*gdm is Gnomes display manager, which is the confusing Linux name for a login screen. Gnomes window manager is called Mutter.

Main desktop runs Arch but everything else runs Debian. It’s the perfect “install and forget” system so long as you don’t need the absolute bleeding edge packages.

These specs actually seem really solid for the price point, I’m glad to see decent alternative smartphones popping up that actually have some power.

What’s bugging me is the lack of information about the software. Apparently this is Android with a layer like Hallium to run a Debian userspace on top? And yet they don’t advertise that fact. It’s just a little off putting that this product seems to be aimed at Linux/general tech enthusiasts, yet the company seemed to miss the fact that those customers tend to really like knowing what they’re running under the hood.

Sounds like something an AI would post. Quick, what color are your eyes?

I’ve been meaning to fiddle with OpenIndiana and Illumos for a while, which both trace their roots back to Sun Microsystem’s Solaris. It’d be really cool to poke around in a system that didn’t grow off of BSD or Linux.

Ubuntu, Manjaro, Endeavour, Arch, Arch/Debian

Any distro can do what you need. Others have suggested Pop, Mint, Debian, Endeavour, and more. I’d agree with basically all of them. Really it comes down to what you prefer most.

Personally I’d lean more toward Debian as it’s a basic distro with very little extra bloat, loads of documentation, incredibly stable, etc. I always prefer a spartan, basic system I can add pieces to as I please, rather than a bunch of preloaded defaults that may or may not be to my taste. Again though, that’s just me.

Endeavour is great, but if you aren’t used to Arch, and how to maintain it, things can get sort of messy after a while (definitely need to make a good habbit of cleaning your package managers cache, as well as read up on what’s called a “pacdiff”. In general, Arch and its derivatives require research). It’s worth trying if you’re interested in rolling distros though.

Another might be OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. From what I hear, it’s a bit more stable and curated than Arch so it may be a better option if you’re inexperience with a rolling release. I’ve never personally tried it, but have heard lots of good things from causal and power users alike.

Debian might at least be worth a look. It’s been around for ages and is incredibly stable. No, it’s not bleeding edge, but there’s always Debian Sid (unstable).

99% positive. Wayland works flawlessly. HDR didn’t cause issues (all AMD hardware).

The only issues I have off the top of my head are

1: Some icons in the system tray and system settings menu (the ‘Clipboard’ icon on the dock and the ‘Touchscreen’ tab in settings, and a couple others) display as a blank rectangle sometimes. Other times, they display as they should. Haven’t even bothered looking for a solution as it doesn’t effect usability in the slightest.

2: Certain pop up menus for dock applets, ie the Bluetooth applet, display incorrectly. I actually saw a post of another user having this issue, where the window only shows as a small square, and can require a re-log to actually make it work.

Other than these minor glitches, nothing has given me any issues.

My go-to for a workaround to networking issues is to use USB Tethering from my phone. Most Android phones from the past decade or so should support it, not sure about Apple. It’s super handy because all the configuration is done via the phone, so the computer needs no drivers or settings. Just plug n play until you get things set up on the computer.

If you reset all theming options to default (icons, window decorations, colors, etc), and backup your config files, there should be no issues upgrading to KDE6. Keep in mind though, most themes for KDE5 don’t work for 6 unless the author updated, or you’re willing to manually modify a couple files. Most icon packs should be available though.

I’m personally not a fan of any universal packaging solution. I’ve tried flatpaks, appimages, and snaps, and ran into weird, annoying issued that I just never have when I install via package manager, build from source or even just run a portable build of an app.

I see the appeal of a universal package, but imo a bigger emphasis on portable native builds would solve a lot of the issues these packaging solutions are aiming for, while not introducing many of the downsides

Well thats the thing, generally if I see an acronym and have to ask myself how it would be pronounced as a word, by my rule I just spell it out.

For a great example of this (unrelated to FOSS), look at LGBTQIA+. Even though it’s a mouthful to say each letter individually, no one wrestles it into “Leguhbuht’kwia plus”, it just doesn’t make sense and saying it that way would probably ellicit a dead stare from whoever heard it. Unless it’s painfully simple to morph into a word or single syllable, I don’t bother.

I’m not trying to say this is the right way, mind you. It’s just the way that makes the most sense to me.

I have a rule about acronyms: if the spelling makes sense to be said as a word, I follow the English grammatical rules. A word that’s spelled s-u-s-e would be pronounced “soos”, so that’s what I say.

This is why I don’t pronounce GNU as “ga-noo”, it doesn’t make sense as a word. In those cases, I just spell them out.

LFS, he makes his own system.

The beauty of Linux is that you have choices. You can easily start with something very light (I’d recommend XFCE), then install any number of other desktops.

As others have said tho, use a VM or WSL first. Test things out with different DEs, see which you like, then install those on a live system (just to avoid having numerous DE’s on your final install).

I’ve always preferred to use OpenVPN configuration files for setting up VPNs on Linux, rather than using the VPN providers app.

Basically, you need to install a few packages: openvpn and networkmanager-openvpn. This second one is optional, but it allows you to simply pick a VPN connection from the same drop-down applet you connect to WiFi from.

Then, all you do is head to https://account.protonvpn.com/downloads, download the OpenVPN configuration files, extract them somewhere, then use the network manager menu to pick one of the servers. When you’re adding the connection, it’ll require your VPN login info. This isn’t the same as your regular login though, to find that, head to https://account.protonvpn.com/account, and the credentials are listed under “OpenVPN/IKEv2 Username”.

Once this is setup, connecting to a VPN is as simple as opening your network applet, then clicking on your VPN of choice. You can add as many VPN connections as you want to switch between servers easily. Really handy to not need a VPN providers’ specific app just to connect to a server.

Since I switched to AMD about a month ago. Literally every naggling issue I had with NVidia is gone. Only complaint is that I didn’t switch sooner.

I mean, a portion of my experience is switching to Gnome, yes. I also touch on multiple other aspects that are different from my regular system on a deeper level (package manager, release system, package version, etc).

I can see why. Really liking how everything feels so far. I might also use this laptop to try a flavour of BSD at some point