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Comment by free652 | Hacker News Reader

I switched to Debian/Cinnamon few weeks ago. I am fairly good with the server sides of things, but the desktop a little painful.

Screens dont wake up properly, sometimes only one screens wakes up, sometimes one screen wakes up with a wrong resolution. The usual linux desktop problems where nothing really works and finding a solution is very hard to many different permutations of hardware / os / kernel / drivers / window manager / etc.

I have the framework desktop with AMD 395+

My windows ssd is plugged and I can boot it directly using virt-manager, so thats kinda solves some windows specific stuff like tax software.

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You are using a distro that is generally very behind on software versions and doesn’t bundle non free software (Debian) on a laptop with brand new hardware. Additionally, you are running a DE (cinnamon) which is really designed for a specific distro (Mint) which you are not using.

If you want stuff to just work you might want to try using a more up to date distro with a mainstream desktop. Stock Ubuntu or Fedora would probably work fine for you.

debian 13 is using kernel 6.12 vs ubuntu 24 6.14. I don't think it's a kernel issue, and more that amd drivers aren't there yet for the new hardware.

running the latest also is problematic, i.e. a new kernel upgrade that blows thing up.

and that's the main difference between linux and windows, windows just works, osx just works, linux is a minefield of different quirks.

The amd drivers might not there, and they will continue to not be there on the version of the kernel you are using and choosing to be stuck on by using Debian. Drivers are part of the kernel in Linux, it’s not how windows works. Ubuntu and Fedora are not unstable, you are just choosing pain for yourself.

>Drivers are part of the kernel in Linux

While the drivers at the runtime are part of the kernel, they are not distributed as part of the kernel.

My drivers are *latest* -> 6.16.6.30200100-2255209.24.04

https://instinct.docs.amd.com/projects/amdgpu-docs/en/latest...

Debian is *stable*, but you are so far only proving my point in my original post.

If you are going to download ubuntu, the version proposed is 24.04 that has older kernel version than my debian 13.

https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop -> Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS -> Kernel 6.8

This is just false. Amdgpu is an in tree kernel module and has been forever. https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/gpu/amdgpu/index.html

If you are installing via an outside method, again, you are going agasint the grain for no good reason and making problems for yourself.

Nobody is suggesting installing LTS on brand new hardware.

>This is just false. Amdgpu is an in tree kernel module and has been forever. https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/gpu/amdgpu/index.html

You are arguing and arguing and shifting goal posts as we go.

The facts are:

* I am running the latest amdgpu video driver.

* AI 395 wasn't released yesterday, but a year ago.

* (My original point) Many different permutations of hardware / os / kernel / drivers / window manager / etc.

I highly doubt that installing Ubuntu 25.10 will fix the issue. Can you provide that guarantee? No. Then we can stop talking.

I’m not shifting any goal posts. I’m just tired of these posts from people saying that Linux is unstable, has quirks, etc but when you dig into it, all of the “quirks” are actually the result of strange decisions made by the author.

It’s fine to be new to Linux, but please refrain from the sweeping generalizations until you are more familiar with how it works.

Honestly, just switching to a kernel that isn't older than your hardware have a decent chance of fixing your issues. It is typically fine to upgrade kernels unless the distro has made some special modifications to them, and it was a very long time since I was hit by something like that.

> Debian is stable,

Stable in Linux language is a synonym for OLD. Don't let any stable OSes near any hardware that is newer than the release, and you'll be fine.

Linux 6.12 was released back in 2024, which is several months earlier than the hardware you have. So the reasonable expectation is that there is a high chance that fixes for it won't be in yet.

And use the builtin AMD drivers, you shouldn't have to touch those assuming other choices were done ok.

Fedora is 6.18, it’s like you did not notice the word Fedora, and chose shitty clone of Debian instead of Debian. Of course it worse, no need to prove that. Get Fedora.

This has been my issue as well - screens waking or not waking up. On latest Linux Mint and everything is great except when switching back and forth inputs between my personal and work laptop (running Windows), I have to do it twice going to my personal laptop or else the external monitor won't show.

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