(Constructively) What is your least favorite distro & why?
My #1 distro recommendation would be Fedora Atomic (immutable Fedora variants).
It's still a bit "underground" and hasn't reached huge popularity yet, but I see its potential that it will very soon.
I have ADHD too and Fedora Atomic is a lifesaver. Why?
- You can "distrohop" anytime you want by rebasing. With that, you basically swap out the OS with something else (examples will follow), but keep your data and some settings. If you are on Fedora Workstation (Gnome) and want to have KDE, installing and removing those packages is a huge huge mess. On the OSTree variant, it's just one command, 5 minutes of waiting, and bam, you have a clean install. I do that all the time.
- Less bugs and better security by reproducibility. Every install is the same.
- Very quick rollbacks if something did go wrong. You can't brick your OS, which I did a lot before.
- Huge choice. See at universal-blue.org , it provides vanilla images with some quality of life changes, as well as custom ones, including "unsupported" DEs and spins, e.g. a gaming distro. They aren't forks per se, they are basically build scripts and maintain themselves, which is why they're always up to date and way better than Nobara for example.
- Distrobox pre-installed: you can just create an Arch container and use the AUR from it. So you don't need to run (and troubleshoot) Arch on bare metal, but can comfortably benefit from all great things Arch provides
I don't know what's your intention.
I'm no expert or highly qualified in any way, so please correct me, but I don't know if that's the right way.
LLMs usually need lots of computing power, optimally in form of a GPU.
I use GPT4All, and when I send a prompt, I notice the temps/ fan speed and usage of my GPU turning up instantly to almost 100%. If it's a longer one, my PC sounds like a helicopter đ
In terms of hosting a server, you want something barely good enough for your service, e.g. running your cloud. This results in way less power draw, which is what you want, since it runs 24/7. Something powerful enough to run LLMs comfortably would likely draw lots of power, even an Apple Silicon.
I think, you're better off just using GPT4All on your gaming PC if you need it.
I hope I'm wrong, and that M1s draw barely any power, especially in idle.
And even if I am, they (almost) can only run MacOS, which wouldn't be a good server OS.
I think you want something boring. Boring, in terms of "it just works", which is essential for school. You want to focus on learning, not troubleshooting.
I've been looking around a bit more, and now I'm kind of curious about Fedora, specifically the KDE spin (or i3, I haven't quite decided).
Use Fedora Atomic (immutable versions of Workstation/ KDE spin, etc.). Especially uBlue. It's a community edition on universal-blue.org, which features very vanilla images of Silverblue for example, but with some QoL-changes, many inofficial DEs/ TWMs, and much more.
The cool thing is, you can just rebase to whatever spin you like, e.g. KDE and i3 and don't need to decide. It's like a reinstall, without actually loosing data.
It's also extremely robust (barely breakable) and in general doesn't get in your way.
While it's not rolling release, the stability improvements and user experience compared to something like Arch, or even a more comfortable fork like EndeavourOS, seem quite decent
It's not only decent, it's great! Everything "just werksâą" and it's very very reliable.
In terms of stability (update schedule) it's a great mix between very well tested, but not stale.
I wouldn't like to update daily like on Arch.
but in your experience, does that make up for the lack of the AUR?
The cool thing is, you don't loose anything.
I, for example, have an Arch container in Distrobox, and I use it all the time. I even have access to the AUR and all Arch packages on my image based Fedora install.
This gives me bleeding edge software, especially for the terminal, without risking breaking my host OS. Arch seems to be too high maintenance for me, and I'm not willing to spend my time troubleshooting.
i deleted half of the data on the ssd (no it's not in the trash folder.) i deleted timeshift files and unused apps.
Can you name a few examples? Apps usually don't need much data, and timeshift backups aren't accumulative, so only the first one is big, and the following ones are just a few MBs big.
Why not store them on an external drive? That would be the best method anyway, in case you can't access your PC.
how do i optimize ram consumption and get 'other performancw tweaks'. i shouldnt be running out of ram if nothing is loaded and i just booted up?
Easy. You don't :)
Linux is already very optimized ootb, and the only thing you can install for example is TLP, a battery life prolonger for better runtime on laptops.
Other than that, don't. And take a look at the link, everything gets explained very well and simple there.
i dont dual boot so do i need to partition?
If you have to ask this, it should be fine. The default layout on Mint is good as is.
no i have not reinstalled linux but i might
Remember to backup your data!!!
If you haven't made many customisations, every file should be restored easily. Might help, but keep an eye on your actions.
Don't do stupid things and maybe consider immutable distros, like Fedora Silverblue, since you can't mess up anything on them.
What do you mean with "Deleted half of my storage"?
How did you do that? Did you just go into your file manager and deleted some photos, or did you remove partitions and stuff outside of /home/?
You know of the "linuxatemyram.com"-site, do you? Did you try to "optimize" the RAM consumption or other performance tweaks? It sounds like you "don't have enough RAM" and then Linux tries to use the swap space, pulling stuff from your SSD.
Did you install Mint freshly onto the new SSD? Did you use the recommended partioning-layout (regarding swap space)?
I hate to say it, but did you try to reinstall your OS? Maybe that might help...
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First of all - I'm happy for you that the existence of browser based applications benefits you this greatly!
I just wanna explain to you why your post has so many downvotes, just that you know.
While ChromeOS is based on Linux (the kernel), many many other devices like smart fridges do too. And you wouldn't consider them as Linux.
It's the same with Chromebooks. Most of their software you use on them is proprietary and in hands of Google, a company that shits on you. They want to take away many of our freedoms we enjoy, including web standards as example, and force everyone onto their monopolies (Search, YouTube, Chrome/ Chromium based browsers, etc.).
We, "The Linux Users", on the other hand, want everything to be open and oppose this.
I wouldn't quite say that Google is "evil" (even though they removed the slogan), their motives and actions are still immoral and wrong in my opinion.
You could say that this is just a feature of late stage capitalism, but that would be another can of worms to open.
We don't hate Chromebooks, we hate Google and their ideology.
And you saying "I can use every OS I want, Google is great!" is just kind of ironic knowing that. It's like the analogy of the frog being boiled in warmer and warmer getting water, without being aware of that.
You mentioned using a few distros before. Did this error occour already in the first days/ weeks of using the new install, or did it occour in the long term?
If that's the case, consider switching to an image based ("immutable") distro like Fedora Silverblue. Due to their image-based nature, they don't have any package drift.
On a traditional system, the configuration slowly changes over time, due to updates and new installs, and therefore bugs may occur that only you have, so they're not fixable.
An immutable system is reproducible and should contain less bugs.
Maybe try that?
Have you deleted Firefox, removed all data and reinstalled it? Probably won't help, but it might?
Does it only happen on this device, or on others too? Maybe the RAM is faulty.
Do you also have other freezes and crashes, like when you're gaming?
I had similar issues when I had a damaged/ misconfigured RAM.
Or your storage (SSD?) is faulty?
Is it only on Flatpaks, or on native packages too?
A small bandaid workaround would be to just stop using Flatpaks and use Distrobox containers. They work fine too.
But I would try to fix the underlying issue first if I were you. I think it's a hardware problem.
I am already.
While I don't plan to use FreeCAD in the near future, I already use Arch in Distrobox on Fedora Atomic. I quite like it, but still mostly refer to Flatpaks first when possible, since they have a lot of users and are better sandboxed.
I added the link into my original comment for you :)
At this time Fedora. I used both the Flatpak and native package, but both were very prone to crashes.
I used it for some time too on Windows, same problem. It isn't a Linux issue, it's a FreeCAD issue. It's too convoluted and bloated, while probably not having enough maintainers.
Sadly, I couldn't fine even one that was at least usable in my experience.
I model a lot for 3D-printing, and of course tried FreeCAD.
It had a very steep learning curve and is very unique in its workflow, compared to other CADs.
I somehow got the hang of it, but it still was very much not usable.
It crashed every 5 minutes, the UI is very convoluted, and even the simplest tasks take half an hour, compared to the 2 minutes it takes on other software.
Since Fusion360 doesn't work on Linux, there's pretty much only Onshape.
Apart from being a SaaS-product ("cloud based"), and therefore out of your control, which I strongly dislike, it's absolutely great UX wise.
But good news, there are people working on a solution. I will add the name of the project later if I can remember it again.
Edit: found it: https://github.com/dune3d/dune3d
There are also people forking the engine and some core features of FreeCAD and want to turn it into something better, but I don't know if they've made something out of that idea yet.
Yes. I don't play anything else except DayZ currently.
Sorry! Just in case this came out rude or judgy. It's just a bit rare that ones' library is so empty. It was just a thought because mine looks similar when I don't activate Proton.
I was using the snap version of Steam that I had installed from Ubuntu App Store.
Aaah, yes. Just what I've thought. There are reasons why Snaps are hated this much in the Linux community.
I personally recommend Flatpaks for everything, especially proprietary software like Steam. With the permission management, it has way less access to your device.
Also, they usually "just work" better, because they provide themselves with all they need and can be improved by everyone, not just the devs of Ubuntu.
With native apps you can get a few problems. In the best case, they're just not as spread and bugs may occour more often. Flatpaks are more reproducible and bugs are fixed universally, no matter what distro.
They're more up to date too.
And, they don't come with dependencies. There was this one case, when a popular YouTuber accidentally deleted his whole user interface because he tried to uninstall Steam. That won't happen with Flatpaks.
Thanks for the help though! The assistance I got from this community is invaluable. I'd be completely stuck with this on my own.
Of course, you're welcome! Glad to help!
I think it's something of a generational contract. I got help a few years ago, when I was a noob, and now I'm more experienced and try to help as many newcomers as I can. And you will do the same in 3 years hopefully! đ
Why HoloISO and not Bazzite?
Wouldn't Bazzite be the better choice?
I wanted to make the same suggestion with uBlue. There's also the silverblue-main image, which is very vanilla and the one I use. The kmod is already pre-installed there.
Bazzite can also be great, but it's too opinionated for my taste. I like Silverblue also more like the devs intended.
I use Fedora Atomic with Distrobox.
I asked the same question a while ago and decided to settle on Arch as container.
Why?
- Pacman is extremely fast. I used a Fedora-container a while too and it was extremely slow compared to Arch
- Simple syntax, especially with the Arch plugin for zsh.
- Minimalist
- Official packages are (almost) just as secure as from other distros
- I get the newest stuff
- Good documentation
- The AUR. I rarely need to use it (pretty much never), but if I would need to, it's great I can.
I still rarely use it. I'm leaning more to the casual user side and use Flatpak 99% of the time. But for terminal use, I find the said container, with zsh + plugins great. There are some programs (Nextcloud client for example) that don't work 100% with Flatpaks, and for that, the Arch packages are actually pretty reliable and work almost every time (via distrobox-export).
I had a few doubts about Arch, and I personally still wouldn't use it as distro for everyday use, but at least as container, it's elegant and lovely. I could use Silverblue as unbreakable base and install everything with Arch, and nothing breaks.
I installed zsh and oh-my-zsh with an Arch container and it works flawlessly.
Try to avoid using ostree
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Fedora Atomic (Silverblue, etc.), with either KDE or Gnome.
Both look modern and should work on the hardware, and no customer can fuck it up
First - post upvoted because of the detailled report. Helpful. Thanks!
I've had the same problem a longer while ago.
Do you really have this few games in your library?
I haven't used the normal Steam mode for a while, but on your game list is a small Penguin. I believe that's due to the filter "show Linux native only".
If you forgot to activate Proton, go into the Steam settings, gameplay and hit the checkbox "Compatibility for other games".
Use that all the time, even for Linux native games. They are usually way buggier than the Windows version, and Proton works great today.
Second, if you are already using Proton and my first guess is wrong, use another Proton version. Either the most recent one (proton-experimental), an older one or the "proton-GE" versions.
What distro are you using?
Did you try using Flatpak instead of the native package? Maybe, there's something missing in the native app.
Oh, and I also wouldn't worry much about the firmware errors and such. This panel is very new and some things are basically impossible to archive. But don't trust my statement, maybe I'm wrong.
Just use Distrobox my friend.
I use it on Fedora Atomic (Silverblue) and I install Arch- and AUR-software all the time.
In that way I can access everything I want and still enjoy the comfort of my unbreakable base.
Another plus is that if I should break my Arch container, I can just remove and reinstall it without affecting my host. The performance is about the same as with Flatpaks, so, negabile.
If you like Arch, then just use Ubuntu/ Debian/ Fedora/ whatever as container image and never stress yourself anymore with PKGBUILD