Distro recommendation

Hello everyone, how are you doing?
I'm looking for some guidance to see if what I have in mind is feasible. My main idea is to build two computers.
The first one is to repurpose an old computer with 2 or 4 GB of RAM and a 1TB HDD. I plan to install Debian Stable on it and initial use is as a NAS to store my family's files, photos, and videos, moving away from cloud storage limits. Later, I want to turn it into a Home Center to manage cameras, lights, and other home automations in my apartment – essentially a Home Assistant setup.
The second PC would be my main machine, something suitable for a Battlestation. It's a PC that I'll be upgrading hardware on gradually. I'd primarily use it for gaming, but also for developing my Second Brain, coding, and doing some Home Lab with virtual machines. Additionally, I'll use this PC to control my Home Server.
For this machine, I admit I'm unsure about the distro. This ideal choice would be permanent. I need one that's stable for gaming and private. I'm looking to move away from Ubuntu, perhaps towards Mint Cinnamon, Arch if I could have the time to focus on the distro, Garuda but I've read that is not very stable.
Can I have a recommendation for this second PC?

https://redd.it/1k43ija
@r_linux

General availability of USM on linux systems, and distribution of OpenMP software

Hi all, I understand this question is a bit on the edge of what is allowed on this reddit.
Still, I really hope getting good answers here can be beneficial for this community as a whole and improve the future availability and distribution of software based on OpenMP for linux.

# The short version

Basically, I am asking for few seconds of your time to share the output of these commands:

grep HMMMIRROR /boot/config-$(uname -r)
grep DEVICEPRIVATE /boot/config-$(uname -r)
uname -a
cat /etc/-release

They will provide information about two kernel flags, its version and the distribution being used.
Please, make sure to remove any uniquely identifiable element from the output before sharing.
If you don't understand those commands DON'T run them and don't trust random people on reddit :).

# The longer explanation

Why? These flags are what is needed to enable a feature called "Unified Shared Memory".
It is used by modern graphic cards and CPUs to share the same address space and to automatically sync data in between.
This feature is used by language extensions like OpenMP to write scalable and offloadable applications in a simplified style.

However, I discovered today that some distributions don't have it enabled by default in the kernel images they distribute:

https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136491
[https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/127334#issuecomment-2817171884](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/127334#issuecomment-2817171884)

There is not much software out there leveraging OpenMP for offloading. Which is strange as it promises (and delivers on) to write code once in a single language, without having to deal with domain specific ones for shaders or vendor-specific technologies like CUDA.
I recently have been working on a [demo project](https://github.com/KaruroChori/enance-amamento) to validate the idea and to understand why OpenMP is not more common beyond the realm of high performance computing; now I sort of get the picture:

Toolchains available on many distributions are not coming with full OpenMP support out of the box: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136245
Dependencies from very narrowly versioned shared libraries which are not distributed on their own [https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136255](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136255)
And now the fact that many kernel images around might not support USM which I much more complex to address compared to the other two points.

I think it is mostly a egg/chicken problem to be honest.
This can be easily improved on the distribution side, it is just a matter of awareness.
So, aside from collecting data to understand how to fix this issue, I hope this post can spark some useful conversations to improve the current situation :).

Thanks for your time!

https://redd.it/1k438z6
@r_linux

stal/IX - statically linked, source based, bootstrapped rolling Linux, based on IX package manager
https://stal-ix.github.io/

https://redd.it/1k48nnx
@r_linux

Android 16 lets the Linux Terminal use your phone's entire storage -- "With the latest Android 16 beta, you can now allocate as much storage as you want to the Linux Terminal"
https://www.androidauthority.com/android-16-terminal-disk-resize-3546144/

https://redd.it/1k49hu8
@r_linux

Ubuntu server or other distru?

Hi, i have an old laptop that i'am using to host a Minecraft server, right now it's running on Windows 10 because i had to set it up quickly, but i noticed that i had to restart it every 2-3 days cuz it would fill the ram and start slowing down, it has an i5 2450m and 8gb of DDR3 at 1333mhz, i'am willing to use Ubuntu server if it will fix the slow down issue but i heard that there are better options out here, wich distru should i use in your opinion?

https://redd.it/1k4a5so
@r_linux

Compiling older kernels?

I want to build the 2.4 kernel for a tiny floppy sized os im making but i can't really seem to find any good resources on how to build the older kernels nowadays. Just downloading the kernel on my modern distro and trying to build it causes a bunch of errors

https://redd.it/1k4cqab
@r_linux

Install package not available in repo into several machines

Hi, I have several virtual machines running Almalinux 9.4. These machines were scanned by vulnerability solution. All machines had a vulnerability associated to OpenSSH. My vulnerable version was OpenSSH 8.7 and the solution to fix it was upgrade to OpenSSH 9.8+. I have noticed that when I performed a dnf or yum update to the package, this did not get the latest version instead the current in that moment. I investigated and could fix the vulnerability installing the new package from the source. That mean, clone the repo, compile the package, backup configs, setup service, etc. This consume a lot of time in only one machine. Despite that, I have repeated the process in 70 machines. We manage all configurations with chef, before this upgrade the packages from the source, installing a new version of package was seamlessly. Now, considering that I have to install packages not available in linux repo and directly from the source I have some concerns:

* Is it possible to compile from the source the package and generate an artifact that can be used to be distributed and directly installed in other machines?
* If you are using Chef... Would it be a good idea create recipe for compile packages and install it?
* Do you know another approach?

https://redd.it/1k4cvbt
@r_linux

I had no idea Linux had so many commands until I got this desk pad.
https://redd.it/1k4g638
@r_linux

"Welp" -- Wrangle, Enumerate, Label, Place.
https://redd.it/1k4j2hj
@r_linux

Immutable distro with good accessibility options

Hello! Does anyone have recommendations for a immutable distro for old folks?

My grandpa's PC can't handle new versions of windows, I installed mint, but he had problems navigating the cinnamon UI, I was thinking he would have a better time with something like gnome.

In my research I found that fedora workstation has a immutable version, but if anyone has experience with this I would appreciate the input! Thanks :)

https://redd.it/1k4k68k
@r_linux

Books like "The command line by William Shotts"

I have read this book twice and I just can't get over it haha. It's the Book that made me fall into love with linux. I have been using linux for nearly a decade now but really only became comfortable with stuff after reading this book.

However, as all good things must come to an end, there's only so many times I can read it. I am now looking for similar books where the author is pro foss and I like how he gives productivity tips along the way (for example, focus follows mouse setting is such a nice setting). "The command line" is filled with tips like these and author always writes in a simple tone. Ideally I am now looking for some intermediate to advanced level books with the goal to transition into system admin position down the years and possibly take linux+ comptia exams. (I have already cleared comptia A+)

Some popular noscripts I have come across (and would love to hear people's opinions on them)

1. The linux bible
2. Learning the bash (oreilly) by cameron newham
3. Comptia linux+ study guide by Richard blum and christine.
4. UNIX AND LINUX SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION HANDBOOK FIFTH EDITION by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent, R. Hein, Ben Whaley, Dan Mackin

I am thinking to pick one book from this list but I am not quite sure which one Would be similar in tone to the "the command line". If you have other books you can suggest please feel free to share!

PS: I use man, and --help all the command but I like to read books for pleasure too and hence this post to find a linux related book.

https://redd.it/1k4kpup
@r_linux

Recommended Linux Distros

So, I'm a distrohopper for not too long (6 months I think?) and I want more suggestions for Linux Distros that I can try! I know I can search online for some but I really need personal suggestions from you. I'm currently at EndeavourOS with KDE Plasma. So I prefer the plasma DE on the distro, if not then it's fine anyway. So, what do you suggest?

https://redd.it/1k4ngwd
@r_linux

SouthEast LinuxFest 2025 Registration and CFP is open
https://southeastlinuxfest.org/2025/04/self-2025-update/

https://redd.it/1k4qdsb
@r_linux

What do you like about configuring?

The noscript is rather abstract. I was wondering what people actually like when it comes to configuring their favorite software. For example, you could configure through some custom configuration language (like i3wm or ratpoison). Through a GUI/TUI application supplied on top of the application itself. Or through a standard text format like TOML/YAML etc. And then there is the special cases like suckless terminal where you edit the source code directly. Lastly the cases where you have to write some noscripting language like Python/Lua or a made up one like in Vim.

So what is your favorite way of configuring an application?

It probably highly depends on documentation. But I want to find out what other factors are there.

https://redd.it/1k4r870
@r_linux

Steam Linux Support - Valve will abandon support of the Steam client on Linux distributions without glibc 2.31 or newer as of 8/15/25
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/107F-BB20-FB5A-1CE4

https://redd.it/1k4xq6p
@r_linux

I was bored, so I created a Reddit CLI client (read-only). You cannot upvote or comment, but it’s better than nothing—for sure, it’s my go-to choice for a quick peek at my favorite subreddit to check what’s new or news about tariffs, haha.
https://redd.it/1k4yjf3
@r_linux

Noob Question
https://redd.it/1k50ak5
@r_linux

FreeTube - great client app for YouTube

Found a very good YouTube client app aimed at privacy. The app pulls all of YouTube's elements separately: video stream, comments, likes, recommendations, etc., and these elements can be disabled in the settings so that they don't even load. The app doesn't require registration or login, but it supports playlists, viewing history, etc. In my opinion, this is the best YT-client!

https://redd.it/1k520cw
@r_linux

Fun Fact! CBP is not allowed to search through Cloud Services when they seize your phone in Secondary Inspection -- "I'm going in an international trip to visit family. I'm a US citizen ... I take a pixel running grapheneOS and an encrypted Linux laptop," writes Redditor dontneed2knowaccount.
https://old.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1k2f7oe/fun_fact_cbp_is_not_allowed_to_search_through/mnwj35b/

https://redd.it/1k53bal
@r_linux

Clip Studio Paint en Linux

Hello everyone. I am a Windows user, but my laptop does not support Windows 11 and what's more, Windows 10 crashes or I have some errors and I go from using Windows 11 to make it even worse. I want to go to Linux Mint or Zorin, the problem is that I am an artist and the drawing program I use is Clip Studio Paint, it is the best one to use. From what I see, this app is not on Linux and I don't know how I could get it to work. Can you recommend a good Linux distro and how to get Clip Studio working? Thank you so much

https://redd.it/1k54atk
@r_linux

What are your top 3 gnome extensions? with 1 sentence reasoning at most

Trying to find cool extensions that I can use. Currently I only have some standard extensions like:
* Ubuntu dock
* app menu is back
And fuzzy search

I am looking for cool things that we can share accross this lovely community.

https://redd.it/1k56u9v
@r_linux