chaosCruiser

There are many special distributions designed for different purposes, such as gaming or being easy for new users. While I’m aware of their existence, I haven’t personally used them, so there’s not much I can say about them. If my list doesn’t appeal to you, don’t hesitate to look elsewhere. There’s a distro for every purpose and style.

However, Here are a few I can recommend for different kinds of users:

Debian: If stability is important, but you don’t mind the old packages, Debian is a good choice. It also has one of the largest package repositories.

Ubuntu: It offers excellent package availability and plenty of tutorials and forum posts. Many new users have already asked the questions you’ll likely have, making it generally easy to learn.

Fedora: While not as new as Arch, Fedora still offers very fresh packages. It requires very little tinkering when compared to Arch.

Arch: This is for demanding users who want to customise their system. You’re comfortable taking responsibility for your decisions and enjoy reading up on various topics. Having very new packages is important to you. This one is a rolling release distribution, so there are no big annual releases of the next version number. Just install the updates, and you’ll have the latest Arch.

It’s a familiar feeling. It took many years for me to grow out of it. Eventually, you might get tired of it, like I did. In the meantime, though, keep on tweaking as long as you enjoy it.

Nowadays, my systems have very few tweaks. A wallpaper for aesthetics, a few keyboard shortcuts for efficiency, and a coloured bash prompt for readability. Now that I think of it, these tweaks only address the things I really dislike. Looks like nowadays I can’t be bothered to tweak anything unless some issue drives me mad. 😃

Generally, I would recommend getting an enterprise laptop such as Lenovo T or X series, Dell Latitude, or HP EliteBook. In that order.

Interestingly though, these models are supported by W11, because they’ve had various security features for years. If you want something specifically unsupported by W11, the selection is suddenly narrowed down to consumer-grade crapbooks. They should be cheap though, so might as well buy two while you’re at it.

OK, thanks.

Based on those comments, it still sounds pretty rough. Are those the worst-case scenario, or should all Nvidia users expect that sort of struggle?

Are you using FOSS divers or the proprietary ones? How about power management, suspend, wake up etc?

Same. I’ve been avoiding NVIDIA for years now, and haven’t regretted it yet. However, some people say that NVIDIA divers are good now, but I have my doubts about it. Seeing posts like this one just reinforces my confirmation bias.

You’re on Hexbear. There’s your problem.

I suggest creating another account on some other instance. Start with Lemmyverse to find a nice one. Once you find an interesting instance, check Fediseer for more details. Click the little (i) next to the instance name in the Lemmyverse results, and navigate to Fediseer endorsements. If the instance has been endorsed, censored or whatever, this is the place where you’ll find some info about it.

For example, here’s what it says about Hexbear. As you can see in the “censures received” section, that list is pretty long. BTW all the biggest instances attract attention, so disagreement and conflict naturally follow. However, the way the instance is run plays a role too. If you want to access more communities, make an account on one of the less conspicuous instances that hasn’t been blocked by others.

!linuxmemes@lemmy.world would probably appreciate this one.

It’s a gateway drug. Before you know it, she’ll be installing Arch without the script.

How’s power management doing these days?

Oh, that’s good to hear.

Based on the specs, I can already see two potential issues.

1. Windows 10
2. NVIDIA

Let me guess, you can’t upgrade to W11. If so, dual booting to an abandoned system like that is risky. If I had to do that, I would only do it while the computer is totally offline. If you do get updates to the Windows partition, there are reports of Windows breaking some dual boot things. This means, that you might need to fix some things after a Windows update.

Also, NVIDIA hates Linux with a burning passion. You can make things work to some extent, but it can be a rocky ride. Wifi is another potential issue in case you happen to have a wifi chip that isn’t well supported. Just try a live USB first before installing and you’ll know if something doesn’t work.

Because of all of the above, this looks like a system that can run Linux, but you might need to prepare for some tweaking. There are easier starting points too, but then you would need to sell that old computer and buy something nicer to replace it with. With hardware like that, you’re definitely not playing this game in the easy mode, that’s for sure.

If you happen to have a nice enterprise laptop, you can usually access the card very easily. For example HP EliteBook laptops (which are sort of nice laptops, but with a bad keyboard) you won’t even need any tools to open the bottom lid. Lenovo ThinkPad laptops tend to require a screwdriver. Never actually swapped a wifi card on either of these, but I guess there could be one more screw holding the card in place. Definitely doable, and it won’t take too long.

Contrast that with HP Pavilion or Acer Aspire TrashBooks. Yes, I have opened a few of those, and I regret every minute of it. Normally, you need to disassemble the whole thing before you get to even see the parts you need to swap. It’s not quite as painful as opening Apple hardware, but it’s not far behind. Verdict: 2/10, would not recommend.

Check this new 0 W setup! It’s running pretty smoothly as long as you remember to add some oil between the beads from time to time.

In a hot environment 3 is really pushing it. In a cold environment you can easily do an entire week.

Happy cake day!

@The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world

With Linux related issues, it’s usually a good idea to include the name of the distro.

For example: debian apt unmet dependencies

or even: arch wiki nvidia

When looking for information about a particular rock, add the word “mineral” in the search query. If you forget to add it, you’ll usually end up reading about some mystical and magical properties you can still probably include in your next D&D campaign. If you’re feeling extra technical, try adding mindat or webmineral

Example: Chrysocolla mineral

Technical: Chrysocolla webmineral

Qalculate is a fancy calculator available for Linux, MacOS and Windows. I use it for calculations that involve unit conversions, but it can do much more.

All of this spying and data hoarding has resulted in a finely tuned advertising machine that directs car ads to people who specifically hate cars with a burning passion. Peak of targeted advertising.👌

And people still wonder why I use every means within my disposal to block ads. Even if I allowed ads, they aren’t targeted enough to be much more than an annoyance. Even when they somehow manage to show me something I care about, I’m seeing an interesting product from the highest paying company. It’s not the best product in that category, nor is the one that would serve me best. It’s the one from the company that was willing to pay more than any other. Advertising is just so broken in every way you can think of.