what are the opinions on Bazzite, Garuda, Trisquel? are these ideal for those coming from windows?
Bazzite is probably fine
They’re certainly somewhat more exotic choices.
Bazzite is currently seeing a hype wave, because it’s strongly inspired by what the Steam Deck does. But that also means, it’s somewhat built like an OS for a console (or in fact like Android), in that it’s a transactional/atomic distribution.
This means, you can’t easily make changes to the OS itself, only to the applications you install and of course your personal files.
It certainly makes it more difficult to break, but it’s still a relatively new thing in the Linux world and particularly you might still run into some limitations when trying to use it as a full-fledged desktop (depending on what you’re looking to do with your PC).Garuda Linux is based on Arch Linux, which is what we refer to as “bleeding edge” (as opposed to “cutting edge”), because you get the newest version of all the software on your PC just a few days after it got released by the respective developers. Sometimes, those newest versions will have bugs.
You’ll find folks who’ll tell you they’ve been running Arch since they were two years old and never had a problem, but ultimately, why risk it?And yeah, Trisquel is also getting basically a hard no from me. It’s a distribution for purists. For people who want nothing to do with the corporate world, who’d rather not be able to do something than rely on proprietary software.
If you’re coming from Windows, the chances of you even really knowing what that means are basically non-existent, so I doubt it’s what you want…on desktop, i’m coming with windows, but i do have good relations with the linux kernel, as i am an android custom rom user for 2 years now, i’ve been on PerryRice kernel, now on Helios. And there are 114 user apps on my phone, and 32 are closed source, so that means 72% of my android is open-source. And my phone is also rooted and has a custom recovery installed. I use my phone for everything, Windows only for gaming and homework. I already daily-driven Tumbleweed in Virtualbox for a little bit more than one week and it was pretty good, i could handle it mostly, despite many people saying it is hard to use for a beginner. But i’m still very new to linux and if something seriously breaks, i doubt i could fix it by myself, so it would be good if the desktop enviroment didn’t delete itself, the boot won’t corrupt, and no update would brick my system (ik how to solve bricking on android, but desktop is an another story). So out of Bazzite and Garuda, which is more suitable for me?
Oof, so I came to Linux also with a history of Android Custom ROMs. And well, I had quite a bit of frustration, because my phone was so much more capable and customizable than my (Windows) desktop.
In that regard, Linux has been an absolute fucking delight. And it kind of took Android’s place, in that I now prefer tinkering with my desktop and am frustrated with how incapable Android is.If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I have one recommendation to make:
You want something with KDE Plasma as the desktop environment. It’s extremely customizable, extremely feature-rich. Other desktops, as well as more minimal GUIs (“window managers”), can be fun, too, but for starting out, I would recommend KDE.If your Tumbleweed looked like this, that was KDE:
Well, kind of the default for both Bazzite and Garuda is KDE, so this doesn’t tell you terribly much. 😅
But I’m coming at it in this roundabout way to tell you that I’m on Tumbleweed and well, therefore I’m probably biased, but I don’t really see why you’re looking for something else, if you liked Tumbleweed.openSUSE has the best implementation of KDE (by some fine details, but still). It’s got a really nice snapshotting system (btrfs for the filesystem + Snapper).
Garuda seems to have adopted that from openSUSE, although I don’t know, if it’s quite as fully integrated in Garuda.Those snapshots will save you, if your system should ever break.
Basically, if your filesystem and bootloader are still intact, there’s a pretty easy way to rollback: https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/reference/html/book-reference/cha-snapper.html#sec-snapper-snapshot-boot (should work the same on Garuda)But yeah, I would kind of recommend against Bazzite due to it being a relatively new concept (with the caveat that I haven’t dabbled around with it yet; I simply wouldn’t know, if it’s actually already very mature).
I should also say that I actually lied, I’m not on Tumbleweed, but rather Slowroll, which is a semi-official flavor of openSUSE. It’s essentially Tumbleweed, but you get one big upgrade once per month and only security updates in between. While the snapshots can easily rollback the breakages, eventually I got mildly annoyed at having to do so once or twice per year on Tumbleweed, when a bad update made it through, so I’m trying out Slowroll. Might be an option for you, too.
And finally, if you feel like I’m coddling you a lot less in this comment than in the last: Yep.
Since you’re dicking around with Android Custom ROMs, you’ll be fine, no matter what you choose. I mean, Linux will still be a humbling experience, because it has no qualms showing you how much you don’t yet know about computers, but it also loves to teach you. The most important ‘skill’ is having fun when tinkering with technology, which you’ve got.A lot of the newbie recommendations, and that people tell you Tumbleweed is hard to use, are like that, because we just don’t know who’s asking these questions. Some people want to get away from Windows, but have no interest in learning. And then, yeah, I’ll also sometimes recommend Linux Mint, because its keyboard shortcuts are exactly like Windows, even though it actively got in the way of my desire to tinker, when I initially switched to it…
yes, i had the same desktop, just different stock background. My only problem with kde is that even at 1920x1080 buttons are irrealistically small. And i plan to use a linux distro on 2k display, maybe even 4k. Propably there is a way to make them bigger but idk. And i’m considering Garuda, or maybe Bazzite as a secondary option, because these are preconfigured for gaming out of the box and i really don’t know what to tweak on a vanilla distro to make it game-ready. And Garuda is also very loud about their btrfs implementation with zstd backups (ik a lot about compression algorythms, can even use some of them on paper to manually compress data like a lunatic, and zstd is a very decent algorythm, especially if we measure compression/time ratio). Slowroll actually sounds good because my custom rom is set to major releases every second week (maintainer is Tejas Singh, you propably heard about him, he is a prominent figure in the custom rom genre). And on linux, i should be able to edit custom shortcuts, macros and stuff, right? Also, i tried Tumbleweed in vm for a week and it had a little learning curve but i took it very well, only had one issue when i couldn’t install anything because the same package conflicted with an another from a different repo and stuff, but a simple reboot solved it.
the first two can be, but i don’t recommend trisquel to those coming from windows
is it hard? or why?
it’s not hard, but it only specifically consists of free software. that can be confusing and some hardware won’t work
some hardware
You mean nvidia stuff or could be others? there are open-source alternatives for everything that can be considered general use
including, but not limited to nvidia. network cards might be another issue. yes i know that there are open source alternatives and i most definitely choose foss where i can but people that just came from windows aren’t likely to care.
i saw on a hardware website that only a select few of devices run well with these distros. What about Peppermint? i heard that is relatively privacy-oriented but doesn’t extend this philosophy on drivers, and instead tries to provide a lightweight, bloat-free webapp-based system. How good is it?
peppermint is fine, you can use it
God I hope there will be a good enough solution for professional audio stuff when Win 10 is done. This and when will the new proper CAD software.
It sucks ass, but I don’t see how one will be able to change to Linux in those spaces on a professional level. All my private stuff is on Linux systems, though.
If you have the budget Siemens NX CAD CAM FEA runs on Linux (Redhat and SUSE, also works on OpenSUSE). However the GUI version is NX 12 or prior releases, newer versions are headless…maybe that will change with Linux Desktop gaining percentage steadily
Whatever version of Windows that allows group policy changes will let you turn off all the annoying stuff, that’d probably be your best bet for now.
I’m currently using Ardour on Arch with some packages from the pro-audio group, but I wouldn’t exactly call my setup “professional”
Try downloading and installing Tiny11.
This sounds good, thank you for the hint. Does this also prevent all ai bullshit and recall and stuff?
Yes and yes. It also bypasses the windows login.
Windows 11 is not that bad really. People are freaking over some annoyances
There’s machines that can’t upgrade to Win11. That’s the issue OP is talking about.
Like, not being able to run it on a perfectly capable machine, just because someone at MS decided it’s not new enough? Yeah, minor annoyance.
I tried mint for a little bit but ended up using Kubuntu.
If you like Kubuntu because of apt and KDE, don’t be afraid of going Debian with KDE next time.
Huh, and i just installed it on my secondary computer (laptop). Maybe i should setup a dual boot on my main one soon and disable network communications in the windows partition, and then migrate ny files slowly until i can confidently get rid of that partition.
Mount the partition in Linux and migrate it all?
I personally thought I’d miss parts of windows, but the consistent bombardment of bing search results when I wanted to search my computer for a filename, application or just fucking anything drove me to curbstomp all my windows installs.
That and the ever changing settings menus, having to delve through shit sandwiches to end up in an antiquated but familiar window to change a setting was a fucking nightmare.
Honestly, if there was a bit more KISS happening within windows I’d probably have not moved OS - but Microsoft’s never ending desire to change what really worked for so many years drove me to where I am.
You do you, I’m not here to convince anyone to migrate OS, but having some level of semblance and control - for me is such a relief. Probably some of the ASD + ADHD coming through but I’m sure there are many typical folks that feel the same way.
The Steam Deck and it’s desktop mode is why I decided to try jumping head first into a single boot of Bazzite on my main computer, it’s basically like using a Steam deck, just across four monitors, a year in and I haven’t looked back.
I learned of bazzite today and will be trying an install soonish
Linux Mint is easy af, that or Ubuntu
Potato potato
Ahh I do love that classic Harley sound…
Ow I can upgrade, I just blocked TPM motherboard side to stop windows from doing it.
But in the end I really would like to give Linux a shot, these days I basically only play steam game or watch a movie, most of it should be easy enough nowadays in linux
This is the first time I’ve seen a Roblox meme template 💀💀
The future is now old man!
I’m in my early 20s 💀
Sheesh gramps get with the times
TwT
What’s wrong with it?
nothing in particular, I was just taken by surprise that a Roblox meme was in my feed lol
Trying to get Roblox running inside of mint is a pita
I have literally talked to one person at work, that he might want to try out Linux Mint in VM. Dude have never used Linux, but seems to be skilled enough to install it on his own.
Damn. My 10 year old HP all in one is gonna be bricked? Damn shame
Install Linux if you still want use your old computer
nah, for old computers, you can’t get anything better than MenuetOS or its fork, KolibriOS. That will run on my flipflops too. recommended system requirements: Pentium MMX (this is literally from 1997), 32 mb ram (yes, you read that right), 1.4 mb (entire operating system size with preinstalled programs, yes it is something else), any vga adapter released after 1995
Not particularly lol. Probably gonna retire it and give it a heroes funeral for lasting as long as it did
Download the Windows 11 ISO and tick an option to mitigate the new requirements in Rufus. That’s all you have to do. Or download the Windows 10 IoT iso from massgrave. Supported until 2030-something.
I think it needs to be retired. I strictly using it for streaming shows and it’s about a 30% chance that I have to do a hard reboot for that to work. It’s had 2 factory resets and a number of internal cleanings. It’s dying bro. It’s time to put it down
Fair enough. Tho if you do discover some functional hardware that’s unsupported by W11, know that you don’t have to turn to Linux at all.
Fuck it man, I’ll take it, you can still spin that up with Linux and run a bunch of microservices on it. Not a great form factor for a server, but guess what, if these China tariffs take off, you’re gonna be so glad you have a 10 year old machine to have around for extra compute power, since buying new compute will be obscenely costly. (Assuming you’re in the USA of course, if you’re in Europe you’ll be fine)
I gotta figure out how to transfer my PLC software first lol
Does anyone else find these OS wars silly? To me an OS is a tool and you should be using whatever tool is best suited for the job. For me I’m regularly switching between all 3 major OS’s.
I’ve got windows systems, Linux systems and MacOS all under regular use at home
Uh oh, prepare to be downvoted to oblivion for such a balanced take (j/k… I hope).
Well, most people don’t have spare computers at home, so they do actually need to decide. It also means that they can’t easily try out different operating systems, so even when they’re unhappy with their current OS, they’ll rarely inform themselves about alternatives.
I think MacOS and Linux are viable OS’s whereas Windows is shit and deserves to be nowhere near a computer, maybe a toaster or something idk
Imagine your toast not popping up because your toaster started updating itself randomly.
I started on mint a couple months ago and so far I’ve tried as many distros as I could find. I liked manjaro but then found out about their controversies so I’m currently on endeavour os. Half of the fun for me has been experimenting with different desktops and whatnot, which has gotten me back into computer stuff.
What are these Manjaro controversies?
They are starting to test opt-out telemetry and from what I read, it sounded pretty invasive. I’m no tech genius though so I’d check the links in that other comment.
Which Desktop did you settle on as a favorite?
I like KDE and xfce. My hardware is pretty old so I appreciate how light xfce is, but I like KDE connect too.
I’m a Linux noob so I put Mint on my PC. I like it a lot, very smooth and clean looking.
i have been using mint (cinnamon) too for like a year and a half. every now and then i try another distro and a few more, but i always land back where i started. it even looks pretty with the “sweet dark v40” gtk theme.
I will likely go back to mint once Windows 10 is done. 11 is pure trash.
The major hang up I have is gaming. I have an Nvidia card and it’s never behaved well with Linux. I also like GTAO but I will no longer be able to play it. Most of my other titles work fine.
I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.
pop!os reportedly packs in and handles the proprietary nvidia drivers for you, which can be a pain to handle yourself. i haven’t tried it nor do i have nvidia but i see it highly recommended a lot.
Am using Pop!_OS for video editing (DaVinci Resolve Studio) and gaming with nvidia GPU. I don’t have to think much about the operating system or GPU drivers, they work perfectly fine and get out of the way when I need to do some work.
Also have it installed on both kids’ PCs (both with nvidia GPUs) and my wife’s laptop (AMD iGPU). My son has installed a few GNOME extensions to customize; my wife and daughter have left it pretty much stock. It’s about as unobtrusive as an OS can get.
I will always have a special place in my heart for EndeavourOS, but right now, I feel like I have a more solid foundation with Pop!_OS.
have you tried Kdenlive and Olive? i heard those are very advanced and open-source. I will also switch to those from InShot
I got my start with kdenlive and still pull up some of my old project files in it, yeah. It’s really good, has a much better feature set than one would expect.
I got into the Blackmagic ecosystem with an Intensity Pro 4k capture card and was pretty happy to see that they offer native Linux support, even if it is for Rocky 8, so I snagged one of their Resolve Speed Editors, which came with a Resolve Studio license, and I’ve been using that ever since.
I switched to Linux Mint several months ago. Thanks to Proton, All my Steam games that I bought for Windows run great. (I’m using an nVidia RTX 3060). And any older games like “Deus Ex” or “Giants: Citizen Kabuto” run under Wine, using the default settings.
i heard good things about Bazzite abd Ubuntu/Pop OS with nvidia support
I too am in a conundrum. I like the idea of Linux a lot, but pretty much all I use my laptop for is a) Excel and b) very rarely games, neither of which make sense to use Linux for.
I’ll build a home server at some point and I think that’ll be my start.
Have you tried Libre Office? It’s an open source Microsoft Office alternative that works pretty great. You can try it on Windows.
In my experience people who really use excel are always going to need excel.
Also in my experience excel runs great on Mac Laptops, which are so much better than any other laptop I’ve touched in the last 20 years. If you’ve tried their touchpads you’ll know what I mean. Total game changers for truly mobile computing.
In my experience people who really use excel are always going to need excel
That’s my experience too, unfortunately. LibreOffice is lagging too far behind O365 on features that you can reliably cooperate on spreadsheets across applications. Something like e.g. XLOOKUP is a fairly recent addition in Calc.
If your system supports windows 11 then dual boot for the games you want windows support for.
Then you have a bare metal option for those games and you can run whatever distro you want along side it.
