Two Things I Do After Installing Pop!_OS

Pop!_OS is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution made by System76. System76 is an American computer manufacturer based in Denver, Colorado, specializing in the sale of notebooks, desktops, and servers. The company supports free and open-source software, offering either Ubuntu or their own Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, as the pre-installed operating system.

By default, Pop!_OS uses GNOME as its desktop environment (DE), but like any other Linux distributions, you can install and switch to another DE of your choice.

Recently, I'm using Elementary OS and Pop!_OS back and forth to find a Linux distro that suites me the most. Both are good choices with different UI/UX flavors, and I like them both.

However, I found these two issues after installing Pop!_OS NVIDIA version on laptop.

1. Wifi suddenly disconnected & disappear with wifi adapter not found message or something like that.

2. Overheating! 🔥🔥🔥

These two issues actually are common problems with Linux distros, and usually there are workaround to fix the issues.

However, if you are a Linux beginner, these two issues are quite frustrating.

Wifi adapter not found

I don't have any idea what is actually causing this issue. At first, there is nothing wrong with the internet. I happily surf the internet and install some development tools using wifi.

But at a point, the wifi suddenly disconnected, and when I tried to reconnect, it's not there anymore. The system settings said that the wifi adapter is not found.

I've tried to reboot the system, restart the service, but nothing worked.

Finally, I connected my phone and connect the laptop to the internet via USB tethering, did a system upgrade with this command:

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Then I rebooted the system, and the wifi is back (plus I get the upgraded system).

Overheating 🔥🔥🔥

Pop!_OS provides two versions in the latest release: the common version (or whatever it is called), and the NVIDIA version with NVIDIA GPU drivers pre-installed. I'm using the latter version.

By default, the system is utilizing the NVIDIA GPU to serve the graphical user interface (GUI). While this GPU provides a better visual experience (but honestly, I do not spot any visual difference), it consumes more power and produce more heat, resulting in shorter battery lifespan and overheat problem.

Unfortunately, heat is one of the biggest enemy for electrical components, and my laptop battery was already long gone due to overheating problem.

To fix this issue, you can switch the graphic mode to use integrated GPU instead.

For your information, Pop!_OS provides four graphic modes:

1. Integrated; using the integrated GPU only, and turn off the discrete NVIDIA GPU.

2. NVIDIA; using the discrete NVIDIA GPU only, and turn off the integrated GPU.

3. Hybrid; using both integrated GPU and discrete NVIDIA GPU. Applications will use the integrated GPU unless explicitly requested to use the discrete GPU.

4. Compute; using the integrated GPU for all rendering. The NVIDIA GPU is left available, allowing it to be used as a compute node.

Since I do not need to use discrete GPU for my daily activities, I decided to switch the graphic mode to use integrated GPU and turn off the discrete GPU.

To check the current graphic mode, use this command:

$ sudo system76-power graphics

To switch to integrated graphic mode, use this command:

$ sudo system76-power graphics integrated

To switch to discrete NVIDIA GPU graphic mode, use this command:

$ sudo system76-power graphics nvidia

To switch to use hybrid graphic mode, use this command:

$ sudo system76-power graphics hybrid

To switch to use compute graphic mode, use this command:

$ sudo system76-power graphics compute

After you switch the graphic mode, be sure to reboot your computer to apply the changes.

And that's it, all my issues are fixed and ready for another day using Pop!_OS.