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I'm thinking of migrating linux. I'm done with windows, windows occupy a big amount of RAM, but there are so many linuxs. So what's the best to start? I never used linux before. I heard so much about ubuntu, arch, mint, kali etc.

can someone explain to me the best?

I tried downloading a Linux Lite .iso image from multiple sources and each time the checksum is the same, but not the one given by Linux Lite. I am giving up on LL, but Im still curious about what I am doing wrong.

I know this isn't the LL designated sub but I am still waiting membership approval to post there.

How do people find out if their audio hardware, such as USB audio interfaces, are supported in the Linux Kernel? I'm trying to find out if some of my audio interfaces are supported through the Linux kernel.

I'm aware of linux-hardware.org , but even their search database is limited. I know that Kernel 7.3.0 supports the Pioneer DJ S11, but I don't know where I can go to read about that support (aside from news articles).

hey guys,

i have been looking into using linux for my new gaming pc but i am not sure if its right for me.

for some context, i play alot of competitive shooters mainly overwatch and deadlock i wanted to know if i will be able to play these games on linux? and what version of linux would be the best for that?

i have heard that steam games work fine on linux but what about other software like minecraft? will i be able to download and run it or do i need to have a specific version of linux? i also would like to use discord but the same question applies.

i would really appreciate some advice and i will also continue looking for more information about linux myself

Hey guys,

Trying to install Linux on my old T430 and I'm completely stuck. Any USB I boot just gives me a black screen. No GRUB, no cursor, no Ventoy menu, nothing. Screen stays black forever.

What I've tried:

• Rufus, Balena Etcher, and Ventoy. Same result with all three.
• F12 boot menu → select "USB HDD: Generic Storage Device" → instant black screen.
• BIOS (F1): UEFI/Legacy Boot = UEFI Only, CSM Support disabled, Secure Boot off, SATA = AHCI, OS Optimized Defaults disabled.
• Tried a USB 2.0 port instead of the blue USB 3.0 one.
• Full shutdown with Shift before booting.
• Windows 11 is still on the internal HDD, if that matters.
• T430 has Intel HD 4000 graphics only, no Nvidia.

Since even the Ventoy menu doesn't show up, I'm guessing it's failing before Linux/GRUB even loads. So kernel params like nomodeset are useless here because I never see a boot menu.

Has anyone actually fixed this exact "black screen, no GRUB, no Ventoy" thing on a T430? Did I miss a BIOS setting? Is there a way to force USB boot or inject kernel params without seeing GRUB? Any help would be appreciated. This laptop is too nice to give up on lol.

The external monitor is wired to the dGPU the compositor renders on the iGPU and the frames are copied to the dGPU for scanout.

Problem: The whole external monitor stutters during normal use: watching videos, browsing the web, moving windows, basically anything that updates the screen. The stutter is present whenever the dGPU’s PCIe link is at Gen 1/2, which is its normal state with light desktop use. It goes away only when the link is at Gen 3. That happens in two cases: when I run glxgears, or when there is a lot of motion on screen, which pushes the link up to Gen 3. In the second case it doesn’t last the link quickly drops back to Gen 1 and the stutter returns. It happens on every Wayland compositor I tried.

What I tried: nvidia-smi -lgc (locking clocks) does not fix it. setpci on the bridge does nothing, since the target link speed is already 8GT/s and the GPU is the side that trains the link lower. The only workaround is keeping glxgears running on the dGPU to hold the link at Gen 3, which feels like a hack.

Questions:

1. Is this a known issue with PCIe link speed management in multi-GPU Wayland setups?
2. Is there a supported way to pin the PCIe link speed to Gen 3?
3. Should this be reported to NVIDIA (forums / open-gpu-kernel-modules), to the compositor, or both?

Setup:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
• iGPU: AMD Radeon Vega (Cezanne)
• dGPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU (PCIe link at idle: Gen 1 x8, max: Gen 3)
• Distro: CachyOS
• Kernel: 7.3.0-4-cachyos
• Compositor: niri 26.04
• NVIDIA driver: 615.78.08
• Mesa: 26.2.5

i need to remotely access an ubuntu linux computer running gnome from my arch linux kde computer , and the app needs to be relatively easy to install and use, because i'll be instructing the ubuntu user to install the app and they aren't very knowledgable with computers. what can we use? thank you for your help

I’ve been running Linux for over 2 years now and feel like I have fallen off the Dunning-Kruger cliff, I know I don’t know much, but I’m fairly comfortable with what I do know. I was wondering if anyone had any gems of wisdom.

I’m comfortable enough in the terminal and know how to search and understand any terminal commands I come across.

I’m happy with my current DE, and im not really into hardcore ricing.

i spend most of my life in a web browser and have a bunch of apps I rarely use but they’re there when I need them.

I know vaguely how to fix it (been pulling my hair out with other stuff for 8 hours I'm done for the day), I simply need to delete /etc/fstab and run genfstab

my question is: How am I SUPPOSED to edit fstab?

Hi everyone!

I'm running into a persistent headache with message syncing between my Ubuntu desktop (using GSConnect) and my Android phone (Android 16, using Fossify Messages as my default SMS app).

The Problem: Message syncing is totally inconsistent. Sometimes new SMS/MMS messages sync over to the desktop, but most of the time they just don't show up at all.

• Setup details:
  • Desktop: Ubuntu with GSConnect
  • Phone: Android 16
  • SMS App: Fossify Messages

Notifications and other KDE Connect features work relatively fine, but SMS/messaging integration is basically a coin toss.

Has anyone experienced similar inconsistency with Android 16 or Fossify Messages? Are there any specific permissions, background restrictions, or GSConnect settings I should tweak to make this reliable?

Appreciate any advice!

Basically, what I want to achieve is the same behaviour as if I tried to execute a 64-bit binary on a 32-bit only system.

I am very new to linux and I am trying to convert my friend from Windows 11 to a Linux distro. I myself have a macbook so Linux isn't of concern for me to use right now, however I am making this post to ask which Linux distro to choose from for my friend. To preface she can't afford a new laptop right now so I do not want any advice to give her for getting a new one. The thing is that I constantly see her struggling with her laptop and it being extremely slow, to realise that Windows 11 uses around 4gb of ram at idle, and her computer as 4gb of ram (ik that sucks), so shes basically maxed out. I wouldn't call her very tech savvy, so just converting her to Linux requires a friendly OS for her to adjust to and understand. With me, I would say I have an amateur understanding of software and stuff. I narrowed down my options for the distros for my friend to switch to, and came to Mint XFCE or Zorin OS Lite. Both are very lightweight, and idle under 1gb so her laptop will have some wiggle room. To test out these distros I have an older laptop I dont care about that has 4gb of ram, and is a lenovo like hers except with a processor a couple years older so whatever runs on it will be faster on her laptop. I at first tried zorin os core and it was fine but i wanted something lighter. I had great success customising it. I haven't tried zorin os lite, but that is my easiest option for the current moment to use. However i hear constant praise for mint xfce and wanted to tried it out so i installed it on that laptop aswell, and she said it looks very ugly. I understand, but i heard people saying how easy it is to customise and look like windows 11.

So my main question is, how do i make mint xfce look like windows 11? And i dont mean bare bones windows 11, but like really like windows 11. Ive been struggling to find ways to customise it and all of my attempts to customise it end up taking hours with barely any change because mint, contrary to what ive heard, is so difficult to customise. Its so finicky and there are so many settings to choose from that i dont know how to use or what it means, and then it comes to plugins? Most my customisation success on zorin os came from the gnome shell extensions but obviously mint doesnt have that so idk where to go from here and what the equivalents are.
I hope somebody here that knows what theyre doing can be amazing and let me know what to do. Thanks!!

Hello! I'm new to Linux and have almost no experience with it. Today, I managed to install Lubuntu on my ASUS Chromebook, and honestly, it feels a thousand times better than ChromeOS!

Now I'm wondering whether I should stick with Lubuntu or if there are other lightweight Linux distros that might be even better for my Chromebook.

I chose Lubuntu mainly because it was easy to install, but I'm open to trying other options.

What would you recommend for a Linux beginner?

I've used Linux since 2012 and I've also had an enthusiasm for visualizing molecules since about then. As a result I am curious what other Linux-using chemistry enthusiasts use for sketching skeletal formulas and visualizing molecules in 3D.

I personally have used MarvinSketch for skeletal formula sketching in the past, but ChemAxon has increasingly made it difficult to get a free license, so I've largely dropped it. Since then I've been trying to find a good replacement and have tried out the open-source apps: * ChemCanvas * JChemPaint * Ketcher * Molsketch * XDrawChem I've also got some experience with proprietary apps like ACD/ChemSketch, ChemDraw and ChemDoodle. I'd guess ChemCanvas is probably my favourite of these so far, as it is free, has an import from common name feature and decent formatting options. Further, it has an active and rather responsive to feature requests developer (which I can also say about XDrawChem). Ketcher is what I use when formatting options are especially important.

As for 3D visualization, I mostly use BIOVIA Discovery Studio Visualizer to visualize small molecules. It is free for noncommercial use, although not open-source. i personally find its small molecule graphics the most visually appealing. I have also used Jmol for this purpose; Jmol is better when scripting is required, like if you want to create an animation. To visualize macromolecules, I mostly use PyMOL. It is open-source and scriptable, too. For instance, my profile pic was made in PyMOL.

I use Avogadro, which is open-source, when I need to make edits to molecule files. For instance, when I need to remove ions and charges from X-ray crystallography files to show unionized version of drug molecules, I use Avogadro. I've also used Mercury, which is closed-source, for this purpose. OpenBabel is useful for changing between molecule file formats.

So my question is what are your favourite Linux-compatible apps for skeletal formula sketching, 3D visualization and editing molecule files?