Taking A Look At Pop!_OS From System76

Taking A Look At Pop!_OS From System76
Level1Linux
Published on May 1, 2019
"Windows VM faster than bare metal! for Indigo, 7zip, etc? On the 2990WX, yes. https://forum.level1techs.com/t/threa..."

The Thelio video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_eS...

VFIO Guide: https://forum.level1techs.com/t/vfio-...

 

@Mr. Fox might be interested in this

 

I gave it a test run earlier this month and after a few days I went back to Linux Mint. I found Pop!_OS desktop environment (GUI) to be a little bit clunky and not very pleasing aesthetically. Under the hood it was fine. I was able to tweak everything to make it look like Mint (install Cinnamon, etc.) but at that point there is no reason to use it instead of Linux Mint with Cinnamon.

 

Did you try it on a laptop? did it have more drivers preinstalled/support for laptops than the Linux Mint or Ubuntu?

 

Yes, I used it on my HP ZBook 15 and installed it while traveling on a business trip. Zero problems using it, I just didn't care for the aesthetics of the Pop!_OS desktop. Linux Mint and openSUSE also work perfectly on the same laptop. So does Chrome OS.

The only thing that does not work perfectly for me, and I cannot find a fix for it, is the 5.1 audio on my desktop. Only stereo works, and I have given up trying to get 5.1 analog audio to work. The drivers, kernel and various tweaks that are supposed to enable 5.1 do not work. But, that's not stopping me from using it. It's not a big enough problem for me to prefer Windows 10 over Linux.

I haven't needed to add/update drivers for anything other than adding proprietary drivers for the GeForce GPU on either of my systems with any Linux distro. Everything else just worked. WiFi, LAN, BT, etc... all work without any weird configuration or driver hunting.

 

@Ultra Male - maybe if I can find time this weekend I will make a YouTube video. You don't need to wipe out what you have now if you have a separate drive you can use. Just set it up as a multi-boot system with Linux and Windows. Grub2 will add the Windows Boot Manager without affecting the Windows Boot Manager. Grub2 just hands off the process to Windows if you choose Windows from the Grub2 boot menu. You can later delete/format the Linux drive and Windows will still boot and run without being affected.


NVIDIA Control Panel, G-Stink and GPU overclocking are supported.

 

How to install this Grub 2?

do I install Linux first on a separate partition then grub 2 or how does this work?

 

Grub 2 is the Linux boot manager and it installs when you install Linux. You can either remove the drives with Windows temporarily and install Linux as a standalone, then use Grub Customizer to tweak everything and add the Windows Boot Manager (my preference)... or, you can run Linux setup and tell it install along side Windows.

Grub Customizer is what I used to customize the boot screen I posted with the X299 Dark wallpaper.

 

I just tried to install it, booted off the USB Flash Disk, but it only detected my 860 EVO not my RAID Array.

I want to install it on the RAID Array as I left 300 GB of empty space at the end of the RAID array partitions but it can't see it

 

Hmm. Not sure why it cannot see it. You have Secure Boot disabled? When you made the USB installer did you use UEFI mode with Rufus?

If you already did all that... try downloading the ISO to Windows and place it wherever you want it. Install Unetbootin. Use that ( hard disk option, not USB) to install Linux from the ISO you download and see if it can see your RAID volume that way. After installing Unetbootin, reboot Windows and select that from the boot menu and it will mount your Windows ISO.

If it works, uninstall Unetbootin and delete the ISO in Windows after Linux is installed. And, if it doesn't work, uninstall Unetbootin. That will remove it from your boot menu.

If none of that works, it may be something Alienware has done in the firmware to screw things up.

 

Reply from Reddit about why I can't see my RAID Volume from the official Pop_OS thread :

 

Come to my inbox and we'll figure this one out together

 

I will take you up on that. Would love to know why 5.1 doesn't work and how to fix it.

 

This is an OS I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot long pole, even if that pole came coated in the bloods of the saints.
As impressive as their work is, my preferred approach to a distro is abject mininalism, a principle that this distro does not uphold by design.

 

Pop OS never worked me and only worked in LiveCD. I did update the LiveCD to latest updates and still, the installer fails to proceed. I installed Xubuntu and it was installed in 2 mins. The same thing happened with Ubuntu, no issues whatsoever.

 

There are lots of specialized packaged builds of the various popular distro's, it's good to try out different styles and perspectives from time to time, you never know which one is going to have a great release where it all comes together... Pop!_OS has gone from #35 (1 year ago), to #31 (6 months ago), to holding at #23 (3 months, 1 month)...
https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=popos
https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=ratings&distro=popos

This is a heads up for the update availability and a non-narrated walk-through of new features. You don't need to watch it unless you are interested, and then it would be good to go to the source and pick up the new release distribution, one for Nvidia or AMD video support.

IMAGINE - a more intelligent world
https://system76.com/pop

"Harness the potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Pop!_OS provides native access to the toolkits used for creating a smarter tomorrow.

For example, take CUDA + cuDNN + TensorFlow installation from 100 lines of code to a single command line. To install the latest Tensorflow with the CUDA Toolkit, please run the command:

sudo apt install tensorflow-cuda-latest

IMAGINE - powerful features, beautifully expressed
We’re focusing on you in a different way than anyone else. Our approach centers on user testing and careful analysis with the singular goal of delivering the most productive and gorgeous platform for developing your next creation. It’s not just about making the easiest tool, it’s about making the best tool. And we’re just getting started."

They are just getting started, so they are hardly finished. That's what Linux is, a constantly growing collection of tools and interfaces that have been building for decades (ATT UNIX through to today), and they are still growing today.

Pop!_OS 19.04 - Based on Ubuntu 19.04 and Use GNOME 3.32 as Default Desktop
Linux Scoop
Premiered May 19, 2019
Pop!_OS 19 04 latest release of Pop!_OS, based on Ubuntu 19.04 and use GNOME 3.32 as default desktop environment that brings several other features like new icon theme, fractional scaling, permission control for each application, granular control on Night Light intensity among many other changes. Also, include most of the gnome applications 3.32.

the changes that are exclusive to Pop!_OS, the new Refresh Install option allows you to reinstall the OS without losing your user account and data stored in Home.

The Slim Mode option maximizes your screen real estate by reducing the height of the header on application windows, Dark Mode gives your applications a relaxing ambiance for nighttime viewing. Both Dark Mode and Slim Mode can be activated in the Appearance settings menu.

There’s a separate download option for Nvidia and AMD users to ensure better graphics support and gaming experience: https://system76.com/pop


And, if it's not for you, there are lots of other Linux's to choose from, and each one can be tweaked and tuned to be much like the other - once you gather all the packages, install them in sequence, and configure it to your needs.

Here's one sites tally of distros, they've been around for a long time:

DistroWatch database summary

• Number of all distributions in the database: 899
  
• Number of active distributions in the database: 293
  
• Number of dormant distributions: 59
  
• Number of discontinued distributions: 547
  
• Number of distributions on the waiting list: 156
• Number of distributions waiting for evaluation: 31

And, here's a recent comparison of Pop!_OS 19.04 vs Ubuntu

Pop_OS! 19.04 vs Ubuntu 19.04: what are the differences ?
The Linux Experiment
Published on May 22, 2019
Pop_OS!, System 76's own Linux distro, has gained quite a lot of attention lately. One question that comes back often is: how does it compare with Ubuntu, on which it's based ? Let's take a look at the differences between the two !

Spoiler: More details...

Installation
Ubuntu still rocks its Ubiquity installer. It offers a few options, such as partitioning the drive, enabling encryption, turning the wifi on wifi to download and install updates right during the installation, as well as installing proprietary, non-free software such as codecs, or even the stable nvidia drivers best suited to your hardware.

PopOS installer is a whole new one. developed in conjunction with the elementary OS team. The Live ISO of Pop OS boots directly on the installer, but you can of course still use the system through GNOME. Pop_OS asks you for the language, the keyboard layout, and then offers a few options to either erase the whole disk and install PopOS, or to tweak the partition layout. Partitioning is actually done through Gparted, while Ubuntu's installer has its own integrated tool. Once you selected the disk you want to install on, you'll get the choice to encrypt the drive, with encryption being made default.
User account creation is handled after the machine reboots.

Another main difference is that Pop_OS ships 2 ISOs: one for Intel and AMD cards, and another for Nvidia cards, which includes the latest nvidia drivers by default, so you have on less step to enable them after install.

Also interesting to note is the fact that Pop_OS will create a recovery partition, allowing you to reinstall, or simply refresh your existing install, while keeping all your user files. This is a great feature I wish other distros would incorporate.

Look and feel
Pop_OS and Ubuntu look very different, although both use GNOME. with a more yellowish tint, charcoal title bars While Ubuntu adds a dock by default, Pop_OS does not, opting for a purer GNOME experience. Both extensively theme the desktop, with Ubuntu using its nice Yaru theme and Suru icons, with orange highlights and black elements, and POP_OS using its own theme with a yellowish accent color, and charcoal title bars. Pop_OS also uses very vivid icons, with a cyan blue for the folders, and other icons being closer to what GNOME 3.32 offers.

Pop_OS also adds the ability to use a slim mode, to shrink title bars a bit, and enable a dark mode by default, which can offset the very bright colors and make it a bit less tiring for your eyes.

Software
Pop_OS ships with Firefox as its web browser, just like Ubuntu, but replaces thunderbird with Geary, a lighter, simpler email client that fits a lot more nicely with a GNOME desktop. It includes LibreOffice, as well as most of the GNOME default apps: calendar, terminal, settings, document viewer, image viewer,etc...
Ubuntu ships with a bit more stuff than Pop_OS, though, such as Cheese, a few games like Mines, Mahjoingg or Solitaire,
or rhythmbox.

As a result, pop_OS is a bit lighter after installation than Ubuntu, using 7gb of hard drive space, while Ubuntu uses 9GB

App Stores
Here is a big difference between distros: Ubuntu uses the GNOME Software application, which is the standard on a lot of distros. It handles app installations, but not libraries. It can open individual .deb packages though, and handle their installation.

Pop_OS ships with the Pop Shop, which is based on elementary OS's AppCenter. While it does not include the elementary apps, unfortunately, it still retains the same general look and feel and organization.

Neither distros ship with flatpak support enabled, but both support PPAs. Ubuntu does ship with snap support enabled while Pop_OS does not.

Since the PopShop does not handle deb packages, Pop_OS ships with Eddy, a simple elementary OS application, to handle these kind of files.

Repositories
App selection is pretty much the same here, since Pop_OS's repos are based on Ubuntu's. Pop_OS enables all of Ubuntu's repos by default.
It also adds its own repositories, in the form of an apt proprietary repo, including steam, Spotify, or VSCode, and a PPA.

Ubuntu, while it does enable the same repos by default, has its own way of shipping additional software, namely through the snap store, included directly in GNOME Software. You'll find a bunch of applications there that aren't in Pop_OS's repos, such as Plex, OBS, discord, or Zenkit.

Performance
In terms of measured performance, Ubuntu did use up a bunch more RAM by default, probably because of its larger application suite, using 2.3 GB of my 16GB of RAM.
Pop OS used a little less than 2GB when idle, but it did seem more fluid when interacting with GNOME shell, especially under load.
Animations felt faster and more responsive, and opening apps also seemed snappier.
It light be because PopOS ships with less stuff installed, but the experience felt smoother.

And, to round things out, here's a long time Windows user sick of Windows 10 that moved to Linux, which just happens to be PopOS...and he switches the desktop manager from Gnome to KDE (in the 2nd video in the series of 4 videos), for those that enjoy KDE more than Gnome.

Windows to Linux | The First Linux Install | Pop OS
Chris Titus Tech
Published on May 13, 2019
In this video, I go over switching from Windows to Linux. I give you a background about the switch and what to expect. Afterwards, we do a brief first Linux install using Pop OS.

Below are referenced in the video:
1. Preparation - Check Compatibility (Lutris.net and protondb.com)
2. Differences - Installing Programs, Versatility, File System, Security, Performance, Compatibility.
3. USB Drive Creation - etcher.io - Pop OS Download - https://system76.com/pop
4. Install!


Here is the 4 video series together as a Playlist link:

First-Time Linux Installation | Windows to Linux
Chris Titus Tech 4 videos 1,440 views Updated 5 days ago
This playlist goes over a first time Linux installation from a Windows user's perspective.

The comment sections in each of the 4 videos have useful info as well.

 

Slackware! Gentoo!

 

I'm liking popos on my 13 r3 so far.

My Biggest problem right now is I can't seem to get steam to see my second drive and also can't seem to get lutris working the way I want.

I could probably live without either but optimally I would like those functions to work as desired.

For now I'll just see about getting emulators working at least.

 

It may have something to do with how the second drive is formatted. If it is NTFS instead of ext4 you need a package to have Linux use NTFS as a native file system. If you are not using the second drive for Windows and it is formatted as NTFS, Steam might use it for your game library if you reformat it as ext4.

 

Yeah I figured that could be the case but Pop_OS can use NTFS just fine (friend of mine more versed tested it last week) Even with that said, in order to keep things simple I went ahead and formatted as ext4 anyways as this is a real attempt to use linux (if I had a partition with NTFS or dual booting then I would just default to what is known).

I read that I have to edit the fstab file to automount the drive so it would be seen, but that doesnt seem to be the issue (I think). I feel like I have to add a shortcut to the second drive on the host drive so I can let steam link to it?

I tried to get Overwatch working in Lutris but I got an error saying a file name was too long after setting up the WINE / DXVK dependencies following the github guides.

Today Ill transfer about 600GB of iso's to the secondary drive, if I cant get progress on Overwatch then hopefully I can make some progress in Lutris for PCSX2 emulation. Im going to Fort Hood for a couple weeks for work project so in the mean time I am attempting to leave Windows at home to see how viable it is for me in a real use case

EDIT: It just occurred to me that I may be doing this wrong. In Windows when you go one stage up from root, you are looking at the drives and then navigate where you want to go.

This may not be the case in Linux? Everytime I look at how to use another drive in steam for linux its always something about enabling automount + editing fstab file.

 

There is one version of Steam that allows me to use an NTFS drive for my game library and another on that does not. I think it was the version with Lutris that does. If I can figure it out for certain I will reply with some screen shots.

 

Would appreciate it but I dont mind this machine only being ext4, really wanting to avoid the feeling that I can just go back to Windows without much effort lol

 

OK, I installed Pop!_OS because my Linux Mint got broken with some changes I made. I then installed Cinnamon because I do not care for the Unity-like desktop environment. Overall, even with Cinnamon installed, Pop!_OS UI is still not as polished and attractive as Linux Mint. I installed the latest Pop!_OS and not the LTS version. It still has somewhat the uglier Linux-looking fonts, cursors and what not, and Linux Mint with Cinnamon is kind of like the pinnacle of what an attractive Linux Desktop Environment looks like (IMHO). I'll have to spend time tweaking and correcting the aesthetic deficiencies if I stay with Pop!_OS for more than a few days.

With that rigmarole out of the way, I then installed Wine Steam runner within Lutris, then installed Steam using the Pop!_Shop. I can map my Steam Library to the NTFS volume I use for Steam on Windows. When you add the Steam Library look in the Media folder. If you do not see the volume there, close that window, then mount the volume and look again. Should be able to see it then. If it does not gain access automatically the next time you boot into Linux, run the Linux Disks utility and set that volume to auto-mount when Linux boots and that should take care of it.

Hope this helps. It sure makes it nice to have a huge volume for the Steam Library so you can install all the games you want to install, and being able to share the same library with Windows is even better.



After you create a Lutris account, install the Wine Steam runner and Steam from the Pop!_Shop, and synchronize Lutris the regular Steam client will show up in Lutris and populate the Lutris UI with "tiles" for your Steam games.

 

Thanks for sharing, Are your games not on the host drive?

 

That is correct. I have my Steam/Origin/Uplay/Epic game libraries on a 2TB striped volume composed of two Samsung 1TB EVO SATA SSDs. Linux is installed on a 512GB 960 Pro NVMe drive and so is Windows 7. Each of my versions of Windows 10 Enterprise are installed on 1TB Samsung Enterprise 22110 NVMe SSDs. I have a 2TB HDD and 4TB HDD for file storage.

 

Cant get PCSX2 working either. Gave up Lutris and am going to try out RetroArch instead. If that doesnt work then Ill just try the actual PCSX2 linux installation, if that doesnt work im going back to Windows on that machine for a while.

 

I perhaps took Dennismiungai's critique of Pop_OS! more than I should. I do the same with Mr. Fox when it comes to hardware, lol. But he does have a point when System76 of perhaps not giving back to the Free Software community as much as it could

With that said, TheReceiver, don't let it sway you too much. I understand why you like the treatment of the nVidia proprietary driver in Pop_OS! I did, too.

I also like their color theme of the cyan and orange. It's a nice constrast and visually "pop" hence the name. I also like the choice of Roboto fonts. It fits with the whole "for makers" motif and theme they have going, which I like. 3D printers, compilers, robot servos, motors, and all. Since I am a tinkerer at heart myself.

I'm using Fedora these days. I feel Fedora and Red hat are more in line with my sensibilities and I have lots of years of exp with Red hat as a desktop OS and also Fedora. Hard to believe it's been almost 23 years.

 

Its just annoying when none of the guides I follow ever seem to actually work. I have failed trying to us PCSX2 standalone, via retroarch and also lutris.

Retro fails to scan my repository or allow me to download the core (emulator), lutris doesnt even let me start the application and same goes for trying to run standalone.

Now I can see why people are appreciating what work steam has put in towards linux, it just simply works. Ive got a friend that wants to troubleshoot with me since he also has a 13 R3 and is much better with linux than I am. Hopefully we can weed it out otherwise I have to go back to Win10

 

Linux has come a long ways in the past few years, and I like it way better than Windows 10. There are many things that either do not work at all, only work for certain distros, or do not work well. I'm still using Linux, and will continue doing so. And, I still hate Windows 10 (even though I use it sometimes), but it would be much easier to kill off Windows 10 if Linux worked extremely well at everything without some of the hassles that surface now and then.

But, it's not as simple unless you are a Linux expert. When I say simple, what I am really referring to is having knowledge needed to make things work. Linux itself is easy. I am finding my way with Linux pretty well, and it feeds my inner geek. I have no problem using a terminal and actually like that part. But, I am constantly having to Google search how to do things and sift through the search results to find a solution that actually works. Some of the how-to material on the web is outdated, and some of what is current is poorly written, with instructions that are either incomplete or difficult to follow, written with the assumption that all readers are expert Linux users, or only applicable to certain distros. Or, you have to install new packages before the instructions work because the terminal commands are not valid without those packages installed.

I don't have any plans to give up Windows 7 at this time. It's still the best option overall. One of the main reasons I haven't replaced Windows 10 with Linux is there are just far too many software titles I want to use that only work (or only work properly) on Windows. One of the most crucial Windows software titles that has no rival, and nothing that comes even remotely close to matching it, is Micro$oft Office... and, Excel and Outlook in particular. None of the other options available (Windows or Linux) have the functionality necessary to replace Excel completely, and all of the alternative email clients that I know of basically suck.

Geary is OK... not great, but probably the best partial substitute for Outlook. I can tolerate Geary and I am using it. It's similar to Windows Mail, which is OK as the most rudimentary form of an email client. Geary and Windows Mail are slightly better than using webmail, mainly because you can access all of your accounts simultaneously instead of having to log in and out of each account in your browser one at a time. But, Thunderbird totally blows, and I'm not paying for Hiri email client. Tried using Hiri and I cannot even get it to launch so that I can play around with the 7-day trial.

As far as PC gaming goes, Linux is getting very close to being a suitable replacement for Windows. There is a very large assortment of Windows games that work great on Linux, and that number is growing daily, thanks to OpenGL and Vulkan being perfectly suitable replacements for Micro$lop DirectX.

 

Here's a Q2RTX Linux video... this one includes some Quake 2 music.

 

Thanks to nephew @j95 exposing me to how great it is, I finally decided to spring for the full "master license" of JRiver Media Center so I could also install and register it on Linux, seeing that I am frequently using Linux on both the desktop and laptop now. This is on the desktop, Pop!_OS running Cinnamon desktop. Still no 5.1 functionality, but it sounds awesome on Linux with this media center. At least the subwoofer works and rattles the windows nicely. Been using this media center on Windows for a good while now. Thanks @j95!


Even the advanced JRiver Media Center features, like internet lyrics look-up, works great on Linux.

 

Went back to windows for me on the 13 R3, t440p is running KDE for now.

 

Hello,
I have as well the R3 OLED and PopOS is the best out of the box distro linux ever found... I tried everything (base I work with Archlabs) but... in which way you managed the Alienware Center of Window memory?
For the brightness I change the gamma via command line... did you have a working app as well as for the backlight of the keyboard / touchpad?


Cheers

 

Nope, that is secondary in the grand scheme of things, if I cant get my primary functions going there isnt much point meddling with anything else.

 

Thanks!!! I never head it before... just installing on my Archlabs.

Package (6) Old Version New Version Net Change Download Size

community/cabextract 1.9.1-1 0.09 MiB 0.03 MiB
extra/freeglut 3.0.0-2 0.38 MiB 0.09 MiB
glxinfo 8.4.0-1 -0.07 MiB
extra/mesa-demos 8.4.0-1 6.95 MiB 1.43 MiB
extra/python-evdev 1.2.0-1 0.21 MiB 0.04 MiB
community/lutris 0.5.2.2-1 5.82 MiB 1.87 MiB

 

It's got Pop!_OS in there too

We Ditched Mac Pro for THIS...[Pop!_OS]
Jan 20, 2020
Snazzy Labs
The 2019 Mac Pro has been lauded by many as the end-all-be-all of video editing workstations. But that's only if you have big $$$. We put Linux on our AMD Ryzen 3950X PC and see how it holds up. Many tech YouTubers use Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro to edit their videos, but Derek, the cinematographer here at Snazzy Labs uses Blackmagic Davinci Resolve. Unlike the other two popular NLEs, Resolve is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux but was originally developed for Linux to use in a professional studio/post-processing environment. We took our PC rocking a 3950X CPU, a GTX 1080 (ya, we know, we're waiting on the new 2080 Ti Super), and put this thing to the test. Not only does it run Linux, but it does so very well. Running the Debian/Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS, this thing is ready to rumble.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-maxed-out-52-599.831312/page-3#post-10985224

 

Will this work on my 2007 macbook white? 3.1 I think it is.

 

I suggest LiveCD first using Intel/AMD ISO of pop OS!. It should run fine for daily usage.

 

There's Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and most distros have been updated. I have switched from Xubuntu 18 to Ubuntu Budgie 20.04 LTS and although there were quirks in getting secure boot to work, I have finally got hybrid optimus to work out of the box.
I recommend people to wait for point releases. If you are doing Cubic based distro updates, I would suggest you to install grub-efi-amd64 along with shim and shim-signed which are not marked as recommended which will cause secure boot to act up or not work at all. Also nvidia dGPU users need to install linux modules 5,4 for nvidia-440 model otherwise you need to disable secure boot.

 

An update: Undervolt is disabled if UEFI secure boot is enabled.

 

It comes as no surprise. Secure boot breaks many good things.

 

It used to work earlier. Due to many exploits in Intel CPU arch, Linux decided for kernel lockdown on 5.3 plus so secure boot makes you feel secure.