I use Linux since exactly 1 year - and I understand now!

As the noscript says, I am "daily driving" Linux now since one year and I am so glad that I did switch. Okay, I am DualBooting for getting the best from both worlds, but I also built my PC (I usually overspecc my rigs so they last for 5+ years) with DualBoot in mind because I thought I will have to. If I'd have known how much I enjoy Linux (Mint) I'd given the Windows installation less storage and the regular SATA (on the other hand, giving that bloat OS the expensive nvme SSD might be the better option...).

Anyways, as one who switched to OSX in 2008 after the Vista debacle and coming back for Win7, I finally decided it's enough of Windows and the exponentially growing issues about Windows. I tried Ubuntu in 2010 and even bought magazines but hardware support was basically non-existant for my computers so I had a very crippled time trying it out. In fact, the last Mint Live system in 2024 had no sound and just when I planned my new PC, my SoundBlaster Z was recognized by the LiveDisk and I could finally order my PC.

Now let's be real: I traded in Windows issues with some Linux issues. I miss a real indexed file search like Everything or Spotlight. I have audio crackling which is a known issue, no matter how many ALSA updates happen. It's sometimes so strong I have eardrum-shattering noise for like 30 seconds straight until the actual audio builds up again. I tried the quantum changes in the config but nothing changes. I also hate the lack of fractional scaling under Mint, the (to me) unusable Wayland alpha state (boots me into a blackscreen), the fact I can't use my Ryzen's iGPU (boots me into blackscreen) and I really miss DirectX where sound and graphics "just work" since the mid-90s. But after diving into the Linux world and thus read more about the whole "movement" surrounding FOSS and Linux, I did not only start to understand - I also can tolerate these issues now knowing more about it.

Using Linux takes months to see its full potential. And the more I boot up Mint, the more I notice how Windows annoys me. I have a Windows laptop (Acer Nitro gaming laptop at my parent's house) which is constantly spinning its fans when plugged in just to see like 5 different Microsoft services using my hardware. (And no, it's not the file indexer ;) If I leave my desktop PC just for the bathroom, I can hear the fans spin up too because MS uses these "idle times" to do something on my PC, and it bugs me. If your control panel consists of ads for Office suites, penetrant Cloud services, unwanted CoPilot AI, no wonder why things require RAM, disk space and CPU power. When I leave Linux alone, it just sits there quietly like a trusty Golden Retriever waiting for commands.

Updates are so transparent with Mint displaying changelogs (except for Flatpaks sadly), the option to ignore updates and so many updates just happen without reboot that I am still amazed by that. I have control of what my PC is "eating" - most of the time low-calorie but high result ones, not being spoonfed Microsoft Updates with intransparent, super slow, high-calorie fake food.

I love Cinnamon very much, as I like how Windows is being used and looks (taskbar, Alt+Tabbing, Cinnamenu upon Windows key push, ...), so have that on top of a clean, fast, safe OS is basically exactly of what I could have dreamed of. So many QoL improvements (e.g. selecting several files bringing up Bulky for mass-rename rules - on Windows I had to install "Bulk Rename Utility" or the ALSAMIXER talking to my SoundBlaster natively to set up EQ settings - on Windows, "Creative Command" had to be installed, a 110 MByte tool in Startup!). Coupled with my favourite theme Mint looks great, works amazing and has the Linux engine (figuratively spoken) underneath. Fantastic.

The biggest straw was of course Recall. My CPU (and GPU?) power used to create screenshots of my bank statements while online banking to be a) send to MS servers in the USA where it can be accessed by the government at any time or b) clogging up my storage? What the

actual f*ck. I buy a new PC so I have to tax GiB of data (on top of other GiB that we were getting used to in that bloat OS) and processing power for unwanted features MS uses to collect Big Data??!

Now since I use Linux, I started to consume news about. It also started up my curiousity for desktop computing again somewhat. And that is the other side of the same coin that makes Linux so great! Basically an OS for and by users. I think that can sum it up.

Once, there was talk about AI maybe coming to Linux and I was like "Nooooo!" and someone else was writing what I felt until people came in and reassured: "If there is AI, it's for you/us users, it will be good AI". I really have to learn that updates and advancing can be a good thing without fearing some megacompany trying to find a new way of screwing us over. I read about Thorvald's attitude towards even the slightest "bad direction change" or contribution to his "baby" which is fantastic! It just feels so "right" to be using this OS in times where Apple, Google, Microsoft, Adobe try more and more to get incredible EULA/ToS changes through. The real cure is what I am using and now being a part of: Linux.

https://redd.it/1ne49bg
@r_linux

USB drives and ext4 these days?

I have a couple of USB3.1 Integral Courier USB sticks. 1x 256GB and 1x 64GB.

I have wondered why trying to install a Linux OS on them was taking do darned long so I have been doing a bit of testing on the 64GB stick.

The transfer speed of rsync when the stick is formatted EXT4 drops to around 1MB/s after the initial caching and writing some of the data to the stick, and rsync tells me I am going to wait hours for the 13GB file to be copied over.#

Example:

root@RTS3050Mint:/home/mikx4# nocache rsync -v --progress /media/mikx4/NobaraHome/mikx4/Downloads/kali-linux-2025.2-installer-everything-amd64.iso /home/mikx4/USBstick1/kali-linux-2025.2-installer-everything-amd64.iso

kali-linux-2025.2-installer-everything-amd64.iso

3,922,034,688 29% 37.00kB/s 71:30:34

I formatted the stick to Exfat with gparted and 13GB took only 4 minutes.

Are there certain USB manufacturer sticks that we have to use when we format them as EXT4?

Thank you.

https://redd.it/1ne6068
@r_linux

Intel Fixes Panther Lake Xe3 Graphics Performance Issues For Linux Ahead Of Launch
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Fixes-Xe3-Perf-Problems

https://redd.it/1ne7ux8
@r_linux

Hyprland 0.51
https://hypr.land/news/update51/

https://redd.it/1ne7mos
@r_linux

I thought I understood Linux until now...

For the longest time, I thought Linux was the back-end, and the distro was the front-end, but now I hear of several different desktop environments.

I also noticed that Arch boots into the tty instead of a user interface, and you have to install a desktop environment to have that interface.

So my question is, what's the difference?

EDIT:
Thanks a lot for the help!
I think I understand now:

Linux Kernel = The foundation (memory management, file system management, etc.)
Distro = Package of a bunch of stuff (some don't come pre-installed with a desktop environment, e.g., Arch)

and among the things the distro comes with are:

Desktop Environment
Software
Drivers
etc.

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

First time using anything linux, its super fun

https://preview.redd.it/sz68fn4oekof1.png?width=1366&format=png&auto=webp&s=c69c86d2f39b950f39304d9327d3a0bb8a3e0677

I was messing around with the Linux environment on my Chromebook (I was using adb to do some stuff), and I've always wanted to switch to Linux, but today I decided to do some stuff, and I really like this. Any tips or tricks and stuffs? :3

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

Linux 6.18 Will Further Complicate Non-GPL Out-Of-Tree File-Systems
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.18-write-cache-pages

https://redd.it/1nek4y5
@r_linux

An Ubuntu commercial from over a decade ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtSi26X9AYk

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

Looking for people who have configured really fast booting Linux images.

Hello Linux enthusiasts!

I'm looking for someone with experience in configuring an image that can boot in <2 seconds on an RK3566-based ARM board. This is, of course, paid work :)

The work:
Build a minimal Linux image (likely Yocto or Buildroot) targeting RK3566.
Optimise boot chain (u-boot, kernel, init, rootfs) for fast startup.
Strip down drivers and services to the absolute minimum needed.
Tweak

If you have relevant experience, please send me a DM.

https://redd.it/1newg3w
@r_linux

So, I just went on GitHub to take a look at opens PR, and most of them are trolls
https://redd.it/1nezffr
@r_linux

Upcoming changes for bcachefs; notes for users distributions
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-bcachefs/yokpt2d2g2lluyomtqrdvmkl3amv3kgnipmenobkpgx537kay7@xgcgjviv3n7x/T/#u

https://redd.it/1nf169h
@r_linux

Linux top: Here’s how to customize it.

https://preview.redd.it/02lldl00zqof1.png?width=1275&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d7c934146aa52a0ea494d2142b6566167630bd8

It’s been several years since my original write-up on customizing top, and my setup has evolved quite a bit since then. This screenshot is my current four-pane layout as of 2025. See other layouts, instructions, and more details here.

https://redd.it/1nf5fae
@r_linux

I want to show my appreciation for linux

My interest in computers generally started when I was 7, with an old laptop running Windows 7. it was slow and all but somehow I learned how to install programs and stuff using it but I quickly got curious about how everything actually worked. That curiosity led me down a rabbit hole.

Before I even understood what Linux was, I was already deep into Android modding and iOS jailbreaking. I had reached 9 years old, I was flashing custom ROMs and unlocking bootloaders of old android phones lying around and what I didn’t realize at the time was that all of this came from Linux and an open-source mindset. the idea of freedom, control, and pushing devices beyond what they were "supposed" to do kinda fascinated me

Eventually, I discovered Linux itself. That completely changed how I saw software. started by running Ubuntu on old laptops, to eventually learning how to compile kernels and getting frustrated. Linux taught me about how computers work beyond just windows.

As I got deeper into it, I started exploring embedded devices and hardware-level mods. I’ve repurposed old routers with openwrt; experimented with running lightweight distros on raspberry pi and even built a server from an old laptop. I’ve also done hardware mods just for the challenge like building Hackintoshes (which taught me about EFI) and opening up devices to replace Wi-Fi cards, BIOS chips, or even reflash firmware manually. I’ve bricked and fixed my fair share of devices, but that's how I learned by breaking things and figuring out how to recover them.

Now, I run an Arch Linux server and media server. Almost every device I own has run Linux at some point. If i see Macos or Windows anywhere it'll kinda piss me off about how Microsoft or Apple doesn't allow freedom to users Everything I have done isn't even the tip of the iceberg of what linux is but seriously i think linux is the coolest thing.

This entire post sounds kinda weird but Im really grateful. I’m super thankful for the Linux and open-source community. They’ve built tools and shared knowledge that helped me learn all of this on my own. I’m only 13, but Linux and hardware modding have already taught me more than I ever expected and I’m just getting started.

https://redd.it/1nfabc0
@r_linux

Roadmap to Arch Linux

Hello everyone!
I’m interested in learning more about Linux and eventually using Arch as my daily driver. That being said, I’ve read that Arch isn’t beginner friendly. So my question is what distros would be best to create a sort of roadmap that would lead to me learning Linux and eventually using Arch as my daily driver. Thanks!

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

ms paint alternative?

I use ms paint regularly on another windows pc. copy paste the screenshot, crop, brush to color something out when needed add text as well

what is the mirror alternative to MS paint? crop/rotate/brush/text are musts it needs to have

linux mint newbie

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

ms paint alternative? copy paste as IMAGE-kolourpaint

so trying kolourpaint now. I do copy paste but it only copies text into a box. it doesnt do a true print screen so I can save out as jpg. its just copying text

what am I doing wrong?

print screen on an image I want, paste into KP, but shows text

I want a true print screen image

https://redd.it/1nfob73
@r_linux

David Diamon's biography of Linus Torvalds, _Just for Fun_, free PDF
https://github.com/limkokholefork/just-for-fun-linus-torvalds/blob/master/just-for-fun.pdf

https://redd.it/1nft22s
@r_linux

Linux has some really good audio tools with names like... this
https://redd.it/1nfub6a
@r_linux

are there programs to do this

so theres a game i wanna play that for some reason uses arrow keys.and since its a bullet game,and my arrow keys are small,that makes it very very hard to play,so are there any programs that can turn wasd into up down left right signals only if the specific x86 file is running?



https://redd.it/1nfvtc2
@r_linux

Anyone using Linux as a HTPC?

I’m setting up a HTPC, and I was wondering if anyone is using Linux for a HTPC, and if so what distribution?
I’ve recently started using Mint, and I was going to use that, but then I’ve read posts where others have used cinnamon.
Any help/clarity will be greatly appreciated!

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