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Hi STW, need to get into Linux for a work project. It has been decades of windows based dev since my very first job working on unix and macs - which was a very very very long time ago.
I’m looking to buy a laptop to install Linux on, doesn’t need to be fancy shmancy, though my normal laptop of choice is a think pad, or dell workstation. I’ll be keeping it separate from my work based machines, though I’m aware dual boot is possible.
I know there are quite a few techies on here, is there anything I need to be looking out for when buying one ? Or will any laptop do.
I do see you can buy a Dell laptop with Linux pre installed, but for this I’ll need to be using red hat, for now at least.
All help, advice, p@ss taking welcome. Thanks.
Plenty of refurbished T- and X-Series ThinkPads about, and Linux (Ubuntu / Debian) seems to run well on my X270.
I believe that there are some issues with the fingerprint scanners in newer thinkpads with linux, but that's hardly the most vital feature to use.
ETA: I have in the past had a nightmare trying to get hibernate (suspend to disc) working when you close the lid. Latest install (Debian 11) it worked out the box with no work beyond setting the desired action on lid close.
Do you just need a command line? You can install Linux into Windows these days.
Traditionally Thinkpads seem to do alright, and that's what I use personally.
That said, I wouldn't especially anticipate having trouble getting Linux up and running at least on any modern laptop. The limitations might be more niche hardware, but general "boots and runs" I'd be very surprised if it didn't Just Work these days.
@Cougar no - I'll be playing about with docker, installing docker conatainers, etc. Suspect that means more than just command line instructions, but I've yet to check.
I didnt know you could install linux into windows, running linux inside windows, that's pretty neat.
2nd hand thinkpad works for this, seen some good value X1's on Fleabay.
I've had a quick play with Docker running on linux under Windows, didn't run into any issues. Admittedly it was only a quick play!
I wouldn't have expected Docker to work in WSL but it turns out it is indeed a thing:
https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2020/03/02/docker-in-wsl2
Docker takes a little bit of setting up on WSL / WSL2.. but it literally takes under an hour. Lot of guides online. Be mindful that working on Windows UIs (for example: RStudio) don't generally notice your WSL folders, so any work in UI tends to need files ported to a file location under the Windows installation to be recognised e.g. documents/ desktop etc.
I'd go completely unix if it was me, unless there is a massive urge to use Windows for some reason. We are given windows laptops for work. Most work is remote on HPCs/instances.
Depends what your use case is. Plenty of cheap second hand laptops about. Take your pick.
I would go with a windows laptop and just use virtualbox to setup multiple rhel vm's. My ancient old laptop was crawling along with windows 10 so I turned it into a dual boot linux laptop. The linux part works great but it's a right pain when I need to use pdf's or word. The formatting is always a mess on the linux equivalents. There's probably a fix but I always find issues when someone sends me word/pdf's.
Have you thought of using a linux virtual machine running within your Windows session? You can run docker on the virtual machine and any issues it's easy to delete and recreate using this method. This will only work if your current Windows machine has enough memory, but buying more memory would be cheaper than having a separate physical device.
Also, don't forget to check the licensing for docker desktop as its no longer free in many cases, so your employer may need to buy a "Pro" licence for you.
I’d go completely unix if it was me, unless there is a massive urge to use Windows for some reason.
I probably would also, but it really depends on use case. Spinning up VMware Workstation / Hyper-V / VirtualBox is a good idea if you want multiple machines or you're going to be making a lot of mistakes requiring snapshot rollbacks, so long as you've got a decent PC to do so; Windows Subsystem for Linux as I said above is fine for command line only stuff (being able to type 'bash' from a cmd prompt is just mad); if you want a wholly separate instance then obviously a separate laptop is cleanest.
Honestly, in this day and age I'd avoid dual boot. There's too much that could go wrong and virtualisation has made it redundant.
I would do a combination of WSL and/or virtualbox.
I would not rush to install on a laptop (screen, keypad,etc - all might cause pain).
I would just put it on a desktop if you really need to https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Optiplex-128GB-Graphics-Renewed/dp/B0847NDMQD/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2JXT9L5OPQ852&keywords=dell+sff&qid=1643124339&sprefix=dell+sff%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-5
Son has a second hand ThinkPad. Dual boots Linux (not sure what flavour) and W10. Battery life on Linux is significantly better.
The other way round, Windows inside Linux doesn't really do Bluetooth well, or things that make use of fancy graphics. Maybe Linux works better inside Windows, but definitely work out what hardware you are going to want to use and check if folk have got it to work.
ETA - if you go down the virtual machine route.
Add another one to using VMware /virtual box qkemu root.
Unless you need 100% of cycles you can
1. Roll back if you make a mistake easy.
2. Quickly try / compare different distributions / setups.
Worth keeping you data off the VM IME and access it from VM via shared drive or fake network drive or whatever method. Means you can try on separate VMS the same data and if you fubar you VM you haven't lost your data.
P.s. there is also docker for Windows but it is different (not as efficient I think) and you have to specify if you are using Linux Vs windows docker image and other stuff. Not an expert just recalling what I have had to endure. My limited experience did give me preference for Linux wrt docker
A Dell XPS or Lenovo ThinkPad are the typical go-to for Linux laptops. The Dell can come with Ubuntu out of the box, you used to be able to get the same for the ThinkPads but I don't think that's an option anymore.
Maybe Linux works better inside Windows,
The original WSL was very patchy, but WSL2 has a true Linux kernel and it's a different animal. You can run Kali under it, for gods' sake!
I've done plenty of Docker / Kube stuff installing Linux VMs in Oracle Virtual Box.
I use wsl2 for dev stuff and it works well, including docker ce. Docker is all command line really. Performance is crappy bridging to the host fs, but fine if you stay in wsl for the heavy stuff.
There are different setups in use at my place:
- vm in windows: everything works, but its a little heavy, switching between host (eg office apps) and vm can be annoying esp if you are monitor limited
- a separate machine: everything works, switching between it and a windows machine (for office) is annoying
- wsl2: everything works, but its just a terminal with no UI (although vscode can bridge across, and apparently UI is coming in win11)
- get a mac, everything works on one machine, but you need to buy it yourself
- windows: a lot of stuff does not work or need to pay eg docker