The Linux Thread - The Autist's OS of Choice

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I doubt Linux will drop support for x86 (x86 as in not amd64). The Linux kernel still supports 68k platforms. There's still drivers for the Amiga chipset in the kernel sources. Of course, if nobody actually tests this stuff and files bug reports, bit rot might set in. I would not be surprised if quite a few of these more obscure legacy platforms either don't compile properly or have subtle bugs with combinations of kernel options but generally support is cut very, very rarely and there's always first a call where people can state their case why they still need the kernel to support their platform. The chance of this happening to x86 in the near future is nil.
 
Yes, there were so many that it makes me wonder if this is a trick question or something.
Was there? I couldn't find many, if any, mainline multi-core processors. And did any of them have the 64 bit instruction set either partially or wholly implemented? If they did, they're not multi-core 32 bit processors. 64 bit support started becoming common around 2005. Most commercially available processors started becoming dual or more core around that time. Digging a little more I found some of the early POWER4s.
Sorry, but dropping support for 32-bit only software is only a serious issue worth protesting if you live in a third world shithole so poor that you cannot afford anything more modern than a Pentium II.
Not even that. We're talking about hardware that's over 20 years old. Commodity hardware has become so cheap that even the poorest can find it. Hardware that old is more expensive than cheap modern solutions because so much of it has been junked and is damaged or inoperable, so the supply is scarce and more for collectors than anything.
 
I doubt Linux will drop support for x86 (x86 as in not amd64). The Linux kernel still supports 68k platforms. There's still drivers for the Amiga chipset in the kernel sources. Of course, if nobody actually tests this stuff and files bug reports, bit rot might set in. I would not be surprised if quite a few of these more obscure legacy platforms either don't compile properly or have subtle bugs with combinations of kernel options but generally support is cut very, very rarely and there's always first a call where people can state their case why they still need the kernel to support their platform. The chance of this happening to x86 in the near future is nil.
The state of the broader ecosystem is quite poor and while I appreciate you shining a light on the reasons not to expect support to be dropped, the growing presence of Rust in the kernel means increasingly we're going to be restricted to Rust-supporting platforms. Given how hard Corporate Linux is pivoting to Wayland, I expect to see 32-bit x86 and other antique platforms dropped sooner rather than later. Corporate Linux doesn't care about edge cases, it cares about getting the most restrictive DRM running on the kernel to keep Android "secure", ie. under their control. So I guess I rate you "optimistic"? I want you to be right. I'm just... an unbeliever in this matter.
 
Linux was where I turned 15 years ago to make an old family PC tower usable again, it did so with aplomb, but now Linux is trending toward that "oi too old m8 not gonna support it no more" direction that Microsoft trailblazed a long time ago.
I've done the same with multiple laptops including MacBooks as well as ancient PCs after they were unable to run any maintained OS. My favorite for this was Peppermint Ice or Peppermint in general. Apple always stops supporting machines while they're still entirely functional. It's annoying because actually being highly reliable for a long time is one of their best features.
 
Like many of you, I've been increasingly dissatisfied with Windows lately, even with the adjustments I've made to make it suck less (Tiny11, StartAllBack, etc.). The straw that broke the camel's back was a couple of months ago, when a Windows Update completely borked StartAllBack, and making my motherboard not recognize my SSD (all I had to do was reseat it, but still). So I started looking around for distros and found Mint to be the most cited as a good distro for Windows rapefugees. Made a Mint live USB to test things out before I made the full go-ahead and....my fucking God my niggers.....everything just worked. Right out of the box. My webcam? worked. My controller? Yep. My speakers/headset? Fully functional. My HDD with my movies/games/etc.? Found it and was able to watch/play everything from there. Hell, even my printer, which I was expecting to have some trouble with, was instantly detected and was able to print out a test page! Taking advantage of Black Friday to nag me a new SSD, and once that happens, good riddance Winblows.
 
found Mint to be the most cited as a good distro for Windows rapefugees
Good fucking riddance you didn't get swayed to use some other meme distro by some dumbfuck autist.
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Linux Mint simply works.
 
Good fucking riddance you didn't get swayed to use some other meme distro by some dumbfuck autist.
Yeah, the one thing that was hammered home over and over again was "if you're moving on from Windows, go with Mint." I already knew well enough to stay the hell away from the "gaming"-centered distros. Zorin was the other most cited one, but Mint is just more my speed.
 
Yeah, the one thing that was hammered home over and over again was "if you're moving on from Windows, go with Mint." I already knew well enough to stay the hell away from the "gaming"-centered distros. Zorin was the other most cited one, but Mint is just more my speed.

Zorin uses copium-laced GNOME to make it appear less retarded, which Cinnamon already fills just without the well, copium.

It's very telling when instead of simply having a tip jar that extends support, they also arbitrarily gate keep whole ass software behind an imaginary paywall.

Also holy shit, the state of Windows when you have to re-seat the fucking drive after an error.
 
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Was there? I couldn't find many, if any, mainline multi-core processors.
AMD didn't release dual core products until the Athlon 64 X2's which were... 64 bit. But Intel had the OG Core Duo (wheras the Core2 Duo/Solo adopted AMD64) and the lower end early Pentium Dual-Core.
 
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The name should give it away altogether: suckless sucks less, it doesn't promise to never suck. There's a few gems in the suckless suite, there are theoretical advantages to the software that they peddle, but the practical reality often means recompiling dwm whenever you forgot a specific feature or flag, instead of mucking around in a text file to fix things on the fly. But hey, what do I know? I'm an unwashed peasant who prefers his mass market Linux distro slop.
In actual use that really doesn't effect you much. Especially with how dwm handles windows. After you get dwm set up. You basically never touch the config again. The only people who need to are ones that are obsessed with adjusting their window manager config. Or something like that. It's about as one and done as a window manager can get in my opinion. Especially if you back up your dwm repo somewhere. You just git clone it, or move it from whatever backup you had. Compile, and you have your dwm setup. Obviously after installing the programs you use with dwm.
It’s a new tiling window manager that uses wayland and was made by a chud. Some people like tiling window managers because they let you navigate around windows with just your keyboard, and if you’re mainly using terminal programs that only accept keyboard input, then you can use your computer without having to touch a mouse. If you mainly use graphical programs that accept mouse input, you probably won’t see much benefit from a tiling window manager.
I think hyprland actually does a decent job finding a good balance. You can control it with the keyboard the same way you do on traditional window managers, but it also handles resizing and moving within the tiling layouts with your mouse, if you already happen to be using the mouse.

But that said. At this point I've moved as much as I can to the keyboard. Even browsers, I use the keybinds in them, and install plugins to control things in a way that feels natural to me with the keyboard. And I use programs that are built around a keyboard centric design.
 
Linux Mint is for the White working man who is God Fearing and knows his worth. Any other distro is for turbo tranny fur fags.
I will not elaborate further.
 
The real question is, for a newbie, Mint, LMDE or MX? MX and LMDE are based on the recent Deb 13 release, but AFAIK Mint mainline is still sticking with Ubuntu 24 at its core, which means older packages. I think it is fair to say that MX and Mint are neck and neck when it comes to a great user experience for winjeet refugees. MX sysvinit is what I want to suggest, but there being more resources for soystemd means its probably not the way to go.
 
The real question is, for a newbie, Mint, LMDE or MX? MX and LMDE are based on the recent Deb 13 release, but AFAIK Mint mainline is still sticking with Ubuntu 24 at its core, which means older packages. I think it is fair to say that MX and Mint are neck and neck when it comes to a great user experience for winjeet refugees. MX sysvinit is what I want to suggest, but there being more resources for soystemd means its probably not the way to go.

I just limit my recommendation to "Mint, pick the normal Cinnamon desktop" for any given jack-off jumping ship from Windows to Linux for the first time ever. Save the recommendations for Linux Mint Xfce/MATE, LMDE, MX Linux, or any other distro along those lines for when they're not brand spanking new to the entire ecosystem. Windows refugees don't give a shit about the distinction between Ubuntu and Debian, systemd vs. sysvinit, or anything else along those lines. They just want something they can pop into a USB stick, test for a bit in a live session, commit to bare metal, and cautiously live with for 1/3/6/12 months depending on how comfortable they are throughout the process.

The benefits of Linux Mint Xfce or MATE vs. standard Cinnamon, let alone mainline Mint (Ubuntu-derived) vs LMDE (Debian-derived), MX Linux's Xfce/KDE implementations, abstaining from systemd, or anything else along those lines can be saved for the moment they become diehard Linux evangelists... or y'know, wanna fiddle with distro hopping in a virtual machine or a portable drive. So basically when they leave the dealership and start rapidly depreciating in value.
 
Linux Mint is for the White working man who is God Fearing and knows his worth. Any other distro is for turbo tranny fur fags.
You oughtta make carveouts for Gentoo chads and Debian chuds.
 
You oughtta make carveouts for Gentoo chads and Debian chuds.

Gentoo is hardly a white working man's distro. It's the distro you run when you're a retiree who doesn't give a shit about whether or not he'll die, he just wants to emerge the world at least once.
 

All the more reason to run mainline Fedora over Bazzite, or any other Fedora derivative for that matter. Fedora ain't free from woke sin, but I think I can trust Red Hat in a post-Trump 47 world to not shove Pride shit down my throat through GNOME Software, KDE Discover, or anything else along those lines. I'm not even joking: I never saw Pride crap when I tested Fedora 42 earlier this past May and June, and I doubt I'll see Fedora 43 or Fedora 44 do the same shit. Certainly haven't seen Fedora 43 doing the same thing in the entire time I've been booting to it off this portable hard drive. You don't even have to fundamentally handicap yourself like I am by inflicting GNOME Shell and Wayland upon yourself; Fedora spins for Xfce, Cinnamon, and MATE are truly excellent stuff that still uses Xorg out of the box, with XLibre available via COPR.

All of that being said... I genuinely miss the old Ubuntu Software Centre. Biggest mistake that Canonical ever made was shitcanning it in favour of GNOME Software.
 
The closest thing I can think of is vim asking you to donate to ugandan children if you start it without visiting a file. But that is a direct call to action on a charitable cause, not virtue signalling.
 
The closest thing I can think of is vim asking you to donate to ugandan children if you start it without visiting a file. But that is a direct call to action on a charitable cause, not virtue signalling.
Bram personally volunteered to ICCF back in 1994 and has been an active volunteer ever since, making trips to Africa. Vim absolutely wasn't virtue signaling if Bram was still alive today he would still be helping Ugandan children going there personally.
Bram
He truly was a special one in the cesspit that is the FOSS ecosystem. It's just not the same without this dork. :semperfidelis:

Anyways, set shortmess+=I
 
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