Question Linux on a USB or VM?

[Indus]

And it's just about to be released. Maybe I should just try to use Linux, before getting caught up in setting it up, tweaking it and trying other distros.

Any linux is fine that you feel comfy with! Though the refined distro's are a bit better.

What is refined? The ones based on major distros but with some additions that make things easy to plug in and play:

Linux Mint is a refined version of Ubuntu
LMDE is a refined verison of Debian
Bazzite/ Ultramarine are refined versions of Fedora
CachyOS is a refined versions of Arch
And then there's Opensuse Tumbleweed.


If there's one thing I would recommend.. it's researching which tree works best for you and then sticking to it.. because as we're getting old it's easier to remember 1 command vs many:

For example in fedora you use "sudo dnf" while in debian/ ubuntu you use "sudo apt" and in arch it's "sudo pacman"

 

[biostud]

Any linux is fine that you feel comfy with! Though the refined distro's are a bit better.

What is refined? The ones based on major distros but with some additions that make things easy to plug in and play:

Linux Mint is a refined version of Ubuntu
LMDE is a refined verison of Debian
Bazzite/ Ultramarine are refined versions of Fedora
CachyOS is a refined versions of Arch
And then there's Opensuse Tumbleweed.


If there's one thing I would recommend.. it's researching which tree works best for you and then sticking to it.. because as we're getting old it's easier to remember 1 command vs many:

For example in fedora you use "sudo dnf" while in debian/ ubuntu you use "sudo apt" and in arch it's "sudo pacman"

Yeah, as I've posted earlier this is the first time I've really felt the need for an AI assistant, which makes everything really easy. Because I can just describe what I want, and in 99% it gives me a usable solution right away, and I learn commands while doing so.

From my brief view into Linux community, it seems like there are three kind of desktop users.

The purists, who run the run the unmodified" Debian, Arch, Ubuntu etc, so they can "mod" them to their personal taste. The middle ground which runs what looks most like Windows/Macos for an easy transition from either; Mint, Fedora etc., and then a lot of gamers and others who run some small distro which is a slight variation of the middle ground.

I have already Fedora running on a VM, but I'll try mint 22.2, and try to build a nice work flow around it.

 

[Indus]

I have already Fedora running on a VM, but I'll try mint 22.2, and try to build a nice work flow around it.

If you're already comfortable with Fedora.. stay with that.. infact as @Zepp says.. try Ultramarine instead.

Linux Mint is more or less the same as Fedora.. I mean I was totally comfortable with LM when I ventured into Fedora 3 weeks ago and it's been a good experience for me.

I'm definitely not going to say something fanboy crazy like Linux Mint/ Ubuntu sucks.. but it's easier to work with fedora.

For example where you'd type 2 commands into ubuntu.. sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade, you only do one command in fedora sudo dnf update.. and that's why Fedora is growing on me..

If you're thinking Linux Mint is more stable.. it's only Linux Mint DEBIAN edition (LMDE) that's more stable.. as that's the one I trust for my wife who isn't a tech know how.. and that's why Debian has such a following.. it's deliberately very slow with its updates as it doesn't want to break anything. It is preferred by those who just want things to work and don't want to update things too often or mess with their system.

 

[Zepp]

If you're already comfortable with Fedora.. stay with that.. infact as @Zepp says.. try Ultramarine instead.

Linux Mint is more or less the same as Fedora.. I mean I was totally comfortable with LM when I ventured into Fedora 3 weeks ago and it's been a good experience for me.

I'm definitely not going to say something fanboy crazy like Linux Mint/ Ubuntu sucks.. but it's easier to work with fedora.

For example where you'd type 2 commands into ubuntu.. sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade, you only do one command in fedora sudo dnf update.. and that's why Fedora is growing on me..

If you're thinking Linux Mint is more stable.. it's only Linux Mint DEBIAN edition (LMDE) that's more stable.. as that's the one I trust for my wife who isn't a tech know how.. and that's why Debian has such a following.. it's deliberately very slow with its updates as it doesn't want to break anything. It is preferred by those who just want things to work and don't want to update things too often or mess with their system.

After spending some weeks earlier this year getting caught up on everything linux and trying out various configs, I think it boils down to about 2 core decisions.

#1. Discover which desktop environment works best for you. this is most important as it's the primary interaction. sometimes it takes weeks of using it regularly to find out if it fits or if there are things that you dont like and want to move on.

#2. Do you need a more up to date kernel or packages? If so, you can simply overlook the debian based distros and decide between Fedora based, Arch based or some others like OpenSUSE, Openmandriva, Solus, ect.

For many this one isn't real important so it comes down to finding the DE you love then making a subjective or arbitrary decision to go with whichever distro you like that supports that DE.

I don't like the frequent updates that rolling release distros have but I needed a more up to date version of my favorite DE than debian/ubuntu offered. Fedora-based ended up being right for me, and Ultramarine had the best out-of-box layout.

It's a fun journey to discover what works best for you.

 

[biostud]

If you're already comfortable with Fedora.. stay with that.. infact as @Zepp says.. try Ultramarine instead.

Linux Mint is more or less the same as Fedora.. I mean I was totally comfortable with LM when I ventured into Fedora 3 weeks ago and it's been a good experience for me.

I'm definitely not going to say something fanboy crazy like Linux Mint/ Ubuntu sucks.. but it's easier to work with fedora.

For example where you'd type 2 commands into ubuntu.. sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade, you only do one command in fedora sudo dnf update.. and that's why Fedora is growing on me..

If you're thinking Linux Mint is more stable.. it's only Linux Mint DEBIAN edition (LMDE) that's more stable.. as that's the one I trust for my wife who isn't a tech know how.. and that's why Debian has such a following.. it's deliberately very slow with its updates as it doesn't want to break anything. It is preferred by those who just want things to work and don't want to update things too often or mess with their system.

I've only installed fedora, so no I'm not really comfortable yet

I think the main reason I didn't go fedora was that I didn't like the Gnome desktop, but since they now have KDE that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Indus]

I've only installed fedora, so no I'm not really comfortable yet

I think the main reason I didn't go fedora was that I didn't like the Gnome desktop, but since they now have KDE that shouldn't be a problem.

As I found out.. things work fine in VM but not in the real world especially as my computer was setup with MBR and Legacy instead of UEFI.

I hope you have no problems like that!

 

[biostud]

As I found out.. things work fine in VM but not in the real world especially as my computer was setup with MBR and Legacy instead of UEFI.

I hope you have no problems like that!

Yeah, I found out that my Soundblaster AE-7 has no native drivers which caused some problems, just happy that I didn't go for the AE-9 which would have been a brick :O

Mint works fine, so I don't think there should be any problem with Fedora.

 

[Indus]

Yeah, I found out that my Soundblaster AE-7 has no native drivers which caused some problems, just happy that I didn't go for the AE-9 which would have been a brick :O

Mint works fine, so I don't think there should be any problem with Fedora.

I think we recommend Ultramarine over Fedora and Mint over Debian/ Ubuntu because the base distro's come ultra clean since they don't want to be sued by commercial companies for putting drivers that they didn't have a license to.

That's the headache I ran into Fedora with.. nvidia drivers.

Anyways the main distros leave that to the refined distro's which is why Mint is more popular than Ubuntu and soon Ultramarine will be over Fedora since it's basically Fedora with more driver support out of the box.

 

[biostud]

Apperently steam can't launch games from NTFS volumes in Linux. :/

 

[Indus]

Apperently steam can't launch games from NTFS volumes in Linux. :/

Yep I waited to get a 2 TB NVME drive on sale, for that so linux would have its own drive and would not touch the windows drive at all.

When you put both on the same drive it overwrites the boot loader

 

[biostud]

Yep I waited to get a 2 TB NVME drive on sale, for that so linux would have its own drive and would not touch the windows drive at all.

When you put both on the same drive it overwrites the boot loader

I thought they could share data/game drive, but apparently only data :/

But at least I know why and I can transition my games to Linux before moving my kids away from Windows.

 

[manly]

And it's just about to be released. Maybe I should just try to use Linux, before getting caught up in setting it up, tweaking it and trying other distros.

There's a lot of value in stability. Which is why the Apple ecosystem is successful. You get automatic, annual OS upgrades without any effort. My current Ubuntu daily driver was birthed in 2017, and has been upgraded in-place a few times since. It's not without a few annoyances, but it's been pretty stable overall. With 32GB RAM and a big SSD, it's aging gracefully.

Canonical pushing snaps is the biggest reason users are leaving Ubuntu, but I haven't arrived at that decision yet.

If you're so inclined, now is actually a great time to test out a few distros in VMs. Because after you find one you like, I'd just stick with that for the long haul. Virtualization won't help with evaluating gaming, but it's fine for general usage scenarios.

WINE/Proton won't launch a Windows-installed game, as you already noted. But it could be possible to retain the downloaded game data if you really need to avoid downloading your library from scratch. IIRC your home Internet is pretty fast, so I don't think it's such a big deal.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Virtualization won't help with evaluating gaming

It can but it's pretty involved: https://github.com/bryansteiner/gpu-passthrough-tutorial

 

[manly]

It can but it's pretty involved: https://github.com/bryansteiner/gpu-passthrough-tutorial

right, it's not for n00bs.

My main point is that if @biostud isn't committed right now to any distro, he can fire up a couple alternatives and test the waters. Which I think he has already been doing.

I've toyed with the idea of spinning up Proxmox, and messing with PCIe passthrough but maybe I'm getting too old for this shit. 🙄

 

[Indus]

Canonical pushing snaps is the biggest reason users are leaving Ubuntu, but I haven't arrived at that decision yet.

I had a boon in disguise happen.. The wife's system crapped out due to a crappy HD.

So instead of Ubuntu.. I went with Debian instead on the new drive. Never missed Ubuntu afterwards and everything you can do in ubuntu.. you can do with Debian!

Debian is the father of a lot of linux distro's and people generally don't know that.

 

[biostud]

I think I'll set up my Linux drive (2TB) with two 500/500 for two different distro and 1000 for shared game/software library.

Currently Fedora feels a bit more polished than Mint.

@manly yeah I have 1000/1000 internet so there is no problem downloading the games here in the transition process.

 

[Indus]

I think I'll set up my Linux drive (2TB) with two 500/500 for two different distro and 1000 for shared game/software library.

Currently Fedora feels a bit more polished than Mint.

@manly yeah I have 1000/1000 internet so there is no problem downloading the games here in the transition process.

While I like your idea.. nothing is more polished than mint! It's simply impossible LOL since LMDE takes months and years to make sure it's polished and working correctly. The downside to that is slower kernel updates.

But anyways that sounds like a good idea.. I would recommend that you make the 1000 for shared games EXT4 instead of the standard btrs. Hopefully Steam doesn't object!

 

[biostud]

While I like your idea.. nothing is more polished than mint! It's simply impossible LOL since LMDE takes months and years to make sure it's polished and working correctly. The downside to that is slower kernel updates.

But anyways that sounds like a good idea.. I would recommend that you make the 1000 for shared games EXT4 instead of the standard btrs. Hopefully Steam doesn't object!

I can only choose ext4 in mint, and it works fine with Steam.

Mint is probably polished, but it also feels a little bit boring.

 

[Indus]

I can only choose ext4 in mint, and it works fine with Steam.

Mint is probably polished, but it also feels a little bit boring.

LOL, The wife likes boring and it just working.

She hasn't bothered me once unlike with windows pop ups about updates/ allow/ don't allow etc or how windows 10 looks different from windows 7 nonsense.

I only update LMDE once every 2 years.. when a new version comes out. The only thing that annoys her somewhat is google chrome needing updates.. but she grudgingly deals with that and does it herself!

Actually you can choose ext4 in fedora.. there's a guide on it..

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
1. Preparation:

• Download Fedora: Get the Fedora ISO image from the official Fedora website.
  
  
• Create Bootable Media: Use the Fedora Media Writer or other tools to create a bootable USB drive or DVD.
  
  
• Boot into the Installer: Boot your computer from the Fedora installation media.
  

2. Installation Steps:

• Start Installation: Launch the Fedora installer from the boot menu.
  
  
• Choose Installation Destination: Select "Custom" for the installation type.
  
  
• Partitioning:
  • Go to the "Storage Configuration" or similar section in the installer.
    
    
  • Create Partitions: If you have existing partitions you want to reuse, you can format them to ext4. If not, create partitions as needed. Typical partitions for Fedora include:
    • /boot (1GB): For the bootloader files.
      
      
    • /boot/efi (512MB): For UEFI systems.
      
      
    • /: (root, remaining space):** The main partition where Fedora's core system files will reside.
      
      
    • /home (remaining space): If you want a separate home partition, create this after the root partition.
      
  • Format Partitions: Select each partition and format it to ext4.
    
    
  • Mount Points: Assign mount points to the partitions: /boot, /boot/efi, / (root), and /home if applicable.
    
• Encryption (Optional): You can choose to encrypt your Fedora installation during the partitioning process for added security.
  
  
• Proceed with Installation: Once the partitions are set up, continue with the rest of the Fedora installation.
  

3. Post-Installation:

• Update System: After installation, update Fedora using the sudo dnf update command.
  
  
• Consider Backup: Before making significant changes, especially when dealing with partitioning, it's always a good idea to back up your important data.

 

[biostud]

LOL, The wife likes boring and it just working.

She hasn't bothered me once unlike with windows pop ups about updates/ allow/ don't allow etc or how windows 10 looks different from windows 7 nonsense.

I only update LMDE once every 2 years.. when a new version comes out. The only thing that annoys her somewhat is google chrome needing updates.. but she grudgingly deals with that and does it herself!

Actually you can choose ext4 in fedora.. there's a guide on it..

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
1. Preparation:

• Download Fedora: Get the Fedora ISO image from the official Fedora website.
  
  
• Create Bootable Media: Use the Fedora Media Writer or other tools to create a bootable USB drive or DVD.
  
  
• Boot into the Installer: Boot your computer from the Fedora installation media.

2. Installation Steps:

• Start Installation: Launch the Fedora installer from the boot menu.
  
  
• Choose Installation Destination: Select "Custom" for the installation type.
  
  
• Partitioning:
  • Go to the "Storage Configuration" or similar section in the installer.
    
    
  • Create Partitions:If you have existing partitions you want to reuse, you can format them to ext4. If not, create partitions as needed. Typical partitions for Fedora include:
    • /boot (1GB): For the bootloader files.
      
      
    • /boot/efi (512MB): For UEFI systems.
      
      
    • /: (root, remaining space):** The main partition where Fedora's core system files will reside.
      
      
    • /home (remaining space): If you want a separate home partition, create this after the root partition.
  • Format Partitions: Select each partition and format it to ext4.
    
    
  • Mount Points: Assign mount points to the partitions: /boot, /boot/efi, / (root), and /home if applicable.
• Encryption (Optional): You can choose to encrypt your Fedora installation during the partitioning process for added security.
  
  
• Proceed with Installation: Once the partitions are set up, continue with the rest of the Fedora installation.

3. Post-Installation:

• Update System: After installation, update Fedora using the sudo dnf update command.
  
  
• Consider Backup: Before making significant changes, especially when dealing with partitioning, it's always a good idea to back up your important data.

Isn’t ext4 the default file system in Fedora?

 

[Indus]

Isn’t ext4 the default file system in Fedora?

No it's btrfs

 

[manly]

Damn that's impressive!

Guess either VBox received a major 3D update or maybe their Virtual 3D graphics adapter is just more advanced under Linux.

Like a virus…

Oracle VirtualBox licensing tweak lies in wait for unwary

: Java-like move could land those expecting free trial with a new bill

www.theregister.com

 

[igor_kavinski]

Like a virus…

So mainly going after companies. As individuals, we are safe, right? RIGHT???

 

[igor_kavinski]

I just checked. They force businesses to buy minimum 100 licenses for $5000 or $1000 per socket (public IP?).

What a crappy way to dissuade commercial usage.

 

[manly]

So mainly going after companies. As individuals, we are safe, right? RIGHT???

for now, yes but I'd rather not support scumbags like Oracle.