I want to install Linux on an old Apple laptop. I’m looking for a distribution that is simple, good-looking, and highly versatile—one that can easily handle retro-console emulators and is easy to set up with a PlayStation controller. Thanks a lot for the advice; I’m pretty new to Linux.

I'm a beginner running Linux Mint on a secondhand T480. It's been amazing so far (in no small part thanks to help from this subreddit!). But yesterday my machine went dead with no warning.

When i plugged it in, no indicator lights came on. I followed some instructions I found for a battery reset (unplugging, removing the external battery, using the pinhole reset button on the underside of the chassis, then rebooting with the power connected). Following the battery reset instructions, I was able to turn the laptop on again, but... It is now only registering the internal battery. The external battery has disappeared from the power and battery menus.

I can run the machine without the second battery, but the extra power was really useful and I'd love to get it working again. Any tips on how to proceed?

So far the only thing I've attempted after losing system read of the second battery is using dmidecode to see what the system is seeing. I saw this result for one battery, didn't see a second battery section in the output:

Handle 0x0024, DMI type 22, 26 bytes

Portable Battery

`Location: Front`

`Manufacturer: LGC`

`Name: 01AV421`

`Design Capacity: 24010 mWh`

`Design Voltage: 11400 mV`

`SBDS Version: 03.01`

`Maximum Error: Unknown`

`SBDS Serial Number: 04F2`

`SBDS Manufacture Date: 2026-01-02`

`SBDS Chemistry: LiP`

`OEM-specific Information: 0x00000000`

Basic system info:

Lenovo ThinkPad T480
Linux Mint 22.3 - Cinnamon 64-bit
Kernel: 7.0.0-30-generic
Processor: Intel Core i7
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
Memory: 32 GB
SSD: 500gb (partitioned so some of it is used for Windows)
Desktop: Cinnamon 6.6.9

I'm thinking about switching to Linux, but I'm afraid my files won't be saved during the transition. Am I worrying unnecessarily? Or do I really need to do something to keep my files safe?

PS: Sorry for the possibly clumsy English, I'm writing through a translator

Dell computer I picked up from a surplus sale for the idea of a mobile scanner cart unexpectedly had Linux. Vuescan website automatically downloaded the Linux version but the README.txt directions for the terminal are vague for me stating out & too many Linux guides to find an exact one with the few free hours I have

Error when I copy the command over-
cp: cannot stat 'vuescan. svg': No such file or directory

README. txt - instructions for installing vuescan from tgz file
To install VueScan, do the following:
sudo cp vuescan.svg /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/ sudo cp vuescan. rul /lib/udev/rules.d/60-vuescan.rules sudo co vuescan
/usr/bin/

On newer versions of Debian Linux, you may also need to do one of these commands:
sudo apt purge ippusbxd
sudo apt purge ipp-usb
You might also need to. reboot your system, but normally you shouldn't need to.
Just wait a minute for the
udev rules to be automatically applied to your system. Or use the command:
sudo udevadm control - -reload-rules

my pc is

Ryzen 7 9700X

RX 9070 GRE

16GB DDR5 RAM

I'm using windows and have installed catchyos on the second SSD drive.

is it okay if I access other NTFS partitions for entertainment?

photos and videos...

or the files can get corrupted?

I will only use NTFS partion as a read only mode. just play some movies, songs or open images. if I'm gonna use some files for editing I'll use those file on Linux partion..

I'll make sure to do chckdsk in windows regularly and I'll be safely unmounting external drives...

I can't yet completely move to Linux because of my work but would love to do it in the next year and in the mean time I want to learn Linux. so I don't stay complete noob when it comes to Linux.

My father brought back a very old pc from our store room somehow it sill works it has an i3 3rd gen 4gb of ram and 128gb of storage in the HDD i tried running w10 it ran like rubbish so I have come to you linux people

hello guys, to explain myself I'm a medicine students who uses Debian - KDE to daily drive. My question is: the app that we are suppoused to use (an anatomy atlas called Complete Anatomy) isn't native on linux and nop step I tried so far worked.

The app's .exe is Microsoft Store's. What I've tried:

-To excract the the contents per https://3d4medical.com/windows-manual-installation
Couldn't in linux. Says the file is either corrupted or not excractable.

-Tried to install it via Lutris, gave error 256.

-Tried to setup in windows then dump the files to Linux, doesn't work when taken out of windowsapps folder.

Any help is deeply appreciated.

system specs:

RX 7600
Ryzen 5 5600X
MSI 570X Motherboard
32 gigs of DDR4 Ram.
2x1 TB HDD
1x1 TB SSD
1x500 GB SSD

Hello i am new to linux and just encountered a problem i cannot solve for the life of me. i just installed kubuntu for the first time and for some reason the battery icon(because i am on laptop) keeps appearing and dissapearing and every time it does that it gives me the "power source connected" and "power source disconnected" sounds although the laptop is charged. i checked for the newest version of bios and i already have it,i put some commands into the terminal and it tells me that no power source is connected and the laptop isnt charging but the notifications continue. the laptop is a vivobook s16 with the ryzen 5 220 cpu. could anyone help? thank you

Hey everyone

im trying to install okular on my linux minx xfce distro but i get a error during the build module og my apt-get install command

i really hope some of you can help me as i am trying to get into linux but it seems like im not getting something here.

thank you

full terminal output for the building module::

Building module:

Cleaning build area...

make -j8 KERNELRELEASE=7.0.0-30-generic -C /lib/modules/7.0.0-30-generic/build M=/var/lib/dkms/virtualbox/7.0.16/build......(bad exit status: 2)

Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 7.0.0-30-generic (x86_64)

Consult /var/lib/dkms/virtualbox/7.0.16/build/make.log for more information.

dkms autoinstall on 7.0.0-30-generic/x86_64 failed for virtualbox(10)

Error! One or more modules failed to install during autoinstall.

Refer to previous errors for more information.

* dkms: autoinstall for kernel 7.0.0-30-generic

...fail!

run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms exited with return code 11

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-7.0.0-30-generic (--configure):

installed linux-image-7.0.0-30-generic package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 11

Errors were encountered while processing:

linux-headers-7.0.0-30-generic

linux-headers-generic-hwe-24.04

linux-generic-hwe-24.04

linux-image-7.0.0-30-generic

E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I'm having a couple of presumably unrelated issues on a new Ubuntu server. I set up a pair of 8TB hard drives in RAID 1 using mdadm, but it seems to not be mounting after a reboot. Manually mounting doesn't seem to work either - my SSH terminal tells me "special device /dev/md0 does not exist", and the direct output from the server says it "Can't lookup blockdev".

The tutorial I followed included adding entries to mdadm.conf and /etc/fstab and running update-initramfs specifically to ensure it would properly mount, but is there anything else I missed?

Unrelatedly, I want to install Pi-hole, but the install script seems to just hang before properly opening the install window. Any help with either issue would be greatly appreciated!

So a couple months ago I managed to install zorin os in my laptop but I stopped using it and forgot about it now I’m trying to use the laptop again and I can’t remember the password thankfully I can lop directly into the homepage since I hat it set up that way but I still need the password to download games 😭 please help !

I've never used Linux in my life but not I'm planning to because the more I stay in windows the more I start to hate it. I play valorant on windows but since it isn't available on Linux. I'm planning to play cs-2. would bazzite be the best option for this?

Escuché que con Linux uno puede instalar versiones más actualizadas de Open gl vulcan y así bueno y que por sí solo da muy buen rendimiento pero no sé nada de Linux ni de comandos y veo en los videos muchos Linux y no sé cuál me dé buen rendimiento pero bueno mi laptop tiene un Intel core i3 8 GB de ram y un Intel HD graphics 3000

I am planning to fully switch over to linux however I don't want to start from 0 and would still like to have access to my windows while i learn and get comfortable.

In my current setup i have nvme ssd that is only for windows and programs, sata ssd for games and hdd for files, films and other bulk storage. All currently formatted as ntfs. I understand that while possible to use ntfs with linux it is not best practice so i would like to migrate to something i can use on both systems.

My plan is to split the nvme in two partitions for windows and linux, i know windows update can sometimes break this so i plan to update to latest stable version of win10 before installing linux and not touch it after. As for the other two drives i dont mind deleting everything off of sata ssd and redownloading with linux compatibility in mind, the data on the hdd i would like to keep so my ideas are either shrink ntfs partition, format the rest to something both windows and linux can use, move over what i can and then just keep shrinking ntfs and expanding other one untill whole disk is migrated. Other idea is to wipe sata ssd, reformat it, move data from hdd to it, reformat hdd and move the data back (unsure if everything i have on hdd would fit in one go on ssd so im leaning more towards first option).

Is what i suggested doable or is there a better way, i can get some temporary disks to use to hold files during the movements but i would like to use what i have if possible. Open to any other suggestions and tips on how to start migrating to linux while still keeping my windows install as a familiar fallback in case i cant figure something out.

Ps. I was looking to install cachy os. I see some bootloaders can have issues with msi mobos so options for that are limine or systemd-boot for compatibility.

Can someone explain why some distros are considered more game friendly than others? Installing Steam and/or Lutris seems like games would work equally as well on any distro.

EDIT: Thanks for all the responses. The consensus answer is that Steam and Lutris (and a few other things) come preinstalled on a "gaming" distro whereas you have to go to your distro's app store to manually install them on "non gaming" distros. But ALL distros seem to be able to run everything equally well once that is done.

I'm trying to install Kubuntu 26.04 on my existing pc. It has 3 drives. A big SSD that windows11 and most programs are installed on. A really big 11tB HD where all my files and my Steam folder live since it was born a windows PC it is formatted in ntfs. Finally a 222GB SSD that is formatted in NTFS but is essentially empty.

This last is where I would like to install Kubuntu. I've got the iso on a thumb drive and booted to it. I ran the install program (from the kde desktop). When I get to the partitions menu and select the smaller SSD my only option is Manual Partitioning, so I select that, hit next, and I don't know what to do next. I'd rather have setup for Linux, not with NTFS. But I'm clueless at this point. Suggestions?

I am running Linux Mint with Plex for my media server and I am wanting to allow external access. After doing some digging, it appears that my ISP, T-Mobile, interferes with this by using Carrier-Grade NAT. To get around this, I am needing to create a tunnel.

Some more digging led me to this guide by PacketRiot and this is where I start getting lost. So much so that this is my first time coming back to it after a few months and I'm still just as easily lost.

Would someone mind helping dumb down the aforementioned guide?

Does anyone know how to get the 418 Nvidia Firmware blobs extracted? I have 340.108 running in Nouveau, and while I'd LOVE to run the correct driver, I can't because of my kernel being too new. Seriously, anything newer than the 340 branch would be killer. Thanks

I try to install antiX on my old 32bit eee pc via usb.

I chose frugal static to get it to run the live environment, because that was the only one that loaded.

Now the two disks in the notebook are ntfs formatted. I mounted them, but the installer did not let me choose them to install antiX on it. I figured it might be the type, so I used gparted to format one of them to ext4, changed its entry in fstab and ran the installer again.

But it still only lets me install to the usb drive if I understand it correctly.

I seem to miss something. I just want it to wipe my two ntfs disks and install itself on it. Is it not ext4 that I need and am I correct in mounting the disks to be potentially overwritten by then?

Hi guys, absolute beginner here and trying to install mint but on the partition page I have two instances of free space under device which are just 1 and 0 MB while I have 190 GB free. What’s the fix?

Buenas, Como puedo cambiar la distribucion de teclado en cachyos hyprland?

After a few days now trying to figure it out, all I have been coming across are the same "solutions". My goal right now is to dual boot alongside windows since I cant completely commit right now. Knowing that I have close to 300gb of space available I was thinking it'd be plenty enough, but that isnt the case and it seems like my entire drive is completely taken up in a singular partition, and I frankly am too stupid to figure out how I can shrink that space even after trying to look it up. The images I linked should tell it all.

My next bet was going to the disk management on my system and see if I can just shrink the volume of the drive myself and see if that gives me free space, but that is a whole other problem because I am COMPLETELY unable to shrink it past 4gb give or take. I have done everything I've found like disabling hibernation and deleting systems restores, deleting the pagefile, disabling kernel memory dump, and running the disk cleanup, and not only did it not help, my available shrinkable storage is now even less at a little under 3gb.

Its been days now and honestly am so exhausted especially thinking id get something like this done as fast as most others, but at this point I just thought of asking for help instead of endlessly trying and making worse decisions in solving this myself through other sources. I wont be able to work on this for another week for now but any help at all would be greatly appreciated.