Birthday gift for me [System 76 Darter Pro]

[MurphCID]

Off to System 76. So they should take care of me and hopefully get it back soon. I have transitioned to the little Mac for my downstairs "sitting on my butt, watching TV" laptop which is where the Darter Pro was located.

[MurphCID]

They are apparently doing a refresh on the Darter Pro since it is no longer listed for sale right now, and has a notify option. I wonder if it is going to get a bigger battery?

[MurphCID]

They have it, and it should be shipped back to me in a couple of days. Laptop withdrawal symptoms here.

[MurphCID]

I was just notified that it is on its way back and I should have it Saturday. I am impressed.

[MurphCID]

Got it back, and am sending it right back. The #2 and the spacebar no longer work. I have to use the numpad to get #2, and really slam on the spacebar to get it to work. Also the USB-A port on the right side of the laptop works intermittently, and the rubber plug which was in the SD Card slot is missing. #disappointed.

[MurphCID]

Back, repaired, and for some reason I do not have to have their PPAs installed to use they keyboard lights now. WiFi works great. So I am going to see how it works.

[antikythera]

Hopefully they gave it to someone with a shred of common sense and duty of care to repair this time instead of some chump rushing it.

[MurphCID]

Hopefully they gave it to someone with a shred of common sense and duty of care to repair this time instead of some chump rushing it.

It seems fine, came back clean, and the plug was present in the sad card slot.

[MurphCID]

They replaced the keyboard, and the LCD panel film since it had a smudge. And boy did they pack it to be dust free! It took me longer to get it out of the packaging than it did to get it up and running with Mint 20 installed (not really, but close).

[MurphCID]

User note: I get 98% functionality with the 5.8 kernel. I even have keyboard lights now! No System 76 PPAs installed, AND I did the same to the Lemur Pro, and things are working ok. Some small glitches, but nothing that really makes me want to toss the laptop out the window.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Hopefully they gave it to someone with a shred of common sense and duty of care to repair this time instead of some chump rushing it.

It seems fine, came back clean, and the plug was present in the sad card slot.

"Sad" card slot? Was that a typo? Whether it was or not, it's still funny.

[MurphCID]

Hopefully they gave it to someone with a shred of common sense and duty of care to repair this time instead of some chump rushing it.

It seems fine, came back clean, and the plug was present in the sad card slot.

"Sad" card slot? Was that a typo? Whether it was or not, it's still funny.

Sorry SSD, having a senior moment......

[Lady Fitzgerald]

It seems fine, came back clean, and the plug was present in the sad card slot.

"Sad" card slot? Was that a typo? Whether it was or not, it's still funny.

Sorry SSD, having a senior moment......

Oh, you're going to so hate me. You mean SSD or SD card slot?

As far as senior moments go, welcome to the club. Sometimes, I think I invented them before developing them to an art form.

[MurphCID]

"Sad" card slot? Was that a typo? Whether it was or not, it's still funny.

Sorry SSD, having a senior moment......

Oh, you're going to so hate me. You mean SSD or SD card slot?

As far as senior moments go, welcome to the club. Sometimes, I think I invented them before developing them to an art form.

Oh crap, SD card slot, *sigh* That is what I get for posting on the iPad, and watching TV at the same time.....

[MurphCID]

Battery life is still "meh", but overall it is decent. Mint 20 works great, no issues especially with the 5.8 kernel.

[MurphCID]

I just found out that the charger for the Lemur Pro and Darter pro can be used on either laptop according to the System 76 folks since both are 65 watt chargers.

[MurphCID]

No longer available on the System 76 website. Not even shown, so that tells me either there is a major refresh, or they are going to get rid of it completely, and come up with something else. It is merely meh, not great, not terrible, but just meh.

[MurphCID]

Because it is just meh, I have decided that the Darter Pro is going to be my distro testing machine. No virtual boxes here, I will install on bare metal. What should i try next? LMDE 4? Arch? Manjaro? Mageia? Fedora?

[MurphCID]

No suggestions? I have found that it HAS to have the ability to update to Kernel 5.8 or later to run best on the System 76 hardware. What do you all think about MX Linux?

[antikythera]

Try MX out for yourself and see if you like it, I wasn't keen personally.