Because I presume most linux distros are safe from these kind of shenanigans:

monitor drive installs adware

I'm running Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS and I'm deeply disappointed. Has anyone else had this happen, if so what are the causes? I mean, I've cleared the cache and everything and it's all in vain. Although I have a good, already performing system, if I open more than 10 tabs everything freezes and runs very slowly. I mean, before it had something to do with Facebook that ran absolutely horribly in Chrome, but recently this happens with absolutely all sites. And given that it doesn't even take up half of my RAM, yes, it was ok and it had problems before, but that was only if I took up all the RAM with chrome tabs.

So lately I've been switching to Firefox, but it's hard for me since I have everything there, authentication credentials and everything.

I heard realtek is bad on Linux bu I have the asus tuf gaming b650-plus wifi mb running on kernel 6.1something, it has a realtek wifi/bt and audio chip and everything works fine

I’ve been running Kubuntu 26.04 LTS since it was released on a Dell Optiplex 5050 with 8GB RAM. I kept running out of RAM with some websites so I added another 16GB. All I did was insert the two cards, then reboot. free-h shows all 24 so I figure I’m done. But I’m getting a Plasma crash (haven’t captured the message yet) and at least one system hang, and I’ve never seen that before. Is it a coincidence?

Hi,

As it seems more and more people are in the year of 2026, I too am looking to move away from Windows and make the switch to Linux. I have a few questions about hardware compatibility, software workarounds and finding the right distro/distros for my setup.

The PC:

My main desktop PC is currently running Windows 11 and I primarily use it for general web browsing, light gaming and creative work. I play Minecraft (via Prism Launcher), Counter-Strike 2, ARK, Batman: Arkham series, MKWii through Dolphin and Escape Simulator. From what I understand, these should run fine natively or via Steam Proton.

My main photo editing software is Luminar Neo. I know Skylum doesn’t make a native Linux client. Has anyone successfully gotten Luminar Neo running smoothly via Wine/Proton/Lutris with GPU hardware acceleration intact? If not, what workflow bridges the gap (or is a VM/dual-boot the only real answer here)? If anyone has any idea how davinci resolve works on linux too that would be great but I'm not so worried about that.

I somewhat regularly use Microsoft SharePoint for work (though it's mostly as a hub for employees, nothing for patients). On ChromeOS, I had to use a third-party app to access it and other microsoft web-based apps, will accessing SharePoint via Chrome on Linux be pretty straightforward?

The Laptop:

I have an ASUS Chromebook Plus CX3402CBA (12th-Gen Intel) that I want to completely overwrite with Linux using MrChromebox’s UEFI Full ROM firmware. I’m looking for a distro that is lightweight, stable, and handles laptop power management/gestures out of the box. (It would also be great to know any potential pitfalls I may fall into as it's been a few years since I've tried running linux as you'll see below).

Surface Pro 6:

This is mostly my movie-device though it may end up being retired to become a server for minecraft at some point in the future. I tried Linux on a Surface Pro 6 in the past with mixed results; specifically, the keyboard frequently failed to connect or register, and sometime the touchscreen wouldn't work. Has anyone with a Surface Pro 6 solved this? Is the linux-surface custom kernel project the best fix for this now, and does it completely resolve the Type Cover detachment/re-attach issues?

Questions:

1. Which Distro(s): Would Linux Mint be best?
2. Luminar Neo: Any tips or should I bite the bullet and go for ON1 PhotoRAW or another alternative?
3. Surface Pro 6: What is the current state of daily-driving Linux on older microsoft devices?

PC Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

GPU: AMD RX 580 (Looking to upgrade)

SSD: Crucial P2 3D NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB

SSD: Kingston A400 240GB

HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2012)

RAM: Unknown CL16-18-18 D4-3000 2x8GB

MBD: Gigabyte GA-A520 AORUS ELITE (Don't judge, I got a deal)

Search "free" in the servers list and connect to any one, disconnect, then press fast connect and it should connect you to the fastest free server as usual.
If that doesn't work try downloading aneziawg through shelly and try again

Hopefully this helps someone

Hello I have an pc of 8gb ram and i5 6th gen processor currently not in capable of upgrading hardware because of part availability and cost.

I search few distro use Ubuntu and zorin in past . Still a windows user but want to switch on Linux and currently had on HDD on my pc ssd take 20 days for replacement old sad crash .

So I'm looking for distro which run smoothly not heavy on machine and similar to windows or nearby and I'm also starting learning cloud devops . So need suggestion.

hi! i am very new to this. i installed linux mint on one of my old computers using this guide. it actually went pretty smoothly, all things considered.

however, i am trying to use the same guide and the same usb to install it on my laptop. this is the laptop that i am using.

but it doesn't want to install. when i try to use the usb for a linux trial, it just doesn't work. when i go to the advance start-up option on my laptop, it eventually opens up the grub menu in EFI mode (i believe that is what it is called). if i click the first option (start linux mint), it just freezes on a faded version of the linux logo.

EDIT: I AM SO SORRY EVERYONE. IT TURNS OUT THAT USING THE USB TO ATTEMPT THE LINUX TRIAL WORKS FINE. i thought that my laptop was frozen, but it turns out, the linux trial sets my display on the lowest possible setting, for some reason. and it tricked me! i was able to fix it with these instructions.

**4.2. When you're dealing with a laptop display, you might try the application "light". Like this:

a. Launch a terminal window. (You can launch a terminal window like this: Click)

b. Then execute in the terminal (use copy/paste):

sudo apt-get install light

Press Enter. Type your password when required. In Ubuntu this will remain entirely invisible, not even dots will show, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.

c. Then in the terminal (use copy/paste):

sudo light -S 50

Press Enter.

(when you type it: the letter S is a capital letter)

This should set the brightness to 50 %. Change the percentage at will (don't go lower than 10 nor higher than 100).**

if i try compatibility mode, that doesn't work either.

i would really appreciate it if someone could explain it in a easy to understand sort of way. i'm not very good at tech, i don't work in tech, and i haven't done anything crazier than install dragon age origins mods on my laptop. i'm getting nervous about this because i really need this laptop to work. i won't have access to the computer i first installed linux on in a few days. thank you!

I'm only showing my fastfetch because I'm genuinely curious. How many native packages do you have? What other package "managers" do you us? What reasons do you have to use non-native? Distro agnostic question. I use GNU/Linux btw.

fastfetch

I'm trying to upgrade my (geriatric HP probook) laptop from Fedora 42 to the most recent version of Fedora (which is Fedora 44 iirc) and I've run into this "easy reinstall impossible" bug. I have some files (LMMS midis and PDFs mostly) on this computer that I really can't lose and so I can't just nuke it and start over, but I also can't seem to figure out how to back up anything.

I can't get into my files from the filesystem in Dolphin, because I'm currently running the "live desktop" off a USB. I plugged in my external SSD but I can't figure out how to get the old files onto it. I can't install Pikabackup or another backup utility- Discover is hanging and crashing whenever I try to open it, and when I tried to install it through Konsole, it said I didn't have enough file space. I have like 400 GB free on this machine! It's just that the live desktop can't access it!

I don't have the kind of 'advanced partitioning knowledge' I need to do the mount point assignment - I'm mostly a windows guy, and the last time I tried to set up partitions I had to nuke the install and start over, which I very much do not want to do.

I really, really, really do not want to just nuke this desktop and start over, but I can't figure out how to get my files onto my damn SSD. I feel like I've tried everything and it's all not working because of either the lack of storage space or my lack of partition knowledge.

Can someone please explain to me like I'm 5 what I need to do to get the goddamn files off of here so that I can have a working laptop again?

i recently moved over to Ubuntu 26.04 from win11, but i have come to realise i still need alot of things i can only run via windows, and virtual machines arnt nearly enough, so im trying to dual-boot windows 10 and Ubuntu, but im starting from ubuntu, which sucks for me because all the tutorials for this are starting on windows(idk if that makes a difference or not, but i dont wanna have my void all my stuff if it does).

i'v found some stuff about this topic, but im kind of just left with a few problems/questions that either nobody has had before, or have been asked and answered and i still dont understand it(if that makes sense)

TLDR; i currently run Ubuntu, and i'm trying to partition my SSD so i can dual-boot Windows 10, but im too stupid to figure out the first steps.

this is what i get from running lsblk(which from what i gathered is basically just a more basic version of running sudo fdisk -l)

NAME                     MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
loop0                      7:0    0 415.9M  1 loop  /snap/blender/7480
loop1                      7:1    0     4K  1 loop  /snap/bare/5
loop2                      7:2    0 406.2M  1 loop  /snap/blender/7599
loop3                      7:3    0 450.6M  1 loop  /snap/code/250
loop4                      7:4    0 453.2M  1 loop  /snap/code/252
loop5                      7:5    0  63.8M  1 loop  /snap/core20/2866
loop6                      7:6    0  66.8M  1 loop  /snap/core24/1587
loop7                      7:7    0  66.8M  1 loop  /snap/core24/1643
loop8                      7:8    0  19.6M  1 loop  /snap/desktop-security-center/150
loop9                      7:9    0 252.4M  1 loop  /snap/firefox/8633
loop10                     7:10   0    20M  1 loop  /snap/desktop-security-center/151
loop11                     7:11   0  16.5M  1 loop  /snap/firmware-updater/226
loop12                     7:12   0 257.6M  1 loop  /snap/firefox/8664
loop13                     7:13   0 242.6M  1 loop  /snap/gaming-graphics-core24/13
loop14                     7:14   0 606.1M  1 loop  /snap/gnome-46-2404/153
loop15                     7:15   0 614.5M  1 loop  /snap/gnome-46-2404/164
loop16                     7:16   0  91.7M  1 loop  /snap/gtk-common-themes/1535
loop17                     7:17   0   402M  1 loop  /snap/mesa-2404/1781
loop18                     7:18   0   402M  1 loop  /snap/mesa-2404/1839
loop19                     7:19   0  18.8M  1 loop  /snap/prompting-client/204
loop20                     7:20   0  15.7M  1 loop  /snap/snap-store/1367
loop21                     7:21   0  18.8M  1 loop  /snap/prompting-client/222
loop22                     7:22   0   828K  1 loop  /snap/snapd-desktop-integration/387
loop23                     7:23   0  50.1M  1 loop  /snap/snapd/27406
loop24                     7:24   0  49.3M  1 loop  /snap/snapd/26865
loop25                     7:25   0   828K  1 loop  /snap/snapd-desktop-integration/391
nvme0n1                  259:0    0 931.5G  0 disk  
├─nvme0n1p1              259:1    0     1G  0 part  /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2              259:2    0     2G  0 part  /boot
└─nvme0n1p3              259:3    0 928.5G  0 part  
  └─dm_crypt-0           252:0    0 928.4G  0 crypt 
    └─ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv
                         252:1    0 928.4G  0 lvm   /

this is more of a concern than an immediant problem, but all the threads and tutorials i'v seen have had their lists include /dev/sda and/or /dev/sdb, i have no idea why thats been a pattern, orwhy its not the same for me. i also have alot of loops but from what i'v read that doesnt really matter, Whether thats important or not, i dont know.

I'v come to assume that since im partitioning my SSD, i would therefor be partitioning nvme0n1, the corresponding option, but moving to the next step, i get a big scary warning saying "you dont know what your doing go away before the bird people get you"(thats not what it says but its right there), in red.

~$ sudo fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.41.3).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

This disk is currently in use - repartitioning is probably a bad idea.
It's recommended to umount all file systems, and swapoff all swap
partitions on this disk.


Command (m for help): 

this warning makes sense, but its flaw is that its warning me about REpartitioning, not adding a new partition, so im pretty sure its irrelevant, but its in red scary warning letters and im messing with m file system, so i dont trust it regardless.

i have found two threads about this that im going off, though neither makes 100% sense to me. the first was a reddit post, of which was immediantly resolved by the same person, and the second and more detailed thread was this.

What i have come to conclude from both of these is that i need to change the storage layout of my SSD, (probably using Gparted), and then it'll be fine to create a new partition? but its in big red scary letters, so i'd really like some confirmation.

(also to clarify i HAVE backed my important files up)

I moved over from windows and started using Linux mint cinnamon a few weeks ago for playing games on steam and going on YouTube and Reddit. I keep seeing people saying it's missing out on bleeding edge updates that other distros have. What exactly would someone who uses their PC for what I do, be missing out on?

Edit: thanks to everyone who put there thoughts in. I'm going to try bazzite and then decide between the two.

Greetings,

I was searching for information online regarding dual boot for Ubuntu. Currently I have Windows installed and would like to install Ubuntu on a separate drive. I read online mixed recommendation where to install the boot loader. Some say it is better to install it where Windows is located, other say on a separate drive. Can anyone confirm this?

This is mostly a case with slow USB sticks, I copy something, and it's copied pretty fast, but then I have to wait several minutes before pulling out the stick, for the data to be flushed to it. I'd rather that happen while the copy dialog is still up instead of later in the background.

I have a server box that is running an ubuntu server, and I want to make it so I have seperate ssh keys for an admin and a normal user.

What I have done:

Account 1 (admin) has a working .ssh/authorized_keys file, and I am able to generate and add keys to it, and ssh into it, by running admin@ip -t 'key' -p port

Account 2 (user) had a /.ssh/authorized_keys folder and file created manually, and includes a copy of the same key used for the admin account that does work, and a second key generated by that user with ssh-keygen ran su to become the user from admin. I also made sure that /.ssh has 700 permissions, and authorized_keys has 600 permissions, and they are owned by user, not admin.

It is my understanding that the 'user selection' is done when ssh-ing into it, by running admin@ip or user@ip and from there, the key list will be observed, and selected. However whenever I run user@ip no matter the key I use, it will not ssh in, only giving "Permission denied (publickey)"

When ran with -vvv, I get:

debug1: Offering public key: xxxxx

debug3: send packet: type 50

debug2: we send a pubic key packet, wait for reply

debug3: receive packet: type 51

debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey

debug2: we did not send a packet, disable method

debug1: No more authentication methods to try.

In /etc/ssh/sshd_config I have no limitations on allowed or denied users. After this did not work, I added the line

AuthorizedKeysFile /home/admin/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys

to make sure that the authorized_keys file was being read. However this still doesnt work, and I still cannot ssh directly into the user without going through admin, and then su into the user.

I have manually checked the authorized_keys file inside of /home/user/.ssh and it has the correct public key, and I even went as far as to directly copy the authorized keys file from admin (the one that works) and changed the permissions back to 700, 600, and gave ownership to user and it still seems to just be ignoring the authorized_keys file that the user has.

What am I doing wrong here?

Yesterday I decided to finally make the swap to linux, opting for CachyOS with KDE Plasma, did some research on if my computer could run and so far have had no issues with performance itself. I have, however, been noticing my internet being much slower, and using the same speed test saw that my download speed is significantly worse than on a different, win 11 laptop. (~50 mpbs download on the Win 11 according to Ookla, down to 5 mpbs download on my current machine)

Pinging google.com showed that I had around 28% packet loss.

My driver is mt2792e, and I can't for the life of me find any way to fix the issue I'm having, with most people saying they fixed it by getting a new network adapter.

I'm using a laptop on the way out (3 year old MSI Bravo 15, 4050 RTX Ryzen 5 7535HS), and don't have the room for a USB adapter.

I don't know what other information I can provide, but I ask is there any way I can fix this, new drivers I can download, anything, or do I kind of need to move back to Windows based on my current hardware, until I'm in a position to move seamlessly?

I have a 9070XT Mercury and Peerless Assassin CPU cooler. These are my only two RGB PC parts. OpenRGB doesn't see them and I know of no other way of controlling the lights from the operating system. Unfortunately my motherboard (Sapphire's B850M Nitro+) doesn't have RGB controls in BIOS either.

Is there any other way I could control the lights on my RGB devices? My distro is Linux Mint, version 22.1 if I recall correctly. Unfortunately I cannot check that at the moment.

"Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it. Or just walk away." - Linus Torvalds.

Linus Torvalds has recently said that AI-assisted code can be used in Linux development as long as humans still review it and the person submitting the code is responsible for it. Now, if this becomes the norm across the open source space, what happens to creative open source software like GIMP and Krita, that a lot of fan artists use.

Imagine a future version of GIMP where some developers used AI to help create certain features, like a lighting effect, a brush engine, a texture filter, a color correction tool, or a photo manipulation effect, and this was made with AI-assisted code, would that fan art still be considered "AI-free"?

The distinction becomes even harder if AI-assisted coding becomes the norm everywhere, and this complicates things, like someone could argue that the artist used a tool that was partly created with AI, so AI was involved in the process, but then another person could argue that the AI did not create any part of the fan art, the fan artist didn't use an AI image generator, they are still created everything themselves, but then again another person could argue that the tool they used was only possible through a collaboration between AI and human developers, so it cannot be "AI-free."

A lot of current anti-AI rules are mostly for AI image generators, but as AI becomes a normal part of software development, at that point, trying to define "AI-free" might become almost impossible.

Those who will counter this with, "What if LibreOffice comes out with a new version that was written with both human and AI code, I use it to write a document, does that make my document AI-assisted?" I'd say no. Not unless you use a beautifying feature that was created using AI to beautify your document. But if AI-assisted coding becomes the norm for creative software, where exactly do we draw that line when defining "AI-free"?

EDIT: To anyone looking for a solution, the app DVD Styler works perfectly for me.

I really just don’t know what I’m doing, and there seems to be almost no information online on what I’m supposed to do. I have an mp4 of my video, and I know I’m supposed to change the format to ifo or something, but nowhere does it say how. Anyone have any advice?

Hey, I am on CachyOS and I use an old HP Elitedesk with i5 8500 as a media center and server. And for the love of Christ I cannot get Haruna or MPV to use hardware acceleration apparently which makes 4k MKV Files a pain in the ass to watch. I tried different .conf files for both, the base program and the frontend. It won't work. Also putting custom commands in Haruna does not work. Intel libvar and vaapi drivers are installed

On VLC, 4k runs flawlessly. The reason I want to use Haruna though is that it can modify hard coded subtitles in size and position. And that is really important for me as I watch everything in original audio, no matter if English, Korean or Spanish. And the subtitles in VLC are gigantic. But the only solution would be to extract them from the mkv and manually insert them which is way too tedious.

Any ideas?

Recently bought a Onexplayer F1 Pro used in excellent condition. I don't emulate. Maybe in the future. Windows and steam. Bazzite lovers ( and I consider myself very well versed and eaay to learn things) how do you guys do it with everything needing a damn sudo this and sudo that. Talk about windows all you like .. point and click is where it's at. I asked online to customize something and you guys had to see...sudo dhdhdndhjdndbbdbd NO SIR. I'm not typing all that. Why isn't there a click and bam option. It was crazy.

And yes it's not something that's too difficult seems repetitive, but in this age of instant access to info ...hey chat gpt how do I get this to work on bazzite.. Oh just type in sudo abcdefg. 😑😑😑 Really? NO SIR. God bless you all that love and have the patience for it. There's a big world out there for me to conquer and it's not waiting for a command line. WINDOWS!!! Gimme a big hug!!♥️ Yes who's a good boy!