The best upgrade I’ve made to my Linux PC is going from an NVIDIA GPU to AMD. So so many headaches just went away from that one change. NVIDIA drivers / support is horrendous for Linux.
It works, it just fucking works, no upselling, no AI bullshit. Just a functioning OS
I’m so glad we got to a point where “it just works”*
*Some technical knowledge required, but still.
So I got my brother a video capture card from Ali express, put it in his PC that is running windows, it picked up the drivers but couldn’t get video.
Popped it in my system with Nobara, and it just worked.
Happened today lmao
I am trying to use Mint Linux. It does not just work.
I am not against lunix, but you do need to dedicate time and effort to learn how to get it to do what you want it to.
It has not been an out of box experience for me. In my case, I am running into a GPU issue where installing Nvidia drivers makes the OS boot in safe mode and I have to restore to a previous state from the timeline to get it to boot normally.
Edit: Thanks for all the suggestions! I appreciate that I got these responses from this community instead of a negative dogpile!
Edit2: Hearing a lot of pop_OS suggestions, might give that a spin if I keep on running into Mint issues.
Remember Torvalds flipping the bird, and telling a corporation to fuck itself? That was NVidia. And that was why he did it.
(I had NVidia GPUs through my whole life, except the last one - an AMD. I’m glad to have switched.)
Anyway, meldrik’s answer should work fine.
Nvidia is a real stepping stone on itself, keep with it and I’m sure you’ll learn your way around.
Think of it like moving to a new house. Even if you put your furniture in the same place, the floor plan is different, so for the first little bit you’re bound to stub your toe in the dark.
If you are on newly released hardware and the other guy’s suggestions don’t work, Fedora might also work for you. As it has a faster software release cadence and the bug fix might be living in one of those newer versions.
Use the built-driver installer. Disable secure boot.
I’ll give that a shot, thanks for the advice!
FYI, Nvidia drivers can be a bit hit and miss. It takes a little bit of fidgeting to find a combination of kernel and Nvidia that works. And when you do, use timeshuft to make a restore point so that in the future you have a functioning setup to work with.
And when you find a combination that works well, stick to it. The “Omg, new driver is out”-reaction will only cause issues.
For me, Nvidia 535 is the one that has been working out the best. I think I’m running something newer now, but it’s still alright.
I’d avoid mint if you have an nvidia card or newer hardware. They ship older more “stable” versions of systems packages and kernels that just make it a pain. You may try something with built in nvidia support like PopOs or Catchy.
It can be a rocky ride if you happen to have hardware that hates Linux. AMD video cards and intel wifi cards are well supported, so sticking with those is like playing this game in the easy mode.
Every OS comes with compromises. With Windows, things generally are well supported, but you get a bunch of annoying features. It’s a package deal.
With Linux, you get a different package with different compromises. There will be new things you need to get familiar with, and that can feel annoying. On the other hand, there’s no bloat or spyware preinstalled on your system. You have free rein to do what you want, and that can feel awesome and terrifying. With the right hardware, things just work out of the box. With the wrong hardware, some tinkering is required, and some hardware will never work. It’s a very different kind of package deal when compared to Windows.
Tough to swallow pills for the Linux community: Linux is not for normies.
I agree with you completely. I’ll advocate for Linux everyday. My Steam Deck converted me. My gaming PC is great with CachyOS. I’ve just finished setting up my Debian server. I’m really getting into this.
But the truth is that this shit is not for normies. And now there are going to be a torrent of replies saying “but it worked fine for me, so your experience is invalid”.
The missing piece here is that people have issues to troubleshoot with windows all the time. The narrative that windows has no problems and Linux does is dishonest from the start.
Edit: the real “not for normies” aspect is installing an operating system from scratch in the first place rather than getting one that is already in a stable configuration out of the box.
i have very fond memories of sitting with windows computers and them just… ignoring the internet connection, the fuck does “unidentified network” mean? Do you fucking see the connection or not you silicon garbage heap?
No one is saying Windows has no problems.
Yes, they often do… implicitly.
Every time someone pretends that it’s a Linux problem that he had to look up and install a certain driver because it “wouldn’t work properly out-of-the-box” he is basically lying because guess what… Windows doesn’t work properly without the right (externally downloaded) driver, too. Or it required you to install the newest DirectX version for decades before you could even start any game… Yet somehow I never read complains about Windows being unfinished and needing to improve because you could not start gaming out-of-the-box.
“It works now - mostly “
There I saved you 5 minutes
