Putting Linux on my RTX Spark laptop because I don't have a Microsoft account(josie.lol)
279 points by pfeifferj 6 days ago | 140 comments
tl;dr: An Arch Linux maintainer got Arch Linux ARM running on an ASUS ProArt P16 with NVIDIA's N1X chip (128GB RAM, 6144 CUDA cores), publishing build scripts, patches, and installer extensions to handle the kernel, ACPI overrides, hid-asus, and audio. 7-Zip benchmarks match or slightly beat equivalent Windows setups, and Linux exposes the full 116 GiB as a unified pool to both CPU and CUDA—avoiding Windows' fixed GPU reservation split. Running Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-FP4 via vLLM, the laptop sustained ~30 tokens/s generation and handled 150 consecutive requests without degradation.
HN Discussion:
  • ↓Cheaper alternatives like AMD Ryzen mini PCs offer similar capabilities, questioning the laptop's value
  • ↑Microsoft's forced account login and poor UX justifies escaping to Linux
  • ↓Windows account requirement can be bypassed with autounattend.xml, making Linux switch unnecessary
  • ↓No clear value in this effort since NVIDIA DGX OS and OEM Linux options already exist
  • ↓The reported 30 tok/s performance is underwhelming compared to cheaper GPU setups