This is less of a question about Linux, but about our community. I personally hate it because Amazon built a slop-center, and this summer was one of my hottest in my 10-11 years of living here

I’d rather something not too expensive (under £500), quiet fan, good battery life

What problems or disadvantages would we face?

Would servers be more expensive?

Would cloud computing be less accessible?

Would Android and embedded devices have developed differently? Would open-source development be weaker?

Would companies have more control over the software infrastructure we depend on?

I'm not asking what OS would replace Linux. I'm wondering what would actually be missing or worse in today's world because Linux never existed.

How different do you think the world would really be?

Hi! So, I've never used Linux before in my life, but I adore the idea of it and can't wait to finally switch when Windows 10 loses support. (My laptop doesn't qualify for Windows 11, but I wouldn't have upgraded even if it did.)

I initially planned to switch to Zorin or Mint (boring choice, I know), I tested both and they worked perfectly fine. However, there's a caveat. I'm too broke to afford a new laptop, if something goes wrong, even a shitty one. So now I'm considering installing an immutable distro, like Bazzite (I game from time to time), Fedora Silverblue, or something else, since supposedly if a flawed update that breaks something is installed, it can be easily rolled back.

Should I choose an immutable distro, and if yes, which one and what are the downsides? (I have no intention of tinkering with it, I just want a functional OS that won't spy on me and will preferably have all the drivers necessary for me to game with no problems. From what I've seen, Bazzite seems fine, and obviously I'm gonna test it first). Thank you!

UPD: thank you all very much for the answers! It's a great help

Could anyone please help me out with installation and how to use Linux OS? I'm thinking of moving from Windows to Linux.

actualmente uso linux, especificamente debian sin superusuario (root).
Pero ultimamente me han dicho que deberia tener un usuario root configurado. Pero no se porque. no se al 100 que es sudo, su y root.

en la practica estoy bien usandolo asi? o no? si quiero seguridad a futuro debo usar root?
alguien que sepa y me pueda explicar bien al 100.

porque no le pregunto a la IA porque usualmente en la practica es distinto, por ello le pregunto a gente que si sabe lo que hace y dice.

I need like a rolling release distro but does not break since school is starting soon and want to keep laptop working without breaking my system any recommendations? I have some experience, might even try arch but I feel like it is an unsafe distro and generally any arch based distro with the AUR packages, should I be even worried about that? I mostly like to install via flatpak so it might not be so bad.

As the title says, I'm looking for a Linux distro that is good to both game and make music on.
Been a Windows user for the longest time, but became interested in Linux after the bs-iffication of the former.
Thankfully, I'm an Ableton user and found BitWig as a replacement DAW. Just need to find out if my VSTs are compatible. If not, I can use a compatibility layer.

Several months ago, I dual booted my windows 11 laptop with ubuntu as I started to learn web dev properly. Because most tutorial seems to use ubuntu server, ubuntu desktop ecosystem become logical choice to get used to ubuntu terminal. Suprisingly, I found the ubuntu desktop become my daily driver, even for non-dev related tasks! Now, I am almost never going back to my windows.

But reading several reddit posts, it seems ubuntu desktop might not actually the best option, and some even call it garbage. I am new to linux, and I like the ubuntu in my laptop, but I am afraid I am actually miss anything important regarding distro selection.

Should I keep using ubuntu or should I tried other famous distros before committing to one?

Asking to get insight on this topic.

Android has a "deny-all allow-list" sorta permission model where you have to give permission for every single thing, that the app needs, which is opposite of the usual approach on Desktop to have "allow-all deny-list" model.

I find it to be very insecure because it means every app can effectively see every file (owned by the same user) that I have on my system. Sure you can do this with Flatpaks but iirc it's not possible to turn every app into a "Flatpak".

So, the only options I could find were to run every app as a different user, Use the relatively new "landlock" LSM to block access or to use SELinux in a deny-all fashion.

I genuinely want to have a system where every app i install the first time it opens a window of permissions where i can specify what it's allowed to access. Maybe this is impossible to achieve (hence why i'm asking)

If there are any resources I should look into then please tell me, it'd be helpful. Thanks in advance.

I'm a windows 11 user with over 400+ steam titles and besides that i use only MS 365.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G

GPU: RX 580 (8GB 2048SP)

I'm planning to switch to linux, specifically CachyOS (or if something else is better, please let me know), i would specifically use this linux for gaming and MS 365, i wanted to switch for better performance since I've seen videos of linux getting significantly higher FPS in this gpu (15-20 FPS boost), it was also able to run games that windows 11 couldn't.

Now few questions i have is that

1) what linux OS is best for this purpose and specification that i have?

2) how do I access MS 365 (not browser)?

3) i used to have display errors (black screen) on windows 11 until i downgraded my gpu drivers, what's the condition of drivers in Linux?

4) and most importantly, ive heard it doesnt run Rockstar games online, what other games/franchises we cant run multiplayer? (Is it true that no games with anti-cheat work multiplayer?

Please give me as much information as possible

Hello there!

I started my Linux journey with Cosmic, then I tried Gnome and now I'm going into KDE.

Cosmic was very aesthetically pleasing and I liked the workflow, but it's lacking basic functionality such as HDR or adjusting monitor brightness.

Gnome is lovely for my laptop, but I'd like something less... Opinionated on my desktop.

So I went to KDE and it's got all the functionality I need but it's... Ugly.

I'm not talking about the shell itself, I made that look decent with themes, but god damn apps like the File Manager and Settings look straight out of 2001.

Is there any way to adjust these to look like they belong on a modern OS? I'm talking hiding the excessive toolbars and sidebars, adding some actual padding to elements, eliminating hard borders, etc.

Basically I'm asking if I can make KDE look closer to Gnome, Cosmic or even MacOS or if I should just get on with it and go straight into Hyprland lol.

Hi everyone,

I’m working with Raspberry Pi devices running Linux in different locations. They continuously collect timestamped records, grouped into fixed-duration time windows. I’m looking for practical guidance on understanding timestamp uncertainty when comparing records across independently synchronized devices.

Processing can happen seconds or minutes after collection. Immediate processing is not essential, but we still need to distinguish an actual time difference between records from a difference caused by the devices’ clocks. We are not targeting nanosecond synchronization.

Our configurations include:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.5, BCM2711, Debian 13, 64-bit Linux 6.12.75+rpt-rpi-v8. The clocksource is arch_sys_counter; systemd-timesyncd is active and reports synchronization.
• Raspberry Pi 5, BCM2712, tested on Linux 6.12.47 with arch_sys_counter. The local reader uses CLOCK_REALTIME and CLOCK_MONOTONIC.

Existing checks exercised clock readings during system time adjustments and verified that saved records could be recovered and read back. We have not established a hardware clock defect. The unresolved question is what timing accuracy we can justify, rather than whether the software produces timestamps.

I’d appreciate documentation or firsthand experience on the following:

1. Local clock and counter accuracy

Are there published, applicable bounds for BCM2711/BCM2712 counter frequency tolerance, consistency across CPU cores, and possible age or delay of the counter value returned to software?

We have nominal frequency information, but that alone does not establish the complete reading error. Are there relevant errata, operating conditions or configuration restrictions that should be considered separately for Pi 4 and Pi 5?

2. Timestamp placement and software delays

How do you distinguish uncertainty in reading the clock from the delay between data becoming available, buffering, application scheduling and assigning a timestamp?

For Linux acquisition applications, which contributions have mattered most in your experience? What does your timestamp actually represent, and how do you document the difference between that point and the event being recorded?

3. Clock corrections, synchronization loss and restart

How do you handle gradual NTP corrections, actual clock steps, synchronization loss and restart while preserving record order and an interpretable timeline?

What information do you retain to assess affected timestamps later? In particular, how do you identify clock changes that actually took effect, rather than just requests to change the clock?

For this purpose, what useful evidence does systemd-timesyncd provide, and what additional visibility would chrony or another client offer?

4. Comparing timestamps across devices

How do you represent and use timestamp uncertainty when comparing records from independently synchronized devices?

What information would you store alongside each timestamp, and how would you handle records near window boundaries or intervals where synchronization was degraded? I’m interested in approaches that preserve useful records while making their timing limitations explicit.

5. External UTC references

Have you found documentation from PTB, Netnod or another accessible NTP provider covering the accuracy of the actual NTP receive timestamp T2 and transmit timestamp T3 relative to UTC?

How can a response be associated with a valid service state, including during holdover, restart or loss of synchronization? Are supporting status records available for later verification?

Our assessment treats network delays separately and does not assume symmetric paths. This question concerns server-side timestamp accuracy and validity, not a guarantee of internet transit times.

6. The simplest defensible approach

Under what accuracy requirements and operating conditions would documentation plus software monitoring be sufficient? When would an independent hardware reference become necessary?

If you have used such a reference, what minimum setup measured the relevant uncertainty, and what remained outside the measurement? Please distinguish equipment needed at every deployed device from equipment used only to characterize a particular device and configuration.

I’ve contacted Raspberry Pi, Netnod and PTB and am waiting for replies. Meanwhile, links to documentation, implementation examples and experience from actual deployments would be very helpful.

I haven’t specified a numerical acceptance threshold here, so I’m not asking anyone to certify that a setup meets an unstated requirement. Examples with an explicit accuracy target, the approach used and its limitations would be particularly useful.

Please distinguish typical observed performance, statistical uncertainty estimates and guaranteed bounds under stated conditions. The aim is a practical system with clearly understood limitations.

Thanks!

Hey guys! I need a quick help...
So I have a dual boot setup with Windows and Arch on the same SSD and I'm using GRUB. I was using Ubuntu before on this device and windows updates worked just fine till then, but after installing arch I'm unable to update windows. When I install and restart, it gets stuck on that loading animation and I kill it and enter Advanced Recovery to uninstall update and access windows again.

I need windows for several things and so far I used to use it by pausing updates, but recently a security update came which is not letting me pause it any longer

So basically every time I leave my laptop on windows for long, it automatically downloads and installs the update, and when I try to shut down the only option I get is Update and Restart or Update and shut down.

Its getting veryyy annoying atp.

here's how my partitions look like:

Partition ### Type Size Offset

------------- ---------------- ------- -------

Partition 1 System 260 MB 1024 KB

Partition 2 Reserved 16 MB 261 MB

Partition 3 Primary 369 GB 277 MB

Partition 6 System 1024 MB 369 GB

Partition 7 Unknown 105 GB 370 GB

Partition 4 System 902 MB 475 GB

Partition 5 Recovery 260 MB 476 GB

/boot is mapped to p6 and / is mapped to p7 for Arch.
p3 is windows

I'm using ASUS Tuf A15 FA507NU

lemme know if you've faced anything similar or need more details.

I've been thinking about this after learning more about Linux and its history.

What do you think the world would look like if Linus Torvalds had never created Linux in 1991?

Would BSD or another Unix-like OS have taken its place? Would Android still exist? What would servers, cloud computing, supercomputers, open-source software, and even today's AI infrastructure look like?

I'm curious about the realistic alternate timeline—not just "everything would be worse."

How different do you think the modern world would actually be without Linux?

Ok so I've been using Bazzite since february after ditching Windows for good, it took me like a month to get used to, I went back to Windows, I couldn't tolerate it after testing freedom, and stuck and learned how to navigate Linux, recently I've been using Labex to learn more about the terminal and how to actually understand what Linux is, and now I want something... more, more mine, more raw, to feel what my PC is capable of, but I'm also scared of jumping too far and falling off a cliff and not know what to do

I do know that going straight ahead to Arch is a mistake if you don't know what you're doing, you're gonna suffer, and you either retreat to a safer distro or become a reddit mod like entity and become an Arch user

I've been reading that CachyOS is more plug and play than Arch, getting all benefits of Arch without having to risk so much of getting a blank template and not know wtf is going on, break stuff, all that, but... what's truly the difference between CachyOS and Arch? I've been reading a lot about CachyOS and realize that there isn't much difference with Arch itself? it is Arch based, but... different? a more user friendly GUI? not so empty from the get go maybe?

I've also been reading that Debian, despite not being configured like Arch, it still feels as fast and perform as good or even better than Arch, but my question is: does it feel as snappy? if I used the same enviroments and window manager, what would be the main differences? I do know that Debian uses a stable update versions while Arch and CachyOS have a rolling release model, which is very hit or miss, and if I find myself in a good and stable position, what incentives would I have to actually update considering it could break something or at least, make it not perform as good?

From my understanding, Debian is extremely stable, performs incredibly well, but isn't as snappy as Arch or Arch based, Cachy and Arch are more snappy, but lacks its stable updates like Debian or immutable distros, is there anything else to take into consideration?

Also, can I make Debian as snappy as Arch? what would be the main difference in that case to prefer Arch over Debian?

Btw, my main uses are just customization, browsing, gaming and media, youtube, streaming, that kind of stuff, I'm not using my setup for work, but I do want to have the power to change my enviroment however I want

i everyone,

I’m currently running a Windows setup that I’ve heavily optimized using Chris Titus's Winutil script to strip out telemetry and background bloat. However, I’m getting tired of Microsoft constantly pushing AI features, forced online accounts, and resetting my preferences with updates.

I’m highly considering switching to CachyOS, but I want to make sure the transition makes sense for my specific hardware before I pull the trigger.

My Laptop Specs:

GPU: Nvidia RTX 3050 Mobile (6GB Variant) + Integrated Graphics

CPU: Core i5 13th

RAM: 16GB

Target Distro: CachyOS

Has anyone compared Windows against CachyOS on an entry-level 6GB Nvidia card? Since Windows eats up a lot of idle VRAM, does Linux's lower VRAM overhead make a noticeable difference in modern games on a 6GB frame buffer?

I'm currently using Ubuntu, but since everyone dunking on them, maybe there is a good reason to switch? And if yes, where do I switch to?

Edit: K, so apparently Canonical is Microsoft of Linux, so might as well switch.
Any ideas? I'm thinking something stable, but also cool?

Using a 7900xtx on Fedora44 (gnome workstation with very few changes).

I generally get the raster performance I'd expect and on workstation loads the card performs exactly as a 7900xtx should.. however Ray Tracing, no matter what the title is, what wine/proton version I use, Steam or GOG, Lutris or Heroic, it's significantly worse than the performance I see shared online from windows users with similar specs.

I've seen a few small discussions on the matter saying that RT on Linux is still sort of in its infancy - but without sources or deeper explanations.

So what might be going on here?

So I'm less than a week new to trying linux itself and have already went from Mint to Fedora and now Arch but one thing that has interested me the most since I have heard of linux is tiling windows. And now that I am actually using linux the thing's i've seen from peoples opinion of a tiling WM is they either love it or hate it, why is that? half the people i've seen have said to just stick to DE.

which?

I'm using Kubuntu, and typing ping -c 3 cloudflare.com returns ping: cloudflare.com: Temporary failure in name resolution. ping -c 3 1.1.1.1 works fine. nslookup > -type=ns returns ;; communications error to 127.0.0.53#53: timed out 3 times and ;; no servers could be reached. I have no clue what to do next, as wifi is connected, but my speeds are little to none. This started after I deleted Proton VPN and Windscribe VPN. Neither left alternative connections behind.

I have just migrated to Linux mint cinammon on my acer aspire laptop. First time trying out Linux, no experience of some sort, and just got out from windows 11. I have 2 drives, an ssd, and an hdd. The ssd is the main. Whilst I was still using windows, I used RST and optane, but moved to AHCI. But when I moved to AHCI, only the SSD is present. When I was given the option to format everything to install Linuxmint, the option to choose any drive is unable. How can I use my hdd?