Well honestly it just goes to show some of the benefits of open source projects
Oh yeah I know. KDE looks awesome and is what I would use if I had to use linux.
Looks nice. I might fuck around with this os on my wife's old pc. Does it play well with GPUs? Her processor is an old AMD, which, if memory serves, does not have onboard graphics.
Cool. Will give it a try when 20.2 stable drops. Just the hard drive or is there something else you are recommending me to back up?
I'm honestly not sure myself. There's nothing of real importance on that machine so I'll just go a clean install.
That or Ubuntu
Pop OS is based on Ubuntu and comes with AMD/NVIDIA graphics drivers alongside other drivers preinstalled.
Though something bugs me about packaging GPU drivers in
No. Ubuntu supports secure boot. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that you should always install Windows first and Ubuntu last, but since you already have Windows that won't be a problem. Also make sure you have free unpartitioned space for the install. If you install it to another drive entirely, you can also choose which system to boot from your UEFI's boot selection screen. If you don't like it you can try giving some of its flavours a try (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc).
Get Librewolf.
Yes, it's still good but not perfect. The biggest complaint from users nowadays is that they're now using their own format for installing apps called Snap, and most apps take a long time to open after a cold boot. You could have to wait up to 10 seconds to open Firefox even on an NVME drive. Of course, after opening it once it would open quickly until the next reboot. If you can deal with that, then it's a good option still.
Get a " made for Linux" PC and you won't have any problems. Try Mint or Zorin OS instead of Ubuntu and see if those work better.
Snaps and Flatpaks are sandboxed app formats and are competitors. Snaps are made by Canonical and Flatpaks by RedHat/IBM. For the end-user, the differences shouldn't matter and you should stick to what the built-in app store offers.
You mentioned apps. I was curious if there are apps and "programs" like windows 10?
It's just that I'm used to using the word "apps", but they're programs like any other. As I said, the best thing you can do is to stick to the app/program store within the system, and not download stuff off of the internet like you'd do on Windows. Unless it's a big program like Chrome that is well supported, the rest can be complicated to install if you don't know what you're doing.
I would prefer downloading from the internet, but if it's a native program then it will be simple correct? When you mentioned that it can be complicated do you mean programs that arent native to linux?
No, not only programs not native to Linux. This requires a bit of an extensive explanation, which should be irrelevant to the end user as long as they don't try to install random stuff from the internet. Anyway, I'll try to explain the complicated nature of different program formats below.
):cool thanks. but wouldn't you know if it will work by the website mentioning it? for example gog games, on the specs section you can see ubuntu,etc so you can download those games from the website.No, not only programs not native to Linux. This requires a bit of an extensive explanation, which should be irrelevant to the end user as long as they don't try to install random stuff from the internet. Anyway, I'll try to explain the complicated nature of different program formats below.
Historically, Linux has worked differently than Windows when it comes to the way you install programs. Linux makes the assumption you'd get your software from your distribution (like Ubuntu) official sources, and because of that, the dependencies on Linux (which on Windows are known as the .dll files) usually do not come with the program you want to install. On Ubuntu, for instance, the default program format was for a long time the .deb. (there's also .rpm for RedHat based distributions. .rpm files are incompatible with Ubuntu). Usually, a .deb is made with a specific Ubuntu version in mind, but since it doesn't come with the dependencies built-in, the system tries to install them when you install the program. The problem is: since the version of Ubuntu the .deb targets might be a different one than what you're running, sometimes the system cannot find the right version of the dependencies to install. That means even if the program seemingly gets installed, when you open it it won't work because it's missing the correct files.
You may also find programs online that weren't even compiled yet. Usually the ones you find in random GitHub repositories. Those need technical knowledge to be compiled from source and you'll need to provide the dependencies manually.
On Ubuntu specifically, there's also PPAs, which are basically private repositories made by third-parties with the right .deb and dependencies. To use these, you'll need to enter into the command line and will also need to trust the source. It's not impossible to install a malicious program this way if you're not careful, so it's not recommended to do it if you don't know what you're doing.
Anyway, to solve that mess with the billion ways you can install a program in different distributions, Linux projects made three different "universal" program formats (because why agree on having one when you can have an extra three competing options?
Snaps: Ubuntu has been trying to push the Snap format within their ecosystem. Snap is a centralized source of available programs for Ubuntu. You cannot download a .snap from a random site on the internet. You can only get them from the built-in Snap Store in Ubuntu or browse them from https://snapcraft.io/. When selecting a program there while running Ubuntu, the built-in store will be opened. This format is run in a sandbox for extra security. This means sometimes you might not be able to access something in the system. You should be able to change permissions within the Ubuntu's Snap Store.
Flatpak: This format is made by Red Hat/IBM and DOES NOT work on Ubuntu by default. This is almost the same as Snaps, with the difference your programs are available in https://flathub.org. It competes with Snaps and works with most distributions that are not Ubuntu. This format is also sandboxed for extra security. Due to that, It might prevent the program from accessing some folders. To remedy that, you can install Flatseal and change permissions. Since we're focusing on Ubuntu here, this is not particularly relevant, but I wanted to throw this info here in case someone needs it.
.appimage: This format is made by the community and is the equivalent of a zipped
portable program on Windows. It includes most of the dependencies and runs in most distributions, but it has some drawbacks:
1. It doesn't get automatically updated
2. You cannot install them. They're like .exes in a folder. You can double-click on them to run but they won't be added to the menu or desktop automatically. You have to rely on third-party tools or add a shortcut manually.
3. They come with most dependencies built-in, but not all! Sometimes a program will fail to open depending on your distribution.
.appimage files can be downloaded from the internet.
That is all to say if you do try Linux, you need to leave behind the assumptions you have about how a system should work. If you're not a technically inclined user that wants to get your hands dirty and waste time tracking down dependencies and running command line prompts, you should treat Linux like iOS and download programs only from the app center. When you download something off of the internet you can't be sure it will work or not. Since there's so many combinations of Linux distributions and formats, it's really hard to have any random program work with every distribution out there.
The only big program I know that works fine when you download the .deb is Google Chrome, which is not available from the Snap Store at the moment.
Not entirely; GOG is meant for consumer use, and for their submissions on Linux compatible games they hold a standard
developer.nvidia.com
And it is, but it will still take some time for us, home Linux users, to see the results. Anyway, that is absolutely great news. One of the biggest complaints people have nowadays with Linux is how the proprietary Nvidia driver always seems to cause problems, not only for users but for developers as well. It will be possible to have open drivers like Intel and AMD, and open-source developers will now be able to fix stuff instead of waiting for NVidia to do their job. Mind you they'll keep offering their proprietary drivers, but now the community will be able to make good open-source drivers as well.This seems like big news.
NVIDIA Releases Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules | NVIDIA Technical Blog
The first open-source release of GPU kernel modules for the Linux community helps improve NVIDIA GPU driver quality and security.
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