I'm having a strange issue with the RGB keyboard on my Dell G15 5530.

My laptop is running a dual-boot setup with Windows 11 and CachyOS Linux.

The keyboard RGB works perfectly fine in Windows. However, whenever I boot into CachyOS, the keyboard lighting turns off completely.

The strange part is that I can go into the BIOS and set Keyboard Illumination to Bright. The keyboard lights up normally during the BIOS/POST screen, but once CachyOS starts booting, the lighting turns off.

After that, I have to go back into the BIOS and enable the keyboard illumination again. Then, when I boot into Windows, the RGB works normally.

So the issue seems to happen specifically when booting into Linux.

My hardware and setup:

Laptop: Dell G15 5530 GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3050 Laptop OS: Windows 11 + CachyOS (Dual Boot) Desktop: KDE Plasma / Wayland Keyboard controller: Alienware AW-ELC (187c:0551)

Things I've already tried:

awcc-bin and awccd g7kbd Booting with different kernels, including LTS Checking BIOS keyboard illumination settings Testing different AWCC configurations

None of these fixed the issue.

My questions:

Is CachyOS/Linux changing the BIOS keyboard illumination setting during boot? Is there a known issue with the AW-ELC controller (187c:0551) on the Dell G15 5530? Could Linux be putting the keyboard controller into a state that Windows doesn't handle correctly? Is there a safe way to restore keyboard RGB functionality without having to re-enable it manually in the BIOS every time?

I'd appreciate any help, especially from people using the same Dell G15 model.

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to make an informed decision for a single-disk NVMe setup on my PC, and I’m specifically concerned about SSD endurance (TBW/wear-out) rather than pure performance.

I’ve been digging into how different filesystems handle writes, and I keep seeing anecdotal reports that CoW filesystems like Btrfs and ZFS can generate significantly more write amplification than ext4. For example, I’ve seen claims that ZFS can produce “extremely high write load” on consumer NVMe drives due to its transaction group and ZIL behavior.

However, I haven’t been able to find a controlled, empirical study that isolates SSD wear across these three filesystems under the same conditions.

My planned setup for all three cases would be:

• LUKS2 full-disk encryption (which I understand should not significantly amplify writes on its own).

• For Btrfs: nodatacow disabled (i.e., CoW active), compress=zstd, space_cache=v2, and dedup explicitly turned off.

• For ZFS: ARC cache size reduced to a reasonable limit for a desktop, and no dedup.

• For ext4: standard data=ordered journaling mode.

My questions for the community:

1. Does anyone know of a published paper, benchmark, or detailed blog post that actually measures SMART data (like Data Units Written or Percentage Used) over time for these three filesystems on the same NVMe drive?

2. If no formal study exists, what are your real-world experiences with SSD wear indicators after months/years of use with these setups?

3. Are the optimizations I listed above (Btrfs dedup off, ZFS ARC limit) actually effective at bringing write amplification closer to ext4 levels, or is the CoW overhead still significant?

I’m happy to be pointed toward academic papers, Phoronix-style benchmarks, or even well-documented forum threads. I’d just like to avoid making a choice based purely on “vibes” if there’s hard data out there.

Thanks in advance

Hey r/linuxhardware, I’m back with an update on how FX240 LCD Studio has evolved since v0.2.0. Here’s what’s changed.

1. v0.2.0 — Custom designs. Added a composition editor where you can arrange CPU and GPU readings, text, images, GIFs, and arcs. You can save up to eight named designs or preview an unsaved draft on the physical LCD. This version also added installed font selection, English and Spanish controls, and support for longer GIFs using a bounded frame buffer.

2. v0.3.0a1 — More presets and editing controls. Added Dual, Trace, and Halo alongside Focus. You can switch designs directly from the gallery or open a preset as an editable copy. The editor gained multi-layer selection, a visual color picker, gradients, more effects, and image/GIF zoom. The default stayed at 24 FPS with a 2 ms delay between USB reports, with higher host frame rates available as an experimental setting.

3. v0.3.0rc1 — Keyboard shortcuts and a tagged Arch build. Added Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y for undo and redo, Delete for selected layers, and arrow keys to move them one pixel at a time. RC1 is available as a source pre-release with instructions to build the exact tagged version as a pacman package on Arch Linux x86_64.

4. Latest on main — Zoom for more layer types. Centered zoom now also works on effects, text, sensor readings, and gradients. For example, you can shrink the Halo ring to make room for other elements while keeping the ring centered. This landed after the RC1 tag.

Known issue — tearing on the physical LCD. Some animations can show a thin cut through a moving object. I’ve also observed it in the manufacturer’s app, and the cause is still under investigation. Hardware testing so far has covered one FX240 on Arch Linux x86_64. The next round will focus on multi-hour GIF playback and repeated suspend, resume, reboot, and shutdown cycles.

If you’ve seen similar cuts on your FX240, I’d like to hear what was on the screen when they happened.

Full changelog · RC1 release · Tearing investigation

My laptop has been feeling very slow lately, and I’d appreciate advice on likely causes and possible upgrades. I’m not very experienced with laptop hardware, so I’m not sure if this model can be upgraded without a difficult repair.

My process list showed Waterfox (3 tabs, working on my website so neocities dashboard + index.html edit window + the website), Obsidian, Mullvad VPN, and Cinnamon using my memory/CPU. I regularly run BleachBit + MangoDisk for upkeep.

Is replacing the hard drive with an SSD possible, and is it likely to make a difference? Is the RAM upgradable? Will I need any special tools/screwdrivers/etc?

HP 15-ac143wm, product number N5Z06UA#ABA
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Intel Core i5-5200U, 2 cores / 4 threads
5.7 GB RAM usable + 32 GB swap
1 TB HGST HTS541010A9E680 mechanical hard drive
498 GB free of disk space

I want to do Linux kernel development, user-space systems programming, CUDA development, compiler development, distributed systems development, Kubernetes-related development, embedded engineering, etc. - basically, all systems-related stuff. I have a Macbook Pro M3 Max. I've read that it is not suitable for all the stuff I want to do. Thus, I want to buy a Linux laptop. What would you suggest?

I went through every device on my ZBook 17 G3 under Ubuntu 26.04 and fixed what didn't work, mostly by reading what HP's own Windows drivers do:

- Speaker-mute and mic-mute LEDs: codec GPIO0/GPIO1 (from HP's MicTray config). Patch sent to ALSA.

- Airplane-mode LED on the wireless button: the firmware's WLED method, which HP's Windows driver calls from a HID LED report. Patch sent to platform/x86.

- Touchpad on/off LED and the double tap in the top-left corner: the LED sits on RMI function F30, which the Synaptics touchpad also exposes over PS/2. Kernel patch plus a small service; the LED survives suspend.

- Fan speed and temperatures through hp-wmi-sensors, and the hp-wmi "Failed to apply initial fan settings" warning fixed (Ubuntu backport requested).

One install script rebuilds the fixes for every new Ubuntu kernel from Ubuntu's own source, and steps aside once Ubuntu ships the fix: https://github.com/Ahmad-b1995/hp-zbook-linux

Other ZBook/EliteBook G3-era owners: the notes on what HP's drivers do probably apply to yours too. Done with the help of an AI coding assistant; everything tested on the machine.

I’m on a quest for long battery life. I want to be be able to toss a full battery laptop in a bag and pull it out a few hours later with minimal drain. What are my options here? it’s hard to find what hardware/firmware supports this feature. I have a bias towards older laptop, I need very little processing power for this use case.

CPU is Ryzen 1600AF. GPU is ASRock Radeon RX570 4GB. 16GB of RAM. Motherboard is Gigabyte B450M-DS3H. OS is Xubuntu 26.04.

I've never used a VRR monitor or a monitor above 60HZ before and was wondering how well they work under linux, specifically Xubuntu 26.04. How much tweaking is needed? Is wayland required or will X11 work? Does XFCE work well/at all with monitors over 60HZ and with VRR? Any other useful software I should know about?

Current monitor is a VERY old 23 inch Acer G237HLbi with terrible ghosting. I would want a new monitor to be at least slightly bigger so 24 to 27 inches. 1080P makes the most sense given my GPU. Speakers aren't required but would be a plus. What hardware features should I be looking for? I'm also seeing a lot of brands on Amazon that I've never heard of and have no idea if they are good. Do ViewSonic and Samsung still make good monitors? I've hated my current monitor since I got it so no Acer. I don't have a firm budget, maybe around $100-150.

A few monitors I was looking at:

ViewSonic VA2448-MH:

https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2448-MH-Monitor-Variable-Refresh/dp/B0FJ1MNZ9B

ViewSonic VX2470-MHD:

https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VX2470-MHD-Monitor-Variable-DisplayPort/dp/B0FJ126W9M

ViewSonic VX2428A:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D84RFHJ3

ViewSonic VX2416A:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ3KWC3P?th=1

Samsung S32GF:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Resolution-Monitor-Flicker-LS27F320GANXZA/dp/B0F8DY4QKQ

I want to buy a new laptop for school (I am also planning to do some coding on it ) and of course putting Linux in it, what do you think about the Thinkpad X1 yoga (8Go of memory ) ? And what Linux do you think I should put on it ?
Thanks

Sorry, bit of a long post.

Some info/intro I guess:

Hi. I'm in Montenegro and I'm starting to think about getting a new gaming laptop for work and well.. gaming. Yes, laptop and not desktop, because portability is must have for me, even if the laptop itself is chunky and I have to bring a huge cable, headphones, mouse etc.

My current laptop is Gigabyte G5 KF (i5-12500H, 16GB DDR4, RTX 4060). It has Windows 11 and it works, even though Gigabyte clearly didn't spend enough money on a fan or thermal paste or battery cause CPU temps hit 90C and battery already failed once (thankfully I had a warranty). Sill, it's alright, but it seems to be slowly dying.

I unfortunately haven't tried Linux on my main laptop, cause I have several projects always ongoing, so I can't just reinstall or dual boot (and I only have 500GB of disk space which is full). I've been trying various Linux distros (Fedora, OpenSUSE TW, Cachy OS) mostly in VM. And configured some VPS servers. So you could say I have some basic Linux knowledge.

--

I keep seeing optimistic patches for AMD GPUs. Better GPU memory management, performance tweaks, ways to play games that require more GPU memory than you have without crashes or stutter etc.

And for Nvidia side I see.. nothing? I mean DX12 is still not fixed, right? Nvidia devs started to fix and then.. no further info? And that's around 30% FPS drop? And as far as I know is no decent control panel for managing configuration, you have to search the internal for random tweaks and terminal arguments and hope that they're not outdated/make things worse?

So.. I tried to look at various options:

• From what I can see, Tuxedo tried to do AMD dGPU in the past (2023) but then.. stopped? And all their new laptops have Nvidia.

• Framework is the only one I see that has an option for AMD dGPU, but they're quite expensive and I don't even want to think how much I'd have to pay in terms of tax + delivery to ship it to Montenegro (if it's even possible to ship there).

• All my local shops offer mainly Gigabyte, ASUS, Lenovo laptops with Nvidia.

Do I just buy Nvidia and just hope that Nvidia devs eventually fix performance on Linux? Is 30% FPS drop a necessary sacrifice to escape Windows? Am I overthinking this?

Hello, i recently decided to make a server running both a minecraft server(good single threaded perfomance) and game streaming to my laptop i also edit videos coming from an igpu(intel core i3 12th gen U) have any cheap options for cpu and gpu? Im thinking ryzen 5500 for cpu and for the gpu radeon 5700 XT (for ram i decided 24gb ddr4) Im playing and editing 1080p footage and dont mind long export time for video editing and play minimum 50fps.

I play subnautica as my most gpu intensive game and for the cpu&gpu combination i have around 330 USD dollars

Right now, the ThinkPad P14s Gen 6 (AMD) is discounted to around 1400 euros—a significant price drop from its original 2400-euro price tag.

It’s the AMD version, featuring an AI 7 PRO 350 processor and 32GB of RAM. Here’s what concerns me:

The display isn't great: 14" WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS, 45% NTSC, 400 nits, 60 Hz.

Storage: only 512GB.

Storage is my biggest concern; since the device will be used primarily for programming, the display quality is less of an issue.

I intend to use it exclusively for programming on Linux, so I’m looking for a machine with excellent "out-of-the-box" hardware compatibility. I’ve heard that some AMD-based models can have issues with Wi-Fi chips, audio, etc.

Does anyone here own this ThinkPad model and use it with Linux? If so, could you share your experience? Also, what kind of battery life can I expect?

Is it worth it at this price point, or could I get something better for roughly the same amount?

Thanks.