zlacker

>>tonyst+(OP)
Linux worked out of the box (Ubuntu LTS or Lubuntu) with:

- Lenovo ThinkPad T41

- Lenovo ThinkPad X61s

- LenovWo ThinkPad X220

- Lenovo ThinkPad X230

- Lenovo ThinkPad X1

- DELL Latitude E7762

- DELL Latitude E7480

- Apple iMac 27"

Problems encountered:

- The touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad 240 mad random jumps, not sure if this is a Linux issue since I never tried Windows (I usually wipe it right after unpacking).

- Couldn't install any Linux flavour on the Microsoft Surface 3 laptop. It was painful to get rid of Windows and UEFI boot, and apparently a kernel patch is needed to go further (according to Microsoft support, who didn't provide said patch). Does anyone here have that patch BTW?

Generally speaking it is getting harder and harder to install Linux, due to Microsofts efforts to make PCs "more secure" (which - oops - prevents the installation of competitors' OSes, how convenient).

>>jll29+jn
The worst thing about broken touchpads is that they're impossible to turn off in Ubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1408042/touchpad-cant-be-dis...

There's a button to do so, but it's just been broken for months with no fix other than uninstalling part of the last update. Given that Linux typically has no palm detection, it's really a frustrating experience to use on a laptop.

>>mminer+fq
The palm detection problem surprises me. The toggle has has "just worked" for 15+ years of laptops for me. However, palm detection on many of those laptops was garbage in Windows and equally bad in Linux.

Some distros support rejecting touchpad events for N seconds after the last keystroke. That is 100% software, and sort of works for even the worst touchpads.

Edit: Oh, you mention Ubuntu. I gave up on them a long time ago. Devuan works well if you want old-school Debian. Manjaro works well if you want a stable "modern" desktop environment (like Ubuntu used to provide) with menus for hardware configuration, user session switching, etc.