Edit: I settled on Solus with KDE5. Thanks everyone for the comments!
I think it's time to nuke this installation, but for real this time.
I thought that I completely nuked every autoupdater, but I was so wrong. It turns out that a service named osrss was the culprit of the random small updates, which seems to have installed an update 1-2 days ago, because the CPU is constantly generating heat WHILE IDLE (it didn't do this before), and some diagnostic programs say that there is a really high interrupt latency. I also had to uninstall Nvidia drivers, because since this hidden update it was causing high CPU inside System, and a lot of interrupts (it's not normal that interrupts take up 1.2% to 5% CPU (to put that in perspective, a single core being 100% used is read as 8.33% CPU usage)). And considering that the temperatures are again in the 34C range with nights being 20-24C, it's critical for my own health that I do someting against the excess heat generation, because I don't have an aircon to remove the heat before next early morning comes (it's still too warm outside at midnight).
There's definitely something wrong, because at -135mV undervolt the CPU comsumed 2W idle before the hidden update. Now at -135mV the CPU TDP is around 6-8W, and even at -210mV it doesn't go below 5W, and there is a noticable heat generation at only 1.13% CPU usage :/
So I wonder, what OS should I install? I'm open to suggestions, but I'd love to hear the pros and cons paired to it.
I was thinking of LTSB 2016 (1607), but it's very old, requires 3rd-party audio processor software to get "Mono audio" working (because it's missing from this version), and the Precision Touchpad drivers are wonky, and has a bug where the cursor snaps back to place if you move the cursor too quickly. On the other hand, its gaming performance is comparable to Windows 8.0, the updates aren't worth disabling (I noticed ACTUAL improvements after installing all updates as opposed to 1709 Home, where each update BROKE something instead of fixing it (performance fixes and bug improvements, y'know)), opening a new tab in Firefox doesn't hardlock the system for one second (yes, it's definitely a hardlock, because even the audio stutters), and the performance is just generally comparable to Windows 8.0, and is really good.
I was also thinking of re-installing macOS Mojave, hoping that if I install it on SSD then it won't take nine million years to boot (on a real MacBook Pro it boots into the login screen in ~12s from HDD). It works a-okay, but OpenGL doesn't work properly and crashes a lot on Mojave, wine is buggy on Mojave, the backlight dies for ~4mins at boot, and it takes an abysmally long time to boot, putting itself to shame by ancient computers. The only thing not working is Bluetooth and WiFi, both of which I rarely use, so the lack of them isn't the end of the world. Android NDIS via USB doesn't work either, but that's only an issue when I'm not at home.
I also tried Linux, but driver support for my hardware is terrible other than Intel drm itself, and Ethernet doesn work (which is an unexpected surprise as opposed to wireless not working) which is a dealbreaker for me, and let's not even talk about that nouveau crashes X, and the proprietary driver crashes the KERNEL, so I don't have any chance of ever using NVENC on Linux, which is another dealbreaker (to be honest, QuickSynth is shit, it can't do 1080p60, nor 720p60, and it can barely do 480p30). I'd use Linux as a last resort unless the driver issues can be somehow fixed without instability.
At this point I'll try almost anything if I can reduce the idle TDP to 2W. I really need to cut down on the heat generation as much as I can as soon as possible, because I don't want to play roulette with when my room will cool down (if even at all) during the night.
Edit: my laptop is an Acer Predator PH317-52
- Intel Core i7-8750H (underclocked to 800MHz and undervolted from stock with -195mV offset)
- Nvidia GTX 1060M
- 256Gig(?) SSD
- 1T very slow HDD
- 16Gigs of DDR4 RAM (bit slower than a high-end 800MHz DDR2 module)
More edits:
- ChromeOS is not good, because I need a "real" OS, not a browser OS. I need the OS less locked-down than Windows itself.
- my hardware is too new for Windows 7, or even Windows 8, the earliest Windows I can use is 1607
I think it's time to nuke this installation, but for real this time.
I thought that I completely nuked every autoupdater, but I was so wrong. It turns out that a service named osrss was the culprit of the random small updates, which seems to have installed an update 1-2 days ago, because the CPU is constantly generating heat WHILE IDLE (it didn't do this before), and some diagnostic programs say that there is a really high interrupt latency. I also had to uninstall Nvidia drivers, because since this hidden update it was causing high CPU inside System, and a lot of interrupts (it's not normal that interrupts take up 1.2% to 5% CPU (to put that in perspective, a single core being 100% used is read as 8.33% CPU usage)). And considering that the temperatures are again in the 34C range with nights being 20-24C, it's critical for my own health that I do someting against the excess heat generation, because I don't have an aircon to remove the heat before next early morning comes (it's still too warm outside at midnight).
There's definitely something wrong, because at -135mV undervolt the CPU comsumed 2W idle before the hidden update. Now at -135mV the CPU TDP is around 6-8W, and even at -210mV it doesn't go below 5W, and there is a noticable heat generation at only 1.13% CPU usage :/
So I wonder, what OS should I install? I'm open to suggestions, but I'd love to hear the pros and cons paired to it.
I was thinking of LTSB 2016 (1607), but it's very old, requires 3rd-party audio processor software to get "Mono audio" working (because it's missing from this version), and the Precision Touchpad drivers are wonky, and has a bug where the cursor snaps back to place if you move the cursor too quickly. On the other hand, its gaming performance is comparable to Windows 8.0, the updates aren't worth disabling (I noticed ACTUAL improvements after installing all updates as opposed to 1709 Home, where each update BROKE something instead of fixing it (performance fixes and bug improvements, y'know)), opening a new tab in Firefox doesn't hardlock the system for one second (yes, it's definitely a hardlock, because even the audio stutters), and the performance is just generally comparable to Windows 8.0, and is really good.
I was also thinking of re-installing macOS Mojave, hoping that if I install it on SSD then it won't take nine million years to boot (on a real MacBook Pro it boots into the login screen in ~12s from HDD). It works a-okay, but OpenGL doesn't work properly and crashes a lot on Mojave, wine is buggy on Mojave, the backlight dies for ~4mins at boot, and it takes an abysmally long time to boot, putting itself to shame by ancient computers. The only thing not working is Bluetooth and WiFi, both of which I rarely use, so the lack of them isn't the end of the world. Android NDIS via USB doesn't work either, but that's only an issue when I'm not at home.
I also tried Linux, but driver support for my hardware is terrible other than Intel drm itself, and Ethernet doesn work (which is an unexpected surprise as opposed to wireless not working) which is a dealbreaker for me, and let's not even talk about that nouveau crashes X, and the proprietary driver crashes the KERNEL, so I don't have any chance of ever using NVENC on Linux, which is another dealbreaker (to be honest, QuickSynth is shit, it can't do 1080p60, nor 720p60, and it can barely do 480p30). I'd use Linux as a last resort unless the driver issues can be somehow fixed without instability.
At this point I'll try almost anything if I can reduce the idle TDP to 2W. I really need to cut down on the heat generation as much as I can as soon as possible, because I don't want to play roulette with when my room will cool down (if even at all) during the night.
Edit: my laptop is an Acer Predator PH317-52
- Intel Core i7-8750H (underclocked to 800MHz and undervolted from stock with -195mV offset)
- Nvidia GTX 1060M
- 256Gig(?) SSD
- 1T very slow HDD
- 16Gigs of DDR4 RAM (bit slower than a high-end 800MHz DDR2 module)
More edits:
- ChromeOS is not good, because I need a "real" OS, not a browser OS. I need the OS less locked-down than Windows itself.
- my hardware is too new for Windows 7, or even Windows 8, the earliest Windows I can use is 1607
