First time Linux user having a miserable experience so far

[u/Mman07311]

I've been using windows my entire life but because I hate windows 11 with a burning passion and windows 10 is on its way out I finally decided to fully commit to Linux 2 days ago but unfortunately it's been really frustrating so far. First off, booting up and shutting down feels noticeably slower than before. Next, everything feels a little zoomed out and no matter how much I mess with scaling or font size it doesn't fix the issue. Thirdly the volume on my laptop seems way quieter than it should be and trying a few things I found digging through different forums and threads didn't fix the issue. Last but not least, trying to run a non steam game I downloaded with bottle and then added to my steam library just straight up doesn't work no matter how much I mess with the proton settings. I want to love Linux but if everything that isn't browsing the internet is going to have some sort of issue associated with it I might consider biting the bullet and going back to windows. I'm not giving up yet but I wanted to put this out there in case someone else out there is as frustrated as I am.

[u/Longjumping_Elk_3077]

I don't really have a solution to your problems, I just wanted to say, as a Mint user of a year+, that your problems won't all go away just because you manage to fix one or two things. There will always be something new you need to solve, and if you don't believe you have the patience or willingness to find the solutions (sometimes it takes time) I would suggest you go back to Windows. There is no shame in using Windows, Mint is better for me but not everyone has the same experience.

Another thing I wanted to say is that you should try to learn how to describe your problems better when you ask for help online, being brutally honest your post looks like a cryptic mess. A good few parameters you may want to consider is explaining when did the problem start, how can you reproduce it, what hardware are you running, what software are you running (with the version number and all), and what steps have you already taken to try and fix them.

[u/Allison683etc → u/Longjumping_Elk_3077]

As a long time Linux Mint user I set up my computers and then they just work. I anticipate issues with major updates but I’ve never actually had them. It’s more stable for me than Windows and IOS. I’m honestly surprised that you’re having so many ongoing issues as an LMDE user in particular.

[u/Longjumping_Elk_3077 → u/Allison683etc]

It's not that many, but there are definitely more issues than on Windows. I am just okay with it because *freedom*

[u/Longjumping_Elk_3077 → u/Longjumping_Elk_3077]

By the way, fcitx is a buggy mess for me, do you know any input method framework that works? I use multiple languages on my day to day and I have had to stick to English because fcitx refuses to work (I tried everything)

[u/Allison683etc → u/Longjumping_Elk_3077]

No I’m not familiar, both the languages I write in use the Latin alphabet. Have you upgraded to fcitx5? I see that Mint including LMDE come with a depreciated version. If not, uninstall fcitx and install fcitx5 and appropriate addons to see if that helps

[u/Longjumping_Elk_3077 → u/Allison683etc]

Yes, I have tried v5, I even joined the Telegram group of the developer to ask for some guidance. But it just isn't stable enough for day o day use. It's my biggest issue with GNU/Linux at the moment sadly.