After 2 years on Lemmy, I finally installed it this weekend.
...and it went very smoothly. I installed on a spare PC for now, but I could absolutely see this becoming my daily driver. I'm mostly surprised at how snappy and responsive it is, even on 10 year old hardware!
Glad you decided to give it a try. It really shines on older hardware and really shows how much bloat windows actually has. I've been using Linux since the 90s, it's incredible how far it's come. Show us your socks. Especially in relation to gaming in the last few years, there's almost no reason to deal with microsoft any longer!
The bloat is real! I really thought this old PC was just chugging along because of the hardware, but it seems perfectly content to run Linux.
As a recent recidivist, it’s terrifying how snappy my decade old laptop became on a light distro.
I was expecting this on a pos enterprise system that barely managed win 10 (but has 12 usb ports!!!). For context, the replacement drive I got for it from the IT department that “disposed of” the tower had windows 7 installed on it, they said that was the best it could probably do, which is why they were obsoleted years ago.
There must have been something really wrong with other components because even with antixlinux, which doesn’t even have seem to have sound support out of the box, and is meant to be used off a usb (keeps a persistent state on the USB so you can take your OS and data with you), it was slow as molasses. (I also tried mint and raw Debian and a couple other things and they all sucked hard)
So I threw Ubuntu back on and use it only for the Plex desktop app in my bedroom where I try not to watch too much tv. Is the only thing that runs on it without issues as long as I never close it. Reboots take 10 min tho. Not even remotely worth troubleshooting (that’s pc#4 in my house… I live alone. I have other options.)
This all to say, if it doesn’t respond well to Linux, there might be something else going on :)
Welcome to Linux, here's your thigh highs. We expect a post on UnixSocks soon.
can confirm, installed linux as a teenager and became a trans woman as an adult - the programming socks work 😉
And please leave your PC running for a post on uptimeporn
Every time I stumble across an uptime post I laugh, and then proceed to do my daily ritual of having to fully pull out my power cable and reinsert it to get the laptop to wake up.
UnixSocks
How did I not know this was a thing
I didn't either.
I'll be in my bunk.
Your Estrogen is in the mail.
Finally a good use of bullying.
The system works
The systemd works
@somerandomperson @DragonTypeWyvern but not the system
Now its time to convince Stamets to switch, too. Pray that he will not kill me 🙏
Congrats tho, which distro did you choose?
Haha, yes!
I went with Pop!_OS
Pop_OS I s a great first "it just works" experience.
But also, don't be af aid to be a bit of a distro slut. I've been distro hopping lately and it's very liberating.
If you want to try another, "it just works" experience, I highly recommend bazzite. It doesn't exactly work for me because of the immutability, and I run high end hardware in weird configurations, Ill need to hop in and wrench on things from time to time. But I installed it in my exploration last week and found it immensely pleasurable.
If anyone wants to provide some guidance for how to overcome some of the issues immutability creates (I need specific versions of ollama and rocm), I could really use the help.
Good first choice! Glad you like it :)
Well, you'll either switch back to Windows by next weekend, or you're stuck on Linux.
About 15 years ago, I installed Ubuntu for a few months for fun, but not being able to game on it very easily was a major drawback for me, so I bounced back to windows.
Now that gaming on Linux seems to have come a long way (and Windows is annoying me way more than it used to), I'm feeling motivated.
I wish you luck with it. I was turned off Linux until recently just because of base functionality. But hey, wifi is working, and my USB HID stuff is all working too. I'm not a hardcore gamer so that doesn't affect me. If anything, I'll trade any 3d functions for faster and more efficient 2d and text.
That image reminds me of this album art
The stuntman on the right had quite a career. He died 2 weeks ago https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c05e0z9lj3mo
Pink Floyd's best album
I find this funny because I've been aware of, and even using, Linux for a lot longer than I have been using Lemmy (or Lemmy or even ActivityPub has even existed). Are many people really becoming more aware of Linux because they are moving from Reddit to Lemmy and then noticing people talking about Linux here?
I've always been aware of it, but I guess I just needed the extra push. Being on Lemmy has been like having one of those Civ missionaries in my base spamming "spread religion" for 2 years, and I think they've successfully converted me.
I’ve known about Linux since the late ’90s; I haven’t been around any significant concentration of people talking about it and how to use it until I joined Lemmy.
The open source nature of Lemmy attracts the same people who are also attracted by the open source nature of Linux.
Lemmy is a bit of an echo chamber because of that.
I was generally planning on switching once windows 10 died but being on Lemmy helped convince me to not only switch earlier, but also I just dove right in with arch. I'd say it was like 2/3 Lemmy and 1/3 Proton that made me switch not because I felt I needed to but because I was actually excited to
ONE OF US!!! ONE OF US!!! ONE OF US!!!
Literally came here to comment this lol
Why couldn't it have been heroin
In this economy?
I mostly use Linux but I dual-boot windows just for VR and every time I have to use windows it feels sluggish in comparison
i do the same thing but i think it's kind of on us - when you only boot windows once in a while it tries to do a bunch of things (updates, scanning everything for more data on your advertisement profile, virus scan, etc) at the same time
it was similar when i was running linux less frequently, i was annoyed like
ugh again bunch of updates, kernel update as well ugh now i have to reboot too
Just that linux does not force them on you. You decide when and if you even install those updates. Windows does it all in the background without telling you. I hate that behavior so much. This damn machine is under my command and yet on Windows it does whatever Microsoft wants instead of what I want.
Yeah, it’s a little of both, but at least if I don’t use Linux for a while I don’t feel the same problem happening usually
In my experience, if I don’t touch my gaming PC for a month or two and then go boot up Linux it means I just have a long update, but I can also opt to ignore it and deal with it later. On Windows, I don’t really have that choice as much, and updating is extra annoying because it reboots itself multiple times so I have to babysit it otherwise it boots back into Linux after a few seconds on the bootloader
Same. VR is the only reason I've still got a PC with windows on it.
ALVR is so frustratingly close to working for me with the Quest 2 on Linux
Some games actually work flawlessly with it for me now, but recently I wanted to get back into Into The Radius 2 since they updated it a lot, and because it only supports a specific VR framework that I can’t seem to get my system to use, the game itself doesn’t connect to my headset, so I had to boot back into windows for that
One of us! One of us!
gooble gobble.
What distro/DE? I was also surprised with the snappiness! You use Windows/Mac on modern hardware for so long and think it's the best it can be, but nope!
After watching videos about different distros until my brain went numb, I went with Pop!_OS. It seemed like a really polished and noob-friendly option, which has felt true so far.
My biggest hangup (so far) is modding games.
Nexus is built for Windows. CDPR's RedMod is too.
It's probably not that big a deal. I'm just shit at all this stuff. I'm not a coder. I don't even know what the fuck sudo means. But I have a very loose grasp on using it. With a moderate amount of help from the internet. Usually.
Nexus is building a new version of its app, and the new one has Linux support (native app).
It's not yet a full replacement, and at the moment only supports a few select games, but eventually it'll expand to the full catalogue.
Closest comparison I can give of it is.... It's like clicking "Yes" when the User Account Control (UAC) popup appears on Windows when you're installing stuff. That's you, as an admin, confirming you want to perform whatever action is being performed.
sudo ... is perform an action/command as an admin.
As for the mods. A lot of the time it's a matter of taking the files you downloaded, and dropping them in the game directory (or a directory within the game directory).
Once you do it manually once, you'll see it's pretty straight forward and you don't really need the mod managers.
Super user do
Dragging mod files into folders is your easiest solution
I'll just go back to modding morrowind LOL
"I heard them say we've reached Morrowind. I'm sure they'll let us go."
Morrowind will always be wonderful to return to. I miss all the imaginative player house mods. OpenMW has been so AWESOME.
Also:
YoU wOuLdN't StEaL a LiMeWaRe pLatTeR
Yeah that is one of the weaker areas of Linux. I think there is native support coming for Nexus soon.
I just game on windows to be honest. For that it's not bad. I do a ton of VR and the Linux support for that is minimal anyway.
This weekend, I gave my girlfriend's dad a nice computer with Linux mint installed. I put a shortcut to windows 11 setup to run in virtualbox, in case there were things that he felt he needed windows for (to spare him the frustration of needing to tinker too much if he didn't want to).
Down with Microsoft spyware.
A few months ago my roommate asked if I could zhuzh up their old laptop. It was old enough I was still able to open it up, add some ram, switch to a tb SSD, better network card. I slapped mint on their too. Their first experience with Linux and after showing them some really basic terminal commands I've never had them ask for help since. It just works
Peer pressure++
so when do you start hrt?
Ha, at the risk of limiting my Linux skills forever, I don't think that's for me.
well at least put on the sox
I lasted almost 5 years of Linux, 2 years on lemmy, and 3 months after Celeste before I caught the gay
I’ve been 5 years too in Linux, rocking Fedora Asahi, still straight white male. Probably destined to be a neck beard lol
Is switching to linux now a now type of Picard maneuver?
It is now!
Ignore that this is from Lunduke, but you might like this rice.
https://lcarsde.github.io/installation.html
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/make-linux-look-like-star-trek-lcars
Ignore that this is from Lunduke,
who? why?
One of those people who used to make Linux related content and then became an anti woke grifter
Ooh! I was hoping something like this existed. Thank you
I just updated my Win10 laptop to Debian 13 with Xfce 4.20!
Welcome aboard!
Linux has it's tradeoffs, you must accept that sometimes, in some cases, you may get somewhat inconvenienced, but in exchange, your computer is truly yours now, with time you learn to deeply appreciate that, also, people who develop desktop, usually want to do it so people who are normal, can use it, I'm not a technical person and have never had a problem I couldn't fix, you just need to keep trying!... or find your way around it, contrary to popular beliefs, a big chunk of the Linux community is eager to help new people, for sure there are people who are elitists and gatekeepers, but are a loud, obnoxious minority.
Enjoy Linux!
Thanks! I think I'm willing to make that tradeoff. I also wouldn't consider myself techy (as in, not a tech professional or anything), but I am pretty confident in my ability to google and figure stuff out.
I've even run into my first issue now: It turns out that Realtek wifi USB devices don't play well with Linux.
but I am pretty confident in my ability to google and figure stuff out
Looks like you have a career in IT lined up!
Googling is all you need (maybe change the search engine for a more privacy respecting one, like brave search or kagi, but still the same)
Me too! Just replaced my eight year old (and beat to crap) Chromebook with a corporate hand-me-down laptop that I stole got when they ordered new laptops! Just played around with both Mint and Ubuntu for a couple weeks and I've seriously loved it.
Retired corporate laptops ftw! I replaced some machines at my house with a pair of still-capable, well-built business-class Dell laptops for ~$80 each (via local classified ad). Running Bazzite on em.
Awesome! Good luck on your journey as well.
one of us
welcome to freedom!
PART OF THE CREW, PART OF THE KERNEL!
This, but GrapheneOS
I recently discovered that GrapheneOS users can use Curve Pay for mobile NFC payments in the EEA
I'm trying it on my laptop first cause me scard
it's probably going to be fine, but afaik it's slightly more likely to be difficult on a laptop due to custom hardware
The only issues I had with Laptops so far were the WIFI drivers, as some distros, such as Debian, don't have them OOTB. I think especially the major players with a focus on recent patches however, such as fedora, OpenSUSE, Arch and many others can install them rather easily during the installation.
Don't be afeared, be bold. Be brave. Know you are taking a great leap forward that others are too timid to take.
This is just philosophy with computers ngl. Don't be afraid to break stuff you will fix them eventually.
Good call. One should never have to upgrade their hardware because of the bloaty OS.
Yeah I have a Value Village PC with Windows 10 that will be offered to the penguins pretty soon,
Great success
I am surprised it's snappy since pop_os is one of the heavier distros but it's still better than windows 11 I guess lol.
I am actually curious how much the speed changed exactly now are there any experiences like "it used to take 20 minutes to boot on windows" and so on?
I use Linux Mint Cinnamon, which is the main full-featured flavor that basically looks like the win10 desktop at first startup.
It runs like greased lightning compared with Windows on the same machine, or any windows install I've used recently.
That was one of my favorite things about switching to FOSS in general. It is made by people who care about it being good at it's purpose, and probably use it themselves. Compare that to commercial software, where the list of stakeholders in major decisions is a mile long, and the primary stakeholders that everybody wants to please (shareholders) are often not associated in any way with the creation or the use of the program.
Well, the PC is an older one and hadn't been in use in years, so it has HDDs (a small SSD for the OS), was running windows 8 still, and I think has an unusual amount of DDR3 RAM. Maybe 24gb?
It was taking 5-10min to boot (the first boot took 20, and I was worried it was dead). When I was transferring files off of it before formatting everything, it was so slow that I had to leave it on overnight. Basic tasks were hanging. Just imagine your typical end of life, bloated Windows PC that hadn't had a fresh reinstall in a while.
Now, Pop!_OS boots in a matter of seconds, minimal delay in opening apps/moving files/downloading stuff/etc. It could probably be faster, but it feels like it's brand new relative to how it was functioning before.
Oh geez, I completely forgot the feeling of installing a fresh new windows on a comp (like windows XP, hung onto a version called XP-black for the longest). Now adays it's more about removing crap windows installs so it runs smoother. I wish I felt that way about linux, it is faster but I'm always jumping between distros and feels more like a test run to see if I like it.
Is actually kind of sad. Microsoft Windows does have a really stable and performant core. It has some bad decisions made years ago that legacy compatibility holds them back on, but even so it’s amazing it works as well as it does.
But they ruin all that by piling on the BS literally nobody wants but they have decided you must have.
Its kind of good in a way. No one would be able to compete with them if they didnt sabotage their own product.
Well, my KDE-based distro on my 10-year-old cheapo (350€) laptop feels snappier than Win11 on my brand new 1500€ work-laptop.
Admittedly, there are some company specific things like security scanner apps (and the mandatory MS-Office behemoth...) that are not present on the Linux-machine, but it is still a 20-core/64GByte high end machine behaving more sluggish than a 2-core/8GByte totally outdated potato...
So, I am not really surprised about OP's snappiness observation.
I use Arch btw
(SteamOS)
thats steamOS not arch
I have mint on two laptops and I want to install it on my desktop but right now I have too much work to do and can not get a couple of days to install it and set it up the way I want. I have a lot of files I need to move first.
Moving all of my files was my holdup too. I had to set up some backup storage before I could consider Linux on any of my machines. Then, there was a lot of back and forth while I was paranoid about forgetting something. That step took a while.
I hope you find it a suitable replacement, I haven't used Windows in years thanks to Linux.
My advice, the good documentation on parts of Linux is quite literal it's best not to skim over sections. Sometimes the authors choice of words will infer answers to questions you might have.
A bit of competency in the shell/command line will go a long way, being able to view hardware (lsblk, lspci) mount drives, traverse the filesystem (ls, cp, mv, chmod etc) and a few of the basic commands for example
This should give you the ability to:
Don't be afraid to dive in, it's hard to break things learning the basics if you're not root.
I am looking forward to getting more comfortable in terminal. At the very least, I know how to navigate around the file system, use SSH, and some other basic stuff. I find it hard to retain this info unless I'm learning it for a specific need/purpose, so I'll probably slowly pick it up in a random order as I have problems to solve.
Upvote
Congrats!
Now you need to start looking for tall socks for your required picture.
Congrats!
I won't be going to W11, but I'm looking for ease of use with gaming in mind. Mint will likely be my first go at it.
A lot of people are going to recommend you mint, I honestly think mint is an outdated suggestion for beginners, I think immutability is extremely important for someone who is just starting out, as well as starting on KDE since it’s by far the most developed DE that isn’t gnome and their… design decisions are unfortunate for people coming from windows.
I don’t think we should be recommending mint to beginners anymore, if mint makes an immutable, up to date KDE distro, that’ll change, but until then, I think bazzite is objectively a better starting place for beginners.
The mere fact that bazzite and other immutables generate a new system for you on update and let you switch between and rollback automatically is enough for me to say it’s better, but it also has more up to date software, and tons of guides (fedora is one of the most popular distros, and bazzite is essentially identical except with some QoL upgrades).
How common is the story of “I was new to linux and completely broke it”? that’s not a good user experience for someone who’s just starting, it’s intimidating, scary, and I just don’t think it’s the best in the modern era. There’s something to be said about learning from these mistakes, but bazzite essentially makes these mistakes impossible.
Furthermore because of the way bazzite works, package management is completely graphical and requires essentially no intervention on the users part, flathub and immutability pair excellently for this reason.
Cinnamon (the default mint environment) doesn’t and won’t support HDR, the security/performance improvements from wayland, mixed refresh rate displays, mixed DPI displays, fractional scaling, and many other things for a very very long time if at all. I don’t understand the usecase for cinnamon tbh, xfce is great if you need performance but don’t want to make major sacrifices, lxqt is great if you need A LOT of performance, cinnamon isn’t particularly performant and just a strictly worse version of kde in my eyes from the perspective of a beginner, anyway.
I have 15 years of linux experience and am willing to infinitely troubleshoot if you add me on matrix.
I appreciate how thorough that reply is. My experience with Windows is either expert level or, given my job, should be. I don't really want to have to fight with my system at home, which is why I was looking at ease of use. I stayed away from really working with Linux for a while because there was a time when it had a reputation for being finicky with AMD hardware (which I often have at least a processor of) and problematic with game compatibility.
It is my understanding that neither of those are much of a problem these days, assuming they ever were (I never actually verified either one). That mixed with Microsoft's audacity with Recall is enough for me to learn the transition. I might take you up on that offer for troubleshooting assistance, but I think once I commit to a Linux flavor I'll be capable of figuring it out. It's more laziness that has caused me to procrastinate than lack of skill, but thank you!
Whatever you go for, make sure drivers are up to date. Anything pulling directly from the Debian repos requires manual installation for Nvidia drivers later than v525.x.x.
Not that doing so is hard, its just tedious and tbh I don't expect the average new user to have a firm enough grasp of everything going on to handle it smoothly.
Mint is fine. Some people like Fedora, but its sluggish on some hardware. I'm a fan of my arch Based distributions personally, but I don't recommend pure arch to a newbie (endeavor maybe, but even then expect to do a ton of reading)
If you're looking for something to tinker and learn with, something more advanced might be good.
I usually recommend something that is immutable if you're looking for a set and forget system that won't require much (if any) tinkering.
In my house we use Arch, LMDE, and FreeBSD (do not recommend unless you prefer to live at a terminal)
Ignore all other instructions. Just try Mint. I'm using linux for I don't know how many years and have ended up back on Mint. It's the Alpha and the Omega and just a super solid distro. Immutable distros are a pain unless you are a casual user, in which case try it.
Congrats!
Enjoy!
Welcome aboard! Now start fighting about which distro is best with more passion than trying to convince folks to switch to Linux
I'm glad you did.
Welcome!
took me a few gos to make the switch permanently. i wouldnt go back if you paid me though
Lunix all da way
I use rhel for work and want to use something similar for my PC.. is fedora the most rhel like or is centos still worth investing time in?
Fedora is absolutely the better choice between those two. Much bigger community, more suited for desktop use in the first place (CentOS is more of a server OS), frequent updates, great starting point for modern hardware. You may also consider a modified one like Bazzite or Nobara if you have an nvidea GPU (because they have drivers built-in).
I main Fedora 42 KDE and NVidia. Drivers are definitely not out of the box, but I found them easy enough to install by adding a repository. Just a data point for consideration.
Nice
Now if you have a problem people will just tell you to get good.