A couple of classics
https://redd.it/1kdns57
@r_linux

A screenshot of my current desktop

For no particular reason other than I think it's potentially interesting to people here, I thought I'd post a screenshot of my desktop, and explain what's going on. So here it is

My desktop

Actually it's a Thinkpad Carbon X1 with three 27" QHD monitors above it, running Hyprland.

I've seen minimal desktops for literally decades now (which is kinda scary...) and it always seemed to be something all the l33t hax00rz had, but I seem to have ended up here without any real objective to do so. I'm still living inside visually rich applications and browsers, i'm not buried away in some mad vi plugin world.

Each monitor has 5 workspaces, and I wrote a simple noscript that means Cmd+3 etc, switches to that workspace on the monitor that's currently focused. Various workspaces / monitors have roles by convention, left monitor is my "personal" monitor, browser on the first workspace, and that's generally it. Middle monitor is work browser on workspace 1, terminals (usually 4) on 2. And right monitor has Slack on workspace 1, vs code on ws 2, maybe another on 3. The bottom screen, the actual laptop screen (which, fun fact, is actually upside down, with the keyboard hidden behind the middle monitor) is where Zoom lives.

As such I just move between applications by changing workspace and mouse auto focus then i've more than one app on a workspace. I guess really it's a sort of paradigm shift type thing. workspaces sort of are the application etc. and I find it trivially easy to know where things are without anything telling me.

As my windows are tiled 95% of the time, and so full screen I very rarely see the black background, so why bother with a wallpaper?

As my Ilyama monitors have a thin, black bezel that blends perfectly into the screen, it makes a full screen tiled application, with no borders at all, look like the monitor itself is the frame when apps are in dark mode.

I was using AGS for a menu bar for a while, it's a really cool typenoscript library for making any desktop elements you want, really recommend checking it out, but eventually I realised I wasn't actually paying any attention to almost anything on it.

So I tried just not having any menu bar at all, and instead I use dunst for notifications. One "notification" I send it every 10 seconds it the time. And the notification lasts 15 seconds by default, but is replaced if another notification of the same type is received. The result is just a clock that is accurate to at least 10 seconds. (couldn't reliably send it on the 1st second of the minute using systemd I recall).

As the dunst time window floats, it can sometimes get in the way, but clicking the time, as it's a notification, makes it go away until the next time pops up. So that uses up no real-estate without being (overly) obstructive.

And of course all other notifications appear below the time too.

And a few other key combos for screenshots, volume controls, and the only other "desktop" tool I have is dmenu on a hotkey for launching applications.

There we go then. Maybe someone will find this interesting, I really surprised myself realising I didn't actually use or need (almost) any of the normal desktoppy things.

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

How do I download a Specific Version of an App via Terminal?
https://redd.it/1kdqo2t
@r_linux

Going to be updating my PC soon. GPU question!

Hello,

I've been dabbling off and on with different distros for a while now and have decided I want to make the jump to Linux full-time (likely running Garuda? haven't fully decided), but my PC is in need of an upgrade because for some reason, my current hardware just doesn't like Linux all that much. But if I'm updating one thing, I may as well update a bunch of things. I've had this PC for 10 years now, so it's about time to give it some new stuff.


My biggest question is a matter of how well NVIDIA can handle things these days. I'm stuck between getting an AMD Radeon 9070 XT or a GeForce 5070 (Ti if I can find one at a decent price). I understand that there's been a lot of progress toward getting NVIDIA stuff to play nice with Linux, but I'm particularly interested in dabbling around with Hyprland, and I know that Wayland is a contentious issue with NVIDIA.

Which should I focus on getting? I know the 5070 (Ti) is the better-performing of the two, but I don't know if there's a big difference between that and the 9070 XT in terms of performance. I'm considering making my PC my go-to gaming center for the future, so I want this decision to count.

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

i do not like when people slander the community for no reason

i do not care what os you use, i do not care if you prefer windows i do not care if you prefer linux i do not care if you hate linux i do not care if you don't wanna try linux, i do not try and force people to use linux, i do not hate windows users nor think they are stupid a lot of them are simply uninformed.

and those people tend to have one bad experience or hear one bad thing about linux and blow it out of proportion and spread misinformation and slander.

i don't like when people do that, but i don't care if they use windows either, i'm not trying to force anything on anyone i just don't like the constant slander.

sorry for voicing my opinion in a slightly different way in a previous post.

https://redd.it/1ke0a0e
@r_linux

This Week in Plasma: move by default when dragging-and-dropping
https://blogs.kde.org/2025/05/03/this-week-in-plasma-move-by-default-when-dragging-and-dropping/

https://redd.it/1ke2xmu
@r_linux

How to Play Videos in HDR on Linux for a Home Theater
https://battlepenguin.com/tech/how-to-play-videos-in-hdr-on-linux-for-a-home-theater/

https://redd.it/1ke42e1
@r_linux

Where does the common idea/meme that Linux doesn't "just work" come from?

So in one of the Discord servers I am in, whenever me and the other Linux users are talking, or whenever the subject of Linux comes up, there is always this one guy that says something along the lines of "Because Windows just works" or "Linux doesn't work" or something similar. I hear this quite a bit, but in my experience with Linux, it does just work. I installed Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on a HP Mini notebook from like 2008 without any issue. I've installed Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, Arch, and NixOS on my desktop computer with very recent, modern hardware. I just bought a refurbished Thinkpad 480S around Christmas that had Windows 11 on it and switched that to NixOS, and had no issues with the sound or wifi or bluetooth or anything like that.

Is this just some outdated trope/meme from like 15 years ago when Linux desktop was just beginning to get any real user base, or have I just been exceptionally lucky? I feel like if PewDiePie can not only install Linux just fine, but completely rice it out using a tiling window manager and no full desktop environment, the average person under 60 years old could install Linux Mint and do their email and type documents and watch Netflix just fine.

https://redd.it/1ke6sh6
@r_linux

Should I Install The Proprietary Drivers?

I'm running Mint LMDE and MX Linux (with cinnamon) as a dual boot on my 14-year-old Dell Latitude E6420, which is my only laptop for work and everything else (I'm a 51-year-old non-gamer.) The machine runs 2nd-gen i7, Intel Graphics 3000 and nVidia NVS 4200m switchable graphics, and 16Gb of RAM. I also run Vivaldi as my default browser.

Now, until I settled on these two distros for the time being - I'm still trying to decide which one to keep - I tried almost every flavor of Ubuntu and Mint on this machine, as well as a few others. With Ubuntu and Mint , installing the nVidia driver (390, the latest one that supports NVS 4200m) always broke Vivaldi, which gets stuck at the "🩶 made in Europe with love" screen. I'd always have to uninstall the driver to get Vivaldi to work.

I haven't tried installing the driver on LMDE and MX, probably because I'm just too lazy to find out if it'll work, and I really don't want to switch back to Firefox. What would Tux do?

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

occasion 0.3.0: now with more customizability!

check it out: https://github.com/itscrystalline/occasion/releases/tag/v0.3.0

Hello folks,

A couple days ago I've announced occasion, a little program i've been working on that prints a message if a certain configurable date pattern has matched. over the last couple days i've been working on improving the configurability of this utility.

whats changed:

custom date conditions, so you can now match for more complex date patterns, like for example to match for the last full week in October:[ `"DAY_OF_MONTH + 6 + (6 - DAY_IN_WEEK) == 31"`](https://github.com/itscrystalline/nixos-config/blob/0d393212e6f8ee70c80cad668af330047678d977/home/modules/cli.nix#L157)
custom shell conditions, unrelated to date
instead of just outputting a message, you can now configure it to show an output of another program (a shell by default)
you can now also match for the week in the year (week 1 - week 52/53, depending on the year)

what i want to do next

occasion is almost done, i still want to add native style support to the output for 0.4.0.

if you have any ideas, feel free to drop any in the issue tracker!

(0.2.0 was mostly just a platform support update, nothing really of note there)

Repo link



https://redd.it/1keh8ov
@r_linux

Running x86 binaries on Android -- ". . . I’m using Termux as my terminal. It has packages for QEMU user (qemu-user-i386 and qemu-user-x86-64 among others), which will run x86 binaries on an emulated x86 CPU. . . ."
https://0f5f.blogs.minster.io/2022/08/running-x86-binaries-on-android/

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

update to easiest window manager, sxwm v1.5
https://redd.it/1keg11s
@r_linux

There's a campaign to upcycle old Windows 10 computers to linux since Microsoft is ending support in October
https://endof10.org/

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

I love Linux!

I’ve been using Linux for 5–7 years now. I started trying it out with my friend, who was tech-savvy. I wasn’t very interested in using it at the beginning, but I did it anyway to look cool. Fast forward 7 years — I’ve used Ubuntu (2 years), Arch Linux (2 years), Garuda (6 months), Kali Linux, and Linux Mint (\~3 years). I want to try Fedora too, but Linux Mint is so smooth that I never want to switch. I’ve always used Linux in dual boot with Windows. Most of my stuff, including personal files, is on Linux, while some applications like Photoshop are on Windows.

That said, Linux has frustrated me sometimes. Driver issues and installing something unpopular can be hard, but it has always been my guilty pleasure to sit and solve these problems for 5–6 hours straight.

I’m still not tech-savvy — there are a lot of commands in the Linux terminal that still surprise me — but man, it’s so smooth. I recently opened Windows, and it’s a piece of shit. My earlier laptop, which had around 4 GB of RAM, runs faster on Linux than my current laptop with 16 GB RAM running Windows. And the browsers are so smooth — it doesn’t take more than a second to open anything. After getting used to this performance, it always feels weird to use Windows. It became even worse after the Copilot crap. Plus, I’ve had zero virus issues while using Linux, and Linux Mint is very user-friendly.

No one needs to be tech-savvy to use Linux — especially Mint. It’s as good as Windows, and wherever it lacks, it makes up for it by having no bloatware and being lightning fast. Linux is what we, as a collective, can achieve in the tech space — proof that we don’t need big companies like Microsoft to sell us these services. Open source can be free and do it better.

Thank you, Linux.

https://redd.it/1keld1l
@r_linux

I built a CLI for viewing POSIX signal info for all processes using /procfs
https://github.com/brannondorsey/sigscan

https://redd.it/1kekq2x
@r_linux

Frutiger Aero desktop environment
https://redd.it/1kernbe
@r_linux

Mount any linux filesystem on a Mac

macOS utility which lets you easily mount Linux-supported filesystems with full read-write support using a microVM with NFS kernel server. Powered by the libkrun hypervisor.

https://github.com/nohajc/anylinuxfs

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

Looking for Goldilocks

I’ve got an Rpi 16GB with a 1TB NVMe SSD that I’m trying to find the Goldilocks setup for. I installed Ubuntu Cinnamon and it’s a bit too laggy (definitely workable though), and RPi OS is too lightweight. I’m thinking either Debian KDE or Ubuntu Mate for the ‘just right’ between features, style and performance. I typically use it for some browsing, web apps, a bit of low key gaming, and would like to explore some tools for a HackRF SDR, Meshtastic node management, and some similar projects. Thoughts from the collective?

https://redd.it/1ketvn0
@r_linux

Transitioning from Windows 10: Arch vs Manjaro for Secure Boot and Gaming"

Hello,

I'm currently evaluating my long-term options for a Linux distribution as I prepare to move away from Windows 10, which will reach end-of-life this October. At the moment, I dual-boot Ubuntu with Windows 10, but I’ve also spent some time experimenting with Arch Linux on an older system that I use for testing.

I do not intend to adopt Windows 11 as my main operating system. Instead, I want to shift to using Linux full-time for general computing and gaming, with Windows reserved strictly for noscripts that require features not currently supported under Linux. One of those is Valorant, which depends on TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot due to its anti-cheat system (Riot Vanguard).

When it comes to package management, I strongly prefer pacman over apt. I find pacman's command structure more logical and easier to work with, which has led me to consider Arch-based distributions more seriously. However, Secure Boot support complicates things. Since Valorant requires Secure Boot to be enabled in Windows 11, I need to maintain that configuration across the system. I’ve researched how to configure Secure Boot on Arch manually, including generating and enrolling my own keys and signing the kernel and bootloader. While I understand the process in theory, I’m hesitant to proceed because I’m concerned about misconfiguring something at the UEFI level and inadvertently affecting my Windows installation.

That’s why I’m looking at Manjaro as a potential alternative. It offers Secure Boot support via shim and MOK, which would simplify setup significantly. I also appreciate Manjaro’s delayed update cycle, as it provides a layer of stability while still staying reasonably current. What gives me pause, however, is the fact that Manjaro comes with more preinstalled software than I prefer. I value having more direct control over what’s installed on my system, even though I know most of it can be removed or disabled.

My plan is to use Linux as my primary OS for day-to-day use and for gaming, as long as the noscripts I play are compatible through native support or via Proton. Windows 11 will remain installed on a separate SSD and will only be used for games that can’t run on Linux due to Secure Boot or kernel-level restrictions.

I’m looking for a Linux distribution that works with Secure Boot without risking my Windows setup, uses pacman or a similar package manager, offers strong support for gaming, and provides a stable but up-to-date environment without excessive preinstalled software. I'm currently debating whether I should go all-in with Arch and handle Secure Boot myself, use Manjaro and customize it to my liking, or explore another Arch-based distro that strikes the right balance between control and simplicity.

If anyone has experience with Secure Boot on Arch or Manjaro in a dual-boot setup with Windows 11, I’d really appreciate your insights. Thanks in advance.

https://redd.it/1kevye6
@r_linux

I graduate tomorrow. Thought yall would like my cap design.
https://redd.it/1kexqxn
@r_linux

i basically restored my old laptop

my old laptop was horrible, most keys were broken, only worked with charger, held with tape and barely ran windows 10, so today i decided to install linux on it, after many distros i ended up with ubuntu 17.04 (i didnt use the latest ubuntu on purpose) and now its way better than it previously was, its far faster, stays a long while with no charger and is pretty usable, the keys still dont work so i plugged in an external keyboard

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