Any fellow Linux users on here?

[Judge]

I have never given Wine any way of connecting, it's completely sandboxed for me. Most of these games will recognise that there's no connection available and not try. Because of the way my Wine is sandboxed though I simply can't run the EA app or GoG Galaxy. Not that I'd want to anyway, the experience with Steam and forced updates for someone with metered internet and download limits is not good.

Not clear as to what you are saying.

So you can still run the game, but completely cut off from making any online connection, whether intended or not? If so, I'd like that. I have no desire to have to connect to any group or interact with them. I just want to play the game without having to connect to any third-parties.

I know what "sandboxed" means in theory, but not in practice. The few games I've tried to run through Wine didn't work. But it didn't include The Sims 3.

 

[Princess Viola]

I run most of my Windows games through either Steam, Lutris, or the Heroic Launcher so they're using compatibility layers built off of Wine but specifically geared towards gaming.

Only game I don't and just run through vanilla Wine is Civilization IV, which runs totally fine for me. Well I did have to install a couple DLLs via Winetricks, otherwise the game would crash with an error upon trying to load a save, but other than that thing (which literally took all of like 5 minutes to look it up the error, see 'Yeah install these DLLs via Winetricks', install Winetricks, and install the DLLs to the Wine prefix I use for Civ IV to fix), I've had almost no issues. I've had like one or two crashes but, y'know, the game autosaves so at most I've lost like 3 or so turns worth of gameplay.

Sure, it does take the my PC like a good 6-7 minutes to load up the mod I use but that's got nothing to do with Wine, it's a really big mod and one that would take just as long as when I was using Windows.

I think Wine isn't using my dedicated GPU for Civ IV though but Civ IV is a game from like 2004 and it's a turn-based-strategy game. It's not exactly something that's gonna be using up the power of my RTX 4050.

 

[Outdated]

So you can still run the game, but completely cut off from making any online connection, whether intended or not?

Yes. It's also completely cut off from making any changes to Linux and Bios. And the beauty is that that's the default, you have to add more Windows components to Wine to get it to do things like that.

Sandbox = a safe area to play.

If you need any help getting your favourite games to run that way I've got a bit of experience there.

I think Wine isn't using my dedicated GPU for Civ IV though but Civ IV is a game from like 2004 and it's a turn-based-strategy game. It's not exactly something that's gonna be using up the power of my RTX 4050.

I have Civ3 and it's one of the games that I never got to run under straight Wine, but I have no issues with many others.

 

[Princess Viola]

One Linux thing I need to figure out is why does Linux Mint sometimes change my wallpaper?

No, I don't have it set to change the wallpaper every x number of minutes or whatever, it'll just sometimes be changed when I turn on my laptop and login. It's all images from my Wallpapers folder but it's only ever between two of the images.

It's weird.

 

[Judge]

One Linux thing I need to figure out is why does Linux Mint sometimes change my wallpaper?

No, I don't have it set to change the wallpaper every x number of minutes or whatever, it'll just sometimes be changed when I turn on my laptop and login. It's all images from my Wallpapers folder but it's only ever between two of the images.

It's weird.

Consider two things:

1) Right-click the main screen and choose "Change Desktop Background'. Then in the background Settings menu, make sure that "play backgrounds as a slide show" is turned off.

2) Do you use your own wallpaper files? If so, where do you keep your custom "Wallpaper" folder that contains them? They should be in your "Home" directory. Otherwise they may not cooperate, or so I've heard.

I've never had such a problem myself with Mint, and always use the "Backgrounds" function to click on the "+" sign to add a folder I keep in the pictures section named "wallpaper". From that folder I almost always use all my wallpaper, seldom going into the proprietary folder of backgrounds that were created when the OS was installed.

Conversely, I use a custom graphic loaded into the usr/share/backgrounds/linuxmint folder for my login screen, using the "login window" function with root authority. Using them in my "Wallpaper" folder didn't seem to work. Go figure...

 

[gabesroom]

started out in Pop OS, moved to Linux mint recently and still thinking about hopping over to arch. Been a fun ride

Here's a recent picture i took, running emacs and i3wm

 

[gabesroom]

Yes. It's also completely cut off from making any changes to Linux and Bios. And the beauty is that that's the default, you have to add more Windows components to Wine to get it to do things like that.

Sandbox = a safe area to play.

If you need any help getting your favourite games to run that way I've got a bit of experience there.


I have Civ3 and it's one of the games that I never got to run under straight Wine, but I have no issues with many others.

View attachment 139975

you're showing minetest on this, are you a game developer by chance?

 

[Outdated]

I made a huge contribution to a fork that's called Final Minetest, currently being maintained by OldCoder and Poikilos.

Minetest is Best
Minetest.IO is Ready to Go

I no longer contribute much, different interests grabbed hold of me, but yes, I know the game inside out. I'm happy to answer any queries you might have.

 

[gabesroom]

oh, cool to see a fellow gamedev on here. I'm always a bit shifty about revealing that sort of thing but good for you!

i haven't actually played minetest i just know someone forked it to make their own voxel game engine.

 

[Shevek]

I'm due to set up a new Linux box. The last time I decided on a distro it was MX Linux. Any news or new recommendations?

 

[Outdated]

I'm due to set up a new Linux box. The last time I decided on a distro it was MX Linux. Any news or new recommendations?

Ubuntu Cinnamon | Ubuntu, traditionally modern

 

[Judge]

I'm due to set up a new Linux box. The last time I decided on a distro it was MX Linux. Any news or new recommendations?

I've had the best results sticking to any Ubuntu flavor of distro you choose.

In particular, Pop!OS, ZorinOS and Linux Mint Cinnamon. Though on occasion I'm tempted to revisit Ubuntu 24 since I built a more technologically current PC. Not sure what to expect with the next upcoming version of Pop!OS as it's being rewritten in Rust. Though the alpha versions publicized look nice.

In any event, there are lots of choices.

 

[Shevek]

I've had the best results sticking to any Ubuntu flavor of distro you choose.

In particular, Pop!OS, ZorinOS and Linux Mint Cinnamon. Though on occasion I'm tempted to revisit Ubuntu 24 since I built a more technologically current PC. Not sure what to expect with the next upcoming version of Pop!OS as it's being rewritten in Rust. Though the alpha versions publicized look nice.

In any event, there are lots of choices.

Aye, and most of it is Greek to me. Is there a handy chart showing the size, speed, reliability, ease of setup and particular talents of different options?

 

[Judge]

Aye, and most of it is Greek to me. Is there a handy chart showing the size, speed, reliability, ease of setup and particular talents of different options?

Good questions. All most people have when transitioning from Windows to Linux. As far as I know, there is no one single document outlining all of those considerations. And it is Greek to most everyone, considering it is the antithesis of Microsoft Windows.

On YouTube you can find a number of presentations done by "tech gurus" who will rank them in nebulous ways, usually citing Linux Mint 22 as the most "reliable". Of course it's all relative given what hardware platform you are using to start with. Mint has it's share of problems as I know personally, and have discussed many times with @Outdated. While Pop!OS22.04 has less issues, it can be more complex for most novices to successfully install.

The thing about Mint is that the installation cues are automated and relatively simple. Even more importantly that everything you truly and safely need is installed at the outset. Moreso than any other distro I have tried so far, though it's only my opinion.

Though for most users coming from Windows to Linux, the most confusing thing can be in how to create the installation media using an .ISO file. Where in most cases you have to use a Windows program to create it. I used a freeware program called "balenaEtcher".

balenaEtcher - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives

Download Linux Mint 22.1 - Linux Mint

There are also other Windows "iso maker" programs you can use to do the same thing. Where you must download the initial Linux Distro installation file to Windows and use the windows "iso maker" whatever you choose to actually burn the file to USB drive. But before attempting the installation, you also have to go into your computer's BIOS and make sure that you have it set up or can boot a USB drive so as to launch the installation process to install Linux.

Ironically once you install a distro like Linux Mint, you already have a program (USB Image Writer) that can create USB iso flash drives much easier than their Windows counterparts. So in "distro-hopping" you'll never have to depend on Windows again to make such an installation program.

A good place to start if you choose Linux Mint:

Install Linux Mint — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

Though clearly it won't answer all your concerns. Though here you can get a feel for how the more prominent distros of Linux are subjectively ranked:

Choosing the right Linux Distro for you:

I won't kid anyone here. Yeah...just getting started with Linux ain't easy. Like taking on a foreign language. But it can be done!

 

[gabesroom]

Needless to say but, be careful with balena etcher, know what drive you're going to be installing your distro into. I've lost quite a few hard drive from accidentally wiping them by selecting the wrong drive.

 

[Judge]

Needless to say but, be careful with balena etcher, know what drive you're going to be installing your distro into. I've lost quite a few hard drive from accidentally wiping them by selecting the wrong drive.

Indeed. Pay attention to the destination drive regarding the USB stick to install the iso files to.

I found it somewhat precarious to use, though the instructions for "Rufus" were a bit confusing to me. Another ISO file creator program ported to Windows. Not one I'd recommend for novices, but if it works for you, use it.

I just found the Linux equivalent so much easier to use! There are other freeware programs out there, but when I was saddled with Windows I just stuck with Balena Etcher. USB stick formatted in Fat32.

 

[gabesroom]

Indeed. Pay attention to the destination drive regarding the USB stick to install the iso files to.

I found it somewhat precarious to use, though the instructions for "Rufus" were a bit confusing to me. Another ISO file creator program ported to Windows. Not one I'd recommend for novices, but if it works for you, use it.

I just found the Linux equivalent so much easier to use! There are other freeware programs out there, but when I was saddled with Windows I just stuck with Balena Etcher. USB stick formatted in Fat32.

UI for Rufus is a lot more daunting for sure, but it'll give you more control of things. Windows users will mostly flock to Balena simply because it's UI is more appealing. I usually just have ventoy on an external drive these days since i like to test different distros on bare metal every once in a while.

 

[Outdated]

I've never used any of those sorts of applications in Windows. When I first started playing with Linux we were all still using dial up internet and those sorts of downloads weren't really possible, so I was buying my different distros on disk sets from a company in Canada. By the time we started moving away from dial up I was no longer using Windows as my main system.

I just use the file browser Nemo to 'burn" the iso to a usb stick, then I use gparted to mark it's partition as bootable.

 

[Shevek]

Good questions. All most people have when transitioning from Windows to Linux. As far as I know, there is no one single document outlining all of those considerations. And it is Greek to most everyone, considering it is the antithesis of Microsoft Windows.

On YouTube you can find a number of presentations done by "tech gurus" who will rank them in nebulous ways, usually citing Linux Mint 22 as the most "reliable". Of course it's all relative given what hardware platform you are using to start with. Mint has it's share of problems as I know personally, and have discussed many times with @Outdated. While Pop!OS22.04 has less issues, it can be more complex for most novices to successfully install.

The thing about Mint is that the installation cues are automated and relatively simple. Even more importantly that everything you truly and safely need is installed at the outset. Moreso than any other distro I have tried so far, though it's only my opinion.

Though for most users coming from Windows to Linux, the most confusing thing can be in how to create the installation media using an .ISO file. Where in most cases you have to use a Windows program to create it. I used a freeware program called "balenaEtcher".

balenaEtcher - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives

Download Linux Mint 22.1 - Linux Mint

There are also other Windows "iso maker" programs you can use to do the same thing. Where you must download the initial Linux Distro installation file to Windows and use the windows "iso maker" whatever you choose to actually burn the file to USB drive. But before attempting the installation, you also have to go into your computer's BIOS and make sure that you have it set up or can boot a USB drive so as to launch the installation process to install Linux.

Ironically once you install a distro like Linux Mint, you already have a program (USB Image Writer) that can create USB iso flash drives much easier than their Windows counterparts. So in "distro-hopping" you'll never have to depend on Windows again to make such an installation program.

A good place to start if you choose Linux Mint:

Install Linux Mint — Linux Mint Installation Guide documentation

Though clearly it won't answer all your concerns. Though here you can get a feel for how the more prominent distros of Linux are subjectively ranked:

Choosing the right Linux Distro for you:

I won't kid anyone here. Yeah...just getting started with Linux ain't easy. Like taking on a foreign language. But it can be done!

I'm having an off day, and there's no urgency, so I'll watch those later. I did run Mint 17 for many years, so I know I used to be able to tinker with Linux. I only gave up on the MX installation when I accidentally crashed it after a week of trying to get my ISP to send it mail.
I'll be moving from a Win 10 temporary setup into a bare-bone fanless box I like. I'd go with Mint again if I were not boycotting Israel.

 

[saturnv]

I recommend Fedora for someone that just wants a linux box that works. If you are looking to make linux itself a hobby, there are other options.