StephenMyall
Member
I wanted to share my experience of PC Specialist and review my laptop as well as share how I resolved some of the challenges I faced as an experienced Linux user of 10 years.
The relevant specifications I purchased are listed below and I have been using it for 4 weeks at the time of writing.
My Laptop Specification
Background
My objective was to buy a high end laptop to replace my System76 Gazelle. As someone who lives in the EU it was just too expensive to justify buying another System76 (high shipping +import tax costs) so I turned to PCSpecialist. I carefully selected all the components that I knew were supported by the latest stable Linux kernel (4.2* at the time of writing) as my intention was to install ArchLinux (Manjaro/Antergos/Architect….it didn’t matter which one). I actually ended up with elementary OS but more on that later.
Firstly, the Defiance II is a beautifully well-crafted and built Laptop which uses the same casing the Oryx Pro (the latest offering from System76). I could not be happier with it and I have no issue recommending PC Specialist to any Linux user providing you understand installation is NOT straight forward and you may not get things all your own way.
Secondly, while it’s a pity PC Specialist openly DO NOT support Linux in any shape or form and you should ignore any “they do it to cover their backs or for legal reasons” comments on the Linux section of this forum. A Linux user buying from PCS should consider themselves “on their own”. I had plenty of pre-sales and post-sales correspondence with PCS technical support who tried their best but in the end it just wasn’t helpful. As I said before this is ok as they are setup to support Windows. I hope sharing my experience below will help you avoid some of the challenges I faced. I have a fully functioning Linux system now.
Installing Linux (important information)
Day 6 – Problem Solved (at least for me):yes:
I could have avoided all of the above pain if I read a blog post from elementary OS 5 days earlier. To cut a long story short elementary was the only distro I tried that worked straight out of the box. With the exception of Wireless and Bluetooth resolved with a quick kernel upgrade. As a fan and contributor to the elementary project in the past I am happy to have it as my daily driver again. Virtualization runs like a dream on the Defiance so I am able to scratch my Arch itch there.
This doesn’t resolve anything for anyone who wants to use another distro other than elementary or Ubuntu but I would like to know if someone is successful and understand if there was another approach I could have taken.
Good luck and I hope someone finds this review useful
Stephen Myall
fftopicS: If you are a new Arch Linux user check out my website: for useful tips
The relevant specifications I purchased are listed below and I have been using it for 4 weeks at the time of writing.
My Laptop Specification
- Model: Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS Widescreen
- CPU: Intel Core i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ
- RAM: 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM
- OS Drive: 128GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe
- Data Drive (/home) 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s
- Audio: Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
- Network: GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0, vPRO
Background
My objective was to buy a high end laptop to replace my System76 Gazelle. As someone who lives in the EU it was just too expensive to justify buying another System76 (high shipping +import tax costs) so I turned to PCSpecialist. I carefully selected all the components that I knew were supported by the latest stable Linux kernel (4.2* at the time of writing) as my intention was to install ArchLinux (Manjaro/Antergos/Architect….it didn’t matter which one). I actually ended up with elementary OS but more on that later.
Firstly, the Defiance II is a beautifully well-crafted and built Laptop which uses the same casing the Oryx Pro (the latest offering from System76). I could not be happier with it and I have no issue recommending PC Specialist to any Linux user providing you understand installation is NOT straight forward and you may not get things all your own way.
Secondly, while it’s a pity PC Specialist openly DO NOT support Linux in any shape or form and you should ignore any “they do it to cover their backs or for legal reasons” comments on the Linux section of this forum. A Linux user buying from PCS should consider themselves “on their own”. I had plenty of pre-sales and post-sales correspondence with PCS technical support who tried their best but in the end it just wasn’t helpful. As I said before this is ok as they are setup to support Windows. I hope sharing my experience below will help you avoid some of the challenges I faced. I have a fully functioning Linux system now.
Installing Linux (important information)
- My intent was to install /efi boot, root and swap on my NVMe drive and partition the I TB Samsung EVO 850 drive as /home.
- When I first booted my laptop it was in UEFI mode and although I shared with PCS at the time of ordering I intended to install Linux it was actually partitioned for Windows. In fact first boot prompted me to enter my Microsoft credentials. Note: You can specify partition requirements at the time of ordering which I did not do.
- I created USB installation disks for Arch, Architect Linux, Manjaro.net 5.12, Fedora 23. OpenSuse and Ubuntu 15.10 and while they booted to their respective logos they subsequently stalled. As all installers use Nouveau drivers I suspected the NVMe hardrive was the issue.
Note: Manjaro is the only distro that offered installation with Non-free “proprietary” drivers but it stalled when attempting to download them. - I went into the BIOS and made the ITB drive the primary boot and I attempted to install all of the above by bypassing the NVMe. All failed again
- I then downloaded the GParted ISO burned it to USB. This booted however would only run in “SAFE” mode. It couldn’t see the NVMe drive but at least I was able to remove the Windows partitions and set up Linux partitioning on the 1TB.
- Ubuntu 15.10 was now able to install on the 1TB drive but I didn’t want Ubuntu. Once installed I used the g-parted application on the live CD to partition the NVME the way I wanted.
- I returned to BIOS made NVME my primary drive again but still I couldn’t install the distros I wanted. That said Ubuntu was installed on the NVMe and my 1TB drive was partition as /home (Correct physical setup - wrong distro, my frustration is now building as it was now day 5 after receiving my laptop).:taz:
Day 6 – Problem Solved (at least for me):yes:
I could have avoided all of the above pain if I read a blog post from elementary OS 5 days earlier. To cut a long story short elementary was the only distro I tried that worked straight out of the box. With the exception of Wireless and Bluetooth resolved with a quick kernel upgrade. As a fan and contributor to the elementary project in the past I am happy to have it as my daily driver again. Virtualization runs like a dream on the Defiance so I am able to scratch my Arch itch there.
This doesn’t resolve anything for anyone who wants to use another distro other than elementary or Ubuntu but I would like to know if someone is successful and understand if there was another approach I could have taken.
Good luck and I hope someone finds this review useful
Stephen Myall
fftopicS: If you are a new Arch Linux user check out my website: for useful tips
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