this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Distro suggestions for a dual-GPU Lenovo laptop? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 days ago by will_a113@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I'm a long-time Linux user but for the past few years my main laptop - a Lenovo Legion 5 with both AMD iGPU and Nvidia dGPU - has been on Win10. I'd like to upgrade and am looking for suggestions for distros and configurations. I've mainly used Debian-based distros in the past but am not particular. Here are my main concerns:

  • I will likely still need to run Windows in a VM for a few corporate applications that won't run in Linux (according to some teammates who have tried).
  • I do a lot of work in Figma and haven't tried it at all in Linux, but I know for sure it needs GPU acceleration. It seems like I'd have to choose between the following:
    • just running in a browser window and (somehow) assigning the dGPU to that browser
    • the above, but using the unofficial Linux electron-based figma app
    • try running the Windows app in Linux
    • putting Linux on the iGPU and passing the dGPU through to a Windows VM for this
  • I also do a fair amount of local LLM work. I would prefer to do this in Linux with the dGPU, but again I could pass the dGPU through to a Windows VPN and then do it in WSL2 in Windows (which seems a little janky)
  • I don't want to dual-boot

Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on this? I haven't tried GPU-switching in Linux for a long time and had poor success in the past. Am I better off leaving both GPUs accessible in Linux, or passing one through for the Windows VM?

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[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I have an AMD 5900HS iGPU and a 3070M in my laptop. I've had no issues on Mint (with the auto-installed Optimus in the Nvidia Prime applet) or with PopOS. If you want to use passthrough, SR-IOV GPU sharing is not an option for AMD iGPUs IIRC, and I know it doesn't work for NVIDIA dGPUs, so you'd need to pass the whole dGPU through to the Windows VM to get hardware acceleration.

For Figma, I would say the unofficial Electron wrapper or the online version is likely your best bet in terms of reliability. If it's just using the browser mechanisms for hwaccel (no funky accessing windows resources behind the scenes) if you run Optimus in the "on-demand" mode the webpage should be able to access the dgpu for hardware acceleration just fine. Optimus is a lot better than it was a few years ago.

[–] will_a113@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Great info, thanks! That makes two mentions of Pop_OS so I guess I’ll give that a try first.

[–] minimalfootprint@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I can add an aspect when it comes to Lenovo laptops. PopOS automatically searches and offers updates for different firmware for my Thinkpad. Really neat feature I haven't seen in other distros to keep your device up to date.

[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thats via fwupd, thinkpads specifically get this because Lenovo officially supports Ubuntu on them. Other lenovo laptops don't get this!

[–] minimalfootprint@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago

TIL Thanks for the info/clarification