but i do wish there was a bigger culture of “no regressions for users”

Isn’t that basically Cinnamon, Mate, Xfce (and most other DEs not named COSMIC, GNOME or KDE Plasma)?

Thanks for the response!

But not having a picture does not help lol. Perhaps using a live USB might fix it. But then again, that probably involves messing with kernel settings or whatever. Seems quite involved for a simple update…

I 100% agree with you. But we shouldn’t ignore that CachyOS -at the end of the day- is still just Arch. And, within its excellent Wiki, we find the following “Warning” in the section concerning upgrading packages:

“Users are expected to follow the guidance in the System maintenance#Upgrading the system section to upgrade their systems regularly and not blindly run the following command.”

If we follow the link, we find within the second paragraph the following important reminder:

“Make sure to have the Arch install media or another Linux ‘live’ CD/USB available so you can easily rescue your system if there is a problem after updating.”

Kinda on the nose, don’t you think 😅? So, to be clear:

• I agree that reaching out to a live USB after a simple update is kinda bonkers.
• Yet, I acknowledge that that’s basically within expectations for Arch.
• Hence, I don’t use Arch^[1]. And perhaps you shouldn’t either…

My Xbox controller was difficult to connect at times.

Thanks for clarifying! But, is this still related to issues with Bluetooth chips?

I’ve had installs with audio issues

Sorry, I simply can’t relate; simply, because I thankfully can’t recall being bothered with any such occurrence.

difficulties playing games because Lutris or Bottles wouldn’t work…

This, however, I can relate to. I’ve noticed that installing through one of the storefronts -be it GOG^[2], Steam, Epic^[3] (etc)- is a much better experience. And even if you don’t own it through any of the aforementioned platforms. Chances are that both the Steam client AND Heroic Games Launcher will do a splendid job at running the game. To be clear, I’ve use both Lutris and Bottles in the past; the latter quite extensively even*.

Why sometimes Linux is hard to switch to

Switching is easy. Sticking to it is harder and involves relearning most of your activities in a new context.

So now I face another reinstall…

I’d honestly think that CachyOS was more ‘sturdy’. Though, I suppose it’s curious that you don’t mention anything about your troubleshooting attempts. Beyond your rollbacks in hopes of resolving the issue*. If you don’t like/want to (learn to) troubleshoot, then reconsider if CachyOS is your home.

FWIW, over (almost) 4 years of Fedora Atomic, I was only once ‘forced’ to reinstall; which happened in the first week (or so). And that was 100% a user error.

This and having to dive into the deep end of terminal commands to get drivers, programs or games working can be quite frustrating.

This isn’t recognizable to me. Would you be so kind to clarify/elaborate? Perhaps with an example even?

I understand why people are turned off and go back to Windows…

The only time I felt this, was when I just cold-turkey switched to Fedora Silverblue and bashed my head to the wall when trying to implement Madaidan’s hardening 😅. But, again, that was just very naive.

Onto NixOS for me.

NixOS is definitely based. So go for it.

What would your ultimate distro be like?

Stateless, and hardened AF. So, probably an amalgamation between your favorite security-focused Linux (be it secureblue or Qubes OS) and NixOS for its impermanence module.

I feel like you’d love tldr.

OP, I urge you to clarify and/or elaborate in case you desire better engagement. Like is your goal to make a long list of Wine-related software? Or, instead, understand which one is preferred?

Furthermore, a more meta suggestion: a quick glance at your profile shows that you have almost three times as many posts compared to your comments. You’re free to engage however you wish. But please, consider engaging more with the community output. Thanks in advance!

Ah, okay. I was looking at niri’s .gitignore 😅. But yeah, I can see it now. Thanks again!

Thank you for bringing this up! But, while you’ve clearly pointed out where to look at, it wasn’t quite enough for me to understand what exact content gave it away. Was it

• short/brief .gitignore?
• /target?
• /result?
• Any combination of the above?

I desire to learn this in the hopes of improving my vibe-code radar.

I suppose it depends mostly on what you intend to do.

FWIW, Wine makes you potentially vulnerable to malware that targets M$ otherwise. As such, I prefer sandboxed solutions. This used to be Bottles for me. However, currently, I don’t have any need for it; I play my games through the Heroic flatpak and don’t need Wine outside of that.

Necessary pre-empt: I’m literally u/pheusie. But I got no clue how I can convince you of that beyond “Trust me bro.” as I’ve changed the password of u/pheusie in hopes of never returning to it; kind of my way of dealing with this unhealthy habit of mine 😅.

Anyhow, without further ado…

Microsoft Surface

Hehe 😅, I hope you’ll not be met with any problems. But, if you’re concerned, consider checking this link out. Perhaps some distros take this into account and install the kernel for you (or at least provide a streamlined way of doing so), but I’m simply unaware of any.

I do prefer free software but I only hate giving corporations more money than I have to. I don’t mind paying extra to shop local, I donate to the fedi instances I use, gog’s preservation fund, Wikipedia, and a few other similar things. If the money is primarily going to the people who are actually doing the work or to the cost of equipment and maintenance then I feel a lot better about paying for something so I’m willing to consider paid software if it’s better and will probably make some kind of donation to any FOSS projects I get software from if it’s free.

That’s great to hear. Unfortunately, I can’t vouch on the effectiveness and reliability of any commercial product used for securing desktop Linux devices.

I’m not worried about keeping up with feature updates or always having the absolute newest version. I want it to be stable and functional so once I have it set up security updates will be the thing I’m most concerned about. I’m fine just setting an alarm and checking for updates every Friday or something like that. Background updates are nice but it’s not a big deal to keep up with it manually if it’s centralized into a repository.

I suppose this should have sealed the deal; i.e. we should have been able to logically arrive at a (set of) distro(s). But…, I’m clearly hesitant because the options aren’t as great as I’d wish. To give you some insight:

• Logical choice would be: Debian (LTS) or Ubuntu (LTS), because they seem to offer (at least) decent~ish support for the linux-surface kernel AND both are slow-moving distros. But…,
  • Debian is only an excellent choice as long as you don’t do a major release upgrade. Like, that page is SO MUCH MORE involved that it has any right to be. By contrast, the distro I’m on does automatic major release upgrades in the background. It doesn’t even notify me 🤣🤣🤣. Like, that’s how smooth it can (and perhaps should) be. Without receiving a major release upgrade, Debian is at best usable for three years. Which, ain’t bad, I suppose. But it’s definitely not great.
  • Debian LTS grants Debian some much needed longevity; 5 years instead of 3 years. But, they don’t receive direct security updates and support by Debian’s Security team. Hence, if you’re concerned about security, then this is definitely concerning.
    • Note: There’s also a Debian ELTS, that extends this further to 10 years. But it’s commercial. Unsure if that’s a desired solution.
  • Ubuntu’s documentation suggests that upgrades are handled a lot more gracefully compared to Debian. But, the discourse will inform you that Ubuntu is plagued by Snaps. As that’s a can of worms I’m not willing to open, I’ll leave it at that 😅.
  • Unfortunately, Ubuntu LTS doesn’t fare better in that regard.

So…, you might ask: “What about downstream?” The response would be that I’m unaware of any that are both popular AND known to have a dedicated security team.