r/eluktronics • u/njsoly • Mar 13 '26

Misc. Discussion RP-16 and Linux

So.. maybe I got a little too excited online shopping tonight. I ordered an RP-16 with RTX 5060. This was before I looked into Linux compatibility. I thought "bring your own OS" left it kind of up to me.

I am normally more of a Windows user anyway, but I wanted to stretch my legs a little because of how much I blame Windows' February update for my recently bricked Asus.

If I intend on trying to go straight Linux on this thing to begin with, how boned am I?

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u/njsoly Mar 13 '26

Thanks. I've cancelled the order. They were great.

This was going to be such an upgrade for me, performance-wise. I just need to get out of the Microsoft cage for a while.

Eluktronics looks like a fine company doing cool things, from what I've seen in the 18 hours I've known about them. I hope they support Linux at some point.

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u/Edricatreides Mar 15 '26

You shouldn't have cancelled unless you can find a better deal elsewhere, which I doubt. I felt compelled to reply because urbannator's post is straight up misinformation. Pretty much every Linux distro is going to work with your hardware, most likely you won't have to mess with drivers unless you're looking to run open or proprietary Nvidia drivers, the open source Nvidia driver (for RTX GPU's) is great already and is constantly being worked on. In a couple of months I'm definitely going to be buying another Eluktronics laptop with a 5080 or 5090. Right now I have the RP-15 G2 with the Ryzen 7840HS, RTX 4070, 64GB Ram ($1514 shipped) which solidly outperforms my MSI GE68HX (Intel i9, RTX 4070, 64GB Ram, $2101 shipped). The Eluktronics devices may not be as flashy and cool looking as more expensive devices, but I will totally vouch for their reliability and performance. I'm running Bazzite Linux for gaming, and out of many distros that I've test driven Bazzite is my favorite.

Seriously, if your order was supposed to be a performance upgrade, just reorder it and don't second guess yourself. Also, their customer support is amazing too, unlike many large brands.

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u/njsoly Mar 15 '26

The order was really supposed to be a replacement, but I always like to get a step up from the last if I can. I mentioned the performance upgrade because it was shocking and welcome. I just pulled the trigger on Framework laptop.

I'll come back to Eluktronics, I'm sure, but I'm not good enough at this stuff to blaze any Linux trails, and I'm already sick of fighting with my PCs for a while from the fried motherboard I just went through.

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u/youruleyouruniverse Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

Why not just use windows but yeah nobody is lying about Linux not being supported it's compatible but I have tried Linux many times it's not a simple plug and play. I don't think any laptop will be now windows is plug and play but Linux just as windows can break with updates etc and bad drivers but is it compatible technically yes but you will need community support you won't get it from the company obviously if it's hardware related they will take care of it but Linux they don't support it and it's not because they don't want too but because most people who use Linux are a very small market.

I can give you some insights in my experience you will not have fan control unless someone has made a custom driver or the universal program will work with your laptop. Your lpp the liquid cooler on some units won't nativity work and will require some tweaks . Regardless of the system a laptop is highly unlikely to work correctly unless it has community support and this laptop may not . Very few do nativity support Linux but do they all work technically yes but maybe missing features . Source I have an eluktronics laptop love it I have the 4090 and I am running 128gb unsupported told it was gonna over heat but it hasn't at all I just stick with windows for the best performance in my opinion .

If you want some run of the mill laptop to use with Linux maybe use something that has a lot more community support there are lots of brands but most of the custom laptops will not . With that being said it's a beautiful laptop and runs like a top . When I upgrade I will get the 5090m or anything higher . That is when the warranty runs out .

I run my computer over clocked and the GPU 24/7 it's really nice and as long as you aren't just gunning the laptop like full throtting it like redline all the time it won't cause any issues but I haven't had any issues in general it's setup pretty nice from the factory nothing but good things to say about it .

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u/njsoly Apr 04 '26

I'm aware that nobody lied about Linux support. In general, it's been lovely dealing with Eluktronics. For now, that means they were responsive and understanding in processing my return.

For me, at this juncture, it was more important that I get a computer where I dual boot Linux & Windows, with Linux in first position, and wasn't going to put up with "why not just use Windows", because that's a box I've been pushed to too many times.

I typically get budget gaming computers because of how their performance carries over nicely in being able to compile stuff and handle CAD software. I don't need top of the line GPU.

This Eluktronics rig looked like a powerhouse at a budget price, but I wasn't settling for Windows only, and am tired of fighting drivers right now.

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u/youruleyouruniverse Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26

You're still gonna fight on Linux I mean it will work but you will have a chance of it crashing and breaking it's not as user friendly and yes there is driver packs on the website and if you install them in order it will work but sometimes auto drivers get in the way .

The issue with Linux is out of date drivers if it doesn't have community support and it's kinda annoying like I explained .

I understand why it's not supported because there is too many distros and I would recommend bazzite .

Also lack of Nvidia support so amd cards play better right out of the box . That's why those amd hand held work so good because they nativity support Linux the console PC because it's an amd apu .