use the `prime-select` commands mentioned above (and then log out/log in).
To avoid tearing, create a file called something like "zz-nvidia-tearing.conf" in /etc/modprobe.d with a single line (obviously changing "384" to whatever driver version you have installed):
Then run:
This enables "PRIME Synchronization" - something now used instead of "pipeline composition" to get rid of the tearing.
I decided not to go for the Defiance XS in the end, as I'm still very happy with my Defiance II, and I'm going to wait for these new 8th gen Intel CPU laptops.
In regards to the sound hardware/drive on the Defiance II - I didn't have to do anything (never have, from Ubuntu 15.04 to Kubuntu 17.10):
Code:
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: Sunrise Point-H HD Audio
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
version: 31
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=32
resources: irq:130 memory:df320000-df323fff memory:df300000-df30ffffIn regards to switching between the Nvidia and Intel GPUs, you use:
Code:
$ sudo prime-select intel
$sudo prime-select nvidiaThe Nvidia drivers (PRIME, in particular) seem to have improved on Linux, so I no longer have to go in tot he BIOS to switch - just use the `prime-select` commands mentioned above (and then log out/log in).
To avoid tearing, create a file called something like "zz-nvidia-tearing.conf" in /etc/modprobe.d with a single line (obviously changing "384" to whatever driver version you have installed):
Code:
options nvidia_384_drm modeset=1Then run:
Code:
sudo update-initramfs -uThis enables "PRIME Synchronization" - something now used instead of "pipeline composition" to get rid of the tearing.
I decided not to go for the Defiance XS in the end, as I'm still very happy with my Defiance II, and I'm going to wait for these new 8th gen Intel CPU laptops.
Stephen M
Author Level
Just got a new Octane V so thought it worth going with latest Ubuntu, still getting used to Gnome and doubt will ever like it as much as Unity but generally I like Ubuntu for my main machine, although am running Debian 9 on my small 14" portable machine. Good thing about 18.04.1 was that it installed in ten minutes or less and everything that I wanted to work worked straight off. If I can ever be bothered I may try to sort the keyboard backlights and fingerprint scanner but not worried about them.