I just try Ubuntu Mate 18.04 on my HP Spectre x360 13" (i5-8250/1080p) everything’s fine except.
It can’t automaticly rotate screen when fold or on tablet mode. (when try to rotate screen manually via “Display Menu” the touch screen is way off.)
Can’t seem to get webcam to work (Try it on “Cheese” it said “No device found”)
Don’t know if the finger print sensor is working or not? (Is there anyway to check? / Is it good for any use in Linux at the moment?)
Any suggestion?
Before messing around maybe you should make a restore point in Backups so, if things go south, you can always restore the previous state of the pc.
Have you tested with guvcview? (sudo apt install guvcview)
Strangely I cannot get Cheese to work in my pc (camera issues) in 18.04 but with guvcview all is fine.
Check if this works:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/03/how-to-get-your-fingerprint-reader-working-in-ubuntu
It has a package for bionic so probably is up to date.
Generally how do you like using using Ubuntu Mate in your Spectre? Have you tested the battery life?
Have you tested running Windows inside Virtualbox? If so, how does it handle something like Bluestacks? Is it usable?
Btw here you can get free Windows virtual machines from Microsoft itself and 100% legal and usable:
I’ve had my eyes on the Spectre x360 13 for some time now and in the near future I’ll try to buy one, so this info would be very welcome!
Thank you for your kind and quick reply “pemartins”
What I really need is the web cam. I don’t have many use for the fingerprint reader especially in Linux at this moment. ^^"
Right now I have to switch back to Windows 10 for the moment. (just for the web cam alone) It crashed like dozen of times withing a week period, which never happen to me when I’m on Linux (Ubuntu Mate / Xubuntu / Linux Mint) I’d like to return to Linux soon, once I figure out how to get the web cam to work on my Spectre.
I haven’t tried Windows virtual machines on Linux before. If I have other choice I wouldn’t pick Windows ever. I can find everything I need else where beside Windows nowadays.
As for battery life / I figured it’s about 1 hr. shorter on any Linux compare to Windows 10, It’s not a deal breaker for me.
I’ve never try Bluestacks before. (Sorry can’t help you with this one.)
So far I’m very happy with the HP Spectre X360 13T very much a very beautiful laptop. It’d be much better if HP decide to support the driver for Linux officially.
I just try “guvcview” it’s work.
I’m glad it works, I believe Cheese needs an update to work properly in Ubuntu 18.04. So the webcam is working in Ubuntu MATE then?
Thank you so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it! I checked a lot (really a lot!) of convertible laptops and the Spectre x360 13 was for sure the right (and beautiful) sock that suited my foot perfectly. The only thing I couldn’t figure out yet was how it would function with my favorite OS which is Ubuntu MATE. Until now of course.
The battery life seems totally acceptable, I was kind of afraid you would report that it was about half of Windows’ or something alike. By the way, do you have TLP installed?
I do not use Windows at all, I once made the ‘mistake’ of reading Microsoft’s user terms and privacy policies and, after the panic I was in while reading those atrocities, I rushed looking for alternatives and never looked back.
I’ve not install TLP yet. I’ll look in to it, and may be try it out. Thanks.
Right now I’m on Xubuntu 18.04 for change (try things out.) I get around 6-7 hours of use. (browsing web + Youtube) I got something similar when I was on Mate as well.
Just to update for all the problems I have… (It’s the same results on both Ubuntu Mate 18.04 and Xubuntu 18.04)
Webcam : I can get it to work on “guvcview” only.
On “Cheese” it said “No device found”
And on “Skype” it let me choose between “HP Wide Vision FHD Camera: HP I” and “HP Wide Vision FHD Camera: HP W” neither of these work.
I’ve tried AutoRoateScreen script, but don’t know how to set it up properly yet. Will try it some more soon.
I’ve tried to manually rotate the screen on “Display” setting it worked but both mouse and touchscreen were way off. It’s unusable.
I can only flip it to “Stand mode” / “Tent mode” or “Tablet mode” are out of the question for now.
I’ve tried “Fingerprint GUI” It installed just fine, but it shows “No device found” just like the webcam.
beside all these problems I love it way more than when I’m on Windows 10.
I think I’ll stay on Xubuntu for a while to try it out and may be switch it back to Mate later. / I’ll have to find the way to get the webcam to work. (or buy myself an external webcam) My work require me to make a video call on Skype / Whatsapp / WeChat quit a lot. I can only make a voice call at the moment. Which is not ideal, but it has to be for now.
If anything change I’ll let you know.
Thanks again for your reply.
To update you on battery life of the HP Spectre x360 13t
from 100% brightness running mostly web browser (Firefox and Opera) / watching Youtube / email / video call
I got around 7-8 hrs on Windows 10 Home (that came with Laptop)
I got around 6-7 hrs on Ubuntu Mate 18.04 (64 bit) - about the same with Xubuntu 18.04 (64 bit)
last night I try running on 30% brightness with the same tasks / mostly watching Youtube on loop with 80% speaker volume.
hope this help.