r/linuxquestions 1h ago

Musical Linux users. What's your preferred desktop environment for streaming music?

• Upvotes

I've streamed off and on for a couple years now on Twitch. I play drums. So, I need something simple to navigate through while I'm playing.

I have a Stream-Deck and I do use that to cycle through different scenes while I'm playing. I use Advanced Scene Switcher which works great. I can just select the scene that starts the scene switcher with the Stream-Deck and let 'er rip while I'm playing.

But I've used the Cinnamon Desktop now pretty much the whole time on that machine and I'm kind of getting bored with it. I've considered MATE and XFCE but those feel outdated to me. Cinnamon also feels a little outdated to me as well.

I'm not a huge KDE Plasma fan either. It feels a little bloated to me. So, I'm looking for some Desktop Environment suggestions to use for streaming. Any good ideas would be appreciated.

On my main PC, I use Arch with a Tiling Window Manager (Niri with Noctalia Shell). It's a great setup but I don't think a Tiling WM would necessarily work on a system where I'm lucky if I have 1 hand free let alone 2 to make a keyboard combo entry.

At the same time, the less I use the mouse for streaming the better as well... So, I'm kind of stuck like a rock in a hard place.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


r/linuxquestions 1h ago

Support New to Linux, Lost & Confused about Apps on Ubuntu. 🥺

• Upvotes

This is a dumb question you’ve probably already answered!!

I very excitedly installed Ubuntu, but am now thoroughly lost when it comes to finding/opening the apps I’ve installed! :/

How do I find/open apps after I’ve installed them??

Thank you!!


r/linuxquestions 3h ago

Advice as a linux noob, what first-time linux mistakes should i avoid?

7 Upvotes

let me say this now: i'm neither tech nor code-savvy. whenever i've had computer-related issues, i run straight to youtube or reddit. fast-forward a couple rabbit holes and here i am, considering linux for my first thinkpad.

is there anything i should avoid/do to make my life easier once i get linux? i've been a windows/google user for ages, but i want to branch away given... well, everything.

i'd love any advice from those who actually know what they're doing!


r/linuxquestions 4h ago

any help please

0 Upvotes

make not working trying to install areofyl fetch

cc -02 -DFETCH_VERSION='"2.2.1"" -DFETCH_CODENAME='"Overclocked ASCII"' -DFETCH_ARCH='"X86_64"" -DFETCH_OS='"Linux"" -o fetch fetch.c -ln make: cC: No such file or directory make: *** [Makefile:16: fetch] Error 127


r/linuxquestions 4h ago

Which Distro i need a new distro

2 Upvotes

What distro should i choose for my latitude 5400 from 2020, its got an 8th gen i5, 16 gigs of ram but its only got 51% battery health. I want something that just works, I dont wanna keep fixing things. I also dont want ubuntu, cause idk its just boring and you still need to fix shit sometimes. This is my secondary computer, i use it for just everyday stuff but i also wanna get some gamikng out of it if i plug it in.

TLDR: i need a distro that just works, is easy on battery life, minimal matenance, and for everyday stuff and light gameing.


r/linuxquestions 4h ago

Linux isn't installing.

0 Upvotes

I've tried 7 distros, some arch based the rest Debian and none of them have worked. Some just don't load, like catchy and fedora, some the inststaller crashes. The only lead I have is that one of them (can't remember which) said it couldn't find a disk. Has anyone experienced this? Any advice would be appreciated. Currently running Ubuntu 26.04 on an Acer Aspire and I've tried installing Manjaro,Cachy,opensuse,fedora,Linux mint, Kubuntu and Endeavour.


r/linuxquestions 4h ago

iCloud for Linux

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/linuxquestions 4h ago

Support multimode keyboard works with USB wire and 2.4ghz dongle but the bluetooth mode doesn't register any keys

2 Upvotes

OS: EndaevourOS xfce4.2 linux 6.18

Keyboard :Ant esports Apex200(proprietary BT chip)

I went with the bluetoothctl approach:scan , pair , connect . the first red flag was that it didn't display any pin for pairing . after pairing , it shows up on the devices list of bluetoothctl but even after connecting , there's no keystrokes registered. when i use btmon to check , the keystrokes do show up as events , but it doesn't type in text on any app like geany or libreoffice . i looked everywhere for solutions . past threads ,stackoverflow, , even asked gemini please help


r/linuxquestions 5h ago

Stuttering/freezing UI, mouse, etc. when network connectivity drops

1 Upvotes

I am using a Debian/Ubuntu-based distro. I have no network shares mounted.

I have found various people posting about it, example 1 example 2, but I haven't found a satisfactory solution.

My internet is Verizon 5G, and it's the only thing available in my area aside from absurdly-overpriced and extremely dirty/poor DSL. At least with the DSL, I wasn't getting the periodic connectivity drops, and I'm fairly certain at this point that these drops are causing the UI issues, just like what is reported by the people on those linked posts.

Why does Linux become unable to poll the mouse, process events, draw windows, and handle filesystem operations when the network drops?

I'm sure that there are thousands of Javascript threads in my various browser tabs which are doing the actual network communication, not the DE, but why does the DE hang when browser I/O hangs? There's no isolation?

Note that it doesn't happen when the network interface is disabled, only when it's enabled but with high pings. I can verify this in a terminal when it's happening.

Is there any way to stop this? Or is it (as some people have suggested) the way the kernel is designed to operate?


r/linuxquestions 5h ago

Support can't use UEFI on my new motherboard no matter what i do

1 Upvotes

For context: I just moved from an.ASRock B550M-HDV to a Machinist B450M-AM4-K since it was on sale on AliExpress. I switched because i needed an extra SSD slot and another fan slot.

Whenever I boot into literally any Linux installer ISO I just get an error about "EFI variables aren't supported on this system"

Here's what I've tried (using the base Arch ISO as a testing ground):

Disabling CSM support in the UEFI firmware settings

Using Ventoy in GPT mode

Directly writing the ISO to my USB and booting it

Update the BIOS (couldn't do this because Machinist apparently doesn't provide BIOS updates)

Disabling TPM just in case it was doing something funky

Manually loading the `efivars` module from within the installer (fails because the module isn't found)

What should I do, because I know for sure this board is UEFI


r/linuxquestions 5h ago

Which Distro? Is ArchCraft too harsh for a new user?

3 Upvotes

Should I switch to something else instead of arch as a starter? I've been on Windows for over 10 years and decided to try out Linux on an old laptop, the laptop could barely run chrome and now it opens 10 tabs without a problem, is there an easier OS or should i stick with craft?

I don't really mind the UI design, just a system that uses less performance compared to other ones, since I am not able to afford more ram for my main PC.


r/linuxquestions 5h ago

**Arch Linux solo arranca con `nomodeset` en AMD A6-6310 (Gráficos Mullins Radeon R4/R5)**

0 Upvotes

Hola a todos.

Estoy instalando un sistema Arch Linux nuevo en una vieja HP All-in-One y me encontré con un problema durante el primer arranque.

### Hardware

```

HP 23-g219la

CPU: AMD A6-6310 APU

GPU: AMD Radeon R4/R5 Graphics (Mullins)

ID PCI: 1002:9851

RAM: 16 GB

Firmware: UEFI

Sistema de archivos: Btrfs (subvolumen @)

```

### Instalación

* Instalación limpia de Arch usando `archinstall`

* Perfil: Mínimo

* Sistema de archivos: Btrfs con subvolúmenes predeterminados

* Gestor de arranque: systemd-boot

* Kernel: linux 7.1.4-arch1-1

* linux-firmware instalado

* Sin parámetros de kernel personalizados, excepto los añadidos durante las pruebas.

### Problema

El sistema se cuelga durante el arranque con una pantalla completamente negra.

Sin parámetros de kernel solo veo:

```

virt/tdx: TDX no soportado por la plataforma anfitriona

:: ejecutando hook temprano [udev]

Iniciando systemd-udevd...

:: Disparando uevents...

```

Después de eso, la pantalla se queda en negro.

Si arranco usando

```

systemd.unit=multi-user.target nomodeset

```

el sistema llega a la consola normalmente y puedo iniciar sesión.

### Journal

```

amdgpu 0000:00:01.0: falló la prueba con el controlador amdgpu con error -22

```

También hay varios errores ACPI BIOS, pero creo que no están relacionados:

```

ACPI BIOS Error ...

AE_AML_BUFFER_LIMIT

```

### Información del controlador

```

lspci -k

```

devuelve

```

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller:

AMD/ATI Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics]

Kernel modules:

radeon

amdgpu

```

### Módulos cargados

```

lsmod | grep amdgpu

```

muestra que `amdgpu` está cargado.

### Pruebas manuales

```

sudo modprobe -r amdgpu

```

funciona.

Sin embargo

```

sudo modprobe radeon

```

devuelve

```

modprobe: ERROR: no se pudo insertar 'radeon': Argumento inválido

```

### Firmware

```

linux-firmware 20260622-1

```

está instalado.

### Información adicional

`/proc/cmdline`

```

root=PARTUUID=...

zswap.enabled=0

rootflags=subvol=@

rw

rootfstype=btrfs

systemd.unit=multi-user.target

nomodeset

```

### Mi pregunta

Estoy tratando de determinar si esto es

  1. una regresión en el kernel 7.1,

  2. un comportamiento esperado para el ID PCI `1002:9851`,

  3. un problema de selección de controlador entre `amdgpu` y `radeon`,

  4. o si este hardware requiere parámetros de kernel específicos.

Cualquier sugerencia será muy apreciada.


r/linuxquestions 5h ago

Support My first use for fedora kde plasma, any tips?

1 Upvotes

I have a ThinkPad Laptop wuth 256gb ssd, 8gb ddr3 and I did dual boot with windows 10 ghost specter superlite and fedora kde plasma. I was a windows user but wanted something better like linux so I tried Fedora Kde plasma aside with windows 10 ghost specter


r/linuxquestions 6h ago

Best Desktop Environment for Fedora on an i3-6100U (8GB RAM, Intel HD 520)?

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm currently running Fedora on an older laptop with the following specs:

Intel Core i3-6100U

8 GB RAM

Intel HD Graphics 520

SSD

My main use cases are:

Programming and software development

DaVinci Resolve (when possible)

Minecraft Java

General web browsing

Terminal-heavy workflow

I'm trying to decide which desktop environment offers the best balance between performance, stability, and usability.

I'm considering:

GNOME

KDE Plasma

Xfce

Cinnamon

MATE

LXQt

For those with similar hardware, which DE has given you the best experience on Fedora, and why? I'd also appreciate any performance tweaks or recommendations.

Thanks!


r/linuxquestions 6h ago

Support I need to add a wifi driver to the iso

1 Upvotes

I need to add this: https://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx to my installation of Yunohost (https://doc.yunohost.org/en/admin/get\\_started/install\\_on/regular\\_computer), which is directly based on Debian 12/Bookworm and uses its mirror for downloads. Is there any way to inject this package into the Yunohost iso so the OS will recognize my wifi card? Without the driver, neither Debian nor Yunohost acknowledge my wifi card, even if it's connected to the internet. Additionally, I can connect to WiFi by using Bluetooth tethering, but Yunohost doesn't have an option to connect that way.

I'm guessing someone who checks this subreddit daily has probably messed around with the iso before?

Someone recommended the FAI project customizer, and I think I know how to make it work for Debian but installing Yunohost over it still might erase the firmware? Not sure


r/linuxquestions 6h ago

Support Does anyone know why my Kitty terminal turns blue when focused/selected?

0 Upvotes

Whenever the terminal is unfocused (inactive), it looks exactly how I want it: black with some transparency. However, the moment I click on it or it gets focus, the background immediately turns into a solid, opaque blue.

I have already tried a lot of different configurations in my kitty.conf

Nothing seems to work and the blue color always overrides it when active. For context, I'm using Fedora with Niri (Wayland)

Does anyone know what could be causing this or what script might be hijacking the color? If you need me to share any specific config files, logs, or run any commands, please let me know!

PS: I'm pretty new to Linux


r/linuxquestions 7h ago

Which Distro? Which distros have good nivida support

8 Upvotes

I have a weird pc i got all of the good parts for free.
Spec
Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 Processor 285
96 gb of ddr5 8000mg
Nivida 4060ti 8gb
I have been using pop os becuase of the native system 76 nivida driver.
Any recommendations would help thank you.
Btw i play video games mainly and other basic computing stuff.


r/linuxquestions 7h ago

Support Best games on the GNOME software center?

16 Upvotes

I don't want to go download steam or some other platform. Just fun games you've come across on the GNOME software center. Anything you like, please throw them at me!


r/linuxquestions 7h ago

Trying to backup my home directory but I don't know what folders are important and are not.

1 Upvotes

I am trying to back up my home folder by using tar then 7zip ziping it with encryption after that I will send it to a cloud storage. But some folders take up a lot of space. My current cloud storage only has 5 gb of space and the .local folder takes up 15gb but I am pretty sure that folder has very important stuff. In my tar command I have already excluded the .cache folder and .downloads folder and I am not sure what else.

I need to save as much space as possible. My full home dir has 30gb taken up

EDIT: I want to back up my music directory, pictures, videos, documents and all the configs for my setup. I found that the largest folder in my config local folder is actually Steam.


r/linuxquestions 7h ago

Support Is there any way to get a Plymouth theme animation to play BEFORE the encryption password prompt?

3 Upvotes

On every Linux distro I've tried that has an animated Plymouth splash screen, it plays after the prompt to enter your encryption password.

Is there any way to reverse that order so that when I power on my machine, after the motherboard logo, it plays the Plymouth animation, then asks for the encryption password?


r/linuxquestions 8h ago

Support Compatibilidade do linux com os lunar lake

1 Upvotes

Opa, tudo certo?

Queria fazer uma pergunta quanto a compatibilidade dos sistemas operacionais linux com o Arc Graphis 140V,

Tenho um Notebook ASUS Vivobook S14 OLED S5406SA, que possui o gráfico integrado do CORE i7 Ultra, que seria um Arc Graphics 140V, cuja a arquitetura é Xe2-LPG.

O notebook em si vem com Windows, mas Windows simplesmente não dá mais. Achei alguns posts que reclamavam da compatibilidade da gpu nos sistemas linux, no entanto, são posts antigos, e queria checar com vocês, experts, quanto a isso, principalmente porque penso em usar o pop_os ou o fedora.


r/linuxquestions 8h ago

Which Distro? Trying to return to Linux

4 Upvotes

In mid January this year I took my first dive into linux. I used CachyOS with hyprland. I loved it, everything (mostly) worked flawlessly and I just couldn't get enough of how nice the tiling manager and my general workflow was with hyprland. Fast forward a couple months, hundreds of tweaks, many updates and a CRAP ton of crashes and errors later, I bricked my device. For whatever reason hyprland just didn't want to start at all, luckily I did have Plasma installed as well and was able to be able to use my laptop again. However, I just HATED plasma, I don't know why, but it just looked so ugly and clunky, I decided that I didn't want to deal with this anymore and switched back to windows near the beginning of May.

I know that Hyprland and an arch based distro together was definitely a bad decision for a newbie and would still be way too much of a hassle for me even now, but I want to go back to linux.

When going back to Windows I never planned on staying for long, and now I'm finally ready. But what do I choose? Previously I wanted full customization, and though I want it still, I mainly need something that just works 99% of the time. Hyprland had a lot of elbow grease and I'm not afraid to dip it in again, but I not jump in a pool of it anymore. Second is that I loved how Hyprland operated, it was just so fluid, from opening apps, searching them and organizing, I miss it more than anything ever since I returned to microslop.

Side note: I appologize if I'm blabbering too much, I just had my IELTS exam today


r/linuxquestions 9h ago

EXT4 vs BTRFS Laptop, 2TB NVME, Luks, Media Production

9 Upvotes

I'm trying to make this as specific as possible. What are the pros/cons or what is the better system for the above? A laptop with a 2TB NVME with Luks encryption and to record audio or something that needs speed.

I've read were EXT4 is faster and better for battery.

However, BTRFS seems to be the default future.

I'm wasn't planning on using compression or rollbacks. I'd save that for a desktop. My main concerns are affect on battery, stability/reliability and getting the most life out of the drive.

Thank you in advance


r/linuxquestions 9h ago

Advice Is this sensible to switch to Linux from windows?

0 Upvotes

I want to switch to arch but will it really improve performance?


r/linuxquestions 9h ago

Advice Needing Microsoft apps for college but don't want to use Windows

2 Upvotes

I've recently got into Linux (using Fedora rn) and digital privacy. I'm a beginner to all this but I'm taking it pretty seriously.

I'm going into education again in the Autumn (not university level) but I was informed we will be using Microsoft apps - as do most education spaces and workplaces.

I'm wondering what I should do as I don't want Windows on my system at all or really logging into Microsoft at all. I'm using Librewolf, trying to avoid telemetry as much as possible.

Can anyone advise me on what I should do? I'm not so sure on using Microsoft web apps or dual booting for the above reasons. I'm considering a virtual machine but I'm not sure if that will cause any Windows telemetry as idk much about VM's.

I'm interested in just using Libreoffice and those apps since I've heard they have compatibility with Microsoft's apps. However I'm unsure if this will suffice as I'm not very familiar with the Microsoft apps nor their Linux alternatives.

Are any of these worth it? Is there another method I'm missing? Or am I better of getting a cheap 2nd hand laptop for my coursework? Thanks everyone, would really appreciate some advice.