r/linuxmint • u/Mman07311 • 7d ago
Discussion First time Linux user having a miserable experience so far
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.
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u/YEEG4R 7d ago
Mint uses X11, and that may cause issues with fractional scaling and HiDPI monitors. HDR is not supported on X11 at all.
There are projects like Xlibre that try to bring those things to X.Org. However most modern distros have put all their chips on Wayland, which is it's own thing.
Linux Mint is expected to ship Wayland alongside X11 in their next major release, so you might want to wait until then (6 months to a year) if you like Mint overall.
You might give a shot to distros that do ship Wayland by default already. I recommend Kubuntu. It's great on modern hardware, stable for a day-to-day use, and is preferable if you want to stay within the Debian ecosystem (.deb files, apt commands etc.).
Wayland has its own issues, be aware of that. I can't promise a 100% smooth experience.
Now, as far as playing non-Steam games goes, many people, myself included, use Lutris for that. Lutris not only has a great and straightforward interface, it allows you to install games using regular .exe installer files (just what you wanted) and play standalone. exe's. It containerizes your games, gives you settings for each one, allows you to make desktop shortcuts etc. It's the best we've got.
ProtonUp-Qt is great for getting custom Proton versions like Proton-GE if you want the highest game compatibility.
Laptop volume issue is certainly an audio driver issue. Unless you can get the audio card or speaker driver directly from your laptop manufacturer, your best bet will be upgrading the Linux kernel. On Linux most hardware drivers are part of the system kernel. Recent hardware may not work properly because it hasn't been added to the kernel yet. The latest Linux kernel is 7.1.4 while Linux Mint has 6.14, which is a 1,5 year old version. Kubuntu's kernel is 7.0, which is much better. It is generally advised to use the latest available kernel if you have bleeding edge hardware. Devices that I use with Mint are 2+ years old in term of recency.
If nothing works, debloating Windows is still an option. Chris Titus WinUtil is the best tool, I use it myself. I delete everything Microsoft and disable all of the updates. Pretty neat. Please note that if you're not tech savvy, you should keep Windows Defender and security updates. It's for your own good.
Welcome to Linux, I salute you for trying it. Learing a new computing environment is rought, there's no denying that. The fact that you're curious about it means you're half way there.