Linux advice for new PC

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bc5

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Dec 5, 2012
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Hello!

I run Linux at home (Mint 17 with Xfce) and I'm about to start a new job in a general support role for a tech services company (hosting etc). They're buying me a new Dell XPS and say I can install Linux on it if I want to (and I want to!). I have a couple of questions though.

Firstly, I've heard that the 4.5 kernel doesn't work well with Skylake CPUs. Mint 18 would only give me 4.4 anyway. If I updated the kernel to 4.6 could I then expect decent Skylake compatibility? And what is the likelihood that the kernel update would screw up other things?

Secondly, 1080p on a laptop screen is going to cause some major eye strain at 100% scaling, so what's the best desktop for high-DPI scaling? Of the main desktops, are there any that are rough around the edges when it comes to scaling?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.
 
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I've read contrary, I saw that kernel 4.4 fixes these problems. See if you can get the Dell XPS Developer Edition. I talked to Dell support and they say the Developer Edition comes with Intel wireless and the standard XPS comes with Broadcom (evil). Broadcom still works but it's a proprietary binary, Intel is open source. I think KDE plasma 5 and GNOME 3 have good scaling. Found KDE to be better in my experience. Just go settings -> Font and click the force high-dpi and click apply and you can play with numbers that bets suits your needs. You should give Kubuntu 16.04 a shot or better yet, look into KDE Neon User edition (running that on both my computers now)
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cah8429

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Feb 27, 2013
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I've read contrary, I saw that kernel 4.4 fixes these problems. See if you can get the Dell XPS Developer Edition. I talked to Dell support and they say the Developer Edition comes with Intel wireless and the standard XPS comes with Broadcom (evil). Broadcom still works but it's a proprietary binary, Intel is open source. I think KDE plasma 5 and GNOME 3 have good scaling. Found KDE to be better in my experience. Just go settings -> Font and click the force high-dpi and click apply and you can play with numbers that bets suits your needs. You should give Kubuntu 16.04 a shot or better yet, look into KDE Neon User edition (running that on both my computers now)
 
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