Linux Mint 21.1 Installation on the Framework Laptop

Written By: Nirav Patel (and one other contributor)

Comments: 7
Favorites: 0
Completions: 5

Linux Mint 21.1 Installation on the Framework Laptop

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

Time Required

00:15:00 - 00:25:00

Introduction

Once you have your Framework Laptop set up following the Quick Start Guide, you’re ready to install your preferred OS. With the latest release of Linux Mint, everything works pretty smoothly. You can check our Linux page for additional Linux compatibility notes.

Tools

No tools specified.

Parts

Storage Expansion Card

Available for sale on Framework

Buy

Step 1 Preparing Linux Mint Installation Media

First, download Linux Mint 21.1 from Linux Mint's website. Linux Mint has a detailed installation guide that you can follow. We'll go through the steps in this Guide assuming you have a simple installation scenario of a fresh install on a blank drive.

First, download Linux Mint 21.1 from Linux Mint's website. Linux Mint has a detailed installation guide that you can follow. We'll go through the steps in this Guide assuming you have a simple installation scenario of a fresh install on a blank drive.
Download Rufus as a tool to create the USB installer from the ISO. Rufus is available for Windows. For installation instructions coming from other OS's, refer to Linux Mint's documentation. You can either install it or download the portable version that runs directly from the executable.
Launch Rufus. Insert your USB drive (8GB or larger). Click on "Select" and select the .iso that you downloaded. Make sure the USB drive you want is selected in the Device dropdown. Click "Start", accept any prompts that come up, and wait a minute or two for it to complete.
Once the USB drive creation is complete, you can close Rufus and eject the USB drive from your OS.

Step 2 Running Linux Mint

Insert the USB drive into your powered off Framework Laptop, and then power on. If you have an existing OS installed on the Storage drive in your laptop, you'll need to tap F12 as you boot to bring up the Boot Manager screen. You can then select the "Linpus lite" item with your arrow keys and hit Enter.
If you don't have an internal storage drive installed or it is blank, the laptop will boot to the USB drive directly.
Hit Enter again to boot into Linux Mint.
After a few seconds, you're in! If you just want to try Linux Mint out, you can use the live USB version of it without touching the internal storage drive. If you do want to install Linux Mint to the internal storage drive, go on to the next step.

Step 3 Installing Linux Mint to a drive

Click on the Install Linux Mint icon on the desktop.

Select the language and keyboard language you'd like to use. On the Multimedia codecs screen, optionally check the "Install multimedia codecs" box and set a Secure Boot password, and click Continue.

Click on the Install Linux Mint icon on the desktop.
Select the language and keyboard language you'd like to use. On the Multimedia codecs screen, optionally check the "Install multimedia codecs" box and set a Secure Boot password, and click Continue.
If you do select Secure Boot, on the first boot after installation, a blue screen will come up, and you can select Continue.
On the "Installation type" screen, you may have a range of options available if there is already on OS on your internal drive. For the purposes of this guide, we're assuming a clean install with the "Erase disk and install Linux Mint" option. For the other advanced options around dual booting, check Linux Mint's documentation. Click "Install Now".
Follow the on-screen instructions to select your time zone and set up your user account. After installation completes, click Restart Now.

Step 4 Completing Setup

Make sure to update to the latest packages regularly, as there are often key fixes. In Terminal, you can run "sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y". You can also update using the Update Manager application.
Note: To enable your fingerprint reader, you must follow the directions on the left side of the page.
There have been reports of LightDM causing login loops when trying to use fingerprint readers. This a PAM issue and instructions on the right side also explain how to get out of it if you experience this.
For fully supported fingerprint reader access, we recommend the Ubuntu or Fedora which have outstanding support.
After installing your OS, we recommend updating to the latest firmware (11th Gen Intel Core or 12th Gen Intel Core) to make sure the laptop is running at optimal performance and stability.

Step 5 Additional steps for Framework Laptop (12th Gen Intel Core)

The ALS and the brightness up/down keys conflict on currently shipping kernels. You can disable the ALS to restore brightness up/down functionality. First, edit /etc/default/grub as root.
Find the line that starts with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, and modify it to: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash module_blacklist=hid_sensor_hub"
Save and close the file. Then in Terminal, run "sudo update-grub" and "sudo update-initramfs -u" then reboot.

Conclusion

Enjoy using Mint on your Framework Laptop! If you have any questions or run into any issues, we recommend bringing them to the Community in the Linux Mint topic. Members of the Framework team participate in discussions there.

5 other people completed this guide.