Hey everyone, I wanted to give my feedback with Linux on a new CoPilot laptop.
I just got a new generation Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 Touch laptop (Model: i7445-7326BLU-PUS, SKU: 6576720). It has the new AMD 8840HS and is a new Windows CoPilot branded laptop (with key unfortunately).
I tried booting and logging into Windows once for the heck of it and here’s what happened. It wouldn’t let me log in without joining an internet network first. So I successfully give it my guest network credentials. It said connected and secured. Then I hit next, next, etc. and it restarts and then would update, still prior to me being able to login. However it restarts and says oops the internet had an issue and please reconnect WiFi. It sends me back to the WiFi credential page to login again but it auto connects as my credentials were correct. So I hit next and it gives me the same problem again.
I then say screw it and proceed to install Linux.
I proceed to install Fedora Kinoite 40 via USB and have absolutely zero issues. It works flawlessly with every feature including the fingerprint scanner and when flipping the laptop keyboard over into tablet mode it even auto disables the keyboard and touchpad but leaves the touchscreen working! The only thing that doesn’t seem to work is the CoPilot key. When pressed it doesn’t do anything. I tried assigning it as a shortcut key for Konsole where it registers as “Meta” and gets created as “Shift+Meta” but it doesn’t actually work still. I didn’t change a single thing in BIOS, Secure Boot is still enabled, and I don’t see any code displayed during boot or shutdown. Besides the CoPilot key being useless I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out and proved to be better than Windows yet again.
Edit: I played around some more with the CoPilot key. Like I said the shortcuts default to “Shift+Meta” if only pressing the CoPilot (Meta) key. That won’t launch anything. However if you add another key into the mix it will work. I created “Shift+K+Meta” to launch Kcalc and it worked, kinda. I may have to either press the combo multiple times or press and hold it for a few milliseconds longer than a normal key press and then it launches the program, but not once, it opens Kcalc multiple times all at once and the amount of times it opens seems random.
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Can you use the AI accelerator for ollama? That would be pretty useful.
I don’t know and I won’t be testing it. This computer is for my Dad and will be his first Linux experience so I can’t be running any experiments. It would be interesting to find out though
I read somewhere that the copilot key is a macro for “Left Shift + Windows key + F23” . See if shortcuts with this binding work
Not sure what that macro is for but I added more info on my post about the key. I hope it helps
This is a really useful writeup because it outlines a simpler installation. It seems like most people post when they have a very special or unique situation.
Did you try running xev and pressing the key to see if it shows up as something?
That’s not native to Kinoite and since the computer is for my Dad and it’ll be his first Linux experience I don’t want to be adding things with RPM-OSTree. I did add some more info on the key into my post. I hope that helps you
Ublue Aurora is based on Kinoite and has an app for that. You can layer it, layering really is no issue.
The big speed difference is between the first layer and the clean system. If you layer more packages doesnt matter that much.
If you don’t want to touch anything, you could boot from a live USB image and try it?
Huh, I thought that the initial run of Copilot systems were required to use a Qualcomm processor (with advanced NPU technology).
Fedora Kinoite is also my go to perfect Windows replacement.
KDE is like the Windows desktop but better, faster, more features, less bloat
The updates are stable like Windows updates but dont break, dont annoy, dont cause downtime and dont mess with your GRUB.
Consider switching to uBlue kinoite-main if you want to have proprietary codecs for videos in Firefox etc.
I’ll checkout the ublue stuff, thanks for the heads up. I started with Mint but agree with you, Kinoite is a perfect replacement. Very familiar UI, very modern, and all the stuff you said.
