Kuwaiti academics call for boycott of Western universities involved in supporting Israel aggression on Gaza
Dozens of Kuwaiti academics have called for a boycott of Western universities involved in supporting Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, explaining that the Palestinian civilians’ suffering in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, Quds Press reported.
The Association of Faculty Members at the Public Authority for Applied Education; the trade union body comprising academics working in applied colleges, explained in a statement that it was following with great concern the independent reports documenting crimes and violations against civilians in the Gaza Strip, amid suspicious international silence.
“Based on our academic and ethical responsibility, and in adherence to the values of human justice that uphold human dignity and fundamental rights, we express our growing dissatisfaction with the involvement of some Western universities, particularly British ones, in research or investment partnerships with companies that provide military technologies used directly or indirectly to support the ongoing aggression” the statement said.
Russian Army Advances Leaving Ukraine With No Sources To Sold To The West
Russian Army Advances Leaving Ukraine With No Resources To Sell To The West
DEAR FRIENDS. IF YOU LIKE THIS TYPE OF CONTENT, SUPPORT SOUTHFRONT WORK: MONERO (XMR): 86yfEHs6pkoDEKCxc6MAnQX8cVHmzhYxMVrNuwKgNmqpWK8dDxjgGnK8PtUNJMA...Anonymous765 (South Front)
Venezuela Reveals Plot to Attack Synagogue in Caracas and Blame Iran
Venezuela Reveals Plot to Attack Synagogue in Caracas and Blame Iran
June 27, 2025 Venezuela has uncovered a plot orchestrated by the country’s opposition, in coordination with the son of the deposed Shah of Iran, to attack a synagogue in Caracas and then blam…Resumen LatinoAmericano English
Reviewing Mario Kart World because it’s fucking expensive and I want to claim it on tax
Earlier this month, the Nintendo Switch 2 launched alongside the new game Mario Kart World. The release was controversial due to the price of both the console and the game. As a journalist I felt it was my duty to review both as this means the purchase is a work expense that I can claim on my taxes (oh and the new Pro Controller too).
If I had to describe the Nintendo Switch 2 in one sentence it would be that it’s like a Nintendo Switch but better and newer.
The old games run better, the new game runs great, and the click of the controllers when you attach them to the console feels good to my dumb brain.
It’s good that the console feels nice to use since it is $700, which (although comparable to other modern gaming consoles) is a fuck tonne of money. These days that’s like 2 weeks of rent for a closet in Sydney, or half the ingredients for a salad at the major supermarkets.
Now that I have gotten that part out of the way in case the ATO checks this article, it’s time to talk about one of the most expensive games in history: Mario Kart World.
For background information, I am writing this review after sinking over 35 hours into the game. Which may sound like a lot but as a journalist I didn’t want to rush with some half thought out clickbait, I wanted to get real knowledge of the game and also since this is research for work, those hours are billable.
Reviewing Mario Kart World because it’s fucking expensive and I want to claim it on tax – The Chaser
Our editor breaks down the Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart World for journalistic reasons.John Delmenico (The Chaser)
Weapons From Ukraine Reaching Terrorists in Africa, Latin America
Weapons From Ukraine Reaching Terrorists in Africa, Latin America
Weapons from Ukraine end up in the hands of terrorists and criminal groups in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, Yulia Zhdanova, the new head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, told Sputnik.Sputnik International
Yulia Zhdanova, the new head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, revealed to SputnikReferring to the assessment of the foreign expert community,
So the only source, actually cited source, is a head of a negotiation team, of a country at war referring to its enemy? Very credible /s
Oh so we're admitting the US and its allies are directly at war with Russia now, are we? Tut tut you shouldn't talk down on plucky little Ukraine fending for itself like that.
Anyways, let's all calm down and focus on making the entirety of the Baltics uninhabitable with antipersonnel mines 🥰
Hmm where is Ukraine getting all of these weapons anyways?
Russian imperialism
That sounds really scary, what's imperialism? Could you try to define it? I need to become learned like you
"Bully News: Nerd's Lunch Money Probably Being Spent On Dorky Shit."
So, yeah, a story from a Russian government mouthpiece quoting a Russian government spokesperson spouting Russian government talking points that - deary me, oh my days, can you believe it, bless my soul, what are the odds, well I'll be - paints a negative image of the country the Russian government illegally and unjustifiably invaded. Or, maybe the oligarchy are just pissed off that the warlords aren't buying their weapons from them any more?
"What if I framed geopolitics as a schoolyard quarrel"
Very original dude. Ever heard of Operation Cyclone?
Very sophomoric, matching your knowledge of history. Extremely amusing to pretend it would be crazy for the US to fund fascists in poorer countries, when it's the only reason Poland and the Baltic states even have their fake economies. Half of the events in the past 70 years have been instigated by the US funding some proxy force to secure resources.
You think they're not going to make a grab for the gold and uranium? Do you even remember what happened to Thomas Sankara, long before Ibrahim Traore?
Yemen launches missile attack on Israel
Yemen launches missile attack on Israel
TEHRAN, Jun. 28 (MNA) – Local media in occupied territories reported a missile attack from Yemen against Israel.Mehr News Agency
U.S. Used Up 15-20 Percent of its Global THAAD Anti-Missile Arsenal in Just 11 Days of Mid-Intensity Combat: Cost Over $800 Million
The U.S. Army has been estimated to have consumed 15-20 of all munitions for its globally deployed arsenal of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) long range anti-missile systems, after deployment to support Israeli air defences during the country’s 11 days of hostilities with Iran.
A highly specialised asset designed to intercept medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles, the U.S. Army fields seven systems across five air defence regiments, and is set to operationalise an eighth by the end of the year.
The systems are depended on to counter the arsenals of five potential adversaries including North Korea, China, Russia and Belarus, as well as Iran. Video footage has shown the launch of 39 interceptors to intercept Iranian missiles from June 13-24, although only a small portion of launches were captured on film partly due to the strict wartime censorship that was put in place in Israel.
Presuming at a conservative estimate that the filmed launches from THAAD batteries accounted for 50-66 percent of total launches, total expenditure of interceptors amounted to approximately 60-80 interceptors during the 11 day conflict.
U.S. Used Up 15-20 Percent of its Global THAAD Anti-Missile Arsenal in Just 11 Days of Mid-Intensity Combat: Cost Over $800 Million
The U.S. Army has been estimated to have consumed 15-20 of all munitions for its globally deployed arsenal of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) long rangeMilitary Watch Magazine
"Oh damn, we need to build much more of these then"
Right, the conclusion that the US can't resupply missiles fast enough is a fallacy unless you know for sure you can affect the supply chain invovled.
They only have that many because they don't need that many, but if you think you're gonna win a war by expecting the US to run out of ammo against even a swarm of cheap drones, you're in for a rude awakening.
I think only China could output higher production in full wartime scenario, and even they know it's not much of an advantage if their tech doesn't stack up.
What problems can I expect using Linux (Fedora) with an NVIDIA GPU?
I'm planning on getting a laptop within the next month which will be my daily driver for university, and it has a RTX 5060. I know people have lots of issues with NVIDIA on Linux, but I don't know of any specific issues. What issues can I expect running Fedora 42 (KDE) on this device?
I am not responding to most comments here, but I am silently taking them into account.
Certain videos won't play in any media player. Also occasional graphical glitches in Plasma for me. No issues with games oddly enough.
Edit: I'm using Arch but I'd expect these issues to be distro-agnostic. Though I'm fine with being wrong.
I had a 3060 Ti.
I couldn't game on Wayland for about 20% of my games (very frustrating), couldn't use specific Window Managers like Sway, experience constant screen tearing on X11 (which I often had to use, because the game would crash on Wayland) when gaming, and had a significant performance hit in some games.
CS:GO ran like a dream and actually better than on Windows, but with the release of CS2 my performance on Linux was about 20% worse than on Windows. My 1% lows were also crazy on Linux (median=190fps, %1=80fps). This meant, among others things, that I just couldn't play death match anymore — my FPS would make it unplayable. This was largely an optimization issue and I think some of the 2025 Nvidia driver updates of improved the situation a little for CS2 specifically. The screen tearing on X and the buggyness on Wayland were enough for me to switch though, even if eventual improvements might come.
I am now extremely happy with my 7900 XT, which I got for less than any available 9070 XT (in my region) and which amusingly actually has better performance in CS2 then then the 9070 XT on Linux. It's massively overkill though, I could have just as well gotten a 7800 XT or 9070 (non-XT).
I am still very, very pleased. Hopefully this will last me a few years, unlike the gosh darn 3060 Ti.
Alright, I'm done with my huge block of text. Hopefully this was helpful.
Running RTX4050 mobile on Fedora 41 (internet too crappy to upgrade to 42)
Works great!
Except for unreal 5 games but idk if that's a driver or a proton issue :/
A lot of the info here reads as outdated to me, I have a 40 series card and on bazzite with open drivers it works with zero issues on major titles like Cyberpunk, Horizon, etc. The open drivers have come a long way. It took maybe 5 months post 40 series release for it to work 100% with no glaring issues for me, but 40 series was also the first cards to be launched with the open drivers so it makes sense there'd be hiccups
The only issues I've had on Wayland are color related.
Does anyone else's AMD 7900 green screen?
I've experienced random stuff like that in past - not exactly the same though and not that chip.
I'd suspect power issue, either cpu and/or gpu causing a spike that results in some voltage rail to go unstable.
More likely GPU, unless your applications are really thrashing all cpu cores.
How old PSU? how much headroom? how good brand of PSU?
Might also be a motherboard power management issue.
Also - it might not hurt just to unplug and reseat every power cable.
Power supply is Corsair 750 W.
Linux 6.14.6-109.bazzite.fc42.x86_64
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X (16) @ 5.58 GHz
That PSU sounds good enough to me.
Could be worth a motherboard firmware update?
and i would double check all the power cables.
It looks ike mangohud is an application to monitor stuff.
I've never used it but you could give that a go - see if you're ever getting close to the 750W.
wyndham hotels leaks personal data....and is totally okay with it
I got a new phone number last year. The last person who owned this number just left all her accounts tied to this number and one by one I've been reaching out to the places tied to it telling them they have the wrong number and to stop using this one. Simple enough.
But there is one company that refuses to stop using this number. Wynhdam hotels absolutely refuses to do anything about this. They keep sending me notifications and check in confirmations for her hotel visits. Using just the texts they send me, I know her full name, email address, home address, her reservations at the hotel, which hotel she's going to and what days. Using past conversations with the other hotels she's been to (called in to tell them to stop this months ago), I know she's been kicked out for making a scene in the lobby or something. Looking online, I see she has a criminal record, and a history of child custody losses, drug abuse, and is apparently an "experienced college girl" on an escort site.
In my most recent calls with wyndham, they told me that they can't change the number out. I will need to contact this charming person and have her do it. I am absolutely not getting involved in that mess in any capacity. I'm still telling her johns and dealers this is the wrong number.
Once I explained to the call center supervisor I was escalated to this has gone on long enough and I'm willing to let an attorney deal with it, they put me on hold and supposedly took my number off the account. But the next day, I get another notification. It seems she is providing her services again and it's still making that my problem. So I call and get routed to a promotional department that said they have no idea why they got this call, but I should probably just sue.
I tried calling the number listed on the confirmation texts but it goes to a dead end line that just asks for a remote access code and then hangs up, so I can't ask the hotel she is actually at flag her down and say "hey, you need to update your number."
I emailed their privacy department yesterday but the notifications are still coming in. I can't change my phone number at the moment as I'm dealing with some delicate matters that are tied to this number so I can't risk changing the number at this time.
How can I get wyndham to take this seriously? This is a dangerous amount of information I was able to get off a recurring text they know is going to the wrong place.
To Wyndham this is her account and her information. Failure to update her information on your behalf doesn't constitute any liability on their part.
Regarding you, I would guess the best legal avenue you have would be something like telephone harassment or spam, but that sounds like a shakey case.
Hotels place a big emphasis on maintaining guest confidentiality in all regards except law enforcement. Front desk agents are trained not to disclose whether a guest is even staying at the property when requested. She would have solid grounds for a suit if she could provide evidence she attempted to change her contact information with Wyndham. Sounds like she didn't try though.
Personally, I would just get a new number again. However, if I was tied to making this work I would do this. Contact Wyndham's consumer affairs department. Tell them the lady has contacted me because I am receiving her information from you guys. She has mentioned she's considering litigation. Advise them to reach out to update her information.
Even that is a long shot because if she's a working girl she probably won't want businesses to have up to date info. Most likely she would ignore their email.
To some other commenter's points about them not caring about your issue. Kinda true, but it's not a feelings issue. , Wyndham has little liability in your complaint and it does not make sense to update an account because someone who isn't the account holder said to.
No, they aren't protecting confidentiality at all. They know the information is going to the wrong place. And yet, they keep sending me her full name, her email address, her home address, her reservation dates, the address of the hotel she is at.....
Imagine what someone could do with all that.
If she was telling them that they'd want to fix it to protect themselves from legal ramifications. But it isn't her. It's some stranger. That's all I'm saying.
If we let people make changes to account information based on stories then I could just lie and take over my ex girlfriend's capital one account or something, ya know. Your situation is unique, but just looking at it from the other side I could easily see doing what you're requesting turning into a phone call from the client asking why they're no longer receiving information about their reservations and me having to explain that somebody told us it was their number. Only to find out it was some enemy she has telling us to do that as a way to mess with her. Then I'm up a creek for removing the number without her permission.
It obviously isn't that, but there are risks involved that some companies are not willing to take. Making changes to account contact information in nearly all regards must be done by the account holder.
Not trying to say there shouldn't be an easier resolution to this. Just looking at as the guy on the other side of the phone.
You also told them you aren't the account holder. So that's pretty much the end of the call right there for any place I have ever worked... I understand your concern and the issue. It just doesn't work this way technically.
I currently manage a hotel and even as an employee there's some account information that I am not able to update on a guest's behalf. They have to do it themselves. The hospitality industry is ripe with fraud and scam attempts. I understand your situation isn't that, but it would set a precedent for the next situation that IS a scam.
If you really have all her account info and personal data then shit just call and be her. Ask to remove or change your number.
Not always true. Letting me from an account information TO something specifically is a risk, but simply demanding they remove MY data from an account that’s not mine is not a fraud concern. Thats the opposite of a fraud concern.
Moreover, I was able to prove I have that number in that I have all the information they gave me access to through that number.
If your in the US you can tell them you'll report them to the FTC and fcc as unsolicited spam text messages that have no means to opt out. They must provide a means to stop receiving text messages per can spam act. If they refuse you report them and then they face 50k in fines per message. You also get to have federal record at least that you didn't want the text messages. You could also file a police report. The cops may roll their eyes, but just tell them you just want something on record that the former number owner waa a shady character and want to avoid any potential legal issues in the future for having their number and getting weird calls or texts.
fcc.gov/consumers/guides/stop-…
ReportFraud.ftc.gov
This Week in Plasma: inertial scrolling, RDP clipboard syncing, and more session restore
This Week in Plasma: inertial scrolling, RDP clipboard syncing, and more session restore
Welcome to a new issue of This Week in Plasma! Every week we cover the highlights of what’s happening in the world of KDE Plasma and its associated apps like Discover, System Monitor, and more.This Week in Plasma: inertial scrolling, RDP clipboard syncing, and more session restore
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Protecting Science: TIB builds Dark Archive for arXiv - TIB-Blog
Protecting Science: TIB builds Dark Archive for arXiv - TIB-Blog
Research and science are international; it is not for nothing that we speak of international specialist communities.Micky Lindlar (TIB – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Technik und Naturwissenschaften und Universitätsbibliothek)
Trump's secret police are terrorizing American streets
Trump's secret police are terrorizing American streets
The altercations are growing more tense — especially in Los Angeles.Justin Glawe (Public Notice)
In the UK, you can be jailed for opposing genocide but not for supporting it
In the UK, you can be jailed for opposing genocide but not for supporting it
This is what happens when the people who commit genocide are in chargeRicky Hale (Council Estate Media)
Core inflation rate rose to 2.7% in May, more than expected, Fed’s preferred gauge shows
Core inflation rate rose to 2.7% in May, more than expected, Fed’s preferred gauge shows
The PCE price index was projected to rise 0.1% in May, with the annual inflation rate at 2.3%, according to the Dow Jones consensus.Jeff Cox (CNBC)
PewDiePie's tierlist of browsers
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Where's ladybird
Edit - I didn't know about the Transphobia going on there. that is unjustifiable.
The user was referred to as "he" in the all the documentation. Random made up example "if the user wants to change his settings he will click this button in the top left" or whatever.
A very normal PR was raised that just changed these uses to be gender neutral and it was declined for being too political.
Ladybird Trattoria? About 10 minutes away from Linus Media Group.
Not sure why you asked but you now have an answer, hope it helps
I mean ladybird certainly would be lowest tier, considering you first have to compile yourself 😂 also it's pre alpha state...
But it'll be interesting to see how far they've come on 1 year
Ngl, feel like his tier list is based on usability while avoiding big tech.
Tbh even if this tierlist is not the best or great, it still is "good enough". Plus the most important thing is to get tons of people interested.
I rather have "good enough" tier list that reaches to millions of people, then have a perfect tierlist that only reaches out to less than a dozen people.
Because amongst the millions of people who are interested, thousands of them will do their own research into privacy and dig deeper into it.
Plus right now, the biggest weakness of privacy is the fact that our community is too small to make an impact.
Having someone give this much outreach and influence to attract attention towards privacy is a good thing. (well, as long as their advice are on the positive end of the spectrum, and pewdiepie's advise surely is, even if its not perfect)
That's a good find that famous people are getting into FOSS (should be free as in freedom too).
But it's really not a good thing that they spread a non expert speaking to the crowd.
Tier lists are meant to be mainly subjective and pretty relative to the person that made it.
In that way Pewdipie could quote experts but in no case should make a tier list based on what he found the last weeks (I didn't fully watched the video so maybe I'm wrong and he made a big disclaimer)
If you watch the video, Felix tells you twice in the same sentence that he uses Arch.
Lemmy had taught me that this means Felix IS an expert on FOSS
Brave? Hard no.
Vivaldi? Also no.
Also, where are qutebrowser and Zen?
qutebrowser and IceCat are real top of the game when it comes to privacy. But then, they break some of the sites functionality, especially IceCat who seems to be going under the "if your site doesn't work, it's your site's problem" motto.
Firefox is open source, and while it takes some shady practices to fund it (it sure isn't cheap to run your own damn engine alongside everything on top), I take it as a more tenable compromise. It's not about free as in beer freedom, it's about basic security.
You can also have degoogled Chromium which is open-source if you're into it.
Even EDGE is a ungoogled Chromium (but containing M$ tracking APIs instead).
Vivaldi IS a degoogled Chromium, a small part of the UI (by far the most advanced one of any other browser) is proprietary, but not really obfuscated, they show even in the support forum how the user can modding it, if for him isn't enough what he can do in the most complete setting page ever, the only thing is, you can't use it for other browser projects. It's certainly not a privacy or security issue.
Chromium as is, is 100% FLOSS but because of this isn't more private or secure as a proprietary soft, FLOSS isn't automaticly synonym of privacy and security, a lot of people confuse it, it's not the propósit of OpenSource, privacy and security of an soft depends only of the intentions of the developer or company, not if their soft is OSS or not. The user can audit the soft, which in any case is needed if he don't want or be able to check millons of lines in the code which a complex soft like a browser engine has.
Of course I mean pure ungoogled Chromium, without bloat on top.
Not only browser code consists of millions of lines, it is also audited by thousands of people, and, importantly, changes can be highlighted, which doesn't allow for them to go unnoticed.
Successful mass attacks with OSS typically require much more skill and resources as you need for you malicious code to be written in a way that stays unnoticed (and eventually, rather soon, it will be discovered, with all consequences).
With closed source programs, integrating malicious code is easy, and this code can stay there unnoticed for ages, so they are 100% "trust me bro, I don't do anything bad".
So, yes, OSS is more secure.
Agree, it's the problem with closed source, but also easy with FOSS with bad maintenance, even more, because also the hacker can see the source code, without the need to desensamble it. In Vivaldi some of the UI part (5%) is proprietary, but not really closed source in it's sense of meaning, apart it has a continuous maintenance, with snapshot releases and frequent updates, a great community with the participation of the team and beta-testers. Very transparent all this, no space for fishy or shady things.
Vivaldi (a employee owned cooperative from Norway) was since years active against the shady practices of US companies and one of the promotors, along with the Consumer Organisation from Norway and some others, which caused the current EU GDPR law.
Nowadays it's needed to promoting European products and services to gain sovereignty from the US hegemony of big corporations. but sadly in browsers there are only three from Europe: Vivaldi (Norway), Mullvad (Sweden) and Konqueror (KDE, Germany), the other one, UR (France) is dead since a lot of years.
Mullvad is maybe the most private browser after TOR, but apart of this not much more, Sync with Mozilla account which is a no-go for me. Konqueror, based on the KHTML engine (Grandfather of Blink and WebKit) is Linux desktop only, interesting features, but few extensions and somewhat limited.
Well, end of the choices.
Open letter: Ban surveillance-based advertising | Vivaldi Browser
This letter has been sent by the undersigned to EU & US regulators, to urge them to take action on banning surveillance-based ads, as recommended by the NCC.Jon von Tetzchner (Vivaldi Technologies)
(not me downvoting)
I understand the concern with locally made software. However, I'd rather see something open-source come from the US than something closed source come from my own country.
Speaking of Konqueror, what about Falkon? It is the newer option by KDE team, and works on a more modern engine. And, it works on Windows.
I've also concerns over closed source apps, but as said, the small proprietary part of Vivaldi's UI is irrelevant, there is nothing shady in it, it is full auditable and can even be modded by the user (at own risk, logically)
FLOSS isn't always synonymous of privacy, security and trust and proprietary soft also not always spyware and risky crap.Always is needed to read PP and TOS of the software you want use, it's features, support, and compare it with others, independent if it is FOSS or not.
Eg. In Windows since a lot of years, one of the best and most valued tools is IrfanView, free proprietary closed source, but nobody bother because of this, knowing that there is nothing shady or fishy in it, Photoshop is also full trustworth, but there are FOSS alternatives (Gimp, Krita) which in the case of IrfanView not really exist with similar features. Even used by Linux fans with Wine, (IrfanView is Windows only)
Falcon, well, not bad, but too basic for me. The Qt engine is a minimized Blink fork, also used by the Otter Browser (Qt5), same as Goanna respect of Gecko.
Valid for users with an old PC or with few resources, who needs a small browser for basic tasks.
IrfanView - Official Homepage - One of the Most Popular Viewers Worldwide
IrfanView ... one of the most popular viewers worldwide.www.irfanview.com
Why is this guy popping up so much lately on Lemmy? I remember thinking this guy was a piece of shit about a decade ago...
I haven't kept up with the times. Was I right? Or did I become an angry old man 20 years to early?
Quite literally the opposite. The first minute does not answer my question about why he has been appearing all over lemmy. Neither do the comments here.
Sure he's trying to degoogle. Hence this post, but that is not what I asked.
Unclear if you're a troll or just choosing to be dense...
And Brave at the top lmao.
This dude poopoopie has always been garbage.
Your comment made me look at the list again. I didn’t even realise Brave is located at the very top.
Also, why is “not ideal for a normal human” at the middle of the list?
Garbage, indeed.
Doesn’t matter if it is his list nor did I ever say it was garbage because it is his.
It is garbage, objectively.
Why would you even follow his advice, he's found a new way to generate clicks just ignore his advice.
He doesn't even know mull?
WhatsApp rolls out AI-generated summaries for private messages
cross-posted from: rss.ponder.cat/post/215685
WhatsApp can now call on Meta AI to summarize your personal chats. As shown in a GIF, you can access it by tapping the button to unfurl all of your unread messages in a chat. But instead of showing your messages, WhatsApp uses Meta AI to generate a bulleted summary of what you missed.
The feature is rolling out in English in the US, with plans to launch in more countries and languages later this year. It uses Meta’s Private Processing technology, which the company claims will prevent it and other third parties from snooping on your messages.
WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, says its AI message summaries are optional, and the feature is turned off by default. You can also use WhatsApp’s “Advanced Privacy” setting to prevent users from using AI features in group chats. We still don’t know if WhatsApp’s AI message summaries will struggle with accuracy, which is something we saw with the launch of Apple’s AI-generated message and notification rundowns.
Over the past year, Meta has continued stuffing different AI features into WhatsApp, including a way to ask Meta AI questions from within a chat, as well as a feature that generates images in real-time. Some users have grown frustrated by the new Meta AI button in the bottom-right corner of the app that they can’t turn off or remove. Meta also sparked backlash with another change that brought ads to the app — something its founders said they never wanted to do.
The app’s Private Processing is supposed to conceal your interactions with its AI model by creating a “secure cloud environment,” preventing Meta or WhatsApp from seeing your summaries. Other people in the group chat won’t be able to see the message summaries, either.
From The Verge via this RSS feed
WhatsApp’s rollout of ads will change the app forever
WhatsApp is bringing ads to its status feature, a move that’s at odds with the brand’s identity as a “secure” messaging app.Emma Roth (The Verge)
I love that my global settings has a whole section labelled Privacy, but I can't disable this globally for all chats my account joins.
Instead I have to disable it for each chat individually.
What awful design WhatsApp (obviously on purpose so I'll forget with new chats).
Well maybe this is the push that those friends will need to move to Signal...
I need to have this WhatsApp BS as its the only way to stay connected with older relatives and work groups. I'm using RethinkDNS on my phone and have blocked as many Meta DNS and network links as I can find online. Exactly none of them show up on my firewall logs! The connections in/ out appear to be via "safe" routes, which if blocked then break wider functionality.
To use yet another completely unheard of home town phrases, "Bastards".
Alright fine I admit it, I want to learn Linux
I'm just so sick of Microsoft and Google.
But there's two things holding me back:
1) I wanna play Steam games on my PC
2) I am just an amateur hobbyist, not a tech wizard
Is there any hope for me?
One thing I'll say is that for a lot of distros these days you shouldn't really need to use the terminal much if ever. That being said don't be scared of the terminal. It's just another way to tell the computer what to do. It takes some learning but if you want to learn things with the terminal you might eventually find it easier/faster than using the mouse for some things. Go through some tutorials and you'll probably find out that the terminal is not that actually all that scary.
Most distros allow you to try them out before you install them. You can run them from a USB stick to let you try a few out before you settle on one. You won't be able to install any programs this way but you'll at least be able to get an idea of the interface and see if there are any you like more than others. Even still you can dual boot your PC with Windows + Linux and switch back and forth whenever you need. It's not an all or nothing ordeal. I still have windows 10 on my machine but I rarely use it now.
Gaming on Linux is better than it's ever been thanks to Steam coming with proton out of the box. protondb.com is your friend for figuring out what games you can run. That being said there are occasionally some rough edges that I have run into personally. I can run most games I want just fine but occasionally I have some issues. I'm just telling you this so you know it's not like a flawless experience. Then again I've also spent plenty of time trying to get games running on my windows PC in the past too so...
My recommendation for a first Linux OS is Ubuntu because in general it's the most popular and has the most support.
Best of luck!
Adding on to this.
If you don't know what a command does you can read the manual running the "man" command. Run "man" followed by the command you want to read about. It also works for some system files too!
Also if you fix something like a driver issue for a game that took a lot of research. WRITE IT DOWN. It WILL come in handy in the future.
So while techie absolutists stayed at Debian/Arch/RHEL,
the commons folks have gone to Linux Mint/Cachy OS/Fedora?
Can I tell you off from Arch Linux?
There are around three Linux families to choose a derivative Linux OS from,
some are more obscure ones and then some really obscure ones.
Choose one of the Linux family OSes and choose the most popular derivative of that one.
So for example Aurora is a derivative of Fedora, which is a derivative of RHEL (derivative-(in)ception).
The reasons to choose derative OSes and not one of the basic main three is that:
- The Linux derative OSes have bells and whistles build on top of the parent OS. This is especially true for the extremely bare bones Arch Linux, that will throw you back into 1985.
- And this is most important... community support! You will at some point have issues and a forum where developers and experienced users can help you out are a godsend. Derivatives tend to have better community support than the bare bone ones. I've experienced this with the Arch Linux community. I'm not sure if Debian or RHEL communities would haved fared better, but to me this community felt like having a conversation with a real life Sheldon Cooper. I am really thankful for the excellent expert level help I did get there, but I will not go there back again. And I don't know if I even can, because the last time I was there, I got banned for a third time.
I've had great experiences on the Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Manjaro communities. Other communities from less popular Linux OSes have been too small in my experience to get help on time.
For Debian, the most popular one right now is Linux Mint, a derivative of Ubuntu (derivative-(in)ception).
It used to be Ubuntu, but Ubuntu tends to take big moves and risks that don't always pay off.
Linux Mint I consider to be the safe option for beginners.
Debian is known for stability.
For Redhat it's Fedora. I haven't used it that much.
Redhat is known for good security.
For Arch it's Endeavour OS and recently Cachy OS.
It used to be Manjaro, but they fumbled a lot on security issues.
Arch is known for having the best documentation,
and the largest amount of software available,
especially made by fellow users,
and if I may add myself, having the best package manager.
I still use Manjaro myself, because I don't feel enough need to switch to a new one,
and I like the community there.
These folks are all giving great advice but also let us know when you're ready to really fuck around and have fun with your Linux superpowers 😀
You, in practically no time at all: "Nearly everything is working great! Now I want to make my desktop change it's background to NASA's picture of the day while also putting all my PC's status monitors on there. Oh! And I want my PC to back itself up every hour over the network automatically with the ability to restore files I deleted last week. I've got KDE Connect on my phone and it's awesome!"
Then, later: "I bought a Raspberry Pi and I want to turn it into a home theater streaming system and emulation station."
...and later: "What docker images do you guys recommend? I want to setup some home automation. What do you guys think of Pi-hole?"
"I've got four Raspberry Pis doing various things in my home and I'm thinking about getting Banana Pi board to be my router. OpenWRT or full Linux on it? What do you guys think?"
...and even later: "I taught myself Python..." 🤣
"I want to copy my root, home, and boot partition contents into a bigger drive I formatted with in terminal. Let's boot from it and see what breaks."
::: spoiler spoiler
/etc/fstab partition UUIDs needed to be fixed by hand. GRUB config needed to be updated to launch straight into bash and I needed to remount the root directly as R/W because GRUB was trying to protect me from myself.
:::
- before you switch, sort out your apps. Look at what you use on windows, see if it runs on Linux. If not, find a replacement that does and test it out.
- Most Linux distros can boot into a desktop from a thumb drive. You can play and test without touching your windows installation.
- in that vein, ventoy is neat. You can make a bootable drive and drop ISOs in a folder to boot from. No messing with etcher or whatever it’s called
- desktop environment matters as much as the distro. Check out gnome, KDE, and cinnamon.
If a computer is a car, then Linux(the Kernal) is the chassis. Mint (the distro) is the motor, and Cinnamon (the desktop environment) is the fancy interior.
KDE plasma is a fancy interior that works with tons of different motors.
Cinnamon is designed for mint and works best with it.
DISCLAIMER: All of this is analogy and isn't technically correct in a pedantic sense, but it works well enough for me. I'm sorry if my analogy isn't exactly accurate.
The desktop environment is all the stuff like the taskbar, the settings menus, the application launcher, the login screen, that kind of thing. It’s the system level user interface.
You choose which one by which distro you download. Linux mint uses cinnamon, Ubuntu and fedora use gnome. There are “flavors” of Ubuntu and fedora that use KDE. That’s why I suggested ventoy: you can download a few different ones and boot into them without making a new thumb drive.
If you don’t feel like bothering with any of that, just use Linux mint. It’s good.
Okay, so the Linux ecosystem is more modular than Windows. Windows is synonymous with its Graphical User Interface (GUI) for reasons I'll get into later.
With Linux, there are several GUIs available to choose from. These tend to fall into two main categories: Tiling Window Managers, and Desktop Environments.
Tiling Window Managers have minimal on-screen UI elements, usually they're meant to be used with keyboard combos with little usage of the mouse. A major feature is everything that is running is visible on the screen, when you open a new window, another window divides in half to give it room, "tiling" the screen. Some examples of TWMs include i3 and Awesome.
Desktop Environments are going to be more familiar to newcomers from Windows or MacOS. They're made more for mouse control, several have what you would recognize as a taskbar, start menu and system tray. Windows can be stacked on top of each other like papers on a desktop, exactly like MS Windows does. Some more closely resemble MacOS though none behave exactly the same way. Some examples of DEs include Gnome, KDE, MATE, and Cinnamon.
Cinnamon is a DE made by the Linux Mint development community, and the default/flagship DE for Linux Mint. It is designed to be familiar and easy to use for Windows users. KDE's Plasma DE is similar in many ways to Mint although it's based on different tech; KDE is based on qt, Cinnamon is a distant fork of Gnome and based on GTK. Some are designed to be more minimal so they take up less system resources, like xfce and LXDE, others are trying mostly to resemble MacOS, like ElementaryOS' Pantheon DE. Then there's Gnome, which I goddamn hate.
For a beginner, the choice of DE is going to present most of the differences you'll notice when trying out distros. It can be instructive to try, say, Kubuntu and Fedora KDE. Both ship with the KDE Plasma desktop, but the underlying OSes are different. Then try out, say, Fedora Workstation (with the Gnome desktop) and Fedora KDE. That exercise will give you a good understanding of distro vs DE.
Edit to add: It's kind of like launchers on Android. You can go in the Google Play store and install a different launcher on your phone, you can make a Samsung Galaxy look like a Google Pixel. Linux DEs work the same way, you can install KDE or Cinnamon the same way you'd install a normal app, you can have multiple and switch between them. It's not a great idea but you can.
Here are three variants of Linux Mint with different Desktop Environments: (click their example image to make it larger)
- Linux Mint (Cinnamon Edition) - the default, I'd use that until you have a reason not to
- Linux Mint (MATE Edition)
- Linux Mint (XFCE Edition)
All of those are Linux Mint, they use pretty much the same core tools under the hood, but the desktop environments change how you engage with them. Mostly the way things look, the way you organize programs on your screen, and the default apps (like which text editor it comes with by default). This can change your experience a lot, I think Cinnamon looks nice and is smooth, while MATE and XFCE are more lightweight and might be better for older computers or if you don't like something about Cinnamon.
Now, those are all somewhat similar, they have a program start menu in the bottom left, a taskbar on the bottom, the basics are familiar. There are some (not officially supported by Mint) which are more different, like GNOME (Ubuntu's desktop default) which has a different app launcher instead of a start menu and a different way of switching between programs. Then, as others mentioned, some people choose to not even install a pre-designed Desktop Environment and only install some of the more core components of a DE, like the Window Manager. People who really love the keyboard might use a tiling window manager, these tend to make you think "wow, this person's a hacker", where they'll rapidly switch between programs using keyboard controls, with the window manager automatically shifting and dividing new windows so that they tile together to fill the screen. Loosely speaking, the opposite of a tiling window manager is a floating window manager, where windows just float and you move them around with your mouse, just like Windows (well, apart from the tiling options in more recent Windows versions when you can drag a window into the corner and it tiles to fill the screen.) I think the "best of both worlds" midpoint is a dynamic WM? I'm not sure. hyprland is an example of that.
Ubuntu Desktop PC operating system | Ubuntu
Fast, secure and stylishly simple, the Ubuntu operating system is used by 50 million people worldwide every day.Ubuntu
TL;DR: Try installing some on virtual box, by all means try Linux mint cinnamon but also try Ubuntu and Fedora KDE.
Linux has some jargon and since you want to learn I'll give you a quick rundown of how a variation of Linux is composed.
"Kernel" is what makes Linux Linux. It's a way of interacting with the hardware.
A "distribution" or "distro" is a one of the many flavors of Linux.
They are usually "based" on a common foundation like Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Nix and whatever. These also work like an onion where Mint is based on Ubuntu which in turn is based on Debian, all of which use some version of the Linux kernel.
A that's just a base will just get you a terminal (also called a shell or console) and is very useful to make a server for example.
What most people think of as an OS is the user interface (i.e. clickable shit). The terminology in Linux for that is "desktop environment" (DE).
You'll see a lot of distributions mix and watch between a base and a desktop environment such as Fedora with KDE, Ubuntu (Ubuntu with Gnome), Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE), Bazzite (Fedora silverblue base with either gnome, KDE or deck DE).
You mentioned Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a desktop environment for Mint so a Linux Mint Cinnamon contains the code of the following:
Linux kernel, Debian, Ubuntu and Mint as a base and Cinnamon to interact with it by using a mouse and keyboard.
There are currently three bases that are really popular right now, Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch. In the DE there are currently two that are most advanced, namely KDE and Gnome but Cinnamon is not far behind.
In all honestly, none of this matters all too much, just install a couple of popular distros on a virtual machine like Virtual Bok and do a vibe check.
Take a couple of these, install some programs and fuck around with the settings for a bit, install themes and whatever or watch a quick YouTube video on it:
* Ubuntu (gets hate for being corporate but is solid, uses Gnome)
* Linux mint Cinnamon
* Fedora KDE
* EndavourOS (an arch based distro that's supposedly easy, haven't tried it)
* Bazzite (weird way to install programs through the package manager but hard to fuck up beyond repair)
* Something with the Xfce DE just to see the "lightweight" look.
If your library is on steam, then there's nothing to worry about! Works natively on Linux. If your library is on other platforms, I'd honestly think twice about switching full time. Dual booting might be a better option. My library is split amongst multiple platforms and I decided that it wasn't working well enough for me. Steam games will work great though!
Many distros are easy enough to install and navigate as a newbie. My go to for years now has been Linux Mint! It's based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian.
oh that's cool. nope, whole library is on windows on one PC right now.
I was thinking about trying out dual booting to get a feel for it. my understanding was that many programs wont work with linux or require complicated fixes to get them running. so id hate to be left downstream without a paddle, so to speak
Depends which programs. Also, it's very possible that there are open source alternatives
But if you are dead set on using exactly the same program, appdb.winehq.org/ is a database of if and how to make them run on Linux. Wine's core focus is games, but many programs are covered there too
WineHQ - Wine Application Database
Open Source Software for running Windows applications on other operating systems.appdb.winehq.org
yeah adobe isn't something i use regularly. not sure whether you mean photoshop (never) or pdf viewer (which i use adobe for and also hate)
Um, on any given day I'm running Steam, VLC, and Firefox. yeah it seems that those are all better than fine
A lot of people here have already given good advice.
I shall add my experience, recommendation and some tips (may incidentally repeat some of them).
- If you play some games with kernel level anti-cheat (like Rainbow Six Siege, Apex, Valorant, LoL, Fortnite, Battlefield games, Destiny 2 among others), you will have to stick to dual-boot. Check on ProtonDB for compatibility of games.
I have 500+ games on Steam and pretty much everything I've played has worked so far.
In terms of other software you use, make sure you have alternatives that work on Linux.
- For Photoshop, there's Krita/GIMP.
- For Video editing, there's Kdenlive, DaVinci Resolve, etc.
- For browsing and office apps, there's LibreWolf and LibreOffice.
If you happen to have any software that you don't have a good alternative or that only runs on Windows, then you'll have to stick to dual booting.
- If you do end up dual booting, DO NOT use your external HDD in NTFS to run games on linux. It will work for a while, but you'll constantly have to 'chkdsk' or check disk on Windows every time your HDD is found corrupted.
Also, NTFS is Windows' proprietary filesystem. So, I've heard that using ntfs-fix (chkdsk equivalent on linux) might cause data loss. Not sure how far it's true, but be cautious of using that too.
But otherwise, I believe that just reading files from NTFS drive usually is not a problem.
- If you are NOT dual booting however, you won't have to face this mess. You can backup the data on your HDD somewhere, format it in 'ext4' filesystem for Linux-only use ('Exfat' if you want to share any data with others on Windows/Mac) and restore all your files back to this HDD in ext4. Hope you have extra HDD with enough free space to move your files while you convert disks to ext4. You can also probably use cloud services for backup.
- I've used Ubuntu, Mint, Arch and Fedora.
- Had faced a lot of issues with Ubuntu back in the day, and Snap Steam is a mess. So, avoid it.
- Mint is easy to use, removes snap from Ubuntu and just uses apt, has a great Desktop Environment called Cinnamon, and I'd usually recommend this to someone new, but I wanted to shift from X-11 to Wayland for security reasons and HDR support among others. If Wayland worked well with Mint, I'd still be using it today, but that was the only reason I moved away from it.
- While Arch is nice, it's certainly not for someone new.
- That leaves us with Fedora KDE, which would be my recommendation. It has good security features like SE-Linux out of the box.
The reason I suggest KDE over Gnome is so that you might have an easier transition from Windows to Linux. Once you have a hang of this, you can later use a pen drive to load other distro with other DE like Gnome, XFCE, Cinnamon, Cosmic, etc and test them out by live booting.
- Speaking of pendrives, make sure to always have one with Ventoy installed and the distribution you're using. This will be handy if you want to troubleshoot your system anytime.
And I say Ventoy over others because it makes loading distro easier. You can just drag and drop the ISO files instead of having to burn with Balena Etcher or Rufus everytime.
- Rufus is great, but if you're moving out of Windows, you don't need it.
- And I have seen a lot of people have trouble with using Balena Etcher. So, avoid it.
- Turn off Secure Boot in BIOS. (And maybe also fast boot).
- And if your disk is on RAID instead of AHCI, you might have trouble installing. So, you might want to set your SATA configuration to AHCI mode in BIOS if you face issues.
- If you end up choosing Fedora, you may want to follow this.
Fedora only comes with FOSS by default. So, you'll have to install Nvidia driver and proprietary multimedia Codecs separately by including RPMFusion repo.
- You can download the free and non-free repo files from the RPM-Fusion site(Graphical Setup) and install them through the Software Center. After adding the repo, you might have to enable them in the Settings of Discover Software Center.
Enable all of them except those containing the words 'testing', 'Test', 'Source', 'Debug' and 'google chrome'.
- After that, it's just a few lines you type in the terminal (Konsole by default) for installing driver and codecs. Make sure to update the system and restart first before doing these.
For Nvidia driver, type:
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia
For optional CUDA support, type:
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda
For Video acceleration support, type:
sudo dnf install nvidia-vaapi-driver libva-utils vdpauinfo
For Codecs, type:
sudo dnf swap ffmpeg-free ffmpeg --allowerasing
Steam is also included in the non-free repo. You may install it by typing:
sudo dnf install steam
- Other than these, most applications can now be installed directly from the store as a Flatpak. You can select them in the store between Flatpaks, Fedora managed Flatpaks and Fedora Linux app for a particular one.
- For flatpak apps, you'll see a tick next to the developer if they are verified. So, you can look out for that if necessary.
- Make sure 'Flathub' repo is enabled in the Settings of Discover Software Center for the Flatpak apps to appear.
NOTE: Every time the video driver updates, you will have to do a follow-on update for flatpak runtimes. You might see a bunch of 'Application platform' and 'Freedesktop' stuff which you'll have to install.
If you fail to do this, you might suddenly find flatpak applications not working properly.
- Troubleshooting tips:
- If Steam doesn't launch the first time, type:
__GL_CONSTANT_FRAME_RATE_HINT=3 steam
- If your system is frozen, try switching to TTY by pressing (Ctrl+Alt+F3) and going back to GUI by pressing (Ctrl+Alt+F2)*.
*Could be F1 in some cases. - To check what errors you got during the recent boot,
journalctl -b 0 -p err
Apart from the driver installation and some troubleshooting, you generally won't have to use the terminal if you're averse to it.
- In terms of deGoogling, I'd recommend the following:
- Buy a pixel and install Graphene OS.
Switch to
- Tuta/Proton Mail for email,
- Proton/Tresorit Drive for storage,
- Mullvad (or i, proton) VPN or (Rethink DNS for firewall)
I am not sure if you can use both Rethink and VPN at the same time. I assume there is a way.
- OsmAnd for maps,
- Newpipe for youtube frontend(Grayjay on Linux),
- Bitwarden/KeepassXC for Password management,
- Aegis for TOTP
- Fdroid, Accrescent, Aurora for App store.
- Molly FOSS for Messaging.
Can't forget Zen Browser for best productivity browser. Also Ungoogled Chromium
OP if you want to use AI locally but privately then use Ollama with Open Web UI
Also HuggingChat is an AI Chatbot that can do all kinds of stuff with the 1-tap community extensions, models, and assistants avilable. Website is free with an account. Use as a web app for it to be even better experience
When you are more advanced learn distrobox to add apps only available on other distros natively to your laptop
If you have any questions feel free to ask me whenever
I'd suggest to stay away from Brave for any serious purposes 'cause you never know what shady things they might be doing.
Case in point, they had previously been changing regular URLs to include affiliate links on their own.
They also have that crypto bloat.
This is graat info. Didn't know about Ventoy before, it sounds really cool.
Just wanted to add that if you're running multiple monitors on an nvidia card, you may find that the second monitor has low fps/stutters on wayland (common on dual graphics laptops). The fix is as follows:
Add these 3 lines to /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf:
options nvidia-drm modeset=1
options nvidia NVreg_UsePageAttributeTable=1 NVreg_InitializeSystemMemoryAllocations=0 NVreg_EnableGpuFirmware=0Add this line to
/etc/environment:KWIN_DRM_DEVICES="/dev/dri/by-path/pci-0000\:01\:00.0-card:/dev/dri/by-path/pci-0000\:00\:02.0-card"You may have to modify the part that says
pci-xxxx\:xx\:xx.x-card with the appropriate values for your graphics card.Run lspci | egrep VGA to list installed PCI graphics cards and try to map the values from there
Disclaimer:
I don't know why this works but it does and it isn't malicious as far as I can tell. If anyone knows what exactly it's doing, I'd like to know please.
Thanks for that info.
I just want to add that the drm modeset is enabled by default ever since the 560 drivers. You only need to do that for the older ones, if I'm right.
Previously, you also had to disable nouveau yourself and Nvidia driver installation used to be a headache. Things have gotten better over the ages. I'm sure this multi-monitor issue will also be fixed soon as well.
Huh, this was definitely a fix I used on an older version that I just moved over to a new install with the new drivers so the drm modset line may not be necessary anymore yeah. I'll check next time I connect to my monitor.
And yeah, it's def gonna get better. I've already seen both wayland and nvidia improve significantly over the last 2-3 years so at this rate, things should "just work" pretty soon (insert meme about year of the Linux desktop).
I vividly remember struggling to get proprietary drivers working on Fedora 37 (or 38, it's been a minute) only to have them break on the next version on my previous laptop. It was definitely much MUCH easier to install on Fedora 42 on my current one and updates haven't broken anything for me since 40.
Well, it's just 4-5 lines that you're going to have to type and it's just a one-time thing. Surely, it's not that intimidating.
Bazzite seems to be based on Fedora Kinoite, an atomic desktop. Now, I haven't used atomic desktops. Although I wanted to, I ended up not doing that for the following reason.
From what I understand, you can't easily alter the base image of the system and everything else is a flatpak. This seems fine, but if you end up having to install an application for which there is no Flatpak, how would a non-tech savvy user do that? Still have to use the terminal at that point, I'd bet.
Case in point, even the other day, I came across this application called 'syncplay' for which there's no flatpak alternative and thankfully, Fedora repo had it.
I also hear that if you end up installing apps this way(Layering as it's called?), the update times become slower. You may shed some light on this.
Also, while it may not be as good as a snapshot system of the atomic desktops, the regular Fedora nonetheless shows the last two kernel installations on every boot so you could revert back to one if an update goes wrong.
I also have to mention that I always have my important files backed up on HDD or cloud that in the worst case scenario of losing my files on any update, (which hasn't happened so far btw), I can always restore them. In case of Steam games, it shouldn't be a problem if you have a fast internet connection. You should download them back in no-time.
That is another reason I can still live without having to use a stable atomic desktop.
New users find the terminal very intimidating, I've seen that come up time and again. It's kind of the whole point of Bazzite.
If you're already learning terminal to install software though, at that point you can use a distrobox, install whatever you want in it, and then export the application to your usual application menu. It'll launch the container in the background when you start the application, and shut it down automatically too. It's a little slower than a usual launch but it's still just a stripped down container so it's fine.
I tried two distros in the past week after your recommendation - Bazzite and Nobara.
Bazzite is just like you say and all's good most of the time and I'm getting used to an atomic distro too. The only problem I seem to be having is that my GPU Freezes very often even while just browsing and I have to force-restart to recover.
journalctl shows me this error.
[drm:nv_drm_gem_alloc_nvkms_memory_ioctl [nvidia_drm]] ERROR [nvidia-drm] [GPU ID ....] Failed to allocate NVKMS memory for GEM object
I don't know if this is because Bazzite uses a slightly older Nvidia (open) driver(570.64) and kernel(6.14.6) or because of something else.
However, I don't have this issue on Nobara and it uses the latest 6.15.4 and Nvidia (proprietary? akmod) driver (570.153).
Correlation is not probably causation, but this might be one thing to consider.
And I've had issues with nvidia-open drivers in the past, but surely a lot of them seem to have gone now.
Thanks. The downloader gives me an option to rebase, which I find easier to use. It shows me an option to download from ostree-unverified-registry, but I chose to do it from ostree-image-signed:docker instead. Don't know why the signed image is not shown on the downloader by default.
That said, after switching to nvidia from nvidia-open, the driver version still remains the same. Let's see if I get freezes again in the upcoming days.
Also, there are two applications that I use outside of flatpak - a firewall(Safing Portmaster) and another password manager, for which I have to install using the rpm installer.
The password manager has no problem installing using the rpm-ostree install <name.rpm> command. However, Portmaster installs, but won't work because of the following error which I found from journalctl.
<br />Jul 05 16:28:23 bazzite systemd[1]: Started portmaster.service - Portmaster by Safing.
Jul 05 16:28:29 bazzite portmaster-start[5786]: Error: failed to exec lock: open /opt/safing/portmaster/core-lock.pid: read-only file system
Jul 05 16:28:29 bazzite systemd[1]: portmaster.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jul 05 16:28:29 bazzite portmaster-start[5860]: Error: please set the data directory using --data=/path/to/data/dir
Jul 05 16:28:29 bazzite systemd[1]: portmaster.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.Someone has supposedly a work in-progress script to make this work, but I don't think I'm qualified to scrutinize if doing this brings down the security of the system in any way.
And I don't know if many other rpm installers have the same trouble installing in atomic distros because it's a read-only file system.
For now, I'll have to live without my favorite firewall.
Update:
Okay, I keep getting the same freeze again with the proprietary nvidia driver too. My suspicion is now heavily on Secureboot being enabled. Some Arch people kept warning me about this back in the day.
I'm going to use Bazzite without it and probably rebase again to open driver if there is no more freezes.
Update 2:
Unfortunately, even with secureboot disabled, I kept getting freezes. Got 3 freezes and I felt done with this. Replaced Bazzite with Nobara again.
Nvidia driver worked for a while. But, after I temporarily switched back to another atomic distro I'm dual booting on a completely separate drive(which requires secure boot for nvidia driver to work and it did work), Nobara stopped loading nvidia driver despite clearing all secure boot keys and installing the default one in UEFI/BIOS and turning off SecureBoot.
Apparently, the efi also has to be modified again. I didn't bother doing it and reinstalled Nobara again since that will reset the efi anyway.
Now, the driver is working again.
I swear to any seemingly non-existent higher power that I'll never use any distro that requires secure boot. Lol. I'm gonna reinstall Arch on my second drive now.
That said, I'd probably recommend Bazzite to anyone not having Nvidia GPU and it's a pretty impressive project. It even comes with Wallpaper Engine baked in.
My friend and I were having a hard time making it work on their system. We were trying some solutions we found on github and some C++ file didn't have a particular header or something. Took a while to get it work and it was kinda messy later on too with the plasma shell crashing cause of it.
Having additions like this would surely make life easier for regular users who would not want to deal with that mess.
People are afraid of the terminal because Windows has a shitty, unfriendly terminal. One of the things that brought me back to Linux was the cool-looking terminals. They make me feel like I'm Hackerman.
Linux isn't just a different operating system. It's a paradigm shift. Windows is always going to dominate as long as people are trapped in a Windows mindset.
I was you 18 months ago. It's certainly achievable, even with a crazy busy schedule. Highly recommended that you go for it.
Here are the unpopular opinions that attract downvotes:
* adopting Linux is painful. Stuff breaks. Stuff doesnt work. You will be battling uphill, but hopefully you'll find it worthwhile in the end.
* moving to Linux permanently wouldn't have been possible for me without AI. Now you can ask AI and it will almost always solve the problem for you. In the old days, you'd just have forum posts saying "just compile the driver and do a 10 step process with terminal that you need to figure out from the wiki....noob". But now, these previously system breaking problems are now easily solvable without spending the whole weekend on a single issue.
* don't let go of Windows to start with. Put Linux on a secondary machine. Do not dual boot, you will break your installation and won't be able to troubleshoot it and will have to do a full wipe (along with the time and data loss that comes with that).
* Don't get caught up in the distro wars. Pick Linux Mint, or a similar very beginner friendly distro. I prefer KDE desktop so I would recommend something else..... But don't go for anything with even moderate difficulty.
* Check protondB.com for the games you play. Some don't work on Linux (e.g. Apex Legends).
Yeah, this. In fact, going with hardware that's too-too new can lead to a different problem on Linux.
OP, if you're buying hardware, it's worth web searching to make sure people have tried it on Linux and are having good experiences with it. Since most manufacturers only care if their stuff works on Windows, it can take a little while for Linux devs to write drivers and get them shipped in Linux distros.
There might be a reason they are unpopular.
Stuff breaks? What breaks? I don't have stuff that breaks. Windows has been far more breaky to me over the last decade than Linux has ever been. What have you been doing? This may have been true 20 years ago, but not today.
AI? Look, I helped a friend fix a new install. It wasn't Linux fault, it was a setting in the bios that needed to be changed. But the AI had them trying all sorts of things that were unrelated, and was never going to help. Use with a grain of salt. You shouldn't really need to do much if you can get through the install anyways.
I am really curious what "system breaking problems" you have? My latest laptop over the last 2+ years has been so uneventful and boring. Never used a command line on it, but don't forget when you see people share command line fixes, it is because it is the easiest way to directly share information. Not the only way to do something. My desktop has had a few hiccups over the last 5, but that is what I get for running Arch on it.
Stuff breaks? What breaks? I don't have stuff that breaks. Windows has been far more breaky to me over the last decade than Linux has ever been. What have you been doing? This may have been true 20 years ago, but not today.
I've been trying to adapt to Linux Mint/Cinnamon as my daily driver and yes, stuff breaks. My sata and nvme connected drives kept disappearing every time I started my computer so I had to learn about mounting and auto mount (they are just there on Windows). My game and program installs on Bottles and Lutris kept going "missing" and losing their .exe's. I downloaded 70gb of Guild Wars 2 files at least 8 times because I thought each time I had fixed the "files missing" problem only to have them disappear on reboot. I still didn't figure out what was happening and am only able to play now because I found out how to use the provider portal on Steam. I can't make launcher short cuts from the actual executable, I have to go to the desktop and do it and when I do, it won't let me drag it to my panel for some reason. When I thought I had found a solution, I reactivated some launcher applets and ended up with three different instances of my panel launcher icons and still no ability to add new ones. My systems connected to the same ethernet used to show up in my network panel and I was able to access my shared folders and media files but they all stopped showing up a few days ago and I had to learn all about Samba share and minimum and maximum server protocols and still am trying to find a solution.
Yes, Windows breaks stuff too, but Linux is NOT a perfect product that works flawlessly for everyone and [@cRazi_man@europe.pub is right. All of their points are things I've been struggling with and would warn a Linux noob about. I personally would rather trust those random forum posts than LLM summaries (and have solved some issues that way) but otherwise I agree with each of their bullet points.
Yes mounting is different, but that is not a Linux issue. Same as when you boot into windows, but an EXT formatted drive will not appear AND it will never mount. Windows helpful choice is "unknown" and offer to format. These are just OS differences, not breakages.
Cinnamon might be part of your problem with shortcuts.....
Yeah SMB shares can be tricky. I have issues with them in Windows as well, not linux specifically.
I am not saying linux is perfect. All computers rely on a person being able to deal with them. I just find it much more stable then windows ever was. You add bottles and Lutris into the mix, and now it is a third party software issue: just like plenty of software in windows as well.
when introducing new people to Linux it’s best to acknowledge there may be some tinkering and adaptation needed to get things working as they should.
Depends on what "should" means. My printer for example will not work with windows. It works fine with linux. So.... that really is a printer driver issue. No matter which one it works with.
As for the OS out of the box, everything works on a fresh install of either - although linux is far more loaded with ready to go software, and windows requires you to add it. And any of the software you add to either can cause breakages, that is computing.
I noticed over the years that Linux works fairly well for people who did not start with windows first. Both have learning curves, but habits are habits.
I am going to take my linux laptop for an example: 2 years. No tinkering. There is nothing to do, it just works.
My other laptop (windows): damn thing need tinkering all the time: turn off this, regedit that, just to get the nagware and crap out. Won't allow remote desktop with the license, needs drivers to be updated, software that came with it is bloatware garbage.
I've been tinkering with my Linux machine for the past 8 months or so, and having random issues like the ones I listed and more besides that I've already solved. Meanwhile my old Windows 7 machine has been working flawlessly for about 8 years, no regedits or crap software issues. I think I had a driver issue with my mouse a couple years ago that I clicked a button and it fixed it. My laptop running Windows 7 also has been working flawlessly since about 2016 beyond prompting me to format media that I connect to it, but I press a button and that goes away. Recently I've been having compatibility issues with software because it's such an old OS but as you said, that's a 3rd party software issue, not a problem with Windows 7.
Glad your Linux experience is so smooth though. Must be nice!
This is a pointless conversation man. There are clearly plenty of Linux zealots on Lemmy. Noobs like me have had a hard time with Linux. I've never understood the argument that "my experience was different, so your experience is invalid". Once someone learns about something, they forget what it's like to have no knowledge of the thing.
The Linux community was reacting like this when Linus (from LTT) installed PopOS and tried to install Steam and it somehow wiped his desktop environment. Shit happens in Linux and the noob experience is brushed aside, while touting "the year of Linux". I really don't get it.
I agree with your overall point, as a long time Linux, Windows and Mac poweruser who has shepherded many into a new OS in the past. People who don't like to explore new/different technologies as a hobby get quite comfortable with whatever they're used to and the way that it works and then quickly lose empathy for those that are earlier in their journeys.
Just to clarify on the Linus Pop!_OS thing, he didn't read the prompt that said he was about to uninstall his desktop environment and then typed in "yes I understand this can break my system" or something like that, which had been added as a prompt to keep people from not reading the warning. Anyways people got mad that he did that because he literally ignored the warning and *the meaning of the words he had to type* that had been added to idiot proof the thing.
I'm glad it worked smoothly for you and it sometimes is a smooth effortless experience for some people; but if you want to "convert" people then you've got to be honest about the fact that people commonly face difficulties. I've commented about my Linux issues before and I can paste the comment again here to give an example:
One of the first issues I had problems with was figuring out what was wrong with Street Fighter 6 giving ultra low frame rates in multiplayer, but working fine in single player. It needed disabling of split lock protections in the CPU.
A recent update in OpenSUSE made the computer fail to boot half the time and made the image on the right half of the screen garbled. I rolled back to before the update and am using it without updating for a few weeks to see if the GPU driver problem gets ironed out (AMD GPU).
I installed VMware Horizon for my job's remote work login and it fucked up my Steam big picture mode and controller detection. I didn't bother trying to figure that out and just uninstalled VMware remote desktop.
I managed to install my printer driver, but manually finding the correct RPM file to install would not be tolerable for normies. Update: I'm using CachyOS now and the Brother website says Arch plainly isn't supported. When I install the driver from AUR that's specific to my printer, then it doesnt print and just spews out endless blank pages.
I still can't get my Dualshock 3 controller to pair via Bluetooth despite instructions on the OpenSUSE wiki. I've stopped trying to troubleshoot that and use my 8BitDo controller instead.
I still can't find a horizontal page scrolling PDF app.
Figuring out how to edit fstab to automount my secondary drives is not a process normies would be able to execute. I still can't figure out how to use this to auto-mount my Synology NAS.
Plasma added monitor brightness controls to software and these seem to have disappeared for me now, and I can't figure out why. It reappears intermittently, but then disappears when it feels like.
My KDE Plasma task bar widgets for monitoring CPU/GPU temp worked till I reinstalled OpenSUSE, and I can't figure out why they've decided to not work on this fresh install. System monitor can see the temperature sensors just fine still. Update: this seems to have fixed itself (maybe through am update?).
Flatpak Steam app wouldn't pick up controllers for some reason. Minor issue, but unnecessary jankiness.
My laptop fingerprint reader plainly isn't supported.
Trying to set up dual boot kept destroying (I.e. making unbootable) either the Linux install or the Windows install. I have up eventually as I couldn't figure out how to fix GRUB from the command line.
I've been trying to find a solution for keeping a downloaded synchronised copy of my online storage (Mailbox.org). Can't figure out rsync. I get an error with Celeste and it doesn't sync after the initial file install. Having a 2 way sync for online storage could be considered a pretty basic requirement these days and something Mailbox can easily suggest an app for in Windows.
People do not tolerate this amount of jankiness. And this doesn't include the discomfort with relearning minor design differences between OS's when switching. Linux is a bit of a battle with relearning and troubleshooting things that would never be problematic on Windows. I know we all love Linux, but allow people to be honest rather than being dismissive. I had over 2 decades of experience with Windows and it had its quirks and problems, but my preexisting familiarity with it made it much easier to use and troubleshoot.
Sure I know I'm a noob and not doing this right. But that's the point.....can someone with limited knowleddge still work this OS?
Not so much help but hope: I got rid of Windows 11 and switched fully to Linux Mint a few weeks ago. I had no idea what I was doing but I tested things on USB and also on a very old laptop I had laying around before I made it my daily driver.
I'm not particularly a tech person. I own a small creative business and have a toddler, but I figured out what I needed to quickly. I don't game and didnt use Winsows exclusive software so have no opinions about that.
What I didn't expect: to actually be genuinely interested in my computer again for the first time since I was a teenager (which was not recent...). I love customizing my desktop. I love discovering new open source software. I'm learning more than I expected and it's just a totally different relationship with the tech I use every day, in a nice way. And no more BS ads / bloat when I'm just trying to exist on my computer.
I agree. Arch has been my current favorite distribution for several years now, but it's almost impossible to maintain without having to drop into the shell occasionally. I have EndeavourOS installed on my wife's laptop and she's been happily using it for nearly a year; bauh helps with software installs, but I still generally drop into a shell for the full -Syu upgrades, and you have to use the shell at least once just to install bauh as it's not a core package.
You might be able to avoid the shell to use bauh if you use the AppImage; I haven't tried that. bauh can apparently do system upgrades, but I haven't tried that yet and I need to see how it handles news; Arch is fairly cavalier about pushing out breaking changes that require extra user steps which need to be discovered by reading the news posts.
I agree that Arch isn't the best "first linux" distribution.
GitHub - vinifmor/bauh: Graphical user interface for managing your Linux applications. Supports AppImage, Debian and Arch packages (including AUR), Flatpak, Snap and native Web applications
Graphical user interface for managing your Linux applications. Supports AppImage, Debian and Arch packages (including AUR), Flatpak, Snap and native Web applications - vinifmor/bauhGitHub
There is hope lots of YouTube channels, articles by bloggers such as Its Foss, and guides to Linux all over
Especially for Linux Mint (Similar to Windows), Pop!_OS (Similar to MacOS), and Bazzite (Gaming-Productivity Distro, Similar to SteamOS)
The latter 2 work out of the box for gaming if that's your thing
You got this. Learn little by little each day and engage with community as much as you can. Maybe join some Voyager for Lemmy, Bluesky, Discord, etc communities
I'd say try Kubuntu. It's like Ubuntu but with KDE (Windows-like user interface) instead of GNOME (shitty Mac clone turned tablet like interface). It's well-supported and is easy to use. Also supports new technologies like HDR which Mint is lacking. Though you can install KDE on pretty much any distro (Mint included) but it's a good starting place.
Note to fellow Linux veterans: Yes, I know snaps suck but it is not something new users need concearn themselves with. Kubuntu is a great distro except for snaps which aren't going to affect OP's use-case (or most use-cases. Also sorry for shitting on GNOME so much. If you like it that's cool, I just don't think we should be recomending it to people coming from Windows.
Consider your library: most games will be able to run fine on Linux. However, if you predominantly play online multiplayer games which require anticheat you should check compatibility on ProtonDB.
Second, consider your hardware: if your GPU is AMD you're good to go. Nvidia might have issues (not sure if this has been resolved since I last had to look into it).
Finally, choose a distro: I'd recommend Ubuntu or anything Ubuntu-based. There's a lot of mixed answers in the Linux community and definitely a ton of hate for Ubuntu. However, as someone who has been running Linux for nearly a decade at this point, there are a few key points:
- Ubuntu is debian based, so it's extremely stable(but not as slow to update)
- Ubuntu is very beginner friendly, and you won't need to touch the terminal if you don't want to
- Everyone hates on snaps, but for you I don't think you'll run into an issue with it.
Personally, I steer towards debian based distros for my devices as well because I'd rather spend time messing with the software I'm running or other things NOT debugging why my config is suddenly shitting the bed
Distro: short for distribution. Linux is not an operating system. It's a piece of technology (specifically something called a kernel) you can use to create an OS. Those Linux based OSs are referred to as distros. We are usually not calling them "Versions" because the Linux Kernel is also frequently seeing updates and that would just cause confusion.
Debian and Ubuntu: Popular distros. Ubuntu tends to be a bit more user friendly than Debian and was the default recommendation for new user for a long time. In recent years its popularity among enthusiasts declined because of a series of unpopular decisions, mainly the adaptation of something called snaps which is not completely open source and takes a bit more time to launch apps than alternatives. Debian on the other hand really values stability. Updates arrive less frequently than on other distros but undergo really rigorose testing.
Lots of good advice here. I’ll add a bit about dual booting.
1) the problem with dual booting is when you use the same physical hard drive. Windows doesn’t play nice sometimes on the same drive. Just do yourself a favor and buy a second ssd. Then you can break linux six ways to Sunday and always have a windows backup. (And if you want to be extra safe - you can just unplug your windows drive during Linux install and you can’t f up and pick the wrong drive by accident)
2) dual booting is nice just in case something doesn’t work - you can easily switch back to windows.
3) dual booting sucks because there’s very few things that don’t work in Linux - it just requires a little elbow grease to figure out. But having a windows partition right there leads to many people giving up way too early with fixing their issues.
My recommendation is always to have more than one drive in your computer. It’s YOUR computer. Regardless of what you pick as your “main” OS, you always have another spot to screw around in. Distro hop, extra storage, set up a hiveos miner, whatever. Its flexibility and screwing around with other things helps you understand what’s YOUR computer vs what is Microsoft’s OS.
Hey, I'm glad that my Obviously Sprcial Idea of getting another ssd just for linux have legs. I decided this is my plan going forward to learn Linux as daily driver and gaming.
Now there's only the first step that I have to make.
Garuda is actually my daily driver these days, and I quite enjoy it. It does mostly just work, and I also like their desktop theming. The GUI installer is great for easy hardware detection and setup. But, that's coming from a more experienced old tinkerer who was initially looking for some lazy troubleshooting with NVIDIA graphics on a new gaming laptop, and liked the distro enough to end up switching over.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend any rolling release to someone completely new to Linux. The devs have done a pretty good job at making some things more user friendly, but we are talking about Arch with some extra tools bolted on. You'd better be prepared for things to break occasionally, and to need to do some tinkering around under the hood.
On the plus side, you ARE dealing with Arch with all the info resources/user community built up around that, plus the Garuda community tends to be pretty helpful from what I've seen. You are going to periodically need to figure out how to fix stuff, however--and better to be aware of that going in. Some people are going to be more fine with the idea than others, but it is liable to provide a steeper learning curve for someone just getting started with Linux.
I have 15 years of experience and do free infinite troubleshooting on matrix, feel free to add me. I recommend you go with aurora, because it is immutable, kde based, and well documented.
immutable means the base system is read only and updates are applied ontop of it, meaning you can easily roll back an update that went bad, and the apps are separate from the core operating system and thus can never break them (unless you try really hard).
kde is a desktop environment, it is most similar to windows and the rate of development dwarfs almost everything else, please whatever you do for your first system use kde.
aurora is a slightly modified fedora and fedora is one of the most commonly used options, the reason not to use base fedora is that aurora includes some QoL features, for example because of issues with patents twitch doesn't work on fedora but does on aurora.
Not who you asked, jumping in until they reply: Windows and most GNU/Linux distros are much further apart than most GNU/Linux distros are to each other. Unless you're doing a lot of manual meddling or using hacky tools, the biggest change between Mint (Ubuntu/Debian-based) and a Fedora-based distro, in my experience, was that apt is replaced by dnf, so if you install apps from the command line instead of a prettier software manager (I did lots of programming so this was normal for me) then the names of programs and libraries were a bit different. I'd also make a list of things you've installed (VPN software, chat apps, etc.) and look them up in the Fedora packages site or their own website and make sure they're all available. I would assume they would be, Fedora is popular enough.
The desktop environment (Cinnamon vs. KDE) will be an initial change, but they're both familiar enough with a program menu, task bar, like how Mint lets you carry over some of that same basic surface-level intuition that Windows taught.
That the worst linux distro would be vastly better than windows (not that mint is the worst, that'd be manjaro)
honestly it isn't much to learn but the returns are very diminished if you're already on a linux distro, I mostly make this recommendation if you're just starting out, if you're perfectly happy there isn't much need to switch, but more up to date software, kde over cinnamon, and immutability are huge advantages for many people.
like, just for an idea of why kde is better for beginners, the kde text editor alone gets more code changes than all of cinnamon combined per month, and by a lot. Kde is always rapidly improving.
basically on aurora you just use discover for all software and updates and don't even need the cli, it's pretty easy to learn honestly, and if something goes wrong that a simple google can't fix feel free to message me I do free infinite linux troubleshooting.
here's a copypasted post I made on mint and beginners "A lot of people are going to recommend you mint, I honestly think mint is an outdated suggestion for beginners, I think immutability is extremely important for someone who is just starting out, as well as starting on KDE since it’s by far the most developed DE that isn’t gnome and their… design decisions are unfortunate for people coming from windows.
I don’t think we should be recommending mint to beginners anymore, if mint makes an immutable, up to date KDE distro, that’ll change, but until then, I think bazzite is objectively a better starting place for beginners.
The mere fact that bazzite and other immutables generate a new system for you on update and let you switch between and rollback automatically is enough for me to say it’s better, but it also has more up to date software, and tons of guides (fedora is one of the most popular distros, and bazzite is essentially identical except with some QoL upgrades).
How common is the story of “I was new to linux and completely broke it”? that’s not a good user experience for someone who’s just starting, it’s intimidating, scary, and I just don’t think it’s the best in the modern era. There’s something to be said about learning from these mistakes, but bazzite essentially makes these mistakes impossible.
Furthermore because of the way bazzite works, package management is completely graphical and requires essentially no intervention on the users part, flathub and immutability pair excellently for this reason.
Cinnamon (the default mint environment) doesn’t and won’t support HDR, the security/performance improvements from wayland, mixed refresh rate displays, mixed DPI displays, fractional scaling, and many other things for a very very long time if at all. I don’t understand the usecase for cinnamon tbh, xfce is great if you need performance but don’t want to make major sacrifices, lxqt is great if you need A LOT of performance, cinnamon isn’t particularly performant and just a strictly worse version of kde in my eyes from the perspective of a beginner, anyway.
I have 15 years of linux experience and am willing to infinitely troubleshoot if you add me on matrix."
This is the book that got me on the train. I have so many tech books but they all started with this. I'm a terminal afficianado now; this got me started. Anyway, good luck and I hope you have a good time.
Yes, ez one (if you have installed operating systems before and know how to paste an error passage into google )
-4hours and your done start to finish. (Given you have standard hardware and don't want to set up something crazy like dual boot with raid and nas)
Moderate complexity if you have never done anything like that, plan 2-6 evenings to get it fully working with everything you need
Also: consider your scopes. For most cases Linux will just work, you just have to get used to some different interfaces.
BUT: some things will not run under linux no matter how hard you try --> google if stuff you can't live without will work
(for me I still have a dual boot windows for playing league of legends and running my vive wireless adapter, as those will not run under Linux.
For games use protonDB
I may be oldschool, but for people not comfortable around terminals I would suggest Debian KDE as it never breaks and the transition from windows is easy. You can do everything from GUI (clicky button interfaces)
For the installation of steam you might need a terminal, but there are good guides online (and you really dont need to be a wizard for that) from where you can just copy paste (when searching just add your distro e.g. "install steam Debian", and once you've got that running you can just run every game from within steam.
Since Steam has done a lot of work with proton, most games just run under Linux. In steam: Install-->play
For nearly all games not directly running, you can just force them to run with proton. It will say:
"Game not compatible" in steam, you just click the gear icon on the right to open settings, go to "compatibilty" and tick "force use of compatibility layer" and select the newest proton from the drop down
The button where steam previously said "not compatible" magically turns into the blue "install" button we all know and love. And nearly all games run with only minor inconveniences (like showing keyboard hotkeys even when playing with a gamepad) or no issues at all.
You need to be aware that some games using kernel level anticheat (e.g. league of legends, valorant) can not and will never run on Linux, if the developers of the games don't add the possibility.
EDIT: for programs not related to gaming its often easier to use an alternative, if the program is not available for Linux. Most times its also more privacy foccused, open source and free
Adobe light room --> darktable
Microsoft office --> libre office
Adobe Premiere pro --> davinci resolve/shotcut
Paint/Photoshop --> gimp/davinci/dark table
Edge --> firfox
Notepad --> Kate
Fraps/relive/shadowPlay --> OBS
Etc. Pp.
GitHub - atar-axis/xpadneo: Advanced Linux Driver for Xbox One Wireless Controller (shipped with Xbox One S)
Advanced Linux Driver for Xbox One Wireless Controller (shipped with Xbox One S) - atar-axis/xpadneoGitHub
As others have mentioned, use Mint. Since you game, some games won’t run on Linux because of their anticheat, and to that I decided to use a dual boot system. I gave 500gb to windows, the rest to Linux. Anything that won’t run on Linux (some early access games, COD, Tarkov) goes on the windows partition. 500gb doesn’t seem like much when COD takes about 1/2 of that, but everything else I’ve played runs fine on Linux.
I also like the smaller partition because it makes me be choose what I leave installed, and if I’m not playing, I just uninstall whatever game needs to go
- As others have said, it's possible to play most steam games, but not all. You have to decide if you like those games more than you dislike MS and Goo. I find there's so many great games out there that I'll never get to all of them, so I'm ok with dropping some bangers that usually want too much access to my system.
- Here's a useful resource if you need to understand slightly technical linux foundations linuxjourney.com/ It might not be necessary but it does help to have a foundational understanding, and honestly, the command line is awesome, powerful, and one of my favorite things about linux. Beyond having a basic understanding (and maybe having one of the books the site recommends on hand), before going to an LLM as others have suggested, have official sources of various components bookmarked and go there first. There's so much BS out there now, I actually like the fact that I can read technical documentation, test it out, and know if it's true.
one other tip: I'd recommend some kind of personal knowledge management (PKM) system to take notes. Linux gives you a lot of freedom-- that's what's great about it-- it can be complex and have a learning curve at times. It's absolutely worth it though. It's a totally different paradigm than windows. After a while you can really start crafting the whole system to your needs as an individual. I'm 3 years in and was using my first setup that whole time, i didn't realize how customized I had made it until trying to set it up exactly on a new workstation. Now I'm writing a script so to automate my setup (os settings, program installs, configs) by running a single command. Then I can really start experimenting.
Everybody's different and with a little basic knowledge, everyone's setup can be tweaked to their individual needs a little better than other "user friendly/polished" operating systems. I hope you find as much joy and freedom in it as I do.
That's a big question, but I'll try my best to answer without getting too deep in the weeds.
I'll probably sound like a fanatic, but I use my PKMS for notes, logs, journaling, project and task management, snippets, and documentation. They all have their own structure and flow. It's a Gall's Law kind of situation where I started simple and it worked, so it was extended and slowly evolved to reach it's current complexity.
The beauty of PKMS over a notepad is the loose set of basic features (Wiki-links, tags, templates, etc) that be used in a personalized way to quickly capture, organize, and retrieve info that works best for you and no one else.
As a simple, but detailed example, in the context of learning linux, i might make a "linux" note and dump info there. I put everything in my own words unless I use md quotes (> quoted text) and I add useful links that I also bookmarked in my browser.
When the "linux" page gets bloated, I migrate clusters of info into new notes, wiki-linked in the "linux" note. For example a "distros," note which might have some high level comparisons. I favor making new notes over md headers so it's easier to find and open notes by name (a "quick switcher" hotkey as it's called in obsidian).
When I settle on a distro I might make a note for it to contain wiki-links of default components EG "apt (package manager)," "gnome (desktop environment)," "x (windowing system)" and dump relevant notes there.
If I try wayland, I'd make a "wayland" note but also a "windowing system" note that both wiki-links "x (window system)" and "wayland," and is wiki-linked in each of those notes.
It could get very meticulous, and some folks setup is too much for me, and I'm sure mine is too much for others, but start simple, experiment, find what works, and add to it. In the beginning I had dedicated time just to developing my PKMS. The important thing is quickly recording and retrieving info.
Sometime i do have crazy scrawlings where i just need a notepad to dump info during a deep dive. That would be loosely zettelkasten style with a time-stamped name, sometime with a few extra works for context/search. Sections could be extracted into their own note later. The note itself could be linked to more organized, related notes.
As a more complex, but shorter example, to show how similar tools can be used in a different manner: I'll make a note for a command line program, for example, cat. I have a CLI template with a Useful Flags (options) section. Kind of like a personalized tldr. I'll also have specific notes for complex snippets (AKA one-liners. Real note example: "list-and-sum-all-audio-file-durations") and if it uses cat, i'll tag it #cmd/cat. The CLI template also has a Snippets section that uses dataview to automatically list, in this case, all notes with the #cmd/cat tag. I also have a "command line programs" note that uses a dataview query to list all notes that used the CLI template. Also, a Snippets note using dataview to list all pages created with the snippets template.
There are tools specifically for snippets and personalized tldr, and I may migrate to those eventually-- especially after I have my install script up and running with linked configs-- but the simple tools in PKMSs are really adaptable and make it easy to customize and integrate. Plus it's all md files in a folder, so it's easy to sync and access on multiple machines, including mobile.
I hope that's not TMI. Starting linux can feel overwhelming and I don't want to add to that. Quiet the contrary. I started my PKMS right before my last, permanent switch linux and I think it helped it stick, and 3+ years later I still use [my PKMS] all the time. As I said before, the simple tools that turn a notepad into a PKMS can add a personalized structure to the insane scrawings, making it quick and easy to navigate, find, edit, and add info. You just have to start simple and take your time. I hope that helps. Good luck with the switch!
Just remember to turn steam play on for all titles in Steam -> Settings -> Compatibility.
As others have said, Mint is a great starting option. It looks familiar when coming from Windows, and almost everything works without having to touch a terminal.
AAA games with anti-cheat may not work, but just about everything else will. Check Proton DB for each game's compatibility.
You can add non-Steam games to Steam to take advantage of Proton. Lutris can also work for some Windows games.
If you want to try Linux distributions to see what they're like before committing, VirtualBox or other virtual machine programs can give you a risk-free preview.
Another option is a live preview. Install Linux Mint on a USB using Rufus or a similar program, then boot your computer from the USB. So long as you don't access your computer's hard drive (under devices on the left of the file manager) or run the installer, no changes should be made from your computer. You can simply reboot and remove the USB to go back to your usual OS.
If you are going to dual-boot, install Windows first. Windows has a habit of overriding or deleting Linux if it's installed second. If you just want to shrink your Windows partition to allow room for Linux, shrink it from Windows. Linux can move "unmovable" Windows files resulting in Windows not booting.
Always have a backup of everything you are not prepared to lose before you play with installing operating systems (and make sure it's disconnected from that computer). Data loss from software issues is rare, but mistakes are difficult (sometimes impossible) to reverse, particularly as a beginner.
Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way
Rufus: Create bootable USB drives the easy wayrufus.ie
You have received tons of useful responses, so I will not add more, except to tell you that the change is extremely worth it, easier than it seems and extremely entertaining.
I personally use Kubuntu (I love the KDE environment) and sometimes play Steam games by using Proton.
Good luck on your Linux journey!
thanks! right now the primary obstacle is arranging adequate backup before maling my first attempt.
I have a laptop with Win 11 for troubleshooting so I'm not worried about that. and I have most of my stuff on externals, so there's not much to backup. I just gotta figure out a good way to back up my C drive and a plan for reverting if necessary!
aklsdfjaksl;dfjkl;asdf
:::
Oracle, OpenAI Expand Stargate Deal for More US Data Centers
Link without the paywall
Oracle, OpenAI Ink Additional Stargate Deal for 4.5 Gigawatts of US Data Center
OpenAI has agreed to rent a massive amount of computing power from Oracle Corp. data centers as part of its Stargate initiative, underscoring the intense requirements for cutting-edge artificial intelligence products.Brody Ford (Bloomberg)
Oracle Inks Cloud Deal Worth $30 Billion a Year
Link without the paywall
Oracle Cloud Services Deal Worth $30 Billion a Year
Oracle Corp. said it has signed a single cloud deal worth $30 billion in annual revenue — more than the current size of its entire cloud infrastructure business.Brody Ford (Bloomberg)
Oracle, OpenAI Expand Stargate Deal for More US Data Centers
Link without the paywall
Oracle, OpenAI Ink Additional Stargate Deal for 4.5 Gigawatts of US Data Center
OpenAI has agreed to rent a massive amount of computing power from Oracle Corp. data centers as part of its Stargate initiative, underscoring the intense requirements for cutting-edge artificial intelligence products.Brody Ford (Bloomberg)
Pro doesn't like this.
As the world grows more unpredictable, Australia’s defence should be focused on people, not purchases
As the world grows more unpredictable, Australia’s defence should be focused on people, not purchases
Activating real civic resilience could be a KPI for the prime minister’s progressive patriotism, rather than spending billions more on big, shiny machinesJulianne Schultz (The Guardian)
The article fails were most opinion pieces often fail. It assumes, in its argumention, that where Defence spending and other social responsibilites are concerned is an ‘either, or’ issue. Let’s be clear about this, it is not.
Beyond that criticism, the article makes some very good points. Australia has an over-reliance on volunteer disaster recovery workforce. In circumstances where too many sectors compete fot budget resources, the only way to address those needs is to increase the pie and this can only be done with #TaxReform. That is the problem which needs addressing. That is the issue which should be discussed. And that is the message that should be brought home to every Australian. IMO
Oracle Inks Cloud Deal Worth $30 Billion a Year
Link without the paywall
Oracle Cloud Services Deal Worth $30 Billion a Year
Oracle Corp. said it has signed a single cloud deal worth $30 billion in annual revenue — more than the current size of its entire cloud infrastructure business.Brody Ford (Bloomberg)
Tor + Clearnet Privacy chat app
This app has a clearnet version and tor version as well!
- Clearnet: shadowtalk.yuzukateam.io.vn/
- Tor: 74xhglgkx3yq5o5ibiehpfwoq4jxb62323ydzam56fvqbkuo6kd7tcid (hash)
- And it open source!!!:github.com/plsgivemeachane/Sha…
I really like to get some feedback. Have fun everyone!
GitHub - plsgivemeachane/ShadowTalk
Contribute to plsgivemeachane/ShadowTalk development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
pancake likes this.
Saraya al-Quds broadcasts footage of bombing of Israeli military vehicle
Saraya al-Quds broadcasts footage of bombing of Israeli military vehicle
Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, broadcast footage of the bombing of an Israeli military vehicle and the seizure of Israeli drones in the southern Gaza Strip.www.saba.ye
Changes introduced by Hamas to Gaza Strip deal unacceptable for Israel — PM’s office
Changes introduced by Hamas to Gaza Strip deal unacceptable for Israel — PM’s office
"The negotiating team will leave tomorrow (Sunday) for the talks in Qatar," according to the statementTASS
Palestinian Father, his four children martyred in Israeli airstrike on Their Tent in Khan Younis
Palestinian Father, his four children martyred in Israeli airstrike on Their Tent in Khan Younis
A Palestinian father and his four children were martyred on Saturday evening in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip.www.saba.ye
“Il periodo PIÙ DIFFICILE della mia VITA” (il conto della sfiga by ADC)
Ultimamente Alessandrone ha iniziato veramente a spingere… non che non lo facesse da anni e anni, però con questi ultimi video si sta superando pericolosamente tanto. E questo che è uscito stasera penso possa essere interessante per tutti… probabilmente anche perché l’argomento non è lo studio, ehh vabbé. Che poi… da quando ha un giardino […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
“Il periodo PIÙ DIFFICILE della mia VITA” (il conto della sfiga by ADC)
youtube.com/watch?v=5_QCU4ngCW…Ultimamente Alessandrone ha iniziato veramente a spingere… non che non lo facesse da anni e anni, però con questi ultimi video si sta superando pericolosamente tanto. E questo che è uscito stasera penso possa essere interessante per tutti… probabilmente anche perché l’argomento non è lo studio, ehh vabbé. Che poi… da quando ha un giardino di terra in cui mettersi a scavare per chissà quante ore, praticamente a vuoto, solo per poter fare le scenette cinematograficamente metaforiche che ha deciso di inserire nel video? (Spero vivamente che nessuna creatura orribile strisciante si sia fatta male durante le riprese di questa robaccia.) 🤯
Il video parla del concetto di sfiga, e di quella che tecnicamente è naturalmente intrinseca nella vita stessa di ogni persona sulla Terra, semplicemente per motivi statistici, perché al mondo ogni giorno avvengono infinite cose che semplicemente avvengono per conto loro… e alcune di queste sono soggettivamente buone, mentre altre no, fine. Ovviamente, in questo senso, la sfiga come forza superiore dispettosa non esiste davvero, quindi tecnicamente la concezione popolare che se ne ha è di per sé sbagliata… e conseguentemente dannosa, perché porta a pensare le situazioni del caso in modi sbagliati, che puntualmente possono portare a sviluppare un circolo vizioso di risposte e pensieri negativi, mandando sempre tutto più in vacca, scavando oltre quello che è già il fondo. 😶🌫️
Niente di nuovo sotto il sole, credo… cioè, non l’ho trovato rivoluzionario questo video, e i suoi concetti non mi sono nuovi… forse perché io penso troppo (come ADC, in effetti), mentre l’essere umano medio no? Però le sue metafore sono comunque interessanti e, in parte, le strategie per rimettersi in piedi (a parte il fatto stesso di realizzare queste verità). Certo, io in realtà l’unica di quelle che davvero uso, personalmente, come si vede spesso, è l’autoironia… perché per il resto lo so che le cose scomode che accadono bisogna semplicemente accettarle ed andare avanti, senza scoraggiarsi. Io in realtà in questo sono un caso particolare, perché (come ho accennato altre volte) sono una creatura solo a metà umana, proveniente dallo spazio, piazzata sulla Terra a forza per volere di un’organizzazione intergalattica senza scrupoli, che ha architettato un preciso piano per farmi vivere con tutte le difficoltà che ho… insomma, sono una ragazza magica, e questo comporta cose molto scomode, eppure non posso dare forfeit; voi vedete un po’ che giustificazione logica trovare alla natura della vostra esistenza. 👾
Ad ogni modo, vabbé, il messaggio di fondo è comunque sempre condivisibile. È bene evitare di scoraggiarsi, di arrendersi, di mettersi a rottare solo perché qualche volta o di continuo si è vittima della sfiga suprema (cioè, più propriamente, di eventi per l’appunto soggettivamente negativi, magari anche tutti in un tempo ravvicinato e che portano ad accrescere una grande amarezza di fondo)… voi magari perché si ha sempre comunque qualcosa di buono sotto sotto anche dentro la merda, e io invece perché devo farla pagare a quelli che mi hanno trasferita sulla Terra. “Cambiando il risultato, l’ordine degli addendi non cambia“, come si suol dire! (Che sia questo un messaggio utile a coloro che sotto sotto ne hanno bisogno…) 🥰
#ADC #AlessandroDeConcini #consigli #lifestyle #sfiga #sfortuna #vita
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
The Government’s Astonishing Constitutional Claims on TikTok
The Government’s Astonishing Constitutional Claims on TikTok
The Justice Department is advancing a radical theory of presidential power, nullifying Congress’s foreign affairs powers whenever the president finds them inconvenient.Default
Bow Glacier Falls Banff National Park-Icefields Parkway, BC
Currently closed due to a tragic slide on 6/19/25
Moderate 6.1 mi out and back
1,027 ft elevation gain
Hiked 6/7/25
An incredible fairly short hike takes you away from the magnificent Bow Lake to the huge bowl beneath Bow Glacier. One steep climb between the two areas and then you will slowly ascend within the watershed towards the falls where the trail ends. Sweeping views back down the valley towards Bow lake.
Looking south across the vibrant Bow Lake, Crowfoot mountain is the large one on the right.
Bow Glacier falls with large patches of snow along the rock face under mostly blue skies.
The mouth of the creek flowing into the stunning Bow Lake. These affluvial dumps are great because there is such a distinct division between shallow and deep. Crowfoot mountain to the right.
A seasonal waterfall found along the trail with a very cool looking pocket cave formed beside it.
Should Humanity Continue? Glenn Reacts to Thiel Interview [20:56 | JUL 05 2025 | Glenn Greenwald]
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/32525534
SponsorBlock and Generated Summary below:SponsorBlock:
1. 0:00.000 - 0:06.150 Intermission
2. 18:43.000 - 20:56.301 Unpaid/Self PromotionVideo Description:
This is a clip from our show SYSTEM UPDATE, now airing every weeknight at 7pm ET on Rumble. You can watch the full episode for FREE here: rumble.com/v6vontt-system-upda…
Now available as a podcast! Find full episodes here: linktr.ee/systemupdate_
Join us LIVE on Rumble, weeknights at 7pm ET: rumble.com/c/GGreenwald
Become part of our Locals community: greenwald.locals.com/
Generated Summary:
Main Topic: The video discusses Peter Thiel's interview where he hesitates when asked if the human race should continue, and Glenn's reaction to Thiel's views on transhumanism, AI, and the potential dangers of unchecked billionaire influence.
Key Points:
- Thiel's Hesitation: The video starts by referencing Peter Thiel's interview where he seemed uncertain about whether humanity should continue.
- Transhumanism and AI: The discussion explores the transhumanist philosophy prevalent in Silicon Valley, focusing on merging humans with technology and AI, as exemplified by Mark Zuckerberg's vision of brain implants.
- Autism and Conformity: Glenn discusses Thiel's perspective on autism, suggesting that it can provide a detachment from societal norms, fostering innovation.
- Billionaire Culture: A significant portion of the video critiques the culture of Silicon Valley billionaires, arguing that their wealth and power, combined with constant flattery, can lead to detachment from reality, dangerous levels of self-confidence, and utopian/dystopian visions for society.
- Essentialism vs. Nihilism: The video touches on the philosophical implications of transhumanism, contrasting it with essentialist views of humanity and raising concerns about the potential destruction of what it means to be human.
- Lack of Debate: Glenn expresses concern about the lack of societal debate and safeguards surrounding the rapid advancement of AI, driven by billionaires with unchecked power.
Highlights:
- Glenn's concern about billionaires' ability to reshape society without proper debate due to their wealth and perceived brilliance.
- The discussion of Thiel's autism and how it might influence his unconventional thinking.
- The comparison of mind-altering drugs to autism as a means of achieving transcendent thought.
- The critique of Mark Zuckerberg's vision of brain implants and the potential implications for humanity.
About Channel:
Independent, Unencumbered Analysis and Investigative Reporting, Captive to No Dogma or Faction.
systemupdate_ | Twitter, Instagram, TikTok | Linktree
Radically independent news. Hosted by Glenn Greenwald on RUMBLE.Linktree
U.S. deports men from Asia and Latin America with criminal records to South Sudan after legal saga
The Trump administration said it deported a group of eight men convicted of serious crimes in the United States to the conflict-ridden African country of South Sudan, following a weeks-long legal saga that had kept the deportees in a military base in Djibouti for weeks.
Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the deportation flight carrying the deportees landed in South Sudan just before midnight EST on Friday. A photo provided by the department showed the deportees, with their hands and feet shackled, sitting inside an aircraft, guarded by U.S. service members.
A conceptual breakthrough has emerged for the Colorado River’s future. Here’s what it looks like.
Negotiators from the seven river basin states said in a series of meetings in recent weeks that they were discussing a plan rooted in a concept that breaks from decades of management practice. Rather than basing water releases on reservoir levels, it would base the amount released from the system’s two major reservoirs on the amount of water flowing in the river. The new concept would be more responsive as river flows become more variable.
A conceptual breakthrough has emerged for the Colorado River’s future. Here’s what it looks like.
After months of stalemate, glimmers of hope have emerged for consensus on a new plan to manage the shrinking Colorado River.Elise Schmelzer (The Denver Post)
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gluttonous: excessively greedy
glutenous: a tenacious elastic protein substance especially of wheat flour that gives cohesiveness to dough