Switching from Windows to Linux: Sharing My Experience and Lessons Learned

RavenLunatic said:
I don't know if Valve would want to become responsible for maintaining and configuring Steam OS for every device out there when they can just maintain the App which works the same on any distribution. I think the fragmentation or diversity of distributions is what has kept Linux going as long as it has and will never become default even if Valve does release Steam OS. Its true that some people will never have the patients to install a Linux Distro and the Steam app, but I think there is a growing number of Windows Users that have become sick of Microsoft, like me, and they just need a little push, Its free after all. For the rest there is always Sony or Nintendo.
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I agree, if I were Valve I wouldn't want the responsibility of an OS that's installable on a bunch of different random hardware configurations. I think we're on the same page of what we think is realistic and possible. I'm just saying that most people who want to move from windows want a standardised "offical" gaming OS and that's why they hold out hope for SteamOS.
 
I think I may finally be able to go Windows free. I play very few games now although I occasionally play Quake Champions. When I've tried it in the past it never ran right on Linux under Proton. I tried it again today and it's now running perfectly (Fedora 41, KDE Plasma spin, Wayland, AMD GPU).
 
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I really like Plasma 6 but since I installed 6.2 and QT 6.8 there's been a bunch of small jank that is starting to add up. It might be time for a fresh install or a change of distro.

I'm bidding on some kit to try and remove my reliance on Windows VSTs via Wine for guitar/bass stuff which should take me a step closer to being Linux native except for gaming. If I do end up getting the kit then it might be a good time to do some distro hopping.
 
Mr_Orange said:
I agree, if I were Valve I wouldn't want the responsibility of an OS that's installable on a bunch of different random hardware configurations. I think we're on the same page of what we think is realistic and possible. I'm just saying that most people who want to move from windows want a standardised "offical" gaming OS and that's why they hold out hope for SteamOS.
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Try Bazzite. This has been my gaming PCs OS for months now and it’s a joy to use. It’s basically SteamOS and completely kicks Windows out the door.
 
I don't know what it is about KDE, but even though it's not slow, there is something about the user experience that has always reminded me of a fat man trying to run in wellies.

Maybe it's the sheer number of customization options that can make it feel a bit clunky despite its speed.
 
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Ice Tea said:
I don't know what it is about KDE, but even though it's not slow, there is something about the user experience that has always reminded me of a fat man trying to run in wellies.

Maybe it's the sheer number of customization options that can make it feel a bit clunky despite its speed.
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I had a genuine chuckle when I read that! In 6.3 they are apparently working on unifying the default look (spacing of elements, sizes, colours etc.) and also changing the animations. I think the animations are the big unconscious thing that if they are wrong give the fat man wellies factor.

Bluecube said:
Try Bazzite. This has been my gaming PCs OS for months now and it’s a joy to use. It’s basically SteamOS and completely kicks Windows out the door.
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I'm happy with EndeavourOS/Garuda for now. If Garuda ever craps the bed I'll definitely try Bazzite out on my big TV PC.
 
Bluecube said:
I’m beginning to sound like a stuck record here but try Bazzite which basically SteamOS with few, if any, restrictions
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I don't know where things currently stand but i got fed up with reading Nobara vs Bazzite on reddit as it's just the usual reddit fanboyism going around in circles.
 
I didn’t know there was a debate and can’t say I’ve heard of Nobara outside this particular thread. I installed Bazzite on my gaming PC which is connected to my TV solely because I saw it used the SteamDeck interface which I was already familiar with as I have a SteamDeck. My TLDR version is that it turns your PC into a console.

I wouldn’t recommend Bazzite if you regularly use your PC for productivity work as it’d be a pain having to keep dropping to the desktop from the big screen consoley interface
 
Bluecube said:
I didn’t know there was a debate and can’t say I’ve heard of Nobara outside this particular thread.
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I hope my post didn't come across as implying you were fanboying. When you mentioned feeling like a broken record, it just made me think of Reddit bickering on the subject.
 
Another reason not to use Debian 12 is that it does not support G-Sync/VRR.

Apparently Debian 12 comes with Gnome 43.9. G-Sync/VRR is only experimental on Gnome 46.0.

Good news is that Debian 13 is coming this summer and should have Gnome 47 :-)

Its not a huge problem and I think I can wait for the update.
 
I need some help, Every so often when my computer wakes It displays a USB error and locks the keyboard. I can force a reboot by pressing a button on my Stream Deck to run the /sbin/reboot command to reboot the system without needing a password.

I would like to be able to recover the system without a reboot if possible.

I have created a new command called resetusb.sh to reset all the USB devices as follows:

#!/bin/bash

for bus in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*; do
if [ -f $bus/authorized ]; then
echo 0 > $bus/authorized
sleep 1
echo 1 > $bus/authorized
fi

done


Made the script executable with chmod +x resetusb.sh

Configured a button on my Stream Deck to run the command resetusb.sh

But nothing happens when I press the button.

When I type ./resetusb.sh in terminal I get Permission denied repeatedly for each USB device.

Running the command with sudo, it works and every USB device is reset one after the other..

Does any one know how I can make restart.sh run with the same permissions as /sbin/reboot without needing to enter a password?
 
Linux hardcore for the past 30 years here but I use windows 11 as my UI ;)

Seriously when it comes to UI I'm OS agnostic - I just use what gets the job done but when it comes to services .... Linux all the way baby
 
Dammit, it happened again even without the Xbox controller albeit a different USB error.

I have found out why the script didn't launch as it needs a password to run.
Logs state

"pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed" _CMDLINE sudo /home/******/resetusb.sh

Instead of using a command action in Stream Deck to launch the script, I do a write text action to run it as if I was typing it in myself directly into the terminal.

It has been suggested on another forum that another option is to just wait 15min and the system may sort it self out

I have also created another macro that restarts Gnome in case that is the problem.
 
RavenLunatic said:
...

Does any one know how I can make restart.sh run with the same permissions as /sbin/reboot without needing to enter a password?
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I've never had to do this but this is probably what you need, basically it whitelists a script/binary to run as root so you don't need to authenticate as you try to run it: https://unix.stackexchange.com/ques...fic-program-as-root-without-a-password-prompt

Well done going the Debian route. You have made it hard on yourself using Debian with nvidia hardware especially, reading this thread is a bit like a blast from the past wifi issues and everything. The route I would recommend for other people to switch to Linux would be Ubuntu or Fedora, both are popular which helps iron out issues with plenty of eyes on them and they are beginner-friendly. Personally I ignore the multitude of distro derivatives that mostly boil down to being Ubuntu/Fedora/Debian with a different skin, noob traps IMO. Fedora and Ubuntu are also relatively modern in how fast they update their packages and kernel etc which helps with compatibility with hardware, as does making it easy to use proprietary packages when necessary (nvidia). Fedora updates most things faster which is important to me and why I switched to it from Ubuntu some time ago, but I don't begrudge anyone who chooses Ubuntu they're both fine.

RavenLunatic said:
Found a script that will run the scrub task

#!/bin/bash

POOL="Tank" # Replace with your pool name

zpool scrub $POOL

added the line to sudo cron -e

@weekly /usr/bin/zfs-scrub.sh

To run the scrub job weekly
Don't forget that the scripts need to be sudo chmod +x <your.sh> to make them executable.
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You probably know this by now, but if not this'll help you with bash stuff in the future. The first line defines the execution environment, it's normally /bin/bash or /bin/sh but sometimes you'll see python and others.
Code: 
POOL="Tank"
defines a variable POOL with value "Tank". $POOL is simply replaced with "Tank" wherever it's used. So all the script does is run
Code: 
zpool scrub "Tank"
There's about a dozen other simple things you could learn about bash/scripts if you want to get competent in understanding/writing commands (loops, if statements, special variables like $n with n a number for args passed to the script, $? to get the exit code of the last executed binary to be able to do things based on the success of other things, just these things covers a good chunk of common stuff).

One other bit of info that I would've found invaluable when I started with Linux, man pages are an excellent way to understand tools.
Code: 
man zpool
is like help text on steroids, most tools have a man page and they're searchable.
 
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