Thinking About Switching

So after numerous moves from Microsoft that's made me lose trust, (many of which I'm sure users here who've switched are aware), I've decided to use Batocera-Linux. The reason for this choice is that I do alot of emulation and it makes sense to have a distro that supports this out of the box, plus they now have a built-in desktop for it. With that being said, I wanted to know if there's anything I should prepare beforehand such as files or any useful tidbits of information before I make the switch. I"ll probably run it off a usb stick as a trial just in case there's any catastrophic issues and if all's well I'll run it off my ssd.

Anyway, is there anything I should consider before switching over? I already know the compatibility for devices and other numerous things are lower than Windows, but there are probably numerous things about LInux that you don't find out until you're actually in there. So I guess what I'm trying to say is there any deal-breaker changes or things about Linux that changes user's mind I should know about before I start making any preparations to switch over? If there's any questions you need to ask me to assess I"m happy to answer. Thanks in advance for any info!

https://redd.it/1o44uqt
@r_linux

[Update on the project that I have been working on] LinuxPlay a big ol refresh since my post 8 months ago

Ultra‑low‑latency desktop streaming over UDP using FFmpeg, with a Qt GUI for both **Host** and **Client**. Includes:

* **Codecs:** H.264 / H.265 (HEVC) / AV1 via NVENC, QSV, AMF, VAAPI, or CPU.
* **Transport:** MPEG‑TS over UDP for video/audio; TCP for handshake; UDP for control & clipboard; TCP for drag‑and‑drop upload.
* **Multi‑monitor:** Stream one or all monitors.
* **Clipboard & drag‑drop:** Bi‑directional clipboard, and client→host file upload.
* **WAN ready (optional):** WireGuard helpers for tunnelling over the internet.
* **Link aware:** Auto **Wi‑Fi / LAN** detection with network‑tuned buffers.
* **Resilience:** 5 s **PING** / 10 s **PONG** heartbeat; host auto‑stops streams if the client drops and returns to *Waiting for connection*.

[GitHub Repo](https://github.com/Techlm77/LinuxPlay)

https://redd.it/1o4acx2
@r_linux

As someone who wants to move from Windows to Linux, is there a guide on how to make the process?

As the noscript says, I want to move to Linux, but I barely know anything about it. I've used windows for more than 20 years and I'd like to know how to make the process. I have no idea about distros or how to make windows programs run on it.

Does anyone know about a guide I could follow, or have any tips on how to get started?

https://redd.it/1o4cz3t
@r_linux

Did anyone notice that HDR is now available in Google Chrome?

Hey everyone, I noticed that after a recent Google Chrome update, HDR is now showing on YouTube and works perfectly. I’m using Fedora 42 with KDE Plasma 6. Has anyone else noticed this? Have you been able to use it with Netflix or other streaming platforms that support HDR?

https://redd.it/1o4eva7
@r_linux

Switching from Window to linux

hey guys my laptop is 9 yrs old and i use windows, but ofcourse now since window 10 support will be end soon and my laptop cant run window 11, so i have decided to finally switch to linux, my laptop still works fine without any problem, i just wanna know does switching to linux gonna increase the perfomance by a bit, and i usually use my laptop for coding purposes, so any tips or suggestions, which version of linux i should use,

https://redd.it/1o4gisz
@r_linux

Thank You Linux! You've brought the fun back into computing!

I miss the late 90's and early 200's and being a Windows guy (Win 98/XP), you were always trouble shooting drivers and crashes and dealing with a hardware issues.

But then around Win7 and Win10, computers got boring. This is of course due to the industry maturing and all the engineering to make sure everything "just works".

But with Win10 support ending, back in July I decided to jump over to Linux (Mint- Cinnamon). And it was exciting having to figure things out.

"Ok, why won't my Steam library see this additional drive?"
"Ok, I need to mount it"

"Ok, why can't I mount it?
"Ok, how do I mount an NTFS drive"
"Ok, I can install my Steam game (Windows only, yes I installed under compatibility mode), why won't it launch?"
"Ok, why can't I format it to EXT4?"
"Ok, I need to unmount it and I'll restart"
"AHHHHHHH!!!! What is it booting into recovery mode???"
"Ok, I need to edit the fstab to change from NTFS to EXT4"...

Honestly, I've had a LOT of fun troubleshooting Linux and trying out all the new softwares out there. It's been a hassle sometimes, but it honestly brings me back to the 2000's when computers were "new" and fun.

Just wanted to say thanks to the Linux.

(I've been on Linux Mint since July and opening up Windows 10 now just annoys me)

https://redd.it/1o4h7zj
@r_linux

Absurd fallacies of "minimalist" Linux setups
https://self-rover.bearblog.dev/absurd-fallacies-of-minimalist-linux/

https://redd.it/1o4i6sn
@r_linux

(powered by linux) MACROHARD on the roof of the Colossus II supercomputer cluster in Memphis.
https://redd.it/1o4k7qi
@r_linux

It's my one year anniversary of ditching windows as my main OS!
https://redd.it/1o4lpv5
@r_linux

Winboat is fantastic! Runs Excel really well on my laptop!!
https://redd.it/1o4nx4k
@r_linux

[OC] - Gowall v0.2.3 The OCR and Image Compression update (Swiss Army knife for image processing)
https://redd.it/1o4rel4
@r_linux

I have officially made the switch.
https://redd.it/1o4uu6a
@r_linux

I made the switch to Fedora as my daily driver - no regrets

https://preview.redd.it/r9tv2s3jbquf1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=cdbbdb4fcd13a7c5a66b86f7eab3df325cba1234

Switched from my beloved Surface Laptop Snapdragon - that is truly a great piece of hardware I have to admit, but a nightmare to install Linux on - to an old ProBook with Fedora KDE

I upgraded the SSD and memory. Sure, it's way less powerful, but it's still snappy and everything runs butter smooth.

I still take the Surface to work (way lighter, and tools I need are installed), and as soon as I'm back home, I switch to this cosy potato. I also need to keep a Windows machine because it's not really easy to work with the Affinity suite on Linux. Besides that, it's been a really smooth experience. Everything is supported out of the box.

Besides, most of the time I use this machine plugged into an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, so I don't suffer much from the crappy build/keyboard/touchpad/screen, which makes the experience really enjoyable.

In case people are wondering why, I mainly switched because of privacy concerns, telemetry everywhere, and now the dystopian feature called RECALL: that's the last straw. I'm also sick of getting ads everywhere in a paid operating system, and let's be honest, Linux ricing is just fun.

Came for freedom (as test first), stayed because it's actually a joy to use.

https://redd.it/1o4xqrk
@r_linux

What makes GPUs driver so much more special than other devices drivers?

DISCLAIMER: I dont fire against anyone! If i sound like that i blame my bad english. Im realy just curious! Love to anyone that does real work on open source out there!

I tinker with, and reinstall osses constantly on vms and all sorts of different hardware. To reach any acceptable performance in gpu related workloads like rendering static videos or games on windows or unix(...), i first need to install the driver for the gpu in queston. Be it nvidia, amd or intel.

But why is that? Why do i need to install drivers for my gpu, while all other(common) components are handled by the os just fine?
My question is not why i need drivers, but more of why only gpu.
I mean one could argue, that graphics cards are complex, but so are cpu, motherboard and co.
They seem to me not even that different from a top down view. They also have a processing unit, ram and similar. why are they different?
One could also argue, that the company behind designing graphicscards holds back vital information to intentionally hold back kernel maintainers, but amd produces both ends of the spectrum with cpus on the one, and gpus on the other side.

Any explanation or even a hint in the right direction would be very much appreciated!

https://redd.it/1o50pfp
@r_linux

Kdenlive 25.08.2 is out continuing the focus on stability and polish
https://kdenlive.org/news/releases/25.08.2/

https://redd.it/1o516ux
@r_linux

I finally fully switched to Linux.

With windows 10 going EOL and none of my computers being compatible. I decided to commit and fully switch over all of them after years of just using it on 2. This seemed like the only viable option long term. I dont trust using Windows on unsupported hardware and extended support is only really delaying the issue.

I will loose out on playing one of my games and VR as a whole (I use the rift s). But I'm hopeful support will come eventually. I also haven't found a replacement app for Opal.

Im using Pop!_OS on my main computer and MX on the others. Ultramarine was my backup.

https://redd.it/1o559kr
@r_linux

Observation from an old time Linux enthusiast

I started tinkering with Linux back in 1994 and saw promise in it's future. I was already sick of Microsoft and their, "You have to buy the new Windows version because it's not going to be supported after the new one is released" bull-crap. But I stuck with it.

In 2007, I designed my system to use a hot-swap tray so I could test out Linux a little more. At that time, I was doing a LOT of photography work so I lived in Adobe Photoshop. There really wasn't anything as good yet for Linux at the time so I was kinda stuck with Windows.

I found that the only time I was using Windows was when I needed to edit photos. That was it. Once I was done, I'd shut down the computer, slide out the Windows drive tray and slide in the Ubuntu drive tray and I booted up Linux. I spent 85-90% of my time in Linux vs Windows. That was a real shock to me and an eye opener that if Linux ever had a way to edit raw images from my Canon camera, I would Ditch Windows in a heartbeat.

I was probably using Windows XP at that time. Then I went to Windows 7 and that was my final Windows version. At that time, Adobe was the king of the hill when it came to photo editing. I had both Photoshop and Lightroom. 2 excellent programs that worked hand in hand together. That is the #1 reason why I didn't switch to Linux full time earlier. Photo shoots and editing those photos was my secondary source of income at the time. It proved to be a very valuable way to make extra money for sure. So I kinda had to keep Windows around just for that.

In 2018, I bought Windows 10 figuring Windows 7 support was going to end soon as it was already on Life Support (was supposed to end in 2015 but I waited until the last minute to get Windows 10). So I installed Windows 10 on a new hard drive (that was the ONLY thing new in that already 8 year old PC) and it ran really slow. I tried it for about a day and opening a file manager or browser took a couple of minutes just to open. It as a complete and utter joke!

Fast Forward to today, I have Been Windows free since around June or July of 2018. I ran Linux Mint from 2018 til February 2020. At that point, I tried Arch Linux. I used the old Window 7 drive I used to use Window on and installed it and it ran great! My intention on switching distros was so I could try out several Tiling Window Managers. After about a week of testing different ones, I really liked the look and feel of Awesome WM. I'm still using it today and it is a heavily modified Window Manager. This is my main screen...

https://preview.redd.it/mgg8hncw3suf1.png?width=1922&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b4bc591407ba19bbe0936fcbe7aceced2cb5590

The top section is all my Virtual Desktops. They're labeled for better organization so I can find stuff.

\-NET would be things like the browser I'm using now and anything else related to internet stuff like FTP programs and whatnot.

\-OBS is precisely that. I use it for creating videos with OBS.

\-FILE is exactly what that is for. File Managers.

\-TERM would be my terminal program.

\-DEV is where I use emacs, or any other text editor to edit say a config file and whatnot.

\-OFFICE is for anything LibreOffice related.

\-VM is for when I want to run a Virtual Machine to try stuff in.

\-MUSIC is where things like Spotify hangs out in.

\-PHOTO would be my photo editor location like GIMP.

\-VIDEO would be for video editing like the stuff I do with OBS.

\-CHAT is for things like Discord and Google Messages and things of that nature.

So, yeah, I've taken a lot of time setting this up to work perfectly for me. I would never be able to do this with Windows. EVER! I feel like I'm WAY more organized with a setup like this and this makes me very happy indeed! I will never ever go back to Windows. In fact, if I ever work a job where I need a computer, if I can use Linux instead of Windows, I most certainly will. In fact, the fact tat a company would MAKE me use Windows might alter my decision to work for them. That is how much I despise Windows now. And I would probably be

completely lost on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 system.

What made me write this?

I see these types of videos a lot lately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PyxWPuIUyk

as well as posts on Reddit from newcomers coming to Linux from Windows because they're sick of the BS. Windows 11 is making this happen more than Windows 10 did I think. But seeing that video this evening kind of reminded me why I switched to Linux 8 years ago. It's a harsh reminder as to how bad Microsoft has become. Such a shame too...

https://redd.it/1o56ftx
@r_linux

Parm: cross-platorm, general purpose Package Manager

Hey all, I've just released v0.1.0 of my first open-source CLI tool after 2 months!

Parm is a general-purpose, cross-platform (yes, really) package manager similar to the likes of Homebrew. It's meant to have virtually no dependencies, light installs, and no root access all within a single binary.

Link: https://github.com/yhoundz/parm

How it works:

Parm uses the GitHub REST API to download and install GitHub releases, and it will extract binaries and adds them to PATH for you. Of course, you can also remove and update packages seamlesly. This means you can install any application or program hosted on GitHub.

To keep track of installed packages, Parm writes a manifest file to every installed package that stores metadata about it, which allows it to check for updates or divulge package information without having to retrieve the package again upstream.

Why Parm?

I initially created this because my default package manager, apt, has a bunch of outdated packages, so if I wanted an updated version, I'd have to use some other package manager or another install method. I wanted to centralize all the applications I install to make it easier to keep track of them. If you're content with your system's package manager (or homebrew), then this probably isn't for you.

Parm also gets upstream releases right when the maintainer updates the GitHub repository (no more waiting on 3rd-party package maintainers). That also means that I don't have to maintain a central registry of packages, as they're all available on GitHub. You can read more about Parm in the project's README and/or documentation.

Features:

Install, update, remove, list packages
Config management right from the CLI (no need to manually write to config files via a text editor)
Retrieve information about any package upstream (or locally).
Checksum/SHA256 verification (limited support)
Intuitive UX and sane defaults

Tech Stack/Libaries Used:

Golang
Cobra CLI Framework + Viper (for configuration)
go-github (to interact with GitHub REST API)

I'm relatively new to Go and Parm is still in an alpha state, so any feedback, contributions, thoughts, or feature ideas would be much appreciated!

Link (again): https://github.com/yhoundz/parm

https://redd.it/1o56jvi
@r_linux

No one told me kernel panics could be diagonal
https://redd.it/1o5byvt
@r_linux

Ive switched back to linux

I’ve actually been using Linux for a long time, but I was forced to use Windows 11 for a while — mainly because of my NVIDIA GPU. I hesitated to return to Linux because of that, but after all the recent scandals, I’ve had enough and fully switched to Debian 13.

And let me say this: that difficult, incompatible, and clunky Linux from around 2020–2021 is completely gone.
Now everything has an alternative — and a good one.
The system is stable, drivers work flawlessly, and software is easily accessible.

It honestly feels like a breath of fresh air.

What do you think? Don’t you agree that the Linux desktop has gotten much better lately?


https://redd.it/1o5cm34
@r_linux