Runs… 95% of my games and emby.

Nice! Last year, I would have assumed this was hyperbole!

But I just setup Steam on my new gaming rig recently, and sure enough - at least according to Steam - I have better than 95% compatibility with Linux in my Steam Library.

I’m sure having a SteamDeck for a few years affected this %, of course.

Interesting. I have a Bluetooth headset, but I haven’t used it in months. I may give it a try next week and see if I can make myself late for a meeting I don’t want to attend.

I try not to wait for a patch on Linux, because many packages move at the speed of volunteerism. Although, I find that Microsoft generally moves at a speed of “well fuck me”, which is…different, at least.

That doesn’t mean I’m stuck waiting, though. I’ve generally been able to roll back to a version before the bug.

Searching for “libwireplumber mic crash” brings up a number of solution discussions across a surprising number of OSes.

As you said, it seems widespread!

If you share your OS versions, someone here may be able to help with your specific path to relief.

The arbitrary weeks and months thing is good feedback. Thank you. I often recommend Linux Mint, and I think people like me need to amplify the message “don’t wait, roll back” for new Linux adopters.

Yes.

I’m always nervous about those little black-box mysterybadapters, but I have used them and had them be fine.

I don’t really know enough about how HDMI works to say if it helps as much as native DisplayPort at both ends.

I suspect it might help, since some DRM will fail open when it can’t negotiate a restriction. And I imagine those dongles require keeping things simple.

My use of the adapted setup has been rare - mostly due to not having many such adapters on hand when I’m setting things up.

Anyway, I feel a little bad passing on my superstition; but it seems to have helped me.

Worth a shot, I guess.

Yes.

i love running Debian on devices i barely use never have to touch :D

Is how I would put it!

Haha! Yes. I have done similar.

I had an issue I was trying to fix, and I was blaming Linux. Until my life partner pointed out that they have the same issue with their nearly identical hardware on Windows. Haha.

I can’t get the monitor to stay off…

This is just a shot in the dark, but:

I recently learned enough about the differences between HDMI and DisplayPort to boil them down in my mind to “HDMI Bad. DisplayPort Good.”

Wild oversimplification, I know.

So now, whenever I have display issues of any kind, the first thing I do is upgrade the cable to a DisplayPort cable.

I mention this specifically because I have felt like my monitor wake and sleep behavior became more predictable.

Sorry, this idea really is mostly vibes. (Informed by my perception that HDMI has a crazy amount of control signaling which itself is proprietary and inconsistently implemented.)

But for the cost of an $8 cable, I feel like swapping in a DisplayPort has led to better display outcomes for me.

Probably Microsoft bots attempt at keeping Windows alive.

Yes. I think no one really knows how much this happens, but I keep seeing evidence that it is happening much more than that average person suspects.

Indeed. I think you just have to accept a half broken system if you use Linux.

Your experience has been wildly different than mine.

I had similar experiences a decade ago, but I don’t feel that I have accepted any trade-offs in the last five years.

If anything, I must seem naive to my peers because using the same tools on Mac or Windows is so much harder, and I forget sometimes.

Have you tried Linux recently?

I’ve had issues with wildly mismatched display sizes: 13" netbook docked to a 72" monitor.

…while I had “mirror my display” enabled…

Even then, I’ve only seen any issue in a few niche proprietary apps.

And rest assured, my life partner already makes fun of me for enabling “mirror displays” in this setup.

It actually mostly just works though!

These day you can just go for wayland, anything that still requires x11 will just launch under xWayland being normal x11 session within your wayland session (like steam, for example)

Yes. That describe my experience well!

I’m vaguely aware of the big transition, but I’ve felt like Mr Magoo walking blind through it all and luckily missing any headaches.

I did have one intermittent issue that I blamed on Wayland in my heart. But I recently discovered it was actually an issue with my hardware.

If you want to be on that edge, you should expect to bleed every now and then.

Exactly. And alternatively, buy bleeding edge hardware that ships with Linux pre-installed…and then bleed a little anyway, because it is still the bleeding edge, haha.

I second the recommendation of Linux Mint. Try a Live USB, and see if it feels fast. If it does, it is a great option.

In terms of theme, have you considered that Linux Mint’s theme is sexy as hell? I wouldn’t install it apologetically. I think it sells itself well.

Edit: and the practical stuff is all in the same places as on Windows, anyway. Start menu is in the lower left. Bar is along the bottom. Time and network applet are in the lower right.

The few ways I have noticed it is different seem to be because Mint doesn’t require corporate branding and names a few things in plain language, instead of MS jargon.

To me, XMPP is still the instant messaging gold standard. Everything has an app (or seventeen apps) supporting it, and it tends to just work.

My experiences with XMPP are: very good.

Matrix does more. I have used it on and off for fancier online meet-up type stuff. As others have said, it is relatively new, and that has various costs and drawbacks.

How dare you rank Debian at…oh. I see what you did there. Nice.

Haha! You beat me to it! Great ranking. I 100% agree with where you’ve places each/it.

Tuta has been fine, for me.

As someone said, they cleanup free accounts without remorse, a don’t move your life into it before moving to a paid account.

Edit: And GrapheneOS is lovely. I frequently forget that is isn’t stock Android, and ask colleagues why they don’t use the obvious quality of life features (that are apparently too privacy friendly for Google to allow into stock Android?)

My credit union app worked fine until I got in the habit of keeping location tracking disabled. Now I use their mobile website, which works fine. I am shopping for a new credit union, but not just over their invasive app.

This thread is full of great solutions that I know I will ignore…

I should really learn to do the same. I might pick up some games I’ve passed over.

Yeah, the number of “unsupported” games that I played and finished on my steam deck is higher that one would expect.

I’ll just add that this has been my experience, as well.

There may be some bias toward old games in my “unsupported” library, because I stopped buying “unsupported” games, when I bought a SteamDeck.

But many of my “unsupported” games just work anyway.

Counter to the experiences I usually read about here, I put an Nvidia GPU into my Linux box over the weekend and it just worked immediately.

Now I have no idea if I’ve been reading the troubles of a vocal minority, or if I should go buy a lotto ticket this weekend. Haha.