ARCO is a strange one... I've looked over their website before
I fear gentoo!!!
Good to know! I officially gave up on the Fedora experiment last night and downloaded manjaro. Haven't had the time to mess around just yet. And I'm interested in solus but also nervouse about about support, maintenance, longevity
I can't for the life of me setup DDE on fedora properly!!! I've tried numerous tutorials but it always ends up janky and not working!!!! I'm simply looking to explore other distros that the same old KDE, gnome, and xfce....
I've really been memorized by deepin, but I feed into the fear of the actual distro and China blah blah. I honestly dont know, but figure better safe than sorry. So I've tried Ubuntu DDE and it look like ass... Maybe they've update it since. I tried installing it on my fedora 38 workstation and it didn't play well. Issues with rendering and weird quirks. I think I may need the lightdm display manager idk. Anyway I hear manjaro has community maintained version. Are there any actual distros that run a nice working DDE? I hear this distro called extix has a very nice version, but that distro seems a bit unknown itself. Any advice is appreciated thanks
Ahh ok so this is basically my point. I've done a lot of distro hopping and noticed some distros GNOME or KDE or whatever, desktops look way different from other distros using the same desktop. I have no clue what goes into such customization and I'd rather not install a lesser know, possibly unstable distro just because of their specific spin of a DE, ya know? I suppose I need to learn more about customizing environments myself, but don't know where to begin, other than the obvious built in settings you can tweak
Well this is good to know. Even programs such as tlp? It seems like everybody and their mother recommend that one lol
Thanks for the recommendation but honestly, I've been trying to ween off of google lol
See thats one thing I've been weary about as well. I mean every computer is different so I figure just a fresh, default install won't necessarily mean the system is configured and running properly simply due to the nature of all the different hardware and bits and bobs for each setup. How am I supposed to know if things are configured and working properly even after a fresh install? Linux really is a beast with so many aspects
Thanks, I'm starting to realize this. There are many different aspects and tools to use to assess different parts of your system. I just want to ensure my system is bug and error free. I just have no idea where to start and with what tools and how to understand and implement things. I know logs are a popular option, but even those confuse the heck out me me. Like I KNOW there's issues within my system but its difficult to find the right way to pinpoint and address things. I sorta wanna be like an investigator for my computer lol I want to really dig in and make sure everything is proper. Its just so daunting and vast and confusing. Chat gpt helps me with some stuff, which is actually very useful because answers on forums and what not can be all over the place and a lot of times the solutions dont quite work.
Thanks so much. Wow those are some tricky questions lol. My only computer and main device is my dell xps 13 9310 laptop with Intel i5 evo processor and I think 8 GB of ram. Storage isn't a concern as I never really store anything and if its important enough, I put it in the cloud. I am currently using linux mint 21.2 with cinnamon desktop.
I just installed it a few weeks ago because I was using debian 12 bookworm and was having issues with freezing and errors and WiFi problems and I could not successfully troubleshoot them (my only helped is chat gpt lol) so I wiped my drive and installed mint. I've been doing this same thing for a while. Swapping distros either due to boredom and curiosity or I break them to the point where idk how to fix it, so I reinstall.
I believe I have installed apps outside of official repos, sometimes successfully other times not. I try not to do that though. And the big problem is I can't ever really tell what triggered the issues and a lot of times its hard to pinpoint WHAT is causing the issue and sometimes if I'm lucky, I can narrow it down to a certain thing, but there's usually a ton of errors and such I find along the way. I do successfully troubleshoot and fix some things, but there's more complex stuff that is out of my wheelhouse and I usually make things worse in my troubleshooting efforts lol
Thanks a lot! The issue is that linux is very complex with many aspects and I am not pro lol. Like niceness, I've heard of it and seen it in htop, but idk if the settings are correct. There's so many programs, daemons, software, and actual hardware, idk where to start exploring and tuning the system myself. Its very overwhelming, so I figured maybe some of the tools I listed may help. For instance, I'll spend hours And hours trying to understand logs or reading tutorials to help check for and fix errors or problems or broken things or misconfigured things but I just get lost and none of it makes sense. Like I'll read an error line in a log, but I have no clue what it means. I'll google it and sometimes try solutions, but even then, a lot of that is confusing and leads me down other rabbit holes too lol. Its vicious really... So needless to say, I have no idea where or how to start properly fixing or tuning things myself yet alone pinpoint actual issues. Its tricky but I've gotten better over the years, usually trial and error
Thanks. See these are the things I dont know. I pretty much only use the browser on my laptop. I try to keep most things within the browser, but obviously have some apps/tools/programs like bitwarden, vlc, libre word, a textpad, just your basics... The only intensive thing I do on my computed is browsing. Sometimes I'll get into researching and use the browser heavily, lots of tabs lol or I'll stream videos I.e. Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, whatever.... Thats about it. No email, unless I use the browser. I typically use my phone for emailing. I do always try to look for light options as well. But I have zero knowledge of the technical workings under the surface, so I would have no idea how to properly configure certain aspects that may need fixed or configured. If I ever do configure something I either go by the manual or just use settings that I want. Idk I just wanna make sure everything is always properly balanced as possible, but as I've explained, I do have many strange issues here and there whether they're errors, hangs or freezes, slowdowns, overheating, high CPU or ram usage at random times when I'm not using heavily, idk. Linux is a complex system and I dont have the knowledge yet to understand and tweak the inner workings yet. Too confusing and dont know where to start
Sounds like a complex undertaking. I dont quite even know where to start with learning how to do all of that. I figured there are tools out there, like the ones I listed, that are supposed to automatically optimize aspects for you.
No no I'm sorry, you guys seem to be misinterpreting things a bit, I'm not really looking for MORE performance because there are obvious hardware limitations, I'm just looking for tools that help optimize what I have to work with. To ensure things are balanced and smooth and running within normal bounds. Trying to enhance I guess health and overall usability. Make sure things aren't running out of control or consuming more resources than they should. I mean I can look at htop and understand some things, but I by no means know how to use that info to manually configuring things myself, ya know? Just like the many monitoring tools out there, but ones that automatically make adjustments accorsingly, so daemon type programs I guess?
Oh man I've done a lot of research on various performance issues and I end up wormholing and getting even more confused. Hence why it would preferably be nice to have tools to do it for me lol. I've had many random issues over the years; errors, freezes, overheating, high CPU and/or ram usage when I'm seemingly doing nothing but browsing the web (normal browsing, nothing intensive), overall slow downs or crashes, not to mention WiFi issues. I've trouble shot that to death and could never get anywhere so I installed a freaking Ethernet jack the other day in my living room, where I typically use my laptop. I'm just looking for tools to monitor and ensure things are running as they should and to help optimize in real time, so like daemon programs I suppose. Whenever I run into a serious enough issue that I can't troubleshoot, I just end up wiping my drive and reinstalling a new distro. Thats not the ideal way of troubleshooting haha
No, I think you may have misinterpreted my post. By performance, I just mean overall performance, preferably optimized for the perfect median... Not trying to squeeze more performance, just trying to work with what I got and ensure all the moving parts and software and such are playing fair and on the same page.... Basically looking for just smoothness and proper running of my systems at all times. I've had so many issues over the years, most likely user error, with just freeze ups, overheating, high CPU usage when I'm not really doing anything intensive at all and not to mention many WiFi issues, but that's probably a whole other topic. I dont quite know what aspects or programs I should configure or how or if everything should just be default, etc. Sometimes I just wing configurations to things that make sense to me. Needless to say, I just want to ensure my system stays on the same page and runs smooth, how it should, with fewer errors or slowdowns or other annoyances.
So I am currently running stacer, tbh idk if its working good or not lol. Sometimes my computer still flares up randomly with high CPU usage and the fan going, but I try to use htop to pinpoint, but that tool is probably way more in depth than I know. I'd rather have like maybe a daemon? Or always on app that automatically notices strange things and helps balance out performance, I.e. CPU usage, ram usage, maybe heat?Battery life, overall just to help maintain optimum performance and proper running (I do not game at all BTW, so not a factor)
The three I know of are tlp, auto-cpufreq, and stacer. I've read that its not good to run the first two together. Plus I've tried tlp numerous times and I feel it made my perfoance worse... I tried the simple default settings and even thoroughly went through and customized the settings, still never seemed to work right. I experimented a little with autocpufreq but had no idea if it was working correctly lol. I mean I followed the basic instructions to set it up, but who knows. Same with stacer; dont know if its really working or if I even configured it right...
In your experiences, what would be the best tool or tools to help me with this. Not really looking for monitors as I have no idea what to do with all that info lol but tools that automatically monitor and make performance tweaks accordingly? Idk if there is an all in one solution or if you need specific apps together, but also need to be aware of possible confliction... Not to mention I set up netdata lol omg I had no clue what I was looking at or how to use it. Super overwhelming because the tool could actually help with network performance but it was so completely confusing. Definitely not for a beginner. Would love your guys suggestions please. Thank you
Yes it does, thank you. So if the desktop is "officially" supported by a distro, they should all relatively look the same?
It looks like they reopened as there's a cutefish reborn distro that recently came out, but I'm obviously a skeptic and it seems sketchy to me. Idk I figured just the DE should be fine, but again idk
Awesome! Thank you. I did check my Linux mint repos last night and there was only a cutefish base package. I downloaded it but couldn't get it working. There's clearly something I'm missing lol not saavy enough to know what
So I am an aesthetics guy when it comes to my distro and desktop environment. I like things to look clean and visually appealing. Last night I kinda took a deep dive into the world of different DE's. Of course there's the popular ones that everybody knows about i.e. Cinnamon, Xfce, KDE, Mate, Gnome, etc., however there's a whole other world of random desktops that I was never aware of! Also it's difficult to find a clear list of all the available environments.
Basically, how the heck do I find out more about DE's and which distro they are compatable with. Of course I always check the distros site, but they usually list the big ones and often times will say "plus others"... how can I find out which desktops are available for which distros? I've find it rather tricky to figure out.
Another thing that kinda tripped me out is that it seems not all DE's such as the popular ones I listed, appear to be the same visually. For instance, XeroLinux is very beautiful to me and from what I've gathered, it runs KDE Plasma. Imo it looks nothing like the actual KDE Plasma OS... are there like different versions of Gnome, KDE, Mate, etc. that look different than others? To me, I figure they would and should all look the same. Idk, it's all a bit confusing to me and I hope you kind folks could shed some light. Thank you
I should mention that I have zero interest in the window manager or tiler or whatever they are called. To me, they are super ugly and very confusing to understand :)
I remember I had a live iso on my flash drive and was always interested in cutefish. But it seems like the distro went under? I think I saw that folks are focusing on developing it into a DE? I truly don't know, but I'm curious to hear if you guys may know something. Thanks
So I’m struggling to understand all the different types of usb standards like 2.0, 3.1, 3.2, 4.0, etc. I am interested in only USB c to USB c. I’ve read about higher data transfer speeds? I’m confused by what that actually means. Is that like transferring files from your laptop to an external drive?...
So I'm struggling to understand all the different types of usb standards like 2.0, 3.1, 3.2, 4.0, etc. I am interested in only USB c to USB c. I've read about higher data transfer speeds? I'm confused by what that actually means. Is that like transferring files from your laptop to an external drive? Basically sending files between devices in the network? I've read you can get 8k video resolution? I have no need for that.I just don't quite know what is best for me.
I have a dell xps 13 9310 laptop and the only two ports on the laptop are usb c. I've had major connectivity issues after the years of wear and tear. I just had a shop replace one port, so the major plan is to get a docking station with pass through charging capabilities.
But for now, I feel so foolish I don't even know what standard or protocol cables I need. Since all of the fancy features like video display don't appeal to me and I never do file transfers via usb, does that mean all I need is simple usb 2.0 cables for power delivery? Do the newer 3 series standards provide more power and or helpful features? What is the best sort of cable to link my main device, my laptop, to a docking station? I need to start there to reduce wear and tear on the new usb c ports on my laptop.
Any pointers would be great, thanks I RUN LINUX BTW SO THATS WHY I POSTED HERE lol
I've come to realize that a lot of foss android apps are pretty outdated and usually abandoned. Is that even safe to use? Like even the fdroid archive repository, are those safe to use? I'm still rather new to the foss world, but in my mind it seems a very outdated app is probably not safe or am I missing something here?
Its the strangest thing, as it just started recently. I'm honestly not sure if it freezes or my touchpad somehow gets disabled. I'm wondering that because most of the time it happens, my dell xps laptop isn't under any sort of heavy load. Its strange. Idk know where to start or what commands would help you guys help me?
I've spent hours before trying to make sense of logs lol but I just don't quite understand the info. Its gotta be some sort of conflicting software or something. I'm always trying new things, so I take full blame for this issue most likely lol. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
Hello all, you all seem to be well versed in this stuff and I can't seem to find many ai or chatbot communities at all. Anyway, I've just been using the free, outdated gpt3.5 on the openai site and it really opened my eyes to how useful of a tool it is. I mean it helps me with everything, especially computer related and troubleshooting... But of course it has its flaws. Its limited in capabilities, knowledge cutoff at 2021, assuming its highly restrictive and censored as well.
I would love a solution, probably gpt4, but I entered the hugging face rabbit hole and now I'm completely lost lmao. What are some good options for someone who wants basically same functions of the free chatgpt but up to date, smarter, and just better. I'm willing to put in some work to build something, if its not too tricky. I get lost easily at this technical level. Or an out of box option is preferred. I have no clue about models other than gpt4 and I guess that's what I'm looking for or something better for either free or a lower cost than openai's $20 a month. And preferably something more private and less restrictive for the nsfw and darker questions lol
I hope this ramble makes some sense at least. I just opened my eyes to this field and its pretty deep. As of now, newb friendly,user friendly for someone with some OK tech/computing knowledge. Thanks