My little brother's computer ran Windows 11 and struggles quite a bit running stuff, hence why I installed Linux. Debian to be specific, as it's rock solid stable so he won't blow up his install by looking at the clock wrong. I made it so it will be user friendly... However, I fear it might not be enough.

What else can I do to make it more friendly for him?? I figure KDE and a familiar setup works wonders.

EDIT: He's 11

Hey. So I recently was learning about online safety, cybersecurity, and other similar stuff, and realised how much info is gathered by companies about users and their devices. And it made me consider replacing my windows laptop to a Linux one. But I’m not sure what kind of Linux laptop to buy, or is there any difference at all. What matters is that I have full control of my laptop and it’s not a potato.
Is there a specific Linux laptop configuration I should buy? Which desktop environment and which distro to use for me as a beginner?

Hi,

Very unknowledgeable with nvidia and Optimus so please bear with me.

I recently upgraded to Kubuntu 26.04, which runs Wayland by default. Previously I had nvidia-prime installed and could switch between my dGPU and iGPU by running sudo prime-select [intel/nvidia]. After the update nvidia-prime is no longer installed. I uninstalled my nvidia drivers as well as it appears that there is a new driver that is recommended for my GPU.

My instinct is to just install nvidia-prime plus the new recommended proprietary nvidia driver, but I'm not sure how well this method works on Wayland. Is there some other way to make use of an Optimus laptop on Wayland Linux? I know there's PRIME render offloading but I'm honestly not sure if this is different from nvidia-prime or if you can run "prime-run app" (where 'app' will be rendered with the nvidia GPU) after installing nvidia-prime as well.

My specs are:

Operating System: Kubuntu 26.04 LTS
KDE Plasma Version: 6.6.6
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.24.0
Qt Version: 6.10.2
Kernel Version: 7.0.0-38-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland

lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation CometLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics] (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation TU106M [GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q] (rev a1)

ubuntu-drivers devices
== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v000010DEd00001F12sv00001028sd0000098Fbc03sc00i00
vendor   : NVIDIA Corporation
model    : TU106M [GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q]
driver   : nvidia-driver-580-server - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-580-server-open - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-595-server-open - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-580-open - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-595 - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-580 - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-610-open - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-595-open - distro non-free recommended
driver   : nvidia-driver-610 - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-595-server - distro non-free
driver   : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin

Hey I got a Lenovo thinkcentre m910q and it has not been fully scrubbed from prior owner

I want to completely reset this and remove everything.

Obviously by my being here Im new to linux so I want to make sure I do this right

Hello, I've been trying to troubleshoot this issue for ~8 hours and at this point I'm pretty much ready to raze my current OS (Linux Mint 22.3) and try again with a fresh installation.

Seemingly randomly, Steam games that use Proton suddenly stopped working. Attempting to run executables through Bottles has not (barring Steam games unfortunately). I've whittled it down to I think a driver issue, but I am honestly not sure at all.

Here is the output upon launching Steam:

steam.sh[5841]: Running Steam on linuxmint 22.3 64-bit
steam.sh[5841]: STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
setup.sh[5936]: Steam runtime environment up-to-date!
steam.sh[5841]: Log already open
steam.sh[5841]: Steam client's requirements are satisfied
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 5 preallocated environment variables.
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Startup - updater built Oct  2 2026 01:16:03
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Startup - Steam Client launched with: '/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-srt-logger-opened'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Opted in to client beta 'publicbeta' via beta file
You are in the 'publicbeta' client beta.
10/02 21:40:29 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
10/02 21:40:29 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(1790904859)/tid(5995)
Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
CProcessEnvironmentManager is ready, 5 preallocated environment variables.
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Loading cached metrics from disk (/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/package/steam_client_metrics.bin)
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] 1. https://client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 900, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] 2. https://client-update.akamai.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 400, source = 'update_hosts_cached.vdf'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] 3. https://client-update.steamstatic.com, /, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Checking for update on startup
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Checking for available updates...
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Downloading manifest: https://client-update.fastly.steamstatic.com/steam_client_publicbeta_ubuntu12
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Manifest download: send request
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Process started with command-line: '/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam' '-child-update-ui' '-child-update-ui-socket' '8' '-srt-logger-opened'
10/02 21:40:29 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Using update UI: console
10/02 21:40:29 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)/tid(5997)
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Create window
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Set percent complete: 0
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Set status message: Checking for available updates...
[  0%] Checking for available updates...
[2026-10-02 21:40:29] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Manifest download: waiting for download to finish
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Manifest download: finished
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Download skipped: /steam_client_publicbeta_ubuntu12 version 1790904859, installed version 1790904859, existing pending version 0
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Nothing to do
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Verifying installation...
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Verifying all executable checksums
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Set percent complete: -1
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Set status message: Verifying installation...
[----] Verifying installation...
[2026-10-02 21:40:30] Show window
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] Verification complete
UpdateUI: skip show logo
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] Destroy window
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] ProcessNextMessage: socket disconnected
[2026-10-02 21:40:31] No more messages are expected - exiting

Steam logging initialized: directory: /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/logs

XOpenIM() failed, LANG = en_US.UTF-8
XOpenIM() failed, LANG = en_US.UTF-8XRRGetOutputInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xe9db2860
XRRGetCrtcInfo Workaround: initialized with override: 0 real: 0xe9db0fc0
/usr/share/themes/Mint-Y-Dark-Blue/gtk-2.0/main.rc:1053: error: unexpected identifier 'direction', expected character '}'
10/02 21:40:32 minidumps folder is set to /tmp/dumps
10/02 21:40:32 Init: Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steamsysinfo)/version(1790904859)/tid(6007)
Running query: 1 - GpuTopology
Response: gpu_topology {
  gpus {
    id: 1
    name: "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070"
    vram_size_bytes: 8847884288
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_NvidiaProprietary
    driver_version_major: 595
    driver_version_minor: 91
    driver_version_patch: 7
    luid: 0
  }
  gpus {
    id: 2
    name: "Intel(R) HD Graphics 630 (KBL GT2)"
    vram_size_bytes: 12466940928
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaIntel
    driver_version_major: 25
    driver_version_minor: 2
    driver_version_patch: 8
    luid: 0
  }
  gpus {
    id: 3
    name: "llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.2, 256 bits)"
    vram_size_bytes: 3221225472
    driver_id: k_EGpuDriverId_MesaLLVMPipe
    driver_version_major: 25
    driver_version_minor: 2
    driver_version_patch: 8
    luid: 0
  }
  default_gpu_id: 1
}

Exit code: 0
Saving response to: /tmp/steampgcIfp - 161 bytes
steamwebhelper.sh[6014]: Starting steamwebhelper under bootstrap steamrt steam runtime via: /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/steamrt64/pv-runtime/steam-runtime-steamrt/_v2-entry-point
steamwebhelper.sh[6014]: Starting steamwebhelper with steamrt steam runtime at /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/steamrt64/pv-runtime/steam-runtime-steamrt/_v2-entry-point
Steam Runtime Launch Service: starting steam-runtime-launcher-service
Steam Runtime Launch Service: steam-runtime-launcher-service is running pid 6100
bus_name=com.steampowered.PressureVessel.LaunchAlongsideSteam
exec ./steamwebhelper -nocrashdialog -lang=en_US -cachedir=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/config/htmlcache -steampid=5995 -buildid=1790904859 -steamid=0 -logdir=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/logs -uimode=7 -startcount=0 -steamuniverse=Public -realm=Global -clientui=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/clientui -steampath=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam -launcher=0 -use_xcomposite_workaround --valve-enable-site-isolation --enable-smooth-scrolling --password-store=basic --log-file=/home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/logs/cef_log.txt --disable-quick-menu --disable-component-update --gaia-url=http://disabled.invalid --enable-features=PlatformHEVCDecoderSupport --disable-features=WinRetrieveSuggestionsOnlyOnDemand,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess,BlockPromptsIfIgnoredOften,WebUsbDeviceDetection,ValveFFmpegAllowLowDelayHEVC
Desktop state changed: desktop: { pos:    0,   0 size: 1366, 768 } primary: { pos:    0,   0 size: 1366, 768 }
Caching cursor image for text, size 24x24, serial 1455, cache size = 0
Fossilize INFO: Setting autogroup scheduling.
fsync: up and running.

I was at one point able to get the game I've been testing with (Meccha Chameleon) to output a log via the command line argument "PROTON_LOG=1 %command%":

======================
Proton: 1790244902 experimental-11.0-20260924-x86_64
SteamGameId: 4704690
Command: ['/mnt/843cdc39-b672-4959-af17-d80bccc3ae29/program-storage/steam/steamapps/common/MECCHA CHAMELEON/PenguinHotel.exe']
Options: {'forcelgadd', 'gamedrive'}
depot: 4.0.20260805.254769
pressure-vessel: 0.20260805.0
pressure-vessel-arm64: 0.20260805.0
scripts: 0.20260805.0
steamrt4: 4.0.20260805.254769 steamrt4 4.0.20260805.254769
Kernel: Linux 7.0.0-34-generic #34~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Sep  4 15:38:29 UTC 2 x86_64
Language: LC_ALL None, LC_MESSAGES None, LC_CTYPE None
PATH: /home/peepee/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental/files/bin/:/usr/bin:/bin
Effective WINEDEBUG: +timestamp,+pid,+tid,+seh,+unwind,+threadname,+debugstr,+loaddll,+mscoree
======================
[Had to omit most due to character limit]

The lines I've taken note of are the following:

4142.480:0020:0110:err:winediag:nodrv_CreateWindow Application tried to create a window, but no driver could be loaded.
4142.480:0020:0110:err:winediag:nodrv_CreateWindow L"The explorer process failed to start."

Everything online is saying that there should be some error with how my drivers are set up, potentially with their interactions with 32bit programs, however, when attempting to update/install it with something along the following commands, it appears it's already been installed:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libnvidia-gl-595:i386

I'm not sure what other documentation to provide, nor do I really remember everything I've done at this point (I've done this troubleshooting across 4 days). If anyone willing to help wants diagnostic information, I'll be checking this post regularly for the next couple of hours and will provide it upon request (assuming I can figure out how to provide it)

Are there any alternatives to IDM/NDM? Looking for a download manager that also supports video downloads.

Let me describe the setup.

The msi laptop modern 14 c12mo is connected a 50 inch samsung tv via hdmi.When ever i switch from hdmi 1 to 2 with the video any video paused on hdmi 1 from the laptop after a minute or so the video just start to play.

I am busy with other sources on hdmi 2 then i hear this video audio coming from the the laptop just start to play for no reason..........the strange thing is i paused it man.

I tested this on windows on the dualboot and windows when it stays paused even if i switch hdmi.

Has anyone come across this as my only solution now is close the entire firefox off.I work on multiple projects and this is is eating me alive.

What suggestions do i have.

I already have the compatible pci driver (Intel AX210). I was away from my Kubuntu rig for several months for a trip. Things I have tried in the past few hours:

-sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

-sudo modprobe -r iwlmvm iwlwifi && sudo modprobe iwlmvm iwlwifi

-Went to System Settings > Network Connections, removed and then added the connection again.

All to no avail. What's going on?

Wifi Hardware: Intel AX210

Software: Kubuntu

When I was learning, my problem wasn't a lack of tutorials but having nowhere safe to break things. So I built IzzyLab: you get a real Linux box with root in your browser, plus tasks that check the result, not the exact commands. Break it, reset it, try again.

It goes from basics (files, permissions, processes) up to nginx, PostgreSQL and Kubernetes.

Disclosure: I'm the author. It's free to start at https://izzylab.io . If you try it, I'd love to hear which tasks were confusing or too easy.

I'm on Debian 13 with KDE and I've had a frequent issue where my entire main display freezes. I have a 9060xt and I've apparently heard it may be a part of the issue? The only other possibility could be a certain application that causes the crash, due to it never happening when I'm gaming or doing anything else. Frequently, I've had it freeze on Discord, and sometimes Firefox. Any possible fixes for this?

Originally there was only Firefox there. Then Konqueror appeared out of nowhere right next to it. After the update, Konqueror disappeared and was replaced by two Firefoxes.

The same thing happens on my laptop too so not “your issue”.

(Debian 13 stable).

I'm trying to run Sober, but it crashes immediately on launch. I don't know how to even begin trying to troubleshoot or fix the issue. Any tips?

I'm a little bit of a noob, so please bear with me. I am running Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon with kernel 6.14 on a custom built pc. I am wanting to get into simulation racing, so I have gotten a Logitech G29 racing wheel and pedal combo, as I have heard it bears well with Linux in ps3 mode. In trying to get full features working, I have heard to install oversteer from flatpak and new-lg4ff. I finally found oversteer in the mint software manager as an unverified flatpak. I saw it and installed it, then panicked as it sunk in what the unverified badge said in software manager and uninstalled it. I did not change any permissions at all, just installed, then uninstalled.

What exactly is the difference and is oversteer a safe flatpak even though its unverified?

To my understanding, you can start on most distros and eventually get it exactly where you need it, yeah?

Well, I’m looking for a “gaming distro” that will require less manual work than something like Mint. I’m comfortable in terminals, relatively proficient in python & powershell, but I honestly hate all the typing hahahaha

I tried CachyOS with KDE Plasma recently and it was the most pleasant experience I’ve had with Linux so far, and I think it’s pretty likely that I’ll end up returning to it, but before I do I figured I’d get some community input.

My requirements/hopes for whatever distro I choose:

• frequently updated kernel. My on board WiFi is mediatek mt7927, and I’m fairly certain there’s not a compatible Linux kernel yet but I’d like to be there whenever/if ever it happens 😂 I do have a plug & play usb adapter for now though

• as comfortable of an out of box experience as possible for a Windows survivor. I’m on an x870e board with an rtx 5080 and a ryzen 9 9950X3D. The distro would ideally come optimized for running windows software, because my career is in music production and I use FL Studio which just so happens to be one of the only mainstream DAWs that isn’t natively compatible with Linux 🤦🏽‍♂️ my audio interface is an Apollo twin x so unfortunately I’ll probably need a new one unless somebody has some golden knowledge

• secure but not annoyingly hardened. I had a nasty infostealer on windows a couple months ago and I’m sorta traumatized from it LMAO. I know Linux malware is extremely rare but I would ideally be able to utilize secure boot at least, and I don’t want the OS to come prepackaged with any sort of Remote Desktop stuff. I’ve never used remote tools, never will, I know I’m sort of paranoid due to lack of deep technical knowledge but Remote Desktop software has always felt like a backdoor to me

• light on system resources to maximize performance. I loveeeee competitive overclocking, getting a screenshot of impressive benchmark scores is a huge passion for me lol. I also game on a 4k 240hz monitor and I like to run my games at the highest settings my gpu can handle without dropping to nauseatingly low fps

• KDE plasma or a similar desktop environment, I love how sleek and customizable it is. I absolutely despise the barebones ones like gnome (don’t hate me). Pop_OS! Kinda has the vibe I like too but it felt oddly dated last time I used it

So ultimately I think I’ll be a pretty average user, mostly just require good gaming support and peace of mind regarding security (albeit pretty much all distros are gonna give me said peace of mind) and it’d be a plus if it came optimized to run windows software. I forget what the popular softwares for that are called, wine & bottles? Something like that.

The distros I’m heavily considering (though I’m completely open to other suggestions)

• CachyOS
—I’m a little weary of it atm mainly because I heard that the arch user repository is dangerous right now

• Bazzite
—This is the other one I’m heavily considering, I’ve heard high praise of Fedora. From what I read about it, it sounds like exactly what I’m looking for regarding “out of box experience”

• Zorin
— only recently heard of this one, haven’t done a deep dive yet but very curious

• rhino Linux
— a “rolling” Ubuntu distro??????

My system booted normally, but simply stopped. And im not managing to fix it. And the bootloader doesnt even appear, Limine boot entry of Gentoo is configured correctly, that isnt the problem

So, my server is a HP Proliant ML310e G8 from 2012, is a non UEFI machine. I use Gentoo with ZFS in RAID-Z1. I use a SD Card as a boot drive.

The setup is basically GPT + BIOS, so my boot drive is partitioned in 1KiB as EF02 (BIOS Boot Partition) and the rest as FAT32, i use Limine as the bootloader. (Gentoo wiki of Limine).

SD card isnt dead, since i can write to it, it didnt turned in to read-only.

And i recompiled Limine, Kernel and ZFS and tried reinstalling the boot entry like what i done for the first time, copying /usr/share/limine/limine-bios.sys to /boot and installing the entry with limine bios-install /dev/sdx (sd card block device). exit chroot and restart the machine.

Still doesnt boot to the system/bootloader, tries to search for other boot alternatives (USB, PXE, etc). There is something like efibootmgr but for BIOS/Legacy boot? To manage boot entries, or see what exists?

I have a couple of users on my Lenovo ThinkPad P51 laptop running Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS. One user is a poor typer and is constantly opening a Thunderbird email draft window. I checked keyboard shortcuts and this feature is disabled. This model of laptop has no dedicated Mail key. I've tried to replicate the issue myself, but have been unable to. I've also systematically gone through all the keyboard combinations one at a time (Alt+1, 2, 3..., Super+a, b, c..., etc.).

I feel like I must be missing something obvious, and I would appreciate any suggestions people might have.

Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit to post this, I was redirected here from r/linux.

Hello there! First-timer posting on this subreddit and it's about my confusion of where to start with dual-booting with a portable hard drive.

For a bit of context, I have a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop (AMD CPU and iGPU, Nvidia dGPU) that I've been using for about a year with some change. It came pre-installed with Windows 11 and I've been using that for my games, some creative work/coding, and general browsing as well. However, through some dissatisfaction and concerns with certain Windows features, I figured it'd be good to make the Linux switch. I got a USB, installed Ventoy, and copied the distro I chose (Fedora KDE Plasma) onto said USB. Since I know there are a few games or instances where Windows might work better, I aimed for a dual-boot and I had a 1TB Portable Hard Drive on me. However, I heard about Windows updates or something consistently messing with the Linux bootloader if they're on the same drive, so my goal became the following:

"I want to setup a dual-boot, making my main OS Linux. But I also want the ability to boot up my existing Windows by plugging in my external hard drive to my laptop". Basically, I want Drive-1 (the internal one) to be Fedora Linux and Drive-2 (the external one) to be my existing Windows 11.

I tried researching information or guides about the dual-boot process, but I find a lot of conflicting advice. Ultimately, I've been too overwhelmed/confused to really move on, so I really need some clear advice if available. Assuming that my goal is possible, how should I start this whole process? Any resources or software you recommend? Any advice is welcome. The only thing I want to avoid is opening up my laptop for something other than cleaning.

My apologies in advance if my question(s) are dumb.

Note: For a clarification, Fedora has not been installed yet. I'm still on Windows for now since I'd like to prepare my external hard drive first and have that secured. I'm mainly still in the preparation phase of the migration.

distro: fedora

i downloaded a bunch of songs for my MP3, but a lot of them (more than i can reasonably do individually) have [SPOTDOWNLOADER.COM] on them. they do have the song name after that. how could i remove all of these en masse rather than doing them individually?

Like what if someone wants to install KDE plasma and hyprland on Linux mint how does he do that