Hello, are Chuwi laptops compatible with Linux ? Anyone using a linux distribution on a Chuwi Laptop ? Thank you !
Linux currently is DIY for Chuwi Products. If you know Linux then you can install it yourself but there is no official support from Chuwi for Linux.
Hopefully they might have it if enough Users request them to build a Linux Machine.
And I am the first one to be in Line
I am always available on the forum if any user need any support with Linux which I am comfortable with, Like Manjaro Linux or Arch Linux Also good knowledge with Grub, bootloaders and 32/64bit bootloader.
If you already have a Chuwi device then you can try running Live Linux OS through a USB Stick and see how well it works.
Also… Welcome to the forum.
Thank you @spikerguy for your fast answer and your welcome, I am used with Debian OS… and I don’t have yet a Chuwi device so I was curious about hardware and linux compatibility. I am used not having official support, but an important community is still important if they use exotic hardware
No, there is no compatibility if not “by chance” and Linux is not even DIY: Chuwi actually discourages trying Linux on its machines, saying that you may damage them. There is no support for end users, nor for developers of Linux subsystems asking for specs or technical data to develop drivers. So if Linux is not working with some peripheral now (sound, camera, etc) it is not likely that drivers will arrive at a later time.
A further complication for Linux users is that on Chuwi hardware the same model name is often used for quite different hardware variations. For instance, there are at least two versions of the Hi10X convertible tablet, one with an ES8336 sound codec and the other with a Realtek one. The second one has sound working in Linux, the first one doesn’t. This means that you cannot really trust others telling you “this model works in Linux” because they might have a variant different from yours. Probably there is a way to distinguish in between the variants from the S/N, but I have never seen compatibility reports indicating specific S/Ns, series or anything like that.
Finally, some hardware choices would not be ideal for Linux anyway. For instance, the Hi10X convertible tablet has a touchpad controlled by a keyboard/touchpad combo controller that converts gestures into keyboard strokes directly, rather than reporting the gestures to the OS or some driver for recognition. Because these key strokes are hardwired to sequences specific to Windows, the overall experience will not be very satisfactory in Linux.
Please let me be clear: all this does not mean that there are issues in Chuwi’s hardware. Conversely, as long as you use it as intended with the provided OS and drivers it will most likely be good value. However, buying a device of this brand with the explicit intent of converting it into a Linux machine (as I did, based on poor feedback from other users and the not 1:1 model to hardware relationship) is by no means a good idea, at least as of today.