Do you use Linux?

[remixedcat]

This is just a small rant about my most recent experience with Linux: Got a Dell Latitude D630, is now running Lubuntu 24 something from a USB stick. Fine. No WLAN drivers though. Out of curiosity I opened additional drivers and after the system has scanned for avaliable drivers it list a driver for the WNIC, and I thought "oh cool at least the drivers come with the .iso so I can install them without having to find a cable and dig out the router and connect the laptop to it, has Linux grown up??" but NO. That's not how it works. The OS knows exactly which drivers I need for the WLAN but I need internet to download them. And this mirrors all my complaints about Linux: the faff surrounding it. This is a bog standard Dell D630, an incredibly common computer back in the day, but you need internet to download the thing that lets you connect to the internet and this was true in its hayday as well. I have never in my life used any Linux distro that has just worked. Most common has been WLAN issues but if WLAN works the "Sleep on closing lid" thing doesn't work. If both of those work the touchpad will be wonky, like double touch to click doesn't work. Whenever I dip into Linux I always come to the same conclution: It's not ready for normal end user use. Perhaps strangely the most complete distro I have ever tried, as in the one with the fewest problems, was Slitaz.

Broadcom wireless?? Those are a bitch and a half in Linux. Intel or Realtek are much better. If you can... replace the WLAN w intel WLAN card.

Oh and if you have an android phone you can share your wifi connection by USB to ethernet tethering!

Try that and connect the phone to the laptop and then go to the connection options in android and enable USB ethernet tethering and the laptop thinks it's connected with ethernet and you can download the drivers that way if you can't connect to an actual ethernet..

 

[leonavis]

Yea, I also replaced the broadcom WLan/BT (which did work, but unreliably) with an Intel card in my laptop. Works like a charm and it's quite easy to do.

 

[remixedcat]

Yea, I also replaced the broadcom WLan/BT (which did work, but unreliably) with an Intel card in my laptop. Works like a charm and it's quite easy to do.

Good

 

[Shihab]

Tumbleweed gang

How does it fare with Nvidia gpus? I was thinking of giving it -or Leap- a try.

 

[Frick]

Broadcom wireless?? Those are a bitch and a half in Linux. Intel or Realtek are much better. If you can... replace the WLAN w intel WLAN card.

Oh and if you have an android phone you can share your wifi connection by USB to ethernet tethering!

Try that and connect the phone to the laptop and then go to the connection options in android and enable USB ethernet tethering and the laptop thinks it's connected with ethernet and you can download the drivers that way if you can't connect to an actual ethernet..

Yea, I also replaced the broadcom WLan/BT (which did work, but unreliably) with an Intel card in my laptop. Works like a charm and it's quite easy to do.

Perhaps strangely my biggest problems with WLAN in Linux has historically been with Intel cards. I don't remember the details, but they had a specific model that required extensive fiddling with the terminal to get working. I really don't remember what model it was, or even what I did to get it to work, I bought an old laptop and I think I actually made sure it had an Intel WNIC because they were supposed to be better but again NO when dealing with Linux you never get to assume anything. This was on ... probably L/Xubuntu.

 

[Solaris17]

How does it fare with Nvidia gpus? I was thinking of giving it -or Leap- a try.

Tumbleweed at least worked great. The trick is to just use the Suse drivers. Nvidia makes the build for them so I just leave the default repo. You get in trouble when you start doing crazy shit like downloading the RPM from nvidia and pulling in a bunch of custom dependencies. They are always current as far as nvidia linux drivers go, but since you need to wait for the suse specific build, the lag time can be 1-2 weeks in my experience. It never really bothered me personally though.

IF you do want to do crazy dumb shit, suse does give you a "hard way" guide.

SDB:NVIDIA the hard way - openSUSE Wiki

en.opensuse.org

 

[remixedcat]

Perhaps strangely my biggest problems with WLAN in Linux has historically been with Intel cards. I don't remember the details, but they had a specific model that required extensive fiddling with the terminal to get working. I really don't remember what model it was, or even what I did to get it to work, I bought an old laptop and I think I actually made sure it had an Intel WNIC because they were supposed to be better but again NO when dealing with Linux you never get to assume anything. This was on ... probably L/Xubuntu.

Omg oof!!! What card is in that dell laptop??

 

[Jarmer]

I agree with @Solaris17 - I personally have never used Leap, but lots of people use nvidia hardware with TW without issues. And yes also agree on the repos. Whenever possible for ANYTHING I always stick with the official repos.

 

[Frick]

Omg oof!!! What card is in that dell laptop??

Broadcom, but still. A lack of drivers isn't a big a problem as it requiring fiddling beyond installing drivers.

 

[remixedcat]

Broadcom, but still. A lack of drivers isn't a big a problem as it requiring fiddling beyond installing drivers.

What kinda fiddling you had to do?

I agree with @Solaris17 - I personally have never used Leap, but lots of people use nvidia hardware with TW without issues. And yes also agree on the repos. Whenever possible for ANYTHING I always stick with the official repos.

I used leap on a Dell Latitude E5420 I used to have and it worked great. No issues even w WLAN it was an intel adapter.

Sold that laptop to mom but she kept her old windows drive and stuck it in there. I kept the drive I have leap on and will prolly use for another laptop

 

[Frick]

What kinda fiddling you had to do?

I really don't remember, but it was a known problem with that specific WNIC and Linux, but it was a pretty common model, and the computer was like Dell Latitude, or possibly a HP/Compaq Elitebook. Kernel stuff maybe? Modifying drivers? Again I really don't remember.

 

[unwind-protect]

This is just a small rant about my most recent experience with Linux: Got a Dell Latitude D630, is now running Lubuntu 24 something from a USB stick. Fine. No WLAN drivers though. Out of curiosity I opened additional drivers and after the system has scanned for avaliable drivers it list a driver for the WNIC, and I thought "oh cool at least the drivers come with the .iso so I can install them without having to find a cable and dig out the router and connect the laptop to it, has Linux grown up??" but NO. That's not how it works. The OS knows exactly which drivers I need for the WLAN but I need internet to download them. And this mirrors all my complaints about Linux: the faff surrounding it. This is a bog standard Dell D630, an incredibly common computer back in the day, but you need internet to download the thing that lets you connect to the internet and this was true in its hayday as well. I have never in my life used any Linux distro that has just worked. Most common has been WLAN issues but if WLAN works the "Sleep on closing lid" thing doesn't work. If both of those work the touchpad will be wonky, like double touch to click doesn't work. Whenever I dip into Linux I always come to the same conclution: It's not ready for normal end user use. Perhaps strangely the most complete distro I have ever tried, as in the one with the fewest problems, was Slitaz.

It probably has the wireless chip on a m.2 card. Exchange that for a decent Intel one. Only costs a couple minutes and $15. Plus you get the pure joy of pounding the Broadcom junk into the ground afterwards.

 

[remixedcat]

I really don't remember, but it was a known problem with that specific WNIC and Linux, but it was a pretty common model, and the computer was like Dell Latitude, or possibly a HP/Compaq Elitebook. Kernel stuff maybe? Modifying drivers? Again I really don't remember.

Oh... what's your current laptop??

 

[Frick]

Oh... what's your current laptop??

Doesn't really matter for the topic at hand (see signature, haven't tried Linux on that one).

 

[yfn_ratchet]

I run Mint Cinnamon Edition on my laptop! It looks cute, works for my use case, and most importantly is far extending the battery life of the laptop. It's heavily degraded, down to 70% of factory capacity, but I can still squeeze 8ish hours out of it.

I'm probably migrating to Mint or Arch on the main rig once Win10 goes out of support in '25. For what I use my computer for, I won't be missing much... except maybe Afterburner. Quick n' easy tweaking tools seem to be a tad tough to sift for on Linux...

 

[Jarmer]

LOL those are like opposite ends of the spectrum.

 

[remixedcat]

I run Mint Cinnamon Edition on my laptop! It looks cute, works for my use case, and most importantly is far extending the battery life of the laptop. It's heavily degraded, down to 70% of factory capacity, but I can still squeeze 8ish hours out of it.

I'm probably migrating to Mint or Arch on the main rig once Win10 goes out of support in '25. For what I use my computer for, I won't be missing much... except maybe Afterburner. Quick n' easy tweaking tools seem to be a tad tough to sift for on Linux...

What laptop and specs??

 

[yfn_ratchet]

LOL those are like opposite ends of the spectrum.

The considerations for me are that Mint is familiar, but Arch has a lot less miscellaneous scruples and will play nice with Steam's Proton integration. Also, very annoying bragging rights.

What laptop and specs??

It's an old Asus Zenbook 14, Ryzen 5 4500U and a GeForce MX350. Crap-tier laptop these days, but it opens Firefox and LibreOffice and that's enough for me 99% of the time I'm using it.

 

[Jarmer]

The considerations for me are that Mint is familiar, but Arch has a lot less miscellaneous scruples and will play nice with Steam's Proton integration. Also, very annoying bragging rights.

Almost any modern distro will play nice with steam / proton. I wouldn't put that as a consideration at all on which distro to use. Both Mint and vanilla Arch do very well. But the bragging rights would be right yep!

 

[igormp]

That thread seems really similar to the other distro one lol

Nevertheless, I only use Linux in my personal devices, with arch in both my desktop and personal laptop.
For SBCs and servers it's usually ubuntu or Debian.

Sadly for work I have to use a MBP, but it is what it is.

 

[AusWolf]

Maybe I've asked this already, I'm not sure, but here we go...

Which distro is the best for gaming, with the least amount of fiddling required? My knowledge and willingness to use the terminal are severely limited, but with W10's official support coming to an end, I think I may be willing to give Linux another go after some long years (decades?) of break.

 

[Dia01]

I've been tinkering for some time with linux now, Windows just pi$$es me off now days with their tactics. So, I have switched entirely now to linux and I don't miss windows really at all. I have recently also switched my HTPC to linux without any issues at all, albeit it has been a bit of a learning curve along the way, but I have enjoyed it and still am enjoying it.

 

[leonavis]

Maybe I've asked this already, I'm not sure, but here we go...

Which distro is the best for gaming, with the least amount of fiddling required? My knowledge and willingness to use the terminal are severely limited, but with W10's official support coming to an end, I think I may be willing to give Linux another go after some long years (decades?) of break.

Garuda Linux is pretty easy and great for gaming.

 

[yfn_ratchet]

Maybe I've asked this already, I'm not sure, but here we go...

Which distro is the best for gaming, with the least amount of fiddling required? My knowledge and willingness to use the terminal are severely limited, but with W10's official support coming to an end, I think I may be willing to give Linux another go after some long years (decades?) of break.

There's Linux distros meant for that, ChimeraOS and Bazzite come to mind. They're sort of cobbled together HTPC or desktop-focused spinoffs of SteamOS made by members of the community, with all the same conveniences included. Beyond that, there's somewhat newbie-friendly distros like Mint and Fedora that make for a good jumping-off point with most of the general configuration stuff being available in familiar GUIs/the app store.

 

[AusWolf]

There's Linux distros meant for that, ChimeraOS and Bazzite come to mind. They're sort of cobbled together HTPC or desktop-focused spinoffs of SteamOS made by members of the community, with all the same conveniences included. Beyond that, there's somewhat newbie-friendly distros like Mint and Fedora that make for a good jumping-off point with most of the general configuration stuff being available in familiar GUIs/the app store.

I'm quite familiar with Mint and Ubuntu, but they're Debian-based, which is said to require some tinkering to get all games working. I'm not very familiar with other distros and their spinoffs, hence my question.