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Glorious Linux Penguin Correspondence

So, the raspad works well enough, but it's definitely not the be all, end all of tablets. It's a good option for when you want a case with a screen attached to it for your pi though and I'll probably play around with it more later. The prepackaged fan is a tad noisy. The case did not have run for the harddrive in wanted though and there were no non-shelled adapters that I could find to make it fit. Micro SD cards are cheap though, even in the 512GB range, and you can easily swap between cards to get different distros and different functionalities our of the raspad, so it has its pros and cons. I do recommend an adjustable laptop stand for standing it, while it has an edge wide enough to rest on, it does tip over fairly easily.

On a semi-unrelated note, I'm trying to get my big boy swimming trunks in and mentally preparing to ditch the water wings. I'm planning on converting a laptop to Arch. Any advice and more importantly, how much time should I expect the installion and setup to take as a relative novice? (I've never consciously bashed anything together) I'm fully prepared to RTFM, I just want to know a little more about what I'm getting into and roughly how much weekend I should set aside for this project.
 
Having done it many times, an Arch install usually takes me an hour or so (much of which is just waiting on downloads). If it's the first time you've ever done a manual-install setup, it might take a day.

One thing to be aware of with Arch is that it doesn't include an X setup or a login manager by default. You'll end up booting into a bare console (the same screen you see if you do Ctrl-Alt-F2 from a normal Linux desktop). Setting up X requires installing a bunch more packages.
 
For Arch? Have something else available the RTFM on. As someone who hasn't used Arch much, the best thing about it has been the very useful wiki -- which doesn't help any if the computer you're setting up can't access the internet and is the one computer you have. I don't know what the on-system documentation is like.

From your comments you sound like you have multiple systems around, so I'm sure you'll be fine. Just. You asked, so I'm saying.

In my experience with Debian-based systems, the main install takes like an hour or so, but getting everything set up just so takes over 36 hours spread out over the next like forty weeks, as you realize you want to change something. Not counting installing new software (stuff like "huh, I want to play Doom, I'll install an engine" or "hey, I should install GIMP").
 
Good to know. Alright, reserving the weekend for "Oh my god, what have I gotten me into" time, that will surely be a learning experience. Knowing that, I'll have to dig out my LAN cable (or maybe get a new one) because I somehow find myself doubting that I'll have immediate access to my wifi :V I'm just glad I managed to get the UEFI thing figured out via experimenting with Puppy. Figured that one out by being curious and wonder "what happens if I..." because it was already a brick anyway and I wan't particularly worried about screwing it up further.

Thanks for the advice and knowledge of what to expect.
 
So, someday I will learn to do research into computers that I want to convert. For the moment I shall serve as a living warning. If you want to convert a chromebook to anything but ChromeOS, be prepared. You will need to disassemble it. This is not optional. Chromebooks have physical write protection in place that you have to manually disable if you want to put a different OS on it.
 
Have used Manjaro Linux exclusively for the last couple years. Could do a slimmer setup with Arch but it's certainly good enough, and the plug-and-play is real.

FFXIV, EVE Online, STO, and various old-ish single player titles have all been solid experiences. Can't speak to the AAA games.
 
Modding Skyrim on Linux

Getting Skyrim to play on Linux on its own is easy-peasy. Install it, enable the current Steam Proton version, and it will run. A lot of the value in Skyrim these days is the extensive stack of mods and the associated utilities that make them work. Getting those all to run isn't so easy, but it can be done, up to and including running the Creation Kit.

Steps:

1. Install Skyrim in steam.

2. (optional, but you really want this) Download the latest release of Glorious Eggroll Proton custom. Create the directory compatibilitytools.d in ~/.local/share/steam and extract the Glorious Eggroll zip into it. End result should be something like ~/.local/share/steam/compatibilitytools.d/GE-Proton7-49. Close and re-start steam (it won't see GE until you do this).

3. Download Mod Organizer 2 and extract it to ~/MO2 or somesuch. I have used Vortex before successfully but cannot currently recommend it, had lots of trouble getting it to not hang on Linux.

4. Use the "Add a game" option at the bottom-left of Steam window to add ~/MO2/ModOrganizer.exe as as game. Go to its settings menu and select 'force the use of a specific steam compatibility tool' and select the Ge-Proton7-49 (or whatever you're using).

5. Find the directory of the wine bottle created when you added Mod Organizer 2. This will be large randomly generated number under ~/.local/share/steam/steamapps/compatdata, something like 3525726694, three or four digits longer than all the other SteamIDs for games. Navigate to ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/<yourMOsteamIDhere>/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/. There, create a link (ln, or right-click -> create new link to file/directory), with the name Steam, pointing to your Steam directory (usually ~/.local/share/Steam). Without this step, MO2 can't see your steam install, or the games installed by it.

6. At this point you should be able to start Mod Organizer 2. When the option to detect games comes up, it should detect Skyrim, and at that point Skyrim should be playable through Mod Organizer 2. Be sure to run it once normally (i.e. without SKSE) to set resolution, graphics settings, and create the initial .ini files Skyrim uses.

NOTES:

If you encounter audio problems (missing audio, awful echoing), go to the Steam settings for MO2, and set Launch Options: WINEDLLOVERRIDES="xaudio2_7=n,b" PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=90 %command%

When you invariably need SKSE, pick the version from their website that matches your version of the game, READ THE README, and extract the needed files to your Skyrim directory, generally ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Skyrim Special Edition/. Restart Mod Organizer 2 and it should automatically detect SKSE, which will the be available from the big 'pick a program to run' dropdown in the top-right of MO2, which is usually titled "Skyrim Special Edition" by default.

If you need to install a vc++ redistributable, as more than a few utility mods require, copy the install file into your ~/MO2 folder. Run MO2, choose 'Open Instance Folder' from the folder button near the top center of the screen, and install the redistributable from there. This ensures it is installed to the same wine bottle that MO2 will run Skyrim from.

If you do some serious modding and need utilities such as BodySlide, Nemesis, SSEedit, MatorSmash, or whatever, install them like above. To run them, click on the 'choose a program to run' dropdown in the top-right quarter of MO2's screen and choose <edit> then click the + button to add an executable. Try them with default options, but you may need to manually set the 'start in' directory to "c:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\", which they should be able to parse thanks to the link made in step 5. Note the backslashes rather than foward-slashes, these paths are meant to be consumed by Windows programs running under an emulated Windows directory structure.
 
Install Fedora.

[EDIT]
Whitesnake Pelinal said:
3. Download Mod Organizer 2 and extract it to ~/MO2 or somesuch. I have used Vortex before successfully but cannot currently recommend it, had lots of trouble getting it to not hang on Linux.

4. Use the "Add a game" option at the bottom-left of Steam window to add ~/MO2/ModOrganizer.exe as as game. Go to its settings menu and select 'force the use of a specific steam compatibility tool' and select the Ge-Proton7-49 (or whatever you're using).

5. Find the directory of the wine bottle created when you added Mod Organizer 2. This will be large randomly generated number under ~/.local/share/steam/steamapps/compatdata, something like 3525726694, three or four digits longer than all the other SteamIDs for games. Navigate to ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/<yourMOsteamIDhere>/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/. There, create a link (ln, or right-click -> create new link to file/directory), with the name Steam, pointing to your Steam directory (usually ~/.local/share/Steam). Without this step, MO2 can't see your steam install, or the games installed by it.
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Or you could install MO2 for Linux using this if you want to be lazy.
 
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Arc-on-Fire said:
Install Fedora.
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ngl, I didn't like the last version of Fedora I used (I wanna say 37 or 38, it's been a minute though). It was partly because I'm not used to the layout of it, and partially because I was looking for something while on a time crunch that had been there in the previous version but had been removed and I honestly have never had time to sit down and rtfm.

Gonna go crazy one of these days though and install arch, just to see if I can get it working (my dad never could get linux compiled back in the 90s, gotta see if I can one up the old man :V)
 
Arc-on-Fire said:
Install Fedora.

[EDIT]

Or you could install MO2 for Linux using this if you want to be lazy.
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I've used the rockerbacon installation before. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, and until I understood the various intermediate steps it was trying to achieve, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. If Linux --> Steam --> Skyrim --> rockerbacon MO2 script works, that's certainly the fastest way.

As for Fedora, why? I've had excellent results with Manjaro, it's the closest thing to "it just works" gaming on Linux I've had yet, and the distro itself seems sound enough on its own merits.
 
So, my little mini-PC has failed me for the last time
tumblr_m0a6piIMjc1r98lguo1_r1_500.gif

And I'm about to find myself a new Admiral gaming computer, does anybody know if the Xidax machines play nice with penguins? Because they've got reasonable prices and I'm strongly considering. Especially if that lifetime warranty holds up even if you replace the OS with a superior option (which is basically anything not Windows at this point).
 
24caratcoal said:
So, my little mini-PC has failed me for the last time
tumblr_m0a6piIMjc1r98lguo1_r1_500.gif

And I'm about to find myself a new Admiral gaming computer, does anybody know if the Xidax machines play nice with penguins? Because they've got reasonable prices and I'm strongly considering. Especially if that lifetime warranty holds up even if you replace the OS with a superior option (which is basically anything not Windows at this point).
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You are an enigma built from contradictions.

Just build your own PC.

Then again, the fact you think Mac OS is better than windows doesn't tell me good things about your mental faculties...
 
vyor said:
You are an enigma built from contradictions.

Just build your own PC.

Then again, the fact you think Mac OS is better than windows doesn't tell me good things about your mental faculties...
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Does Mac even count?

Edit: Also, I don't feel like much of an enigma, honestly. I just know my deficiencies and feel it's a better choice on my end to have someone who actually knows what they're doing help me build a mini-monster of a gaming rig that is linux friendly (even if I do have to eradicate yet another copy of windows in the process, truth be told I do take some pleasure in doing that personally).

Also, the lifetime warranty isn't voided by changing the OS, so… yeah.
 
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vyor said:
Does not and will never exist. You want to game? Windows is your only real option and will always be your only real option.
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Not so true anymore? You can install Steam on Linux, and the Proton compatibility layer they've got works quite well in most cases. Only takes a little tinkering to get it to work for non-Steam games, too.

This still leaves out a handful of games with aggressive anti-cheat, some of which are big ones. But 90%+ of games I've tried work fine.

24caratcoal said:
And I'm about to find myself a new Admiral gaming computer, does anybody know if the Xidax machines play nice with penguins? Because they've got reasonable prices and I'm strongly considering. Especially if that lifetime warranty holds up even if you replace the OS with a superior option (which is basically anything not Windows at this point).
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For Linux machines, I've been well impressed with System76. I've got their Galago Pro laptop, and it works well for my modest gaming uses. They've also got desktops with better GPUs.

They are, however, pricy.
 
alethiophile said:
Not so true anymore? You can install Steam on Linux, and the Proton compatibility layer they've got works quite well in most cases. Only takes a little tinkering to get it to work for non-Steam games, too.

This still leaves out a handful of games with aggressive anti-cheat, some of which are big ones. But 90%+ of games I've tried work fine.
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Assuming you have an intel CPU, AMD GPU, the optimal open source drivers, and you aren't playing newer games that are using advanced DX12 features...
 
vyor said:
Assuming you have an intel CPU, AMD GPU, the optimal open source drivers, and you aren't playing newer games that are using advanced DX12 features...
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Actually, Nvidia has been getting Linux friendly as well (or at least Pop_OS has compatible drivers for some of their graphics cards). And I really don't play anything too new anyway at the moment, so that doesn't really hurt my feelings. I've got a couple older games that will make weaker computers weep, however. Namely Stellaris.
alethiophile said:
For Linux machines, I've been well impressed with System76. I've got their Galago Pro laptop, and it works well for my modest gaming uses. They've also got desktops with better GPUs.

They are, however, pricy.
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I got a hold of one of Xidax's people (Shane) and he was quite friendly and helpful, I described what I was looking for in my system and he said that it would be about $2k, which is about what I was looking at (2.3k) when I was playing around with customizing a rig with with things that I knew could work with Linux from playing around on System76's site. Add on the lifetime warranty (so long as you don't void it by installing components from outside their store) and the fact that they'll do in-store credit with obsolete hardware that can't be replaced with refurbished gear, I would say their prices are reasonable.

I did notice that they only do a single year warranty on liquid cooling systems (specifically just the liquid cooling system) but I don't blame them on that one, because, well, you've got a bunch of thin rubber pipes with plastic connectors that aren't really designed with an extended lifetime or refurbishing in mind from what I've seen. IE, you've got a point of failure that the machine would potentially have to be seen back in for more often than any other piece of hardware (lets face it, water+pressure+time=destructive), meaning if a liquid cooling system were covered under a lifetime warranty, they would end up wasting a lot of time on replacing those, to the point that lifetime warranties would likely become impractical for them.
 
vyor said:
No, they haven't been.



Everyone has compatible drivers... but that doesn't make those drivers any good. They're broken in far too many ways to be usable.
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Well, I'll find out how well they work in the next few months. We'll see how it goes.
 
Yeah, it's hard to build Linux gaming desktop that's as versatile as Windows, but seems you already know that. If you're willing to accept some limitation- well, no, you probably already know that.

Anyway. Intel/AMD CPU plus AMD GPU should be good start; you could use Nvidia, but they're tight-arse with their driver which is why decent chunk of Linux community dislike them. Dunno anything beyond that.
 
UrsaTempest said:
Anyway. Intel/AMD CPU plus AMD GPU should be good start; you could use Nvidia, but they're tight-arse with their driver which is why decent chunk of Linux community dislike them. Dunno anything beyond that.
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Modern intel CPUs don't work very well because of the ecores and such.
 
it's fine just use the L A T E S T K E R N E L wooooooooooo
 
That moment when you get yourself a cheap ass laptop for the specific purpose of trying a new distro.

Only for the distro not to actually install the way it's supposed to despite you literally just sitting back and letting it do it's thing.

FFS, I only chose Elive RetroWave because it was goddamn eyecandy, and not only is the touchpad on the laptop making it a pain in my ass (so… much… random… clicking…), I didn't even get my eye candy!

Fuck it, I'll install manjaro later.
 
Can anyone please say what they think of Garuda Dragon? I'm regretting buying my 1660, and had troubles with audio and video on Mint xfce... I mean, i tinkered it away in a manner that rather reminds me of Zelretch... But still... Also thinking on finding a nice dot file repo and applying it to my arch through something like a video that had user's dotfile and he called for min install. Archinstall worked perfectly earlier but i broke the work i had due to installing matte that dev retired a year back. Then mint, and now i think to just get back to arch
 
ShadowWisp said:
Can anyone please say what they think of Garuda Dragon? I'm regretting buying my 1660, and had troubles with audio and video on Mint xfce... I mean, i tinkered it away in a manner that rather reminds me of Zelretch... But still... Also thinking on finding a nice dot file repo and applying it to my arch through something like a video that had user's dotfile and he called for min install. Archinstall worked perfectly earlier but i broke the work i had due to installing matte that dev retired a year back. Then mint, and now i think to just get back to arch
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You're using nvidia.

You are not going to have a fun time on linux.

Just use windows.
 
vyor said:
You're using nvidia.

You are not going to have a fun time on linux.

Just use windows.
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Mkay, then which red card would be good to take? Lets say i ebay/whatever my 1660, and take amd card? I think it translates to ~100 usd and i add my own 100?
 
okay, then other-fucking-wise. WHAT ABOUT THE DRAGON GARUDA?!
 
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