Hello. I am trying to install Zorin 16.3 Lite on a brand new laptop. The touchpad and keyboard work fine when going through the BIOS options but when the Live USB starts and the live OS GUI appears, they stop working. I tried the same USB stick in another laptop and it works fine, so this happens only with the new one.
I plugged an USB mouse and it works. I do not have at this moment an USB keyboard but if I plugged one, it would probably work. But I fear that if I completed the installation with external input devices, the built-in touchpad and keyboard would still not work after the installation.
The new laptop is a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim. Ryzen 5 7520U. It comes with Windows 11 but I want to wipe everything and install only Zorin (no dual boot).
Please help me. I do not know what to do. Thank you.
The keyboard and touchpad on this machine will also likely not work on Ubuntu 22.04 with the 6+ kernel, either.
It gets even better.
Lenovo... has shipped these notebooks to buyers with Linux PreInstalled...
And the keyboard and touchpad were not working.
Lenovo's response: "We do not offer support for Linux Troubleshooting."
Ok, so I am definitely asking for a refund. The store has a policy if the customer is not happy with the product. What about an Asus Vivobook 16 (Intel i5-1235U)? Does it work well with Linux?
Thanks for the suggestions, but I think I am not going to touch this new laptop until I return it to the store. Regarding the Linux based machines: I need a new laptop soon and the machine I can get earlier is the Asus Vivobook 16 (Intel i5-1235U). Do you have experience with Asus laptops? Do they run Zorin nicely? The computers offered by Zorin looks great but the problem is that I live in Chile and it will take long to have one of these.
Clearly, I am strongly in support of GnuLinux as a whole. I often point out how well it works and where it works. The benefits and the User Control. This does not mean I am blind to its faults.
I have seen several issues posted on the forum lately dealing with Asus Vivobook. Not 16... There was a 15 and a 14, I believe... Does that mean that Linux is likely to not work? Or does it mean that of all the users of Asus Vivobook, only two people had an issue?
I wish I knew. But I have no idea. Is that statistically negligible or statistically relevant? I have no idea how many Asus Vivobook users are Zorin OS 16 users.
And to have you return one, wait on another to ship ; have it arrive and not work... That doesn't sit well with me.
Sometimes... you are climbing a mountain and on the way up to the summit, you come across this little valley up on the mountain. This little depression. It feels like we are in one of those now. Where the Computer Makers, competing with each other for a marketing edge, are putting forth their newest and their shiniest...
Midway through LTS releases.
-sigh-
I have seen a lot of Asus TUF Gaming users on here having a lot of success. Same with ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14.
Dell Inspiron and XPS both seem well supported.
Before you give up, perhaps try a different distribution with a newer kernel.
MX Linux has a series 6 kernel and so does Tuxedo OS. Q4OS, Neptune OS, and other Debian 12 based distributions are using the 6.1 kernel. Also, Manjaro or other distributions will have a newer kernel and lets not forget Fedora. Finally, I think all the Ubuntu flavors are carrying much newer kernels in both their respective LTS versions or the interim releases.
I like the simplicity of Zorin and thankfully for me, my hardware is recognized. But in the past I had issues with newer hardware and for me at the time, the distributions that worked were Manjaro and an interim release of Ubuntu 19.10.
All too often Linux Mint too has this issue as it starts to get older - that is why they will release their "Edge" version sometime between now and December in order to have better compatibility with some of the newer hardware out there. They are currently using the same kernel as Ubuntu's 22.04 LTS.
My experience has been great with both an Asus and Acer laptop.
Currently running an Asus Tuf Gaming A17 with Zorin 16.3 and KDE Plasma laptop.
Look at the specifications, list of hardware included and search the web for known issues or support in Ubuntu 20 (Zorin 16 base). This will give you a better idea of whether the hardware is supported or if you will have to perform workarounds, as well as what they are.