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Debian Linux on the GM501GS

bladdidoo
Level 7
Hi!
I'm considering buying the gm501gs as a portable development machine, since the CPU cooling seems nice. (And some 3d modeling and sculpting in blender sincd the GPU qlso seems nice 🙂 )

Does anyone have any experience with this machine and linux?
Does optimus work properly (bumblebee?), any quirks I will have to live with?
Is it possible to undervolt and keep the cooling as silent as a zenbook during less demanding workloads?

Thaks for any information and tips I can get.
I will most likely buy it and then post about my experience afterwards.
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1 REPLY 1

madhacker3kxl
Level 9
bladdidoo wrote:
Hi!
I'm considering buying the gm501gs as a portable development machine, since the CPU cooling seems nice. (And some 3d modeling and sculpting in blender sincd the GPU qlso seems nice 🙂 )

Does anyone have any experience with this machine and linux?
Does optimus work properly (bumblebee?), any quirks I will have to live with?
Is it possible to undervolt and keep the cooling as silent as a zenbook during less demanding workloads?

Thaks for any information and tips I can get.
I will most likely buy it and then post about my experience afterwards.


I have tried linux for a little bit on the computer. It worked well mostly. You will have to use Windows initially to enable Optimus mode (my laptop came with discrete mode only). I had flickering issue in Linux and windows using Intel Graphics. The laptop is pretty silent for normal web browsing and such. CPU is rated for 45W TDP, it will never get as quiet as a zenbook.

I tested stuff below using Debian 9 base image. Ubuntu with non-free settings may give better results.

Wifi: Works
Graphics: Intel and nvidia works fine other than flickering with Intel
Sound: Works
Webcam: Works
Headphone jack: didnt check
Thunderbolt: didnt have dock at that time
Hotkeys: some didnt work too well. Don't remember which.

lspci and lsmod showed few things that kernel didnt have support for.

Only quirk I found is that in optimus mode you can lower screen brightness more than in discrete mode.