# I just switched to Linux Mint (latest beta release) I AM FREAKING IN LOVE!!! TAKE CARE WINDOWS 10 and 11 LMAO



## Space Lynx (Jun 25, 2021)

So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth!  It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working.

Steam has an awesome feature that only loads automatically compatible Linux games in your library, so I don't have to sift through the store page for each game to see if it is compatible... got two games going so far and no issues at all.

Got firefox all set up as well, 0 issues... honestly... I really see no need for Windows anymore, I already prefer Libreoffice (even when I had windows) and Libreoffice is default on Linux, and it works fantastic.

For a basic user who just browses the web (mostly TPU) and plays older games and indie games... there is seriously no reason to even have Windows anymore.  I tried Ubuntu earlier in the year and it felt a little laggy from time to time, but this latest Linux Mint release feels perfect.  It's been a seamless transition for me. 

*It feels good to finally be free.  *


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## Zyll Goliat (Jun 25, 2021)

Good Luck...I enjoy using the Linux on my weaker machines tho' I still keep using the win on my main RIG the only thing that keeps switching me totally are gaming and some apps that are still Win/only....


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## Space Lynx (Jun 25, 2021)

Zyll Goliath said:


> Good Luck...I enjoy to use the Linux on my weaker machines tho' I still keep using the win on my main RIG the only thing that keeps switching me totally are gaming and some apps that are still Win/only....



I honestly can't tell the difference... like I said Ubtuntu was laggy for me earlier this year, but latest beta of Linux Mint feels just as snappy and smooth to use as Windows. 0 issues which surprises me since its beta... keep in mind I am a VERY VERY basic user. I do some light gaming on steam, browse web, and sometimes use libreoffice word document to type something up.  /shrug

for heavy users windows is def needed, or for users who want the latest games and features. but my backlog is so vast... I could literally stay here on Mint forever.


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## 80-watt Hamster (Jun 25, 2021)

Welcome to the fold!

15 years after my last true dive into Linux, I've got Mint installed on one of my crunchers as a toe dipped back in the water.  It was a pretty good experience, but one of the things I missed right away was the Windows-based monitoring software like HWINFO64.  Which is funny to me, because that's the kind of thing a one-person team can gin up (granted, Windows doesn't have the umpteen variations Linux does, and HWINFO's been developed and refined over very long period).  In any event, it's disappointing to not have robust real-time GUI monitors for temps and fans.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 25, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Welcome to the fold!
> 
> 15 years after my last true dive into Linux, I've got Mint installed on one of my crunchers as a toe dipped back in the water.  It was a pretty good experience, but one of the things I missed right away was the Windows-based monitoring software like HWINFO64.  Which is funny to me, because that's the kind of thing a one-person team can gin up (granted, Windows doesn't have the umpteen variations Linux does, and HWINFO's been developed and refined over very long period).  In any event, it's disappointing to not have robust real-time GUI monitors for temps and fans.



I understand missing that software 100%!!!  However, since my current cooling solution is very much overkill... I really am also kind of glad I no longer have that software, I was spending too much time double checking it for no reason at all. Just became a weird habit. So it is kind of freeing to be rid of it for my personal situation.

Edit:  you should give the latest linux mint beta a try... it's freaking awesome!!!!  it's so smooth I can't believe it and user friendly... I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO COMMAND PROMPTS (not really anyway)... so being able to use Linux so easily really is impressive...


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## Nash (Jun 25, 2021)

Playing an old trope here, Alan Parsons.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 25, 2021)

Nash said:


> Playing an old trope here, Alan Parsons.



don't know who that is, so you can share if you like, but i am not wasting my time googling.  time to get back to gaming, later g.


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## Zyll Goliat (Jun 25, 2021)

Nice to hear that......sure Linux have many different distros some of them works better then others...also really depends of yours pesonal preference and the hardware you are using....I recently played with the Knoppix it's debian based system that can fully work from the USB stick and it's really friendly for the weak and old machines....few years ago friend gave it to me some old Nokia 3g booklet that was ready for the garbage hdd was broken and it was really not worth investing anything in that thing and here comes the savior Knoppix system that runs  fine on this machine that have only 1gb ddr2 and 2 weak(atom) cores on 1,6 Ghz....Later on I modded this system a bit so that I can use it like a perfect Old school Emulator for the ZX Spectrum,Atari ST,NES....since then I keep using it almost daily without any problems what so ever..


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## Space Lynx (Jun 25, 2021)

Nash said:


> Alan is world famous musician. Certain "Beatles" song discussions prompt others to notify everyone
> *ALAN PARSONS WORKED FOR THE BEATLES "hth's"!!!!
> 
> Sound familiar?*



well these are Linux forums, and I am sick of M$'s crap, so I decided to switch and share my experience... on the linux forums... not sure what you are implying but eh.


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## ThrashZone (Jun 25, 2021)

Hi,
Not sure what the newest beta is but I'm on 20.1 mint cinnamon



Nash said:


> There is no implication, it is a fact that linxuts invade and derail, mock, harangue users, and talk shit about Windows, the corporation, it's founder and every huge or inconsequential thing they can drag up in *Windows* discussions.


Seems the pot is calling the kettle black lol


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jun 25, 2021)

I get to use Linux in work a bit, that'll do for me, however if it suits you and your good then it's all good.

I too have too much legacy software to switch but I wouldn't anyway, I Have to use Windows PCS all day in work, and due to being a pc power user / builder / repairer on the side, Learning new tech and software is to my benefit especially since wherever I have worked I always, always knew more than anyone besides the IT department.
I am shit on servers but know my limits.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 25, 2021)

TheoneandonlyMrK said:


> I get to use Linux in work a bit, that'll do for me, however if it suits you and your good then it's all good.
> 
> I too have too much legacy software to switch but I wouldn't anyway, I Have to use Windows PCS all day in work, and due to being a pc power user / builder / repairer on the side, Learning new tech and software is to my benefit especially since wherever I have worked I always, always knew more than anyone besides the IT department.
> I am shit on servers but know my limits.




everyone's situation is different!  it's not a big deal, doesn't mean I can't have fun with it though.     I'm just really enjoying this switch more than I was expecting.  I tried linux in past years and I just could never really get into it, was never smooth or user friendly, or steam would mess up on me, etc.

this latest beta release for linux mint though is rock solid stable so far. im really liking it.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 25, 2021)

I would love to use linux
but none of my games support it and or proton so thats a no for the gaming pc
and none of my older machines play nice with it with constant crashes
and as for stability under windows None of my 3 computers have bsod this year
so i have to stick to windows


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## Nash (Jun 25, 2021)

For the person who want's hardware sensors Psensor here, there are at least 10 others.

Install psensor,

# wget http://wpitchoune.net/psensor/files/psensor-1.1.3.tar.gz 
# tar zxvf psensor-1.1.3.tar.gz 
# cd psensor-1.1.3/ 
# ./configure 
# make 
# make install

Requires 
# apt-get install* lm-sensors hddtemp*








Plot-Graphs-of-Hardware-Temperature.png


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jun 25, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> everyone's situation is different!  it's not a big deal, doesn't mean I can't have fun with it though.     I'm just really enjoying this switch more than I was expecting.  I tried linux in past years and I just could never really get into it, was never smooth or user friendly, or steam would mess up on me, etc.
> 
> this latest beta release for linux mint though is rock solid stable so far. im really liking it.


I have given it a go many times and will many more, messing abouts half the fun 
I really liked Steam OS but having a rig and it became pointless, especially since I got the gaming laptop, I like to keep one system working at least while the other is  in between things.
I use Ubuntu in work, Mint is a better OS IMHO though.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 25, 2021)

Honestly it's kinda odd neither of my 2 low end machines can do 3d under Linux without crashing it takes about a year to boot and I runs at snail pace win 7 and 10 treats the hardware a lot better


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## tabascosauz (Jun 25, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth!  It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working.
> 
> Steam has an awesome feature that only loads automatically compatible Linux games in your library, so I don't have to sift through the store page for each game to see if it is compatible... got two games going so far and no issues at all.
> 
> ...



a lil dramatic lol but I understand the feeling

I ran my XPS 9370 on Kubuntu 20.04 for a while, really changed my "Linux is bland, ugly and made for cheap hardware" perspective. With some themes, it's easily the most beautiful OS I've ever used. Also was the only distro to handle hiDPI scaling properly and smoothly on the 9370 display.

Unfortunately, I had to go back to Windows because Libreoffice Calc is absolute garbage compared to Excel (needed to run VBA macros). Also, 9370 cooling is caca so it was really a struggle trying to get the undervolting script running automatically on boot every time. Oh how I missed Throttlestop during my time on Linux. But now that I don't need office on laptop and I'm down to 256GB again, I might go back to Kubuntu or make a pit stop on Mint first.

I'd never migrate my desktops over, though. There is no Linux equivalent that offers HWInfo things like Effective Clock, snapshot polling, per-core Ryzen temps. That, and basically half the performance on Ryzen nowadays comes from the CPPC2/Windows scheduler integration, so.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 25, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> a lil dramatic lol but I understand the feeling
> 
> I ran my XPS 9370 on Kubuntu 20.04 for a while, really changed my "Linux is bland, ugly and made for cheap hardware" perspective. With some themes, it's easily the most beautiful OS I've ever used. Also was the only distro to handle hiDPI scaling properly and smoothly on the 9370 display.
> 
> ...



 yeah like i said im a very basic user, so i only use libre writer.  etc.  its the best switch i have ever made for my personal use case


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## Easy Rhino (Jun 25, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> Steam has an awesome feature that only loads automatically compatible Linux games in your library, so I don't have to sift through the store page for each game to see if it is compatible... got two games going so far and no issues at all.



Also know that you should enable Proton in Steam so that you can play Windows only titles on Linux. Works great for like 99% of the games out there.


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## 80-watt Hamster (Jun 25, 2021)

Nash said:


> For the person who want's hardware sensors Psensor here, there are at least 10 others.
> 
> Install psensor,
> 
> ...



Thanks; my admittedly shallow search turned up all CLI stuff.


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## Nash (Jun 26, 2021)

That may take a few trips to configure the way you prefer, there are load of other monitor apps. Raspberry for PI autoloaded a few sensors in the taskbar on start, that one would float, move, kill. I never checked out re-configuring it, but it was handy for overclocking the Pi.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 26, 2021)

Easy Rhino said:


> 99


Idk why you talking about it supports about 20 percent of my Steam library


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

Easy Rhino said:


> Also know that you should enable Proton in Steam so that you can play Windows only titles on Linux. Works great for like 99% of the games out there.



its just a toggle within steam itself??? i figured i had to know coding and stuff to get that working properly...  if its just a toggle heck yeah I will give it a go!  thanks! I'll look around steam settings tonight and see if I can spot it. do I need to download something first? or its already built into steam when i downloaded steam to begin with?



Isaac` said:


> Idk why you talking about it supports about 20 percent of my Steam library



even a few extra is ok by me.  how do you know which ones it supports and doesn't support? will there be a little tag to let me know "don't install this game, its not optimized for proton"?


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 26, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> optimized


You can click the little tux in the top left corner and anything not optimised for proton won't install


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## Deleted member 202104 (Jun 26, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> its just a toggle within steam itself??? i figured i had to know coding and stuff to get that working properly...  if its just a toggle heck yeah I will give it a go!  thanks! I'll look around steam settings tonight and see if I can spot it. do I need to download something first? or its already built into steam when i downloaded steam to begin with?
> 
> 
> 
> even a few extra is ok by me.  how do you know which ones it supports and doesn't support? will there be a little tag to let me know "don't install this game, its not optimized for proton"?



Enable the top option (as shown) to use Proton on the Windows games tested and certified by Steam to run.  Chose the second box to enable for all Windows games that may, or may not, work.  Last game I played and finished (CloudPunk) was a Windows only game and I played from start to finish in Linux.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

weekendgeek said:


> Enable the top option (as shown) to use Proton on the Windows games tested and certified by Steam to run.  Chose the second box to enable for all Windows games that may, or may not, work.  Last game I played and finished (CloudPunk) was a Windows only game and I played from start to finish in Linux.
> 
> View attachment 205443



I honestly had no idea it was that easy, lmao

I'm excited now... wow... this is so awesome. thank you!


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## Deleted member 202104 (Jun 26, 2021)

Also, you can check on this site to see the results from other users on game compatibility success.



			https://www.protondb.com/


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

Everything has been great so far... only one issue and that is I can't figure out how to use an external monitor (it just says no signal)... I am using a DP to mini DP cable from gtx 1070 laptop to my 1080p monitor... and it just won't work... works fine in Windows.  I know it's possible though cause I have already googled it... I wonder... if I switch over to HDMI to HDMI? hmm that might work. thoughts?


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## johnspack (Jun 26, 2021)

Linux is awesome.  After decades of windows use,  I'll never go back.  I keep fighting wine to get it to run more apps and games,  but it's fun.  And I usually get it to cooperate.
I can do so more more under linux now than I ever could under windows.  I say keep fighting the good windows fight if you want....  but I'm done for good.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 26, 2021)

Does anyone else have problrmst with older computes and graphics no just me?


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## Bones (Jun 26, 2021)

The only real use for Windows I have now is benchmarking, aside from that and playing some retro games I have no need of it. 
I started with Mint myself and it was fine, it was only when Mint would not run my new GPU at the time (Radeon VII) I had to find another distro that would work with it and Peppermint was the ticket. 
BTW PM10 is just as easy to use as Mint TBH.


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## The red spirit (Jun 26, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> Does anyone else have problrmst with older computes and graphics no just me?


It's not just you. If you have sound card or wireless adapter, than you also have problems with linux.


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## Jetster (Jun 26, 2021)

Mint is way more compatible than Windows with external components


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

Jetster said:


> Mint is way more compatible than Windows with external components



ya I am going to search for it some more in settings if not then I guess there are some commands I can run to get it working.


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## The red spirit (Jun 26, 2021)

Jetster said:


> Mint is way more compatible than Windows with external components


Not really, it fails to work properly with TP-Link TL-WN721N and Asus AC56-USB. In terms of sound cards it never worked fine with Asus Xonar DG.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Not really, it fails to work properly with TP-Link TL-WN721N and Asus AC56-USB. In terms of sound cards it never worked fine with Asus Xonar DG.



sound cards eh..., they are nothing compared to a proper DAC.  like my schiit modi 3 works just fine on linux and sounds better.


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## Mussels (Jun 26, 2021)

The problem is the anti cheat stuff that many games require, i highly recommend people try this with a spare drive and dont go wiping their windows installs before knowing how their titles work

Proton seems to be making some good headway, a quick google says DX12 and even some ray tracing support is in there
(No idea how exclusives like Gsync, RTX, DLSS and so on will behave)


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

Mussels said:


> The problem is the anti cheat stuff that many games require, i highly recommend people try this with a spare drive and dont go wiping their windows installs before knowing how their titles work
> 
> Proton seems to be making some good headway, a quick google says DX12 and even some ray tracing support is in there
> (No idea how exclusives like Gsync, RTX, DLSS and so on will behave)



gsync/freesync work on linux already.  and have for about 6+ months without issue to my knowledge.

i only play single player games so im good on the other stuff.   

edit:  but yes, i took out physically my windows SSD before installing new SSD which has the Linux... when I want Windows back I just slot in the old SSD and remove the Linux one. the way I have it setup its easy to do so.  /shrug  i have heard of linux wiping windows even on a seperate ssd before by accident lol... thats why i do it this way


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## The red spirit (Jun 26, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> sound cards eh..., they are nothing compared to a proper DAC.  like my schiit modi 3 works just fine on linux and sounds better.


I don't care about your Schiit Modi. I'm just saying that it's not compatible and I highly doubt that my DAC (topping D10) would be functional in linux either. Linux is the worst OS when to comes to less than mainstream hardware compatibility.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 26, 2021)

Jetster said:


> Mint is way more compatible than Windows with external components


Yet it fails to work.on any of my old computers where win works flawlessly


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## Mussels (Jun 26, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> I don't care about your Shit Modi. I'm just saying that it's not compatible and I highly doubt that my DAC (topping D10) would be functional in linux either. Linux is the worst OS when to comes to less than mainstream hardware compatibility.


google actually says your topping D10 is supported in many distros, as it uses the universal USB audio standards

i even found reports of it working on linux for the raspberry pi, of all things


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## yotano211 (Jun 26, 2021)

Please don't go...The Drones need you...They look up to you


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## r9 (Jun 26, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> I honestly can't tell the difference... like I said Ubtuntu was laggy for me earlier this year, but latest beta of Linux Mint feels just as snappy and smooth to use as Windows. 0 issues which surprises me since its beta... keep in mind I am a VERY VERY basic user. I do some light gaming on steam, browse web, and sometimes use libreoffice word document to type something up.  /shrug
> 
> for heavy users windows is def needed, or for users who want the latest games and features. but my backlog is so vast... I could literally stay here on Mint forever.


Have Dell XPS 2015 i7 dual core and 8gb of ram running ubuntu 21 and it runs butter smooth, the PC in your specs definitely faster than my laptop so maybe Ubuntu didn't like something on your machine, however mint is without a doubt much lighter than Ubuntu. 
Fedora 34 also looking super nice.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

r9 said:


> Have Dell XPS 2015 i7 dual core and 8gb of ram running ubuntu 21 and it runs butter smooth, the PC in your specs definitely faster than my laptop so maybe Ubuntu didn't like something on your machine, however mint is without a doubt much lighter than Ubuntu.
> Fedora 34 also looking super nice.



yeah, not only am I using Mint, I am using the lightest version of Mint, xfce or w.e it is called.  so you are probably right.


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## ThrashZone (Jun 26, 2021)

Hi,
Not sure if you've ran into it yet in software manager but `Indicator-cpufreq` is a jewel making it ezpz to switch to performance mode and what ever bios setting you make are actually used in the os 
Otherwise linux runs in power saver mode not good for gaming.


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## Mindweaver (Jun 26, 2021)

I think I'll give this a try. Lately, I've only been using Ubuntu. I might be the only person that has grown to like gnome.. haha of course I like KDE as well but I haven't used kde in awhile now.


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## The red spirit (Jun 26, 2021)

Mussels said:


> google actually says your topping D10 is supported in many distros, as it uses the universal USB audio standards
> 
> i even found reports of it working on linux for the raspberry pi, of all things


Well that's great, but doesn't change the fact that Xonar DG doesn't work and many other sound cards don't work.


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## sepheronx (Jun 26, 2021)

While I'm glad you made the switch and enjoy it.  It's rather telling how a free OS can operate quite well in competition to a paid OS that is build by a billion dollar company.

Little by little and over time, compatibility will improve and with the advent of Vulkan API, more games will become natively compatible with Linux.  Already it's far more user friendly now than last time I dabbled in Linux (red hat 4).  Yeah, that was the last time I really dabbled in Linux.


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## r9 (Jun 26, 2021)

Mindweaver said:


> I think I'll give this a try. Lately, I've only been using Ubuntu. I might be the only person that has grown to like gnome.. haha of course I like KDE as well but I haven't used kde in awhile now.


You not the only one.  
When I got my used XPS few months back first OS I installed was Kubuntu but I just couldn't get used to it so I went back to the trusty Ubuntu.
Don't know if Ubuntu just better or I'm just set into my ways.


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## Mindweaver (Jun 26, 2021)

r9 said:


> You not the only one.
> When I got my used XPS few months back first OS I installed was Kubuntu but I just couldn't get used to it so I went back to the trusty Ubuntu.
> Don't know if Ubuntu just better or I'm just set into my ways.


Yeah I feel like I'll do the same with Mint again. I'll use it for a few days in VB. When I say lately I mean in the past 15 years.. haha I do try other distros but it's usually in VB just to see what's new. Now I do keep a couple of sticks with puppy and tiny core on them just for testing and stuff.



The red spirit said:


> Well that's great, but doesn't change the fact that Xonar DG doesn't work and many other sound cards don't work.


I've never had any problem with my realtek audio.


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## The red spirit (Jun 26, 2021)

Mindweaver said:


> I've never had any problem with my realtek audio.


That's not a dedicated sound card. Those are historically very poorly supported. I'm pretty sure that anyone who has Creative Sound Blaster card and attempts to use linux, likely has a very "fun" time. Hours of terminal hell and in the end just give up and use cheapo integrated Realtek. And even if Creative card somehow works, getting EAX to work is probably impossible. And if you have Aureal card, well that's likely even worse.


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## Mindweaver (Jun 26, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> That's not a dedicated sound card. Those are historically very poorly supported. I'm pretty sure that anyone who has Creative Sound Blaster card and attempts to use linux, likely has a very "fun" time. Hours of terminal hell and in the end just give up and use cheapo integrated Realtek. And even if Creative card somehow works, getting EAX to work is probably impossible. And if you have Aureal card, well that's likely even worse.


True, I've never really got into using DAC's. I have used Dedicated sound cards for a long time back in my battlefield days when they used EAX, but I stopped using my sound blaster audigy gamer a couple years ago. My Sennheiser HD 518's don't really need a DAC's either. I'm sure if these ever died i'll probably move up to something that will need one. I think this is derailing this thread. If you are having problems with your Topping D10 working with Mint then make a new thread. We have a good amount of knowledgeable users here that will try to help solve your issue. But at the end of the day if it's not compatible with Mint then you may need to get something that is compatible to use the OS like what @lynx29 is using.


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## Bones (Jun 26, 2021)

Jetster said:


> Mint is way more compatible than Windows with external components


I quote myself:



Bones said:


> ....... *it was only when Mint would not run my new GPU at the time (Radeon VII) I had to find another distro that would work with it* and Peppermint was the ticket.
> BTW PM10 is just as easy to use as Mint TBH.


This is why I ditched Mint for Peppermint 10.
Don't be suprised if you should encounter problems with drivers with any distro, it happens but you'd think at least Mint would update their drivers for newer AMD cards. I tried the Mint release that came AFTER my Radeon VII was released and it was still not supported - Always threw a warning about and did run in CPU rendering mode.

Peppermint isn't perfect either, Ubuntu, Mint or any other you can name but for most Mint is an excellent place to start, the only reason why I'm throwing Peppermint in is it's just as easy to use as Mint. If you have a newer AMD GPU chances are Peppermint is going to work - With Mint, based on what I ran into it may not work properly.

_Try a few distros and see what works and does not_ is the only real suggestion I can make here.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

weekendgeek said:


> Also, you can check on this site to see the results from other users on game compatibility success.
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.protondb.com/



Do you know if there is a way to filter this site to show only gold and platinum games and I can scroll down that list?


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## Deleted member 202104 (Jun 26, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> Do you know if there is a way to filter this site to show only gold and platinum games and I can scroll down that list?



Choose Explore from top menu list, then sort by ProtonDB Rating.


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## markobrian (Jun 26, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth!  It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working.
> 
> Steam has an awesome feature that only loads automatically compatible Linux games in your library, so I don't have to sift through the store page for each game to see if it is compatible... got two games going so far and no issues at all.
> 
> ...


Have you installed WINE? I tried through the software manager and it says it's installed though I have no option to use WINE when right clicking an .exe, also tried doing it manually with not much success, I think it may be down to the fact it is a BETA release and so new, may use the previous release as I am not a Linux expert and it is frustrating trying to google for an answer


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## techtard (Jun 26, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> That's not a dedicated sound card. Those are historically very poorly supported. I'm pretty sure that anyone who has Creative Sound Blaster card and attempts to use linux, likely has a very "fun" time. Hours of terminal hell and in the end just give up and use cheapo integrated Realtek. And even if Creative card somehow works, getting EAX to work is probably impossible. And if you have Aureal card, well that's likely even worse.


I've been running an x-fi fatal1ty pci sound card and an asus xonar dg pci soundcard in 2 different linux systems for years. No messing about in the console, just plug and play.
I've even taken the sound blaster zx out of my main system and threw it in a media pc running kubuntu and it also just works. *edit* I've also been running an old pci razer barracuda ac-1 soundcard and it always just worked.

I built a midrange amd-fx based piledriver 'steambox' back in the day when steam first came to linux. Playing linux native games was a breeze, and now with proton things are even better. The only problem I've run into recently is that vulkan stopped working in proton past version 4.16 on my old 7970.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 26, 2021)

markobrian said:


> Have you installed WINE? I tried through the software manager and it says it's installed though I have no option to use WINE when right clicking an .exe, also tried doing it manually with not much success, I think it may be down to the fact it is a BETA release and so new, may use the previous release as I am not a Linux expert and it is frustrating trying to google for an answer



no, I have no need for Wine, I have plenty of game backlog that is native to linux or proton works with them, so I really just don't need WINE yet... I'll try it out in a year or two maybe


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth!  It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working.
> 
> Steam has an awesome feature that only loads automatically compatible Linux games in your library, so I don't have to sift through the store page for each game to see if it is compatible... got two games going so far and no issues at all.
> 
> ...


Mint is my very favorite flavor of Linux! Which GUI did you choose? Mate, Cinnamon or XFCE? My fav is XFCE.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 27, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Mint is my very favorite flavor of Linux! Which GUI did you choose? Mate, Cinnamon or XFCE? My fav is XFCE.



ya xfce.  i wanted light as possible


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 27, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> ya xfce.  i wanted light as possible


Good choice!


----------



## Mussels (Jun 27, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Well that's great, but doesn't change the fact that Xonar DG doesn't work and many other sound cards don't work.


Correct - i'm with you that windows has better driver support

I just also see that linux has made huge strides forward recently, its a lot better than 5 years ago


----------



## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 27, 2021)

Its still pretty bad thought if you got a older GPU your out of luck


Mussels said:


> Correct - i'm with you that windows has better driver support
> 
> I just also see that linux has made huge strides forward recently, its a lot better than 5 years ago


----------



## claes (Jun 27, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> Its still pretty bad thought if you got a older GPU your out of luck


What GPUs?

It seems odd to me that some of you are having trouble with drivers... I’ve kept a Linux install on all my PCs since 2003 or so and haven’t had any issues with sound cards or GPUs. Printers, scanners, and non-Realtek WiFi have been the only real problem devices for me.

Edit: oh and touchscreens, but that’s not really surprising.


----------



## Mussels (Jun 27, 2021)

I recall having a nightmare on a thin client system i was trying to turn into a NAS, because no matter what it just WOULD NOT install the intel graphics drivers

Skip on about 3 months of using it on windows and i realised it was S3 graphics and not intel (and linux back then just couldnt auto detect it for me)


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 27, 2021)

Mussels said:


> Correct - i'm with you that windows has better driver support
> 
> I just also see that linux has made huge strides forward recently, its a lot better than 5 years ago



ya if I was getting same issues I was getting even a year or two ago I would have went straight back to windows... i'm really surprised how... everything just works and no issue. it's kind of weird. lol  this latest beta nailed it.  well done whoever the Linux Mint team is. (don't get me wrong there are a few things you need to do, like change to the driver to nvidia, but it makes everything so easy... just follow the welcome screen step by step. thats all I did and its working great)

also how the heck do they make money??? just donations?  or does firefox pay them a lot to use firefox exclusively etc?


----------



## Nash (Jun 27, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> also how the heck do they make money??? just donations? or does firefox pay them a lot to use firefox exclusively etc?



I don't know but I think a Firefox deal is probably as good a guess as any. Donations seems a bit too scrimpy.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jun 27, 2021)

Mint is great. I have used Mint cinnamon for a very long time but I have to move to Arch when I upgraded my Laptop as I needed a newer kernel. 

Mint is using an old kernel and even the newest beta uses 5.4 kernel. I needed 5.11 atleast since it has a patch that benefits my laptop.

Oh as for games, Linux is good for it although newer AAA title still not best. Its like few fps less compared to windows. I still dual boot though because games with anti-cheats will get you banned if you are using linux.

Oh if you have full amd cpu and gpu, check out corectrl and if you want an in game overlay for fps, clocks and temps check out mangohud. 

enjoy


----------



## Deleted member 202104 (Jun 27, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> also how the heck do they make money??? just donations?  or does firefox pay them a lot to use firefox exclusively etc?



From https://www.linuxmint.com/donors.php



> *Why donate money?* Linux Mint is free of cost and doesn't generate any direct sort of income. It is funded by advertising, sponsoring and donations and although it is financially supported by its own community of users, its ambition is to compete with projects which are backed by large companies such as Microsoft, Apple, RedHat, Novell and Canonical.
> 
> *How is the money used?* The money is used to finance the needs of the distribution, to pay for hosting, to advertise on other websites, to purchase equipment and to fund the work of the people behind it.



To me, it's worth a monthly donation.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 27, 2021)

night.fox said:


> ut I have to move to Arch when I upgraded my Laptop as I needed a newer kernel.
> 
> Mint is using an old kernel and even the newest beta uses 5.4 kernel. I needed 5.11 atleast since it has a patch that benefits my laptop.



What does this mean older kernel? Does it mean I'd be more secure and games do even better if I moved to latest kernel with Arch distro?

edit: nm a quick look at Arch, I can tell its a lot more complicated than Mint right away... so will have to stick with Mint anyway just for the user friendly part of it.


----------



## Deleted member 202104 (Jun 27, 2021)

night.fox said:


> Mint is great. I have used Mint cinnamon for a very long time but I have to move to Arch when I upgraded my Laptop as I needed a newer kernel.
> 
> Mint is using an old kernel and even the newest beta uses 5.4 kernel. I needed 5.11 atleast since it has a patch that benefits my laptop.



5.11 is available as a click and install on Mint 20.1 (this might be Edge)







lynx29 said:


> What does this mean older kernel? Does it mean I'd be more secure and games do even better if I moved to latest kernel with Arch distro?
> 
> edit: nm a quick look at Arch, I can tell its a lot more complicated than Mint right away... so will have to stick with Mint anyway just for the user friendly part of it.



There's a couple of places to see what version Kernel you're running.  Quickest way is to open a terminal (GASP!) and type:


```
uname -a
```

You'll see what you're running like:


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 27, 2021)

Mussels said:


> Correct - i'm with you that windows has better driver support
> 
> I just also see that linux has made huge strides forward recently, its a lot better than 5 years ago


And another pain point is offline driver installation. If you don't do that stuff through driver manager, it's going to be major pain in ass. And it's not only drivers, basically any software that you download like that and attempt to install not through some software manager or with sudo apt-get, is going to be hell. Seriously, I tired using some other driver for that stupid TP-Link TL-WN721N and that was my only network connected device as I don't have cable in my room. And all I remember is that some dude explained how to do it online and that was pretty much rewriting kernel itself and praying that it works. Needless to say, I failed at that spectacularly. I got out nothing and ended up unearthing RJ45. Obviously wifi adapter never worked, because after certain kernel update, driver breaks and nobody give a shit about fixing it. I also tried installing FreeOffice, because I liked it better than LibreOffice. Too bad they only let you downlead files online and then you have to do some console wizardry to make it install itself. It was 2020, why on Earth I can't just double click it to install it? Needless to day, I failed spectacularly again and I wasn't able to install it. And the last stupid thing are package managers. I was just deleting some stuff that I thought was bloat, basically bunch of printer plug ins and what not. I deleted the wrong one and my desktop was gone and linux didn't boot up properly. I'm pretty sure that it's either unfixable or would require some good CLI knowledge to fix. I swear, shit like this is why I am put off for good from linux.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 27, 2021)

weekendgeek said:


> 5.11 is available as a click and install on Mint 20.1 (this might be Edge)
> 
> View attachment 205577
> 
> ...



I'll give it a shot, I wouldn't be surprised if latest beta which I am on is default 5.11, hence beta. but I will double check and report back tomorrow. for now gnite!


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jun 27, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> What does this mean older kernel? Does it mean I'd be more secure and games do even better if I moved to latest kernel with Arch distro?
> 
> edit: nm a quick look at Arch, I can tell its a lot more complicated than Mint right away... so will have to stick with Mint anyway just for the user friendly part of it.


newer hardware requires newer kernel since optimization and drivers and baked into kernels.

Yeah arch is not really recommended those who dont like non gui. Try Manjaro if you want to try Arch base. Consider it like a "polished" arch.

But dont get turned off by arch way of installation. They have now a built in non-gui installation and its easy.

I made a video on a vm. Just type archinstall and it wil guide you on the whole installation process.

to all mod: delete if not allowed.










you can choose whatever DE you want. I chose KDE since its my favorite.

Of course you need to search about arch package manager, but once you got it, its actually one of the easiest to manage. All you need is pacman and aur helper (yay, paru,etc) or if you want gui package manager, you have pamac


----------



## tabascosauz (Jun 27, 2021)

@lynx29 i suppose then I should credit you with planting Linux seeds in my brain again?  



I took 20.2 Mate for a quick spin, but still just couldn't get away from KDE in the end. Though, if Ubuntu ends up adopting Gnome 40, it could bring me back to the good ol Ubuntu.

I don't know what they changed from 20.04 to 21.04 but when I'm on battery I run both much cooler (no need for undervolt at barely 60C fanless in daily tasks), much quieter (100% fanless), and much longer (weirdly better battery life) than on either Windows or Kub 20.04. Super.



weekendgeek said:


> Quickest way is to open a terminal (GASP!)





As a linux noob that's basically me every other week. "Ugh really? terminal again? what did I ever do to deserve this unfinished OS"  I will say, though, starting to get comfrotable living inside Konsole - much easier on the eyes than Powershell even with teal background


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jun 27, 2021)

weekendgeek said:


> 5.11 is available as a click and install on Mint 20.1 (this might be Edge)
> 
> View attachment 205577
> 
> ...



Thanks. Will check out. But honestly, i got used with Arch. Even alot dislike it (for some strange reason) I got used to it. Its actually easier to maintain than any ubuntu based (PPA vs AUR)



tabascosauz said:


> @lynx29 i suppose then I should credit you with planting Linux seeds in my brain again?
> 
> View attachment 205579
> 
> ...



Pretty much same feeling as I have. But nowadays, I mostly launch programs via terminal especially if I felt that something is not right. its just getting used to it. You can customize your konsole to look alot "appealing". Oh to quickly launch konsole, CTRL ALT T .


----------



## Hachi_Roku256563 (Jun 27, 2021)

claes said:


> It seems odd to me that some of you are having trouble with drivers... I’ve kept a Linux install on all my PCs since 2003 or so and haven’t had any issues with sound cards or GPUs. Printers, scanners, and non-Realtek WiFi have been the only real problem devices for me.


Fx 770 hd 5650


----------



## Deleted member 202104 (Jun 27, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> As a linux noob that's basically me every other week. "Ugh really? terminal again? what did I ever do to deserve this unfinished OS"  I will say, though, starting to get comfrotable living inside Konsole - much easier on the eyes than Powershell even with teal background



Haha!  Even after *mumbles large number* years of using Linux, I still consider myself a noob.  Part of me wanted to share the terminal method to show that it's really not that scary, but mostly because my aging gray-matter couldn't remember how to explain in XFCE where to find it. 

I have such a visual issue with Windows 10, things like being unable to differentiate between multiple overlapping windows, that using almost anything else is such a pleasure. I spend 8-10 hours a day in Windows for work, so I'm working on making some distribution of Linux my primary home machine.


----------



## Prime2515102 (Jun 27, 2021)

I just tried the "live" version of Mint and the mouse sensitivity slider wouldn't do anything. This wasn't a very good first impression.

Still waiting on Slackware update...


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jun 27, 2021)

Prime2515102 said:


> I just tried the "live" version of Mint and the mouse sensitivity slider wouldn't do anything. This wasn't a very good first impression.
> 
> Still waiting on Slackware update...



Slackware seems to have zombified.  Hope I'm wrong.


----------



## GerKNG (Jun 27, 2021)

i rather stick to a platform where i am able to do the easiest tasks that are not even possible on linux..
playing almost every triple A Game... (not even call of duty is possible on linux)


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jun 27, 2021)

Bones said:


> did run in CPU rendering mode.


I had a broken dependency (missing or corrupted) cause the system to use "llvmpipe" (the CPU renderer) It was broken in the distro and should have been pulled, IIRC! That was years ago.
Probably was an error in the X.Org log (or an error elsewhere) when looking for the 3D rendering mode status. It wasn't Mint that I was using.

And IIRC, X usually crashes and can't use X at all when a video card is too new. IIRC, X usually errors out or it results in a system crash.


----------



## SIGSEGV (Jun 27, 2021)

Welcome to the Linux family. 
I used to work with Mint but there's a problem with NV and cinnamon's desktop display render.
It's somehow like the cinnamon desktop has full control over the display settings. Thus, I was unable to override the cinnamon display setting using the NV setting. 
Now, I am happy to use Ubuntu LTS.


----------



## xkm1948 (Jun 27, 2021)

Linux has its positives and negatives For work Linus is great. For entertainment I still use Win10


----------



## Prime2515102 (Jun 27, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Slackware seems to have zombified.  Hope I'm wrong.


They're still active - there were security advisories just this month with updated packages - but as far as a new version, it looks like the last was 2016. One can always hope they're working on something...


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 27, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth!  It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working.
> 
> Steam has an awesome feature that only loads automatically compatible Linux games in your library, so I don't have to sift through the store page for each game to see if it is compatible... got two games going so far and no issues at all.
> 
> ...


They do say that Mint is one of the best Linux distros for someone changing from Windows. The only thing I will say is it is quite a job to get a VPN on there. It is a wonder more people don,t change over to Linux they are probably a bit intimidated by the use of terminal and all that Sudo stuff.


----------



## MxPhenom 216 (Jun 27, 2021)

I use Linux at my job all day using VLSI tools and its great for work, but I just can't bring myself to use it on my main machine considering its main purpose is gaming and entertainment. Windows still wins in gaming IMO.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 27, 2021)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> I use Linux at my job all day using VLSI tools and its great for work, but I just can't bring myself to use it on my main machine considering its main purpose is gaming and entertainment. Windows still wins in gaming IMO.



as I have said before in this thread, it really just depends what games you play. I have had 0 issues with gaming so far


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 28, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Slackware seems to have zombified.  Hope I'm wrong.


You're not wrong. Not a lot of demand for it these days.


----------



## thebluebumblebee (Jun 28, 2021)

Nash said:


> For the person who want's hardware sensors Psensor here, there are at least 10 others.
> 
> Install psensor,
> 
> ...


Why you do this?  For the new Linux user and former Windows user, point them to the Software Manager.
-Open Software manager
-search for Psensor
-click install


----------



## Nash (Jun 28, 2021)

thebluebumblebee said:


> Why you do this?  For the new Linux user and former Windows user, point them to the Software Manager.
> -Open Software manager
> -search for Psensor
> -click install



BC #make is the fun way and who /want's/ to search repositories.


----------



## Bones (Jun 28, 2021)

Installed this the other day to try it out: MX Linux – Midweight Simple Stable Desktop OS
For someone like me that's absolutely NOT software savvy I had to figure out things as the install went but managed to. The process isn't automatic like it is with Mint and Peppermint, you have to be there and oversee the install process because it wants input from you as it goes.
Once all that was done I gave it a spin and so far so good, I don't have anything to mention about it good or bad ATM since I'm still getting used to it.
As I'm posting this I'm still running Peppermint but will setup MX a little later to run it some more and see how it pans out for real.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 29, 2021)

I'm still loving this experience. honestly my day to day has not changed at all.

damn boys, I might take up smoking cigars I feel so good being free of the clutches of overreaching telemetry.

Linux Mint to the moon!  *kicks up feet on the table* this is the good stuff boys this is the good stuff ~  now its time go back to some indie gaming, yeeeehaaaa


----------



## kayjay010101 (Jun 29, 2021)

I've been considering moving to Linux with a Windows VM with GPU passthrough for gaming. That way you get both the positives of Linux while retaining the game compatibility of Windows. I have a spare unRAID license though so I might just do unRAID as the hypervisor with a Linux (which distro though?) and Windows VM.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 29, 2021)

kayjay010101 said:


> I've been considering moving to Linux with a Windows VM with GPU passthrough for gaming. That way you get both the positives of Linux while retaining the game compatibility of Windows. I have a spare unRAID license though so I might just do unRAID as the hypervisor with a Linux (which distro though?) and Windows VM.



that's too complicated for me mate. I like to keep things simple as possible


----------



## yotano211 (Jun 29, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> that's too complicated for me mate. I like to keep things simple as possible


I've heard using windows is simple, just click and install


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jun 29, 2021)

kayjay010101 said:


> I've been considering moving to Linux with a Windows VM with GPU passthrough for gaming. That way you get both the positives of Linux while retaining the game compatibility of Windows. I have a spare unRAID license though so I might just do unRAID as the hypervisor with a Linux (which distro though?) and Windows VM.


Arch ..... But seriously, any distro can do passthrough provided done right. But you need to search about it. 

For vm with passthrough, you need QEMU/KVM as virtualbox dont support it. vmware support it but its not free.

And also, preferrably, you need 2 gpu, igpu + discreet would so. Single gpu passthrough is ok but its easier to just dualboot.

But gaming in linux has become better than before. Granted, requires some researching if non steam games.


----------



## Greenslade (Jun 29, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> that's too complicated for me mate. I like to keep things simple as possible


Same here, simple is best.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 29, 2021)

yotano211 said:


> I've heard using windows is simple, just click and install



so is Linux Mint, I did 5 clicks total and was gaming. lol


----------



## kayjay010101 (Jun 30, 2021)

night.fox said:


> Arch ..... But seriously, any distro can do passthrough provided done right. But you need to search about it.
> 
> For vm with passthrough, you need QEMU/KVM as virtualbox dont support it. vmware support it but its not free.
> 
> ...


I was thinking of doing a Zorin VM, that distro looks quite user-friendly and is Ubuntu-based. I looked at Arch but it seemed to more advanced and not quite so user friendly 
I've got a AMD FirePro W5100 specifically for the Linux VM, the Windows VM will get my 3090. So all good on the GPU front. UnRAID is QEMU/KVM and I've already got a few VMs running on various other machines in my rack upstairs, so no issues there. (apart from HP's shitty RMRR issues on my dl380p gen8 that they've refused to fix for 7 years despite it being literally one flag in the BIOS, but I digress. It's possible to work around with some exotic commands and IPMI manipulation)


----------



## ThrashZone (Jun 30, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> so is Linux Mint, I did 5 clicks total and was gaming. lol


Hi,
That is because of steam support mainly
Wine might not be all that stream lined it all depends on what you want to use just like what games you want to play.

I first used mint mate and cinnamon 5-6 years ago not much has changed sadly I picked it back up 6-8 months ago pretty much after I got my z490 rig and run it mainly on it
It's glacier slow on progression so it's always fun at first because it's new but that will wear off sooner or later and you might be like wth lol


----------



## Hyderz (Jun 30, 2021)

i have a spare laptop i7 4710mq, 12gb ddr3 ram, 128gb ssd, 512gb ssd. 840m gpu.
i want to learn about linux and try to play around. Is this machine sufficient?
i have never tried linux before


----------



## ThrashZone (Jun 30, 2021)

Hi,
Linux will run on just about anything.
Just make a usb installation media and you can run it off that without ever installing it on the machine lol


----------



## Nash (Jun 30, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Linux will run on just about anything.
> Just make a usb installation media and you can run it off that without ever installing it on the machine lol



Windows will install to, and run from a USB stick when the BIOS presents it as a drive.  
It's not fast. Not fast at all.... Lol


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 30, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> That is because of steam support mainly
> Wine might not be all that stream lined it all depends on what you want to use just like what games you want to play.
> 
> ...



why would I ever need Wine when Proton supports 6000+ games now and I have a crap ton of backlog on my steam I want to play.  i'm good to go for years.


----------



## qubit (Jun 30, 2021)

Great that Linux is working for you. In particular, I hate product activation in all its forms, no matter how "easy" it is, so it's great not to have to put up with that.

On the other hand, you might find yourself getting sucked back into the Windows world for certain things simply because it's got such immense momentum and support behind it. Things like a particular game that you must have, or perhaps a new printer or scanner will be Windows only etc.


----------



## AusWolf (Jun 30, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth!  It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working.
> 
> Steam has an awesome feature that only loads automatically compatible Linux games in your library, so I don't have to sift through the store page for each game to see if it is compatible... got two games going so far and no issues at all.
> 
> ...


I wish I could share your enthusiasm.  I love Linux Mint, I really do. I've also tried Ubuntu a couple of years ago which was also a positive experience.

I only have a few issues with Linux in general which are big enough for me not to swap:

Using compatibility tools to run games is not the same as running them natively.
Driver installation (or installation in general) can be a bit of a chore.
I have lots of stuff saved into Chrome. I know Chromium exists, but meh...
LibreOffice works great until you try to open one of your documents with MS Word or PP. Then you can start formatting the whole thing again. Good luck sending CVs/resumes to employers!
After all these years, why still force the usage of that stupid terminal for more than basic functions? It's not 1986 for F's sake!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 30, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> why would I ever need Wine when Proton supports 6000+ games now and I have a crap ton of backlog on my steam I want to play.  i'm good to go for years.


For non-gaming Windows programs.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 30, 2021)

AusWolf said:


> I wish I could share your enthusiasm.  I love Linux Mint, I really do. I've also tried Ubuntu a couple of years ago which was also a positive experience.
> 
> I only have a few issues with Linux in general which are big enough for me not to swap:
> 
> ...



Proton is literally just a toggle off on switch in Steam settings... installing steam and nvidia drivers were two clicks in the welcome home screen... 0 issues on my end honestly. I also use libreoffice just fine for many years now even on windows, just remember to save as docx not its default.


----------



## AusWolf (Jun 30, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> Proton is literally just a toggle off on switch in Steam settings... installing steam and nvidia drivers were two clicks in the welcome home screen... 0 issues on my end honestly. I also use libreoffice just fine for many years now even on windows, just remember to save as docx not its default.


I've never tried Proton. Maybe I will. 

As for LibreOffice, it's great that you use it nicely. I did too. Your problems start when you send a document to someone who uses MS Office (which is basically everybody). Then all your design and formatting (maybe even the font) turns into a mashed potato.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 30, 2021)

AusWolf said:


> turns into a mashed potato.



this is true.  lol  i had some issues with it. but most of my stuff is very simple with no formatting so i rarely notice it

I have a work laptop that is windows only and comes with Office (provided by company I work for) and so now I use Office. I have to say even though I am a basic user, Office is still better overall. It just "feels" better. I have no idea what I mean by that. lol  but it does...


----------



## The red spirit (Jun 30, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> this is true.  lol  i had some issues with it. but most of my stuff is very simple with no formatting so i rarely notice it
> 
> I have a work laptop that is windows only and comes with Office (provided by company I work for) and so now I use Office. I have to say even though I am a basic user, Office is still better overall. It just "feels" better. I have no idea what I mean by that. lol  but it does...


By any chance, have you tried SoftMaker's FreeOffice. It's like like MS Office Lite.


----------



## mb194dc (Jun 30, 2021)

Interesting post. I've been considering this for a while. 

I have Servers running Ubuntu and previously Debian. It's seriously unintuitive at times though. 

That is what has always stiffled Linux. There was a news group post on it in the 90s, regarding the difficulty of doing the most simple tasks around disk management and mounting etc. Need dig it up. It's still true now largely...

If someone had come up with a similar to Android desktop UI for Linux in the 90s, Windows as we know it wouldn't exist probably. 

Will have to give mint a try in a vm at least.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jun 30, 2021)

Your thread attract alot of attention

Anyway, I think I have a general idea that most of TPU linux users are mostly Ubuntu or ubuntu based and/or Debian. Not so much love on Fedora, OpenSuse and Arch. Last month I created a thread asking about some help on AUR (for Arch) and I never get any reply ha ha.

But then, its good to see that TPU Linux Community is growing.....


----------



## Anarchy0110 (Jun 30, 2021)

Can I give a shoutout to Pop_OS by System76 here? It's really good.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jun 30, 2021)

Faith[ROG].Anarchy said:


> Can I give a shoutout to Pop_OS by System76 here? It's really good.


Have you updated to new Cosmic yet? I think I saw some reviews that its positive


----------



## Anarchy0110 (Jun 30, 2021)

night.fox said:


> Have you updated to new Cosmic yet? I think I saw some reviews that its positive


Just done an upgrade a few minutes ago, and yes the YouTube vids from some avid Linux guys are all really positive.
This is my first long-term attempt at using an Ubuntu distro though, so I can't say anything much.
I still have to figure out how to use Lutris to get games running as well, haven't got much time.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 30, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> By any chance, have you tried SoftMaker's FreeOffice. It's like like MS Office Lite.



I have not, thanks for the mention. Most likely will stick with Libre though and then actual Office on my work laptop.


----------



## Aquinus (Jun 30, 2021)

Steam is the reason why I can get away with using Linux or OS X for everything. The only reason I used Windows in the past was for games, but Proton and the quality of GPU drivers has made a great difference in this space. There aren't many reasons these days for me to run Windows these days and those reasons doesn't warrant it being on any of my commonly used machines.


----------



## PaulieG (Jun 30, 2021)

How well does distributed computing like world community grid work on the various distros? I don't game on PC at all these days, but it's very important to my that WCG works properly.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 30, 2021)

PaulieG said:


> How well does distributed computing like world community grid work on the various distros? I don't game on PC at all these days, but it's very important to my that WCG works properly.



No idea... but a quick google search said (I'd def try it on a spare drive first to make sure it all works up to speed before switching over permanently):

How do I install the Linux application on Ubuntu or other Debian-based distributions?​
In order to install the Linux application on Debian-based Linux distribution such as Ubuntu Linux, you will need to run the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install boinc-client boinc-manager

The application will be configured to automatically run when you restart your computer.

You will also need to attach your application to World Community Grid by running the following command:

sudo -u boinc boinccmd --project_attach http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org <Account Key>

Your <Account Key> can be found on your My Profile page.


----------



## yotano211 (Jun 30, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> Proton is literally just a toggle off on switch in Steam settings... installing steam and nvidia drivers were two clicks in the welcome home screen... 0 issues on my end honestly. I also use libreoffice just fine for many years now even on windows, just remember to save as docx not its default.


Is libreoffice the same thing as openoffice or different names. I've been using open-office for many years.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jun 30, 2021)

yotano211 said:


> Is libreoffice the same thing as openoffice or different names. I've been using open-office for many years.



they are different. 

edit: nm i think i was wrong, i think it is a branch of open office you are right.  weird i thought i read that somewhere


----------



## johnspack (Jun 30, 2021)

Yep,  Libreoffice is a port of Openoffice,  basically the same code.   And Birdie,  an infinite source of pain?  Heh.  To me that describes windows 10.
If you would just spend some time learning it....  oh why bother.


----------



## claes (Jun 30, 2021)

birdie said:


> Linux on the desktop: an infinite source of pain.
> 
> Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.
> 
> I wonder why this topic keeps getting updated.



Preface to the critique:


> This is _not_ a Windows vs. Linux comparison, however sometimes you'll find comparisons with Windows or Mac OS as a point of reference (after all, their market penetration is in an order of magnitude higher). Most issues listed below are technical by nature, however some of them are "political" (it's not my word - it's what other people say) - for instance when companies refuse to release data sheets or they release incomplete data sheets for hardware, thus Linux users don't get all the features or respective drivers have bugs almost no one in the Linux community can resolve.
> 
> I want to make one thing crystal clear - Windows, in some regards, is even worse than Linux and it has _its own share of critical problems_. Off the top of my head I want to name the following quite devastating issues with Windows: • Windows rot, • no enforced file system and registry hierarchy (I have yet to find a single serious application which can uninstall itself cleanly and fully), • no true safe mode, • the user as a system administrator (thus viruses/malware - most users _don't and won't_ understand UAC warnings), • no good packaging mechanism (MSI is a fragile abomination), • no system-wide update mechanism (which includes third party software), • Windows is extremely difficult to debug, • Windows boot problems are often fatal and unsolvable unless you reinstall from scratch, • Windows is hardware dependent (especially when running from UEFI), • heavy file system fragmentation on SSD disks, • Windows updates are terribly unreliable and they also waste disk space, etc.



Author’s critique of Windows:





						Why Windows 10 sucks or Everything Wrong with Microsoft Windows
					






					itvision.altervista.org
				




Stay classy TPU


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 30, 2021)

yotano211 said:


> Is libreoffice the same thing as openoffice or different names. I've been using open-office for many years.


LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice. They are similar, but LibreOffice is more feature rich as it has a lot more community support. OpenOffice is still being actively developed however and is still worth using if you already know it's detailed functionality.

I personally keep it installed because it can open some documents perfectly where LibreOffice has a few problems. These are generally older MSOffice formats that LibreOffice struggles with. The Document Foundation has focused on future modern and future document format options and have left past compatibility behind. I have to work with older documents from time to time so compatibility is important and OpenOffice provides that. For that reason alone it's worth having both installed and kept up to date.



birdie said:


> Linux on the desktop: an infinite source of pain.
> 
> Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.
> 
> I wonder why this topic keeps getting updated.


Interesting article if you're looking to validate the opinion of Linux not being a good desktop OS. It has some very serious flaws, both contextual & technical, and misses the point of many reasons Linux is built the way it is. Not a very good citation for your apparent statement. If you do not understand the topic of this thread and the point of discussing it, then perhaps this thread is not a good place for you.

Put another way, please keep your Linux bashing comments to yourself or the mods will be asked to remove you from the thread. Thank You.


----------



## 95Viper (Jul 1, 2021)

Stay on topic.
Stop the insults, hate, and bickering.
Read the Guidelines before posting... it may help some members from getting warnings and bans.


----------



## tabascosauz (Jul 1, 2021)

birdie said:


> Linux on the desktop: an infinite source of pain.
> 
> Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.
> 
> I wonder why this topic keeps getting updated.





Black Star said:


> You're giving Birdie an ultimatum because you don't like his opinion about Linux? If you can't handle criticism, maybe the internet is not for you.



In case you haven't noticed:




I don't think you'll find this particular audience very receptive to "Windows better". Go to General Software instead, and offer up all the opinions you want.



lynx29 said:


> Proton is literally just a toggle off on switch in Steam settings... installing steam and nvidia drivers were two clicks in the welcome home screen... 0 issues on my end honestly. I also use libreoffice just fine for many years now even on windows, just remember to save as docx not its default.



I have to do a reinstall on my HTPC today, because the 11 dev build is very much dev lol. Considering installing something new, instead of spending hours working out a completely clean debloated 20H2 install. Not sure I trust Kub 21.04 with anything other than my laptop so I was looking at the Mint site today - unfortunately my games library looks like it might be a mixed bag even with Proton, mostly because of rootkit anticheats.

I haven't paid too much attention to anticheat since the Valorant launch debacle, but it seems that Easy/Battleye have seen a lot of adoption lately. From what I can tell, most of these rootkit anticheats don't work on Linux, so your game either crashes or you get banned. They said that Easy "works" on Linux, but only the version built specifically for Linux? I don't think any game devs are bothering to switch over for a tiny fraction of their playerbase. Save for War Thunder I suppose.

Insurgency Sandstorm: doesn't really work as long as Easy is involved
R6S: doesn't work, Battleye
Genshin: will probably get me banned
But outside of anti-cheat games, Proton looks good - War Thunder (works despite Easy??), MCC, Arma 3 (not Battleye servers), GTA, No Man's Sky, Risk of Rain 2, Ori 1, Ori 2, Cities: Skylines, Sniper Elite 3, Sniper Elite 4, etc.

And of course the lighter games all work - Stardew Valley, Atlantic Fleet, Cold Waters, Bloons, I am Setsuna, etc. It's really just Genshin that's a thorn in my side, because that's like 95% of what I play on my HTPC.


----------



## Bones (Jul 1, 2021)

birdie said:


> Linux on the desktop: an infinite source of pain.
> 
> Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.
> 
> *I wonder why this topic keeps getting updated.*


Simple - Because you're wrong and the below is why.

I am NOT a software savvy person yet _I'm enjoying it_.

Does everything I need it to do without all the fuss and whatever else vs what Windows can put you through (BSOD's and so on).
However _if you choose the wrong distro_ I can see what you are saying being the case. 

TBH and real about it, just because you've had a bad experience doesn't mean everyone will or has either.

The two or three distros everyone seems to like are Mint, Arch, Ubuntu and the other one I like personally, Peppermint are good choices here.
Arch and Ubuntu does take a little work but it's manageable, Mint and Peppermint themselves are the most Windows-like distros I'm aware of.
Yes, I've used all I've named and that's been the results I've gotten from each one.

Using Peppermint because, unlike Mint it actually works with my newer AMD card (Radeon VII), Mint doesn't and always throws itself into CPU rendering mode with that card in use - I can't say if any other newer AMD GPU's are treated like this with Mint or not but that too has been my experience.

I'll sum up by saying one person's singular experience should not be the basis for everyone else's choice.


----------



## Solaris17 (Jul 1, 2021)

night.fox said:


> nyway, I think I have a general idea that most of TPU linux users are mostly Ubuntu or ubuntu based and/or Debian. Not so much love on Fedora, OpenSuse and Arch.



Actually use opensuse as my main distro. Though I posted screenshots of my budgie laptop. As for Arch, thats a no from me. 

Most of my backend servers are nix, with many running rhel and anything public facing running freeBSD (my fav server OS)


----------



## Bones (Jul 1, 2021)

I'll just add that the user's choice of which distro to use is important.
Most of these can be researched and you'll get an idea of what it takes to use it from a Linux vs Windows standpoint.

As I've indicated the two "Best" distros _for a direct migration_ from Windows are Mint and Peppermint, both are almost directly comparable to Windows that way and will at least introduce people to Linux, plus the price is right too (Free).
Again, it's best to research your choice and be sure it's what you want and go from there.
I too have been fooled by distros seeming (By description) to be "OK" but once I started using them I was like  so I had to leave those alone in the end.

I guess one way of putting it is there are different distros for different skill levels with linux because that really is the case.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jul 1, 2021)

Bones said:


> Simple - Because you're wrong and the below is why.
> 
> I am NOT a software savvy person yet _I'm enjoying it_.
> 
> ...


i think you should rethink about peppermint. 






						DistroWatch.com: Peppermint OS
					

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.




					distrowatch.com
				




last update was 2 yrs ago but its active


----------



## Bones (Jul 1, 2021)

night.fox said:


> i think you should rethink about peppermint.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm aware and have been keeping tabs on what's going on with it.
There is talk Peppermint 11 may not even be in the end with the passing of the distro's author.

ATM it's working fine and running it for the reasons I gave for leaving Mint, if it doesn't work with the hardware I've got then it just doesn't work.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 1, 2021)

Bones said:


> There is talk Peppermint 11 may not even be in the end with the passing of the distro's author.


Wait, Mark died? That sucks... 

Edit: That was 18 months ago. Peppermint had a lot of promise.


----------



## Anarchy0110 (Jul 1, 2021)

birdie said:


> Linux on the desktop: an infinite source of pain.
> 
> Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.
> 
> I wonder why this topic keeps getting updated.



Mate, use your time to do more valuable/meaningful stuff instead of bashing others just because you can't do it yourself. 
Cheers!


----------



## Mescalamba (Jul 1, 2021)

So far only infinite source of pain was Win 10. And I even run version that has far less problems than regular ones (cause it cant get other than security update). Didnt prevent one security update to overwrite ownership of ALL files on PC tho.

Apart that, I love how even simple things just dont work.

You install system on PC n1. You install identical system on PC n2. You connect both to your wi-fi router. You put them in same workgroup. You make sure assigned IP is just one number from each other. You enable sharing. They cant see or find each other. 

I mean, how.. how can MS fk up something so basic?

Ofc I solved that, but its unfathomable how something so basic just doesnt work.


Also game I used to play (addictive as heck so I stopped), one patch.. worked only on latest version of Win and wasnt working on any other. There wasnt any new feature tied to that specific version, it just didnt work on anything prior to that. Cool, eh? (Wasnt game dev intent, they eventually fixed it.)

Btw. quality control on MS store is also something. Some stuff is bordering on trojan/spyware stuff, if it works at all. All reviews are botted to death. State of MS store is basically worth suing them..

Yea, MS great, really. But thing is, most corporations just suck hard. Not just MS. For example quality of firmware patches for Samsung TVs is also spectacular, last for example completely broken HDMI 2.1.


----------



## AusWolf (Jul 1, 2021)

birdie said:


> Linux on the desktop: an infinite source of pain.
> 
> Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.
> 
> I wonder why this topic keeps getting updated.


I agree and disagree.

Linux is really easy to install, configure and use for general tasks. It has a hassle-free office tool, and a well-known web browser and media player pre-installed. The new application store on Ubuntu and Mint is super easy as well. Security is also better than Windows UAC.

Problems start when you need to run advanced commands. I just can't comprehend why they still can't get rid of that stupid 1980s terminal. I'm not gonna memorise a million commands for stuff that could easily be done through the GUI. People can call me lazy, but it's just the sad truth, sorry. Also, like I mentioned, LibreOffice is only good for working on your own. Once you need to send your documents to someone, you're screwed. Game compatibility isn't always trouble-free either.


----------



## Mindweaver (Jul 1, 2021)

I loaded Mint on my old rog laptop with a gtx 670 and everything worked. I'm not sure I'll stay on it more than a week or two just to play around. I don't know it's growing on me. My main Linux laptop is an old Samsung AMD A6 and it's getting long in the tooth. I was planing to retire it and use this Asus Rog laptop it's beefer but it's huge.. and has a 180watt psu.. The Samsung is nice and thin and it actually holds a charge.. lol The ROG last like 10 minutes.. haha


----------



## johnspack (Jul 1, 2021)

And after several years of playing with linux distros...  I've been using windows since 3.0....  I settled on Kubuntu.  My 2nd choice is Archlinux,  but only enthusiasts need apply for that.
I use WinHQ wine,  staging.  I can run pretty much any windows app or game I dam well please.  Of course I've spent several years acclimating myself to linux from windows.
You can run the newest versions of ms office just fine.  Also I saw someone say something about Chrome.  There is a native linux version of Chrome,  don't worry...  be happy heh!


----------



## claes (Jul 1, 2021)

AusWolf said:


> Problems start when you need to run advanced commands. I just can't comprehend why they still can't get rid of that stupid 1980s terminal. I'm not gonna memorise a million commands for stuff that could easily be done through the GUI. People can call me lazy, but it's just the sad truth, sorry. Also, like I mentioned, LibreOffice is only good for working on your own. Once you need to send your documents to someone, you're screwed. Game compatibility isn't always trouble-free either.


Out of curiosity, what sort of tasks do you need the command line for?

I mean, surely you understand why the command line exists, but I imagine you mean something like “common user tasks that are more accessible on other OS’s require knowledge of bash to execute”


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jul 1, 2021)

birdie said:


> Linux on the desktop: an infinite source of pain.
> 
> Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.
> 
> I wonder why this topic keeps getting updated.


I dont know if you are the author but you just started some anger from Linux fans because of your added commentary. "*Don't believe anyone who says otherwise - you can try it of course and then run away with third-degree burns.*"


All TPU Linux users, hold your horses and just spend some time reading the article.The article is actually good. You may or you may not encounter what the problems are but Majority of what is written in the article are right.


He put a disclaimer as well. The problem is just the one who shared this article added a negativity on the title of the link and that tends us to react negative



> Here are a few important considerations before you start reading this article:
> 
> If you believe Linux is perfect and it has no problems, please close this page.
> If you think any Linux criticism is only meant to groundlessly revile Linux, please close this page.
> ...


----------



## johnspack (Jul 1, 2021)

Cmd exsists in windows as well "the command line terminal".  The most powerful commands are in a windows cmd box.  Ever heard of powershell?
Jeez,  cmon.   Windows,  aka originally dos,  stole a lot from unix.  Which linux is based on.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jul 1, 2021)

claes said:


> Out of curiosity, what sort of tasks do you need the command line for?
> 
> I mean, surely you understand why the command line exists, but I imagine you mean something like “common user tasks that are more accessible on other OS’s require knowledge of bash to execute”


actually the CLI is really helpful when a software is not behaving properly. You launch the CLI, and start the program by typing the program name.. i.e. steam or firefox  , it will show in there what the program is doing, or what the error is or warning (if there is of course). Try it


----------



## The red spirit (Jul 1, 2021)

claes said:


> Out of curiosity, what sort of tasks do you need the command line for?
> 
> I mean, surely you understand why the command line exists, but I imagine you mean something like “common user tasks that are more accessible on other OS’s require knowledge of bash to execute”


I needed it to mess with pulseaudio bullshit and to install FreeOffice. I attempted to use it to install drivers, but it didn't work (neither I succeeded installing FreeOffice tbh). Some distros don't have any package manager, so you need to sudo it. I also needed it a lot to download CPU monitoring tool and then for hardware monitoring. It's so much needed that realistically, you absolutely need it for 40% of all stuff that you do. On something like raspberry Pi, at least in past, you had to use it to get any software.


----------



## AusWolf (Jul 1, 2021)

johnspack said:


> Cmd exsists in windows as well "the command line terminal".  The most powerful commands are in a windows cmd box.  Ever heard of powershell?
> Jeez,  cmon.   Windows,  aka originally dos,  stole a lot from unix.  Which linux is based on.


The fact that they exist doesn't mean you need them like you need the Linux terminal. 



claes said:


> Out of curiosity, what sort of tasks do you need the command line for?


For example, a couple weeks ago, I got a Raspberry pi with an attached HDD from a friend. Perfect home server / nas, he said. You only need one simple program to set it up (I can't remember its name). How does that look in my head? Attach Raspberry to a display, install software, do the settings, done. Is it like that in real life? Noooo, I had to Google for half an hour to get the 20 something terminal commands that install and configure the software for me. Why??? 



claes said:


> I mean, surely you understand why the command line exists, but I imagine you mean something like “common user tasks that are more accessible on other OS’s require knowledge of bash to execute”


That's exactly what I mean.  Simple things that could be done through GUI should be done through GUI. Leave the terminal for programmers and debugging purposes.


----------



## Mescalamba (Jul 1, 2021)

You definitely need CMD and PowerShell in Win 10. I use that more often than I would like..


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Jul 2, 2021)

AusWolf said:


> Problems start when you need to run advanced commands. I just can't comprehend why they still can't get rid of that stupid 1980s terminal. I'm not gonna memorise a million commands for stuff that could easily be done through the GUI. People can call me lazy, but it's just the sad truth, sorry. Also, like I mentioned, LibreOffice is only good for working on your own. Once you need to send your documents to someone, you're screwed. Game compatibility isn't always trouble-free either.



CLI commands have a couple of potential advantages over GUI versions:

1.  Easier to write.  You don't have to worry about choosing a graphical toolkit, making sure all the visual elements play nicely together, and designing the micro-GUI for your GUI tool
2.  Scripting.  Granted, many (most?) GUI programs on *NIX are frontends for a CLI command and can thus be called from a script, but scriptability is a pretty powerful tool.
3.  Portability.  This is mosly important in Linux land, where there are two variants of X and at least three major, plus more minor, desktop toolkits/environments.
4.  Flexibility.  As mentioned, there's stuff in Windows on CLI that is great for admins and power users that doesn't exist in the GUI.   Robocopy is one, formatting and partitioning tools for a couple others.

Yeah, maybe some of this stuff could be enabled in GUI-land.  But in my experience, the stuff that's currently CLI-only probably shouldn't be easily accessible to users with a surface understanding of the environment.


----------



## Aquinus (Jul 2, 2021)

I use the terminal every day, but I'm also a software engineer so I use it for almost half of what I do. My work day usually starts with opening iterm, tmux, and a proxy to the dev database cluster. If I need to start the entire application, I'm doing that in the terminal. Before I switched to using IntelliJ, I'd use vim for editing stuff too and still sometimes do. Generally speaking, normal users don't care about the terminal or scripting. They want to be able to look at Facebook and cat pictures.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jul 2, 2021)

So this thread has 7k views, 126 replies in one weeks' time.


----------



## ThrashZone (Jul 2, 2021)

Hi,
Yeah if I hadn't built my z490 rig I might not even have started using linux again
Haven't had any driver issues so far on mint cinn really at all I run 5.0 still no issues

I used linux solus plasma first it was nice and all but the newer internet nic wouldn't come up on startup so it was pretty annoying to disable it and enable it again to get internet
Plus support was lacking big time some needed wedgets/.. were not compatible pretty much why it's best to stick with the large distros like mint mate or cinnamon


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jul 2, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Yeah if I hadn't built my z490 rig I might not even have started using linux again
> Haven't had any driver issues so far on mint cinn really at all I run 5.0 still no issues
> 
> ...



newer hardware requires newer kernel and mint uses an older kernel. When I upgrade my gpu to 6900xt, try to install mint, as it was my favorite distro, it boots fine and installs fine. After full update and first reboot, blank screen. Thats why I distro hop and found manjaro, a rolling release distro and uses newer kernel. eventually leads me to arch because of my newer laptop which requires newer kernel since patch is there. But arch is my favorite now. So why dont you try manjaro?


----------



## Space Lynx (Jul 2, 2021)

night.fox said:


> newer hardware requires newer kernel and mint uses an older kernel. When I upgrade my gpu to 6900xt, try to install mint, as it was my favorite distro, it boots fine and installs fine. After full update and first reboot, blank screen. Thats why I distro hop and found manjaro, a rolling release distro and uses newer kernel. eventually leads me to arch because of my newer laptop which requires newer kernel since patch is there. But arch is my favorite now. So why dont you try manjaro?



so if I didn't sel my 5600x/rx 6800 rig I wouldn't be able to use mint with that setup???


----------



## ThrashZone (Jul 2, 2021)

night.fox said:


> newer hardware requires newer kernel and mint uses an older kernel. When I upgrade my gpu to 6900xt, try to install mint, as it was my favorite distro, it boots fine and installs fine. After full update and first reboot, blank screen. Thats why I distro hop and found manjaro, a rolling release distro and uses newer kernel. eventually leads me to arch because of my newer laptop which requires newer kernel since patch is there. But arch is my favorite now. So why dont you try manjaro?


Hi,
I used mint cinn 3-4 years ago I think it was version 17.1 so I just went back now it's at 20.1 and it worked so I stopped looking


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jul 2, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> so if I didn't sel my 5600x/rx 6800 rig I wouldn't be able to use mint with that setup???


I cant say. I really dont know why. But that is my experience. I have tried various distro. kde neon, debian, mx linux, kubuntu, ubuntu, mint, pop os and it just refuse to boot properly after full update. Hence observed the pattern and all ubuntu base. Fedora worked but damn that distro is just so slow. I dont get it as to why linus torvaldz says that is his favorite distro. ha ha..

take note that it is before gnome 40 and ubuntu 21.04 is out. Didnt bother to try it. And newer mint still uses 5.4 kernel which is meh... i know i will have issues unless I patch that kernel or create my own kernel


ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> I used mint cinn 3-4 years ago I think it was version 17.1 so I just went back now it's at 20.1 and it worked so I stopped looking



Ah great. Mint is really user friendly.


----------



## Aquinus (Jul 2, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> so if I didn't sel my 5600x/rx 6800 rig I wouldn't be able to use mint with that setup???


Depends on the driver that you use. If you have something brand new and the open source parts haven't made it into a mainline kernel or something, then you might have to use something like AMDGPU Pro for it to work initially. AMD's open source drivers lag behind the Pro driver a little bit in terms of support for the newest hardware, but that usually gets squared away pretty quickly. Stability tends to take a little bit of time though. In all seriousness AMDGPU is a great driver and has been a massive improvement for AMD card users in Linux. Support out of the box these days is pretty darn good, particularly if you're running mainline kernels.


----------



## ThrashZone (Jul 2, 2021)

night.fox said:


> Ah great. Mint is really user friendly.


Hi,
Yeah I had things I wanted to do mostly movie downloads since I cut the cable finally lol and I looked at all of solus and also mate and just ended up on cinn again from lack of time to try other distros 
I'm easily pleased and as long as this wedget I believe it is Indicator-cpufreq works to easily kick linux into performance power mode I'm open to try others eventually but again I haven't had any issues on z490 at all driver wise yet and I install all updates as they come along to cinn.

I was originally thinking about zorin but blew it off.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Jul 2, 2021)

Aquinus said:


> Depends on the driver that you use. If you have something brand new and the open source parts haven't made it into a mainline kernel or something, then you might have to use something like AMDGPU Pro for it to work initially. *AMD's open source drivers lag behind the Pro driver a little bit in terms of support for the newest hardware*, but that usually gets squared away pretty quickly. Stability tends to take a little bit of time though. In all seriousness AMDGPU is a great driver and has been a massive improvement for AMD card users in Linux. Support out of the box these days is pretty darn good, particularly if you're running mainline kernels.


aha. Now I know why. I think that is the reason why I had issues on distro that uses older kernel. Now i know.. cool. Thanks...


----------



## ThrashZone (Jul 2, 2021)

Hi,
Solus plasma was my favorite.


----------



## AusWolf (Jul 2, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> CLI commands have a couple of potential advantages over GUI versions:
> 
> 1.  Easier to write.  You don't have to worry about choosing a graphical toolkit, making sure all the visual elements play nicely together, and designing the micro-GUI for your GUI tool
> 2.  Scripting.  Granted, many (most?) GUI programs on *NIX are frontends for a CLI command and can thus be called from a script, but scriptability is a pretty powerful tool.
> ...


These are arguments for programmes and power users. How easy it is to write a program with or without GUI doesn't concern the end user.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 3, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> so if I didn't sel my 5600x/rx 6800 rig I wouldn't be able to use mint with that setup???


No that's not the way it works, they're just yanking your chain... Download Mint, install it on your hardware of choice, enjoy.


----------



## johnspack (Jul 3, 2021)

Well for newbies,  it's looks like MX Linux has taken over the lead.  Manjaro,  an Arch disto is 2nd,  and Mint is 3rd.  Check Distrowatch.com....
Well,  Manjaro is just popular...  but MX Linux is beating MInt....


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 3, 2021)

johnspack said:


> Well for newbies,  it's looks like MX Linux has taken over the lead.  Manjaro,  an Arch disto is 2nd,  and Mint is 3rd.  Check Distrowatch.com....
> Well,  Manjaro is just popular...  but MX Linux is beating MInt....


Popularity does not ensure usable functionality.


----------



## Bones (Jul 3, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> No that's not the way it works, they're just yanking your chain... Download Mint, install it on your hardware of choice, enjoy.


The thing is about mint is this and I did run into this problem with it, said as much about it too:



Bones said:


> Using Peppermint because, unlike Mint it actually works with my newer AMD card (Radeon VII), Mint doesn't and always throws itself into CPU rendering mode with that card in use - *I can't say if any other newer AMD GPU's are treated like this with Mint or not* but that too has been my experience.


Mint _is_ a good distro.
In fact probrably the best overall but I'll say again, if it's going to be problematic with newer AMD GPU's then it's still a problem regardless of how good the distro is.
I tried checking for updates and so on but with the card I've got nothing worked. It was always running in CPU rendering mode which just killed performance of the entire system.

After I gave Peppermint a shot it worked and that was that.
Speaking of the future of the Peppermint distro, I'm keeping an eye on how that develops with it, if Peppermint 11 is finally made then I'd have to see how well that turns out and it has been said already the team is working on it.

A previous point about it being at least two years since the current version (10) was released _is a valid one_, I'm hoping the team can keep it going. Since the 10 version is still current one could run it now if they want, people are always jumping distro's anyway so it's not a huge deal to go from one to the next if it doesn't really work out.

ATM I do have MX setup and so far it's not been bad at all, I'm still getting an idea of just how it is but can already say it's not bad.

I'll throw in a bit of personal Linux history about a distro that was released several years ago I was into but it died out, namely ArtistX Linux.
It was THE distro that got me into Linux in the first place and familiar with how Linux is and so on, but that distro is way old now (Last version was from 2013).

The author of it (from what I can tell) seemed to loose interest and the latest version of it was crap in comparison to the older ones.

Still have a disk with it I could install but as said it's well beyond outdated now.


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## lexluthermiester (Jul 3, 2021)

Bones said:


> In fact probrably the best overall but I'll say again, if it's going to be problematic with newer AMD GPU's then it's still a problem regardless of how good the distro is.
> I tried checking for updates and so on but with the card I've got nothing worked. It was always running in CPU rendering mode which just killed performance of the entire system.


Ah but you never said whether you used the open source drivers or the official driver set from AMD. And I know they have a set for Radeon7. The open source drivers for AMD gpu's are good but not perfect. The official set from AMD has no known flaws last time I checked.


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## Bones (Jul 3, 2021)

I tried the ones Mint suggested when I checked for updates and had it install those but of course it didn't work. 
I can try it again soon to be sure which version (Source or official) it was leading me to and see if it works then and also know (Remember) which of the two versions it's installing. 

I want to say it was the official drivers but can't honestly say that was the case since it's been awhile. All I can can say though is what happened and the outcome from it all.


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## The red spirit (Jul 3, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> 1.  Easier to write.  You don't have to worry about choosing a graphical toolkit, making sure all the visual elements play nicely together, and designing the micro-GUI for your GUI tool
> 2.  Scripting.  Granted, many (most?) GUI programs on *NIX are frontends for a CLI command and can thus be called from a script, but scriptability is a pretty powerful tool.
> 3.  Portability.  This is mosly important in Linux land, where there are two variants of X and at least three major, plus more minor, desktop toolkits/environments.
> 4.  Flexibility.  As mentioned, there's stuff in Windows on CLI that is great for admins and power users that doesn't exist in the GUI.   Robocopy is one, formatting and partitioning tools for a couple others.


So it's still useless for actual users. Meh.


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## lexluthermiester (Jul 3, 2021)

Bones said:


> I tried the ones Mint suggested when I checked for updates and had it install those but of course it didn't work.
> I can try it again soon to be sure which version (Source or official) it was leading me to and see if it works then and also know (Remember) which of the two versions it's installing.
> 
> I want to say it was the official drivers but can't honestly say that was the case since it's been awhile. All I can can say though is what happened and the outcome from it all.


Cool. I think if you verify you're using the official set your problem will be gone.


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## Ja.KooLit (Jul 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> So it's still useless for actual users. Meh.


It depends from person to person and "actual users". I am not a programmer nor I can call myself a power user. But I have gone through Arch installation and eventually got comfortable in using CLI and I found it more easier to use and much faster to use.


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## techtard (Jul 3, 2021)

lexluthermiester said:


> Ah but you never said whether you used the open source drivers or the official driver set from AMD. And I know they have a set for Radeon7. The open source drivers for AMD gpu's are good but not perfect. The official set from AMD has no known flaws last time I checked.


I've been rolling exclusively with the open source drivers for years and they have improved by leaps and bounds. Now they're almost seamless. The only times I had problems were when I was using the cutting edge *buntu repositories from oibaf or padoka and they were briefly borked. But they got sorted out pretty quickly.
It seems that in benchmarks, the open source drivers have been faster than the closed drivers for a long time. At least last time I checked.


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## claes (Jul 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> So it's still useless for actual users. Meh.


Dude, we get it — you aren’t a user who makes registry edits to customize their experience, finds themselves using complex file system tools, has had to edit drivers to maintain compatibility with Windows updates/legacy hardware, have discovered all of the tools powershell offers, runs servers, writes scripts, enjoys the tens of thousands of free apps and tools that WSL gives you access to, cares about how their operating system works, bothers to read the docs, etc.

Stop trolling, or at least try to install Windows 10 on a machine from the aughts (or 11 on a five year old machine for that matter) and get back to us. Or I dunno buy a Mac where everything “just works” (you’ll still be on Unix though) or buy into cloud gaming.

I’m sorry that Linux didn’t work out for you, but there’s no reason to be condescending about it. “Actual users” include my 70+ parents that use Linux, people raised on DOS, tinkerers, people who enjoy privacy and ownership of their system, enthusiasts, tens of thousands of workplace users, every android Mac and PlayStation user, developers, programmers, scientists, AV enthusiasts, almost everyone who runs any server, most enterprises, security specialists, the stock exchange and its traders, NASA, the cloud and web in general, nvidia, AMD, Intel, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft (apparently their staff loves Macs), Google, your average wordpress user (60% of website owners), serious Bitcoin miners, almost everyone who is developing and designing PC components... It’s a lot more common and much more hardware agnostic than you are giving it credit for based on your apparently limited and frustrating personal experience. Some us even prefer a terminal to GUIs (mice slow me down). It’s nbd.


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## AusWolf (Jul 3, 2021)

claes said:


> Dude, we get it — you aren’t a user who makes registry edits to customize their experience, finds themselves using complex file system tools, has had to edit drivers to maintain compatibility with Windows updates/legacy hardware, have discovered all of the tools powershell offers, runs servers, writes scripts, enjoys the tens of thousands of free apps and tools that WSL gives you access to, cares about how their operating system works, bothers to read the docs, etc.


That's the point: some of us don't need Powershell to do the things we want to do on an OS. And that's fine with Windows, but the terminal is Linux's bread and butter. If this wasn't the case, and compatibility with Windows apps was better, I'm pretty sure a lot more people (at least tech-oriented ones) would turn towards Linux. For example, I would.



claes said:


> Stop trolling, or at least try to install Windows 10 on a machine from the aughts (or 11 on a five year old machine for that matter) and get back to us. Or I dunno buy a Mac where everything “just works” (you’ll still be on Unix though) or buy into cloud gaming.


I haven't had any trouble installing Windows 10 on anything, so I don't know what you're talking about. I also don't know what this has got to do with the topic at hand.

As for trolling: I don't think saying that the terminal is irrelevant for most end users counts as trolling, but telling other forum members what to do sure does.



night.fox said:


> It depends from person to person and "actual users". I am not a programmer nor I can call myself a power user. But I have gone through Arch installation and eventually got comfortable in using CLI and I found it more easier to use and much faster to use.


I guess your brain works that way, which is cool.  As for me, having to memorise command line instructions is just as freaky as having to memorise useless formulae for science class used to be.


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## The red spirit (Jul 3, 2021)

claes said:


> Stop trolling, or at least try to install Windows 10 on a machine from the aughts (or 11 on a five year old machine for that matter) and get back to us. Or I dunno buy a Mac where everything “just works” (you’ll still be on Unix though) or buy into cloud gaming.


I'm not trolling, I just think that linux in general has too many problems to actually be used. And linux CLI isn't particularly good CLI either. And Mac just plainly sucks, so that's also hard nope.




claes said:


> I’m sorry that Linux didn’t work out for you, but there’s no reason to be condescending about it. “Actual users” include my 70+ parents that use Linux, people raised on DOS, tinkerers, people who enjoy privacy and ownership of their system, enthusiasts, tens of thousands of workplace users, every android Mac and PlayStation user, developers, programmers, scientists, AV enthusiasts, almost everyone who runs any server, most enterprises, security specialists, the stock exchange and its traders, NASA, the cloud and web in general, nvidia, AMD, Intel, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft (apparently their staff loves Macs), Google, your average wordpress user (60% of website owners), serious Bitcoin miners, almost everyone who is developing and designing PC components... It’s a lot more common and much more hardware agnostic than you are giving it credit for based on your apparently limited and frustrating personal experience. Some us even prefer a terminal to GUIs (mice slow me down). It’s nbd.


Dude, some linux things are certainly great, no discussion about that, but as long as there are some fatal flaws that i mentioned, it still remains as cool concept, but unusable in real life for home user.


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## Ja.KooLit (Jul 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> I'm not trolling, I just think that linux in general has too many problems to actually be used. And linux CLI isn't particularly good CLI either. And Mac just plainly sucks, so that's also hard nope.
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, some linux things are certainly great, no discussion about that, but as long as there are some fatal flaws that i mentioned, it still remains as cool concept, but unusable in real life for home user.


Dude, you are clearly trolling now. You are in a linux group / thread discussion and talking against linux. thats already trolling


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## ThrashZone (Jul 3, 2021)

Hi,
From what I've found out linux support quality has dropped a bunch since mint 17, this was a basic issue many in the USA have I'm sure

I asked back then how to fix my clock from being 6 hours off when I boot back into windows bad thing linux was changing the bios clock too which is what is really annoying and pretty much why windows was so far off 6 hours to be exact lol
I got a nice response to use and it fixed it 

Of course in version 20 it didn't work so I asked again same linux mint forum site and got nothing but windows is wrong and linux is right blah..... 
So I had to search and found the string on ghacks.net to use this one 
`sudo timedatectl set-local-rtc 1`

Not sure why anyone would want their bios clock set in a time region other than their local region but I sure do not so not all peaches and cream in linux or their support either lol


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## AusWolf (Jul 3, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> From what I've found out linux support quality has dropped a bunch since mint 17, this was a basic issue many in the USA have I'm sure
> 
> I asked back then how to fix my clock from being 6 hours off when I boot back into windows bad thing linux was changing the bios clock too which is what is really annoying and pretty much why windows was so far off 6 hours to be exact lol
> ...


That's weird. Did you try manually setting the clock in bios?


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## ThrashZone (Jul 3, 2021)

AusWolf said:


> That's weird. Did you try manually setting the clock in bios?


Hi,
Over and over and linux kept changing the bios clock, really one of the scariest parts of using linux frankly it can and does mess with bios where as windows does not
Windows reads the bios and clock it's set too.


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## AusWolf (Jul 3, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Over and over and linux kept changing the bios clock, really one of the scariest parts of using linux frankly it can and does mess with bios where as windows does not
> Windows reads the bios and clock it's set too.


And of course you need to google for a terminal command to set it right.  Windows only needs internet time and automatic time zone enabled/disabled, which are just two clicks away from the desktop.
This is the kind of unnecessary nuisance with Linux that I was talking about.


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## Ja.KooLit (Jul 3, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> From what I've found out linux support quality has dropped a bunch since mint 17, this was a basic issue many in the USA have I'm sure
> 
> I asked back then how to fix my clock from being 6 hours off when I boot back into windows bad thing linux was changing the bios clock too which is what is really annoying and pretty much why windows was so far off 6 hours to be exact lol
> ...


its actually easier if you change registry in windows to make it thinks that harware time is utc. Linux and Mac OS by default thinks that bios time is utc

*





						System time - ArchWiki
					






					wiki.archlinux.org
				




after that, you will not encounter anymore different time. even my windows 10 upgraded to windows 11 still fine*


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## ThrashZone (Jul 3, 2021)

night.fox said:


> its actually easier if you change registry in windows to make it thinks that harware time is utc. Linux and Mac OS by default thinks that bios time is utc
> 
> *
> 
> ...


Hi,
Now you're talking like linux support 
It's better if linux would stop defaulting to using a different time zone somewhere in the EU and changing the bios clock in the process.
I want my bios clock same as my wall clock... lol


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## Ja.KooLit (Jul 3, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Now you're talking like linux support
> It's better if linux would stop defaulting to using a different time zone somewhere in the EU and changing the bios clock in the process.
> I want my bios clock same as my wall clock... lol


eh well then you just have to deal with keep changing time all the time. Unfortunately, all linux was set to utc by default. You may want to request linus torvaldz to push that in kernel, time will be set to local time instead of utc

because what happen is, when you boot to windows, it changes the bios clock to local time. Once you boot to linux, it then thinks that hardware is utc. if you apply the fix, at some point, that fix will be replace. I dont exactly know how or why even you set it to persistent.

This problem has been known for very long time and still happening. I know its annoying, but how often do you check the time using your bios? How many times you access your bios say in a day? Just a food for thought


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## ThrashZone (Jul 3, 2021)

night.fox said:


> eh well then you just have to deal with keep changing time all the time. Unfortunately, all linux was set to utc by default. You may want to request linus torvaldz to push that in kernel, time will be set to local time instead of utc


Hi,
Once I changed linux default I haven't had to change the bios clock again or windows so all is done and my bios clock is same as my local time.
Talking to linux support is like talking to a coffee table lol


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## Ja.KooLit (Jul 3, 2021)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Once I changed linux default I haven't had to change the bios clock again or windows so all is done and my bios clock is same as my local time.
> Talking to linux support is like talking to a coffee table lol


your username fits you well


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## ThrashZone (Jul 3, 2021)

night.fox said:


> your username fits you well


Hi,
I'm really not sure which is worse win-10 support or linux support lol it's baffling each are pretty hardheaded and think their way or the highway.


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## Easy Rhino (Jul 3, 2021)

Hello, I believe the OP has made his point and this thread can be closed. I invite OP to frequent the Linux/BSD/Mac OS X forum with questions and experiences.


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