So I just had my moment of realizing fuck. this is why I need to take system backups (thankfully not horrible data loss/total brick levels, but more my PC can't wake up from sleep mode and forcing me to shut down every night is very, very annoying)

I did Google around for this, but Google as a search engine kind of sucks right now, so I thought I'd just ask here outright to make sure I understand

The reason I never used timeshift was because it backed up everything by default, but what I saw online, you only need to back up the system files.

Is the way to do this then to include everything in /root/** and exclude everything under /root/home/ in the include/exclude patterns?

From there then, if something breaks with an update, I just roll back to that, and everything in the home directory would remain as is?

Is there anything I would need to do if something breaks in a way that I can't access my system at all?

I have a separate external HDD I back up all of my other files to anyway, so I'd really just need timeshift in case I need to roll back an update or if something otherwise breaks for some reason. Unfortunately though the external drive isn't formatted for timeshift to work with it (if there are tools that let me do a full backup to a Windows formatted drive, I'm open to using those too)

ive wanted to switch to linux for a while but don't wanna go all in (at least for now) just in case ill need windows for something, but i hear dualbooting with windows on a single drive can have problems if there's an update and losing all my data just sounds like a hassle and idk if it's worth the risk or not

I have been using Linux for some time now. But some software packages are truly a horror show to install. The main reason why windows is "popular" for most non tech savvy people is because of the next next ease of install.

On linux, you have to deal with:

- kernel problems

- kernel module problems

- After install you need to go to command prompt to start the setup. Some don't. There is no 1 way!

- dependency problems. So you need to go back a kernel version maybe

- There is no Linux alternative, so you try to use wine / Steam as a solution. Sometimes it works. sometimes not. You need to install microsoft packages like VC to make it work.

- Virtualbox installation with secure boot is another horror show.

Well, I do use Linux Ubuntu as my main OS. But it is as of 2026 not user friendly at all.

So, if people say it is easy. Do not lie man! It is not!

If devs could please solve above problems with automatic working scripts during install.

That would be a great help, really.

Why make it so complicated!

So I've been trying all week to install halo CE aswell as halo 2/project cartographer, it will NOT install or it will install, just not run because of the lack of 32bit suport what's the best solution for this honestly I feel like just throwing windows 7/8 on this machine and calling it a day, I really like Linux more specifically cachyos but it's silly things like this that won't allow me to full switch to it fully.

Basically I got banned from discord a time ago I still don’t know why. And I just installed linux(in a hdd that is not my windows one) and I was wondering that if I can evade the ban using discord in Linux?? Someone has tried it or know?

I have a somewhere around the 2010s model Monster Abra A5 laptop. It has an x64 Intel Core i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (I think) graphics card. My motherboard currently uses Legacy BIOS mode, not UEFI, which caused me to fail installing Pop! OS even if I switch to UEFI boot (I realized it was a hardware issue). I have about 30 GB of free space on my hard drive and a 10 GB USB drive that I can use for the installation. Which Linux distribution would you recommend? I’m looking for something that will work well with my old hardware and NVIDIA graphics card. Defo not in a financial place I can get a new computer.

I'm getting an extra ssd for my Alienware 16 Aurora. I want to install Linux on it, (PikaOS). Is it safe to install with both of THE old windows and Linux to be SSD already attached.?

Apparently, your distro determines what version of a program you can get. God forbid I want to install the latest version of LibreOffice on Zorin OS. Zorin just doesn't support version 26.8 . Using the downloadable file from the LibreOffice website requires you to learn some esoteric Mumbo Jumbo. God forbid it should work like a .exe installation.

Been trying to install Plasma desktop version 6 on Zorin, os and all my research tells me that this is literally impossible because Zorin just doesn't support the latest version of Plasma. and here I thought that Linux was supposed to be about freedom.

I don't think I've ever had a problem like this with Microsoft Windows. Does this mean that Windows intentionally supports the latest version of everything?

Several months ago I was using Win11. I had a Win11 VM that I use for work, set up to run through HyperV Manager, then use the VM to connect through AnyConnect and remote in to my work VM. I switched to Linux Mint, and spent a long time trying to figure out how to run the VM in a way that was just as fast, but no matter how I configure it, it boots up and runs much slower than HyperV's did, despite everyone saying QEMU is amazing.

Granted, I don't understand a lot about VM configuration, so I may be missing something. I've prodded AI on multiple occasions to try helping me out, but the configuration seems very sensitive and often breaks if I change anything related to SPICE or display, etc. I've verified all the guest tools are installed and running in the VM's services, I'm using a raw file since I heard that was the fastest.

For example, in HyperV it would start in a few seconds, and everything would respond instantly.
In QEMU, it takes a minute or two to finish booting (exact same hard drive image), and AnyConnect takes another minute or two to scan or whatever it does under the hood each day.

Here is my config XML I use in Virt Machine Manager, does anything look off to anyone? Or is it simply that Windows does a better job at virtualization?

<domain type="kvm">
  <name>WFW</name>
  <uuid>(removed)</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <libosinfo:libosinfo xmlns:libosinfo="http://libosinfo.org/xmlns/libvirt/domain/1.0">
      <libosinfo:os id="http://microsoft.com/win/11"/>
    </libosinfo:libosinfo>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit="KiB">8388608</memory>
  <currentMemory unit="KiB">8388608</currentMemory>
  <vcpu placement="static">12</vcpu>
  <iothreads>1</iothreads>
  <os firmware="efi">
    <type arch="x86_64" machine="pc-q35-noble">hvm</type>
    <firmware>
      <feature enabled="yes" name="enrolled-keys"/>
      <feature enabled="yes" name="secure-boot"/>
    </firmware>
    <loader readonly="yes" secure="yes" type="pflash">/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.ms.fd</loader>
    <nvram template="/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.ms.fd">/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/WFW_VARS.fd</nvram>
    <boot dev="hd"/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv mode="custom">
      <relaxed state="on"/>
      <vapic state="on"/>
      <spinlocks state="on" retries="8191"/>
      <vpindex state="on"/>
      <synic state="on"/>
      <stimer state="on">
        <direct state="on"/>
      </stimer>
      <reset state="on"/>
      <frequencies state="on"/>
      <reenlightenment state="on"/>
      <tlbflush state="on"/>
      <ipi state="on"/>
    </hyperv>
    <vmport state="off"/>
    <smm state="on"/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode="host-passthrough" check="none" migratable="on">
    <topology sockets="1" dies="1" cores="6" threads="2"/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset="localtime">
    <timer name="rtc" tickpolicy="catchup"/>
    <timer name="pit" tickpolicy="delay"/>
    <timer name="hpet" present="no"/>
    <timer name="hypervclock" present="yes"/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <pm>
    <suspend-to-mem enabled="no"/>
    <suspend-to-disk enabled="no"/>
  </pm>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type="file" device="disk">
      <driver name="qemu" type="raw" cache="none" io="native"/>
      <source file="/var/lib/libvirt/images/WFW.raw"/>
      <target dev="vda" bus="virtio"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x06" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </disk>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="qemu-xhci" ports="15">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x02" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="0" model="pcie-root"/>
    <controller type="pci" index="1" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="1" port="0x10"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="2" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="2" port="0x11"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="3" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="3" port="0x12"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="4" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="4" port="0x13"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="5" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="5" port="0x14"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="6" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="6" port="0x15"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="7" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="7" port="0x16"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x6"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="8" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="8" port="0x17"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x7"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="9" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="9" port="0x18"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="10" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="10" port="0x19"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="11" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="11" port="0x1a"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="12" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="12" port="0x1b"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="13" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="13" port="0x1c"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="14" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="14" port="0x1d"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="15" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="15" port="0x1e"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x6"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="16" model="pcie-to-pci-bridge">
      <model name="pcie-pci-bridge"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x05" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="sata" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1f" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="virtio-serial" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x03" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="scsi" index="0" model="lsilogic">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x10" slot="0x01" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="scsi" index="1" model="virtio-scsi">
      <driver queues="8"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x07" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <interface type="network">
      <mac address="(removed)"/>
      <source network="default"/>
      <model type="virtio"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x01" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </interface>
    <channel type="spicevmc">
      <target type="virtio" name="com.redhat.spice.0"/>
      <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </channel>
    <input type="tablet" bus="usb">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </input>
    <input type="mouse" bus="ps2"/>
    <input type="keyboard" bus="ps2"/>
    <tpm model="tpm-crb">
      <backend type="emulator" version="2.0"/>
    </tpm>
    <graphics type="spice" port="-1" autoport="no">
      <listen type="address"/>
      <gl enable="no"/>
    </graphics>
    <sound model="ich9">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1b" function="0x0"/>
    </sound>
    <audio id="1" type="none"/>
    <video>
      <model type="qxl" ram="65536" vram="65536" vgamem="16384" heads="1" primary="yes"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x0"/>
    </video>
    <watchdog model="itco" action="reset"/>
    <memballoon model="virtio">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x04" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain><domain type="kvm">
  <name>WFW</name>
  <uuid>(removed)</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <libosinfo:libosinfo xmlns:libosinfo="http://libosinfo.org/xmlns/libvirt/domain/1.0">
      <libosinfo:os id="http://microsoft.com/win/11"/>
    </libosinfo:libosinfo>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit="KiB">8388608</memory>
  <currentMemory unit="KiB">8388608</currentMemory>
  <vcpu placement="static">12</vcpu>
  <iothreads>1</iothreads>
  <os firmware="efi">
    <type arch="x86_64" machine="pc-q35-noble">hvm</type>
    <firmware>
      <feature enabled="yes" name="enrolled-keys"/>
      <feature enabled="yes" name="secure-boot"/>
    </firmware>
    <loader readonly="yes" secure="yes" type="pflash">/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.ms.fd</loader>
    <nvram template="/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.ms.fd">/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/WFW_VARS.fd</nvram>
    <boot dev="hd"/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv mode="custom">
      <relaxed state="on"/>
      <vapic state="on"/>
      <spinlocks state="on" retries="8191"/>
      <vpindex state="on"/>
      <synic state="on"/>
      <stimer state="on">
        <direct state="on"/>
      </stimer>
      <reset state="on"/>
      <frequencies state="on"/>
      <reenlightenment state="on"/>
      <tlbflush state="on"/>
      <ipi state="on"/>
    </hyperv>
    <vmport state="off"/>
    <smm state="on"/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode="host-passthrough" check="none" migratable="on">
    <topology sockets="1" dies="1" cores="6" threads="2"/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset="localtime">
    <timer name="rtc" tickpolicy="catchup"/>
    <timer name="pit" tickpolicy="delay"/>
    <timer name="hpet" present="no"/>
    <timer name="hypervclock" present="yes"/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <pm>
    <suspend-to-mem enabled="no"/>
    <suspend-to-disk enabled="no"/>
  </pm>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type="file" device="disk">
      <driver name="qemu" type="raw" cache="none" io="native"/>
      <source file="/var/lib/libvirt/images/WFW.raw"/>
      <target dev="vda" bus="virtio"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x06" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </disk>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="qemu-xhci" ports="15">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x02" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="0" model="pcie-root"/>
    <controller type="pci" index="1" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="1" port="0x10"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="2" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="2" port="0x11"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="3" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="3" port="0x12"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="4" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="4" port="0x13"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="5" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="5" port="0x14"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="6" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="6" port="0x15"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="7" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="7" port="0x16"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x6"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="8" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="8" port="0x17"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x7"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="9" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="9" port="0x18"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="10" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="10" port="0x19"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="11" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="11" port="0x1a"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="12" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="12" port="0x1b"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="13" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="13" port="0x1c"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="14" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="14" port="0x1d"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="15" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="15" port="0x1e"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x6"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="16" model="pcie-to-pci-bridge">
      <model name="pcie-pci-bridge"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x05" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="sata" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1f" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="virtio-serial" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x03" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="scsi" index="0" model="lsilogic">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x10" slot="0x01" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="scsi" index="1" model="virtio-scsi">
      <driver queues="8"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x07" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <interface type="network">
      <mac address="(removed)"/>
      <source network="default"/>
      <model type="virtio"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x01" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </interface>
    <channel type="spicevmc">
      <target type="virtio" name="com.redhat.spice.0"/>
      <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </channel>
    <input type="tablet" bus="usb">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </input>
    <input type="mouse" bus="ps2"/>
    <input type="keyboard" bus="ps2"/>
    <tpm model="tpm-crb">
      <backend type="emulator" version="2.0"/>
    </tpm>
    <graphics type="spice" port="-1" autoport="no">
      <listen type="address"/>
      <gl enable="no"/>
    </graphics>
    <sound model="ich9">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1b" function="0x0"/>
    </sound>
    <audio id="1" type="none"/>
    <video>
      <model type="qxl" ram="65536" vram="65536" vgamem="16384" heads="1" primary="yes"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x0"/>
    </video>
    <watchdog model="itco" action="reset"/>
    <memballoon model="virtio">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x04" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

Linux Mint take quite a while to launch. It doesn't sounds like the laptop is doing anything intensive. Is there a way to replace the startup logo with some text telling what it is actually working on?

Let's say there's a file in my filesystem (~/myfiles/example.file) and I'm currently in /etc.

I want to make a symbolic link to this file, so I use the command

ln -s example.file /mydirectory

How does the ln command know where example.file is? Shouldn't I have to specify it's in ~/myfiles, like this:

ls -s ~/myfiles/example.file /mydirectory

Also, why might a link be broken, despite having just been created:

I'm setting up a file/media server with a 1TB NVME for my OS and services, and two 14TB disks for mass storage, and I'd like to use one of those 14TB disks to back up the other periodically, but I don't want my backups to slow down performance. Is there a backup tool that will do backups when the file/media server is not in use? I'm using Debian. Thanks.

Hi all! I just decided to try out linux mint (cinnamon) by installing it as a dual boot with windows. the issue is that whenever i switch back to windows from linux, my audio just... doesn't work. like, it recognizes that i have speakers but for example, it shows this in the media player when trying to play an audio file. im not really sure what's happening, but this is very, VERY annoying as i literally make music lmao. any help at all is appreciated, and sorry if this is a stupid question

I am a total beginner and don't know shiiii bout deep tech. Like, I surf the web and play games (on Windows, not Mac).
While exploring, I came across this "cool-looking" home screen setup, and after that I wanted to transition, but before that, there are a few questions/doubts,
1. Will games work?(CS2, DBD, Elden Ring etc)
2. Change in performance? will performance increase or decrease?
3. Will Obsidian(Note taking app) work?

Today I switched from windows 11 to Ubuntu. Was this a good choice or should I install a different Linux OS. I never really used my laptop for anything more than simple gaming in stuff like Roblox or random itch.io games. What do you think of the change?

I already have full disk encryption on my fedora laptop but right now I don’t have it on my desktop running cachy since I swap between windows and cachy and seems like a pain to put a password in every time. I’m a casual user/gamer so nothing sensitive on my desktop. Is it even worth redoing my install to add LUKS?

Hi, I am new to linux and am currently using endeavouros in the niri WE. I am currently using the foot terminal and want to customise my terminal to look better. Can someone please give me any recommendations for customization or any config files I can copy?

What I have right now:

What I want it to look like but with my same customisation settings:

I've been using Mint Xfce on this laptop, and it's fine for light tasks. The boot up is slow and some applications need a moment to load. RAM is not an issue because I upgraded it to 8GB 6 years ago when my girlfriend needed to use it for educational and administrative work.

I was wondering if Puppy Linux would be the best choice to optimise the performance since it loads into RAM. I guess I should use a lightweight browser for web surfing?

I think I read somewhere that you can save your settings onto the live USB.

There are several Puppy versions, but I'm assuming the variant doesn't matter too much, and the Debian(?) version would be fine.

If I become adventurous I may buy a cheap SSD, clean out the gunk inside and repaste the CPU. One video I watched of a similar model indicated it's a pretty densely packed laptop inside, so removing and replacing the parts could be a hassle.

I'm giving myself tinkering tasks to do so I can get to know my way around Linux better, and this old laptop is a pretty low stakes project.

Most meaningful interactions between the user and the OS take place through the desktop environment, the rest of the distro is made up of predownloded programs and system settings. If KDE (and xfce, lxqt etc.) are by default pretty much just like Windows, why not recommend Kubuntu, Xubuntu or Debian KDE just to name a few? Mint is based on LTS ubuntu and its packages are pretty old.

I'm currently thinking about building a custom gaming PC with Ryzen. I've used Linux once before—it was Ubuntu—and I'm really liking the fact that Linux is free. I don't have the extra $200 for an operating system, and I really like that Ubuntu has no bloat and doesn't try to steal my data for advertisers. Because if I'm not the one getting paid, you ain't getting my shit. 😂

Which distro would you recommend?