First impressions as a new user

So for a few years I’ve been increasingly both annoyed & afraid of all the stuff Microsoft is doing with Windows.

Recently I got a new desktop (after being stuck with a gaming laptop for years) and I realized that this was a perfect opportunity to try linux. So I used my Steam Deck to create an install drive with Mint & I gave it a shot.

It’s been about a week then & honestly I’m surprised how painless it’s been. I was surprised that a good chunk of my library runs natively on Linux & the rest only require a bit of work with Proton.

I also find the OS a lot more user friendly & easier to work with than Windows because it has so little bloat.

Frankly I’m amazed. Did anyone else feel like this when they first tried Linux?

https://redd.it/1kwd585
@r_linux

Suppose I buy a windows 11 laptop and delete it and download linux


Title

So by doing that will I lose the warranty on the product + will I also lose the product key ( if I want to download win 11 again in future will it be activated automatically)

I am thinking to buy a new laptop and as I am not much into gaming so I would be better for me to install linux as it will increase the battery life of my laptop

So what are your suggestions??

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

To producers/musicians - which DAW do you use that runs natively on Linux? I've heard good things about Ardour and BitWig, tell me your preference and why!

I am used to Ableton from windows and I did try BitWig, but it just doesn't seem... Nice? I've recently looked into Ardour, I'm considering trying it out and seeing if I like it.

What do you guys use? Whether for recording music, making beats or recording podcasts etc.

https://redd.it/1kwil3t
@r_linux

smenu v1.5.0 released

TL;DR: This is a command-line tool that generates interactive, visual user interfaces in a terminal to facilitate user interaction using the keyboard or mouse.

It started out as a lightweight, flexible terminal menu generator, but quickly evolved into a powerful, versatile command-line selection tool for interactive or noscripted use.

smenu makes it easy to navigate and select words from standard input or a file using a user-friendly text interface. The selection is sent to standard output for further processing.

Tested on Linux and FreeBSD, it should work on other UNIX and similar platforms.

You can get ithere: https://github.com/p-gen/smenu

Changes: https://github.com/p-gen/smenu/releases/tag/v1.5.0

https://redd.it/1kwj0f2
@r_linux

People selling PCs with Linux

More and more I am finding listings for PCs on facebook marketplace and other peer to peer selling platforms with Linux distros installed as the OS and talked up as a selling point.

How many people are actually buying these who wouldn't reinstall their own choice of OS on it? Are there enough tech naive people who would use Linux to justify marketing stuff that way?

https://redd.it/1kwk70t
@r_linux

Firefox 139.0, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes
https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/139.0/releasenotes/

https://redd.it/1kwmwp4
@r_linux

dex-widget: a dexcom bg viewer widget for wayland
https://redd.it/1kwnh74
@r_linux

Linux 6.16 Adds "X86_NATIVE_CPU" Option To Optimize Your Kernel Build For Your CPU
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.16-X86_NATIVE_CPU

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

What an ungodly OS!
https://redd.it/1kwu4fs
@r_linux

[Release] AlmaLinux OS 10 - usability without compromising compatibility
https://almalinux.org/blog/2025-05-27-welcoming-almalinux-10/

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

groff cheat sheets

In a fit of nostalgia I dusted off my 40-year old groff and -me/-mm Quick Reference Guides and I added a new one for the -ms macros.

I doubt any of you cool kids use these things nowadays, but hey, you never know.

Here's the -ms one. The source and others are in the parent to that, of course.

Who knows, if my nostalgia fit continues I might do -mom and -man macros too.

https://redd.it/1kx0n9l
@r_linux

Boost Toggle Indicator: A simple tray tool to toggle CPU boost
https://github.com/mgruberb/boost-toggle-indicator

https://redd.it/1kx2udj
@r_linux

A broken cable make my raspberry very laggy

Recently, I encountered a rather peculiar issue. I'm using a Raspberry Pi 4 to collect data from an industrial device. The Pi’s Ethernet port is connected to a switch. It uses SNAP7 to read data from a Siemens PLC, then sends that data via Wi-Fi to an InfluxDB instance, which is visualized using Grafana. The Wi-Fi connection also provides SSH access for remote control.

This setup had always been very reliable—until recently, when I deployed a new device. Initially, everything seemed to run smoothly, but after a short while, the system started to lag. About 10 minutes in, the SSH connection would become almost completely unresponsive: it wouldn't disconnect, but would only respond once every 20 seconds or so.

I checked dmesg and other logs, but there were no signs of anything unusual. My colleagues and I ran several tests and noticed that the issue always began a short while after a power cycle—first it would run fine, then the lag would gradually return. Then, by chance, we discovered that if we unplugged and replugged the Ethernet cable—without cutting the power—the system would behave as if it had been reset and return to normal, only to degrade again later.

That led us to suspect the cable itself. After replacing it with a new one, the problem was completely resolved.

My question is: can issues like this be detected by the system itself? If so, what should we be checking? We were lucky this time to stumble upon the cause after just one day of debugging, but I’d like to avoid relying on luck in the future.

https://redd.it/1kx6du1
@r_linux

Which Linux Distro should I use to make this laptop usable? It uses windows 10 and it's very bloated. I want to see if I can make it usable for anything.
https://redd.it/1kx7r3k
@r_linux

EXT4 For Linux 6.16 Brings A Change Yielding "Really Stupendous Performance"
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.16-EXT4-Performance

https://redd.it/1kx83ue
@r_linux

Troubles while installing Linux (Ubuntu and Mint)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MWvhecEi5-EbjB1ai_sKJbbAZiZN0oeU

https://redd.it/1kxd2jq
@r_linux

The End (of Windows 10) is nigh! KDE and many other free software communities kick off "End of 10" campaign

On 14 October, #Microsoft will end support for #Win10.

This will turn hundreds of millions of computers that cannot upgrade to #Win11 into security risks and #eWaste.

Yours may be one of them!

But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again?

Learn more: https://endof10.org/press

Saved a device from the bin? Tell the world with the hashtag: #EndOf10

https://redd.it/1kxe4jl
@r_linux

Escaping US Tech Giants Leads European YouTuber To Open Source
https://hackaday.com/2025/05/17/escaping-us-tech-giants-leads-european-youtuber-to-open-source/

https://redd.it/1kxen0r
@r_linux

Intel Releases Updated Battlemage Driver Preview Support For Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-24.04-Intel-Preview-1.1

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

TIL that I have the same niche hobby crossover as the penguin god himself

So I am a software developer & systems administrator by profession, which I suspect is true for many people around here. Stereotypically, we are not exactly the group known for outdoor activities (insert touch grass joke), so I've always thought of my particular combination of hobbies as pretty niche.

I've been a swimmer for as long as I can remember, and in general I'm just very comfortable in the water. Being submerged feels both liberating and calming, because you gain an extra dimension of movement and it's an environment free of babbling people. So it's only natural for me to become hopelessly infatuated with scuba diving once I tried it.

Now. In scuba diving it's a common practise to log your dives. Basically, you note down the conditions of your dive including location, temperature, dive profile (your depth variation with time basically), gas mix, etc etc. It's something you need to present for certain advanced certifications, but perhaps more importantly, it's useful for your own future reference. You can use a tried-and-trusted physical logbook, but frankly and obviously I'm not doing that.

Understanding that the crossover between the scuba diving world and FOSS world is very niche (if at all), I have already implicitly resigned any expectation of finding a decent FOSS logbook application. I was mentally ready to use a close-source solution. If it costs a fortune, so be it; if it only runs on Windows, so be it.

To my great surprise, quick Google search turned up this post, which nominated Subsurface with high praises. A quick visit to their website, and words cannot describe my absolute astonishment and disbelief when I scrolled to the bottom of the page:

> In fall of 2011, when a forced lull in kernel development gave him a chance to start a new project, Linux creator Linus Torvalds decided to tackle his frustration with the lack of decent divelog software on Linux.

> Linus worked with a team of developers, and Subsurface is the result. It now supports Linux, Windows and MacOS and allows data import from many dive computers and several existing divelog programs. It provides a quick and easy way to see the key information provided by a modern dive computer and lets users track a wide variety of data about their dives. In fall of 2012 Dirk Hohndel took over as Subsurface maintainer.

So you're telling me, that not only did this guy create Linux and Git, arguably the two most universally used pieces of software in the development world, he also preceeded me in this very unlikely hobby and just casually created an excellent application for it as well??? Is it my birthday? No it is not, but it sure feels like it.

Apparently, Linus is not just some casual recreational diver. He has divemaster and tech certification (to translate for all the non-diving folks: tech diving is to scuba what racing is to driving), and there are videos on Youtube of him diving in an aquarium after a Linux convention. Coincidentally, these certifications are also exactly the direction I would like to go in my scuba diving journey. I mean, just incredible.

So basically, I am beyond incredulous at this moment. I will be trying out Subsurface momentarily, after I'm done writing this and have contained my excitement. All hail the glorious penguin god.

https://redd.it/1kxh164
@r_linux

SteamOS destroys Windows
https://pointieststick.com/2025/05/27/steamos-destroys-windows

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