Linux

Looked around at a few other distros...nope, still love Mint. 10/10, would do it all over again.

I can relate.

I love to research my next obscure Linux configuration - from the comfort of my trusty reliable Linux Mint PC.

I knew I wanted to switch at one point before Microsoft ended support for Windows 10, so I began experimenting January 2024, but I quickly realized I could make do with what I had in my MX Linux install. Granted, X11 and more than one monitor with 2 different refresh rates wasn't great, but by February of 2025 Nvidia fixed some variable refresh rate bugs that made Wayland primetime ready, and I've been on Nobara ever since. And it's been incredibly stable. And there's so much fun stuff to do.

Don't know exactly, but I heard you can use clonezilla to move it into a vm image. That way, it is not any more bound to your current hardware and you can use it later if you need to access anything.

Welcome to the club!

I just bought a new laptop that presumably had Win 11 on it. I just booted onto a USB stick and installed Linux over it. Next is to use Gparted to wipe any recovery partition and get the wasted space back.

What do you mean it has the most compatible software? How does its software differ from that available in other distros?

While I just land a recent Debian stable on my laptop, install cargo for new Rust apps (for things like jujutsu), and Guix package manager (for stuff like kakoune or vis), and call it a day.

Well, after 25 years the pursuit of agressive distro-overoptimization becomes a bit boring. But who am I to criticize what other people spend their free time with?

The guy clearly has some previous experience.

Oh my, I hope she knows how to sed the release name in /etc/apt, or else it's very out of date by now...

In 2017 I bought a used laptop released 2011 and put mint cinnamon on it. About a year later my niece threw it off the table and keyboard and touchscreen broke. I shelfed it for a year before I bought a USB mouse and keyboard. Booted it up, used it a bit, updated, everything just worked. I don't use that machine anymore since a year, as last year I bought a "new" used laptop released 2018. I recently booted the older laptop just to see and it works just fine. It hasn't been updated in a long time.

The newer machine runs debian 12 gnome and also doesn't get updated regularly (as I don't have WiFi). Both machines are as fast as on the first day. I never had any stability problem with both machines (except maybe the table stability, where former laptop fell from).

Same here, I installed Debian on the laptop of my nan and I got zero support requests ever since from her. Debian is so good ans stable!

no, it can.. but they won't allow it because of all their dogshit background spyware crap. zero reason, other then microshits spyware. glad you made the best decision and dumped their stupid ass

You've got a bunch of answers already, but I haven't seen explicit mention that SteamDeck is Linux, so beside ProtonDB, you can also check your favorite game on Steam.

My experience has been that a "SteamDeck Verified" or "SteamDeck Playable" badge means the game runs well on my Linux PC as well.

It's not terribly interesting anymore. I notice two categories of games that don't trivially run on Linux:

• Games with invasive anti-cheat tools, where the Anti-cheat tool simply isn't available on Linux. (Common with multiplayer competitive shooters.)
• Games old enough not to be compatible with modern game engines and unpopular enough not to have received a remaster. Some "classic" N64 era Star Wars games that I still like fall into this. (The ones that cost about $3 each on Steam). I still play them on Linux, but it takes some effort and patience.

And there's the standard cutting edge game disclaimer: Linux isn't magic. I find games with specific high-end requirements that are still difficult to run on Windows or Mac are usually only slightly easier to run on Linux.

It seems to run most games. Kernel level anti cheat games are the exception.

I'm not even on a gaming distro. Using Linux Mint Debian Edition.

Most games will run just fine through Steam and Proton or Heroic Launcher.

I'm going to hop to something else (pikaOS) eventually, but most of my concerns with Linux seem to have been largely fixed.

The Steam Deck has been a lightning rod of getting gaming compatibility into the mainstream. The Proton compatibility layer works for most Steam games and the Proton DB will tell you the level of compatibility for a given game on Linux, https://www.protondb.com/ . Additionally, a number of other compatibility layers and ported front ends for GOG, Epic and various others are available and functioning (I can't list them all as I only use Steam, but I'm all in on Fedora and have yet to find a game that won't run). VR is working now on Linux (I have an Oculus Quest 2 I was given a couple years ago and it works flawlessly), as are most game pads. You can go with something like Bazzite which has a number of gaming specific compatibility tools built in, and it's immutable so it's a deliberate effort to break the thing. The only real limitations for software is anything Adobe (but there open source apps to fill that gap, GIMP is among the biggest) and ~~MS Office~~ M365 Copilot, which you can just use the Libre Office suite or if compatibility is a concern due to macros or addins, OnlyOffice is a decent alternative.

Better support for some old hardware, like scanners, even. (That's because for some hardware vendors, OS upgrades are a means for planned obsolescence; They simply don't provide updated drivers and your hardware becomes a doorstop so that you are invited to give them your money again.)

Finding suitable software for Linux is like moving from a boring suburb which has only a road to Walmart to a lovely small village with lots of woodland and hiking paths. You will need to find and explore new ways, but you will find them, and you will enjoy them.

More concretely spoken, Debian, as an example, has over 30,000 software packages. Some are really pleasant to use, like GNOME's simple-scan. Some are stunning beautiful, like the astronomy app named Orrery, if I remember the name correctly. You can literally spend years exploring them. Or look into the Arch Wiki list of applications for a tasteful choice.