I've always been a Windows guy, but the latest stuff from Microsoft about integrating AI into Windows has started me thinking about alternatives. Apple will surely be thinking along the same lines as Microsoft, which leaves Linux.Â
Does anyone have any Linux distro recommendations? I'm mostly interested in ease of use, and I would probably keep a Windows machine for things like Zwift.
Ubuntu and Mint are the obvious choices, both nice and easy to get running
I suspect if ease of use is the priority then it will be easier to stick with Windows and disable the features you don't want. TBH this has always been the case with Windows. Every time a new version there is a tonne of information and chat about how to disable all the new features.
That said, Linux is free to try so you might as well have a play and see.
I suspect if ease of use is the priority then it will be easier to stick with Windows and disable the features you don't want. TBH this has always been the case with Windows.
This.
What they said.
Remember with most distros you can build it to a bootable USB, so you can 'try before you buy' so to speak. Try a few and install what you're happy with.
 Zorin or Mint would be my suggestion. I agree with the others though, sticking with Win is by far the easier option. But no pain, no gain!
I've just switched from W11 to Fedora KDE for similar reasons as OP. It's beautiful and fast, but some technical expertise (or willingness to Google) is required. Zorin or Mint are much easier to get started with.Â
IMHO the quality of Windows has nosedived recently. I've had some pretty show stopping problems introduced by updates (e.g. completely broken login screen, start menu broken due to Copilot, tabbed explorer windows keep freezing).Â
I suspect if ease of use is the priority then it will be easier to stick with Windows and disable the features you don't want. TBH this has always been the case with Windows. Every time a new version there is a tonne of information and chat about how to disable all the new features.
That said, Linux is free to try so you might as well have a play and see.
And just to be awkward - absolutely not this.
I've no idea what people think installing and using a newish Linux distro is like but even for people reasonably familiar with windows the Linux process is much easier than playing AI/bullshit whackamole on windows 11.Â
I use Zorin OS across 3 computers but Mint is also pretty user-friendly, Ubuntu is a bit different but not difficult and Cosmic PopOS also seemed really easy to get on with and looks pretty funky. In order of preference I tend to go Zorin, Cosmic, mint, Ubuntu but you can6go wrong with any of them.
Also, whilst you can try before you "buy" with a usb live disc I'm increasingly of the opinion that you should just pick one of the four distros I've listed, at random if needs be, install it and go from there - you'll get full performance and if you want to try installing a new distro it still only takes 30mins max.
Thanks all. For a bit more context I'm not a complete technical noob, and my motive is a mix of increasing disillusionment with the enshittification of tech generally, wanting to be less dependent on big tech, and more recently US big tech in particular. And yes, I'm well aware of how the world basically runs on US big tech.Â
I occasionally think about doing this, but some of the stuff I use (games, mostly but also some photo and video software doesn't run on Linux, so I've never bothered.Â
There are versions of win 10 (still supported by MS) and Win 11 without all the bloatware and privacy concerns, google LTSC windows - might be another consideration ?
I swapped to linux nearly twenty years ago. Absolutely no regrets.
And just to be awkward - absolutely not this.
I've no idea what people think installing and using a newish Linux distro is like but even for people reasonably familiar with windows the Linux process is much easier than playing AI/bullshit whackamole on windows 11.Â
... in your opinion.
I know my way around Linux but I have 35 years experience with Windows at a technical level. Installing Linux can be fairly painless but I know where my confidences lie.
Also, whilst you can try before you "buy" with a usb live disc I'm increasingly of the opinion that you should just pick one of the four distros I've listed, at random if needs be, install it and go from there - you'll get full performance and if you want to try installing a new distro it still only takes 30mins max.
And if you don't get on with Linux at all, you've just nuked your Windows partition. Which isn't a showstopper but is a consideration.
"you've just nuked your windows partition"
Yes. Yes you have.
And this is why recommendations from fanboys is problematic.
I tried Ubuntu years back and it was ok but I couldn't update my Garmin satnav because they didn't have a Linux program. Ended up binning it off as the convenience of Windows was too strong.Â
I've just installed Zorin on an older laptop that the child is using for homework etc and it's soooo much nicer, smoother and quicker to use.
I have a 2012 i7 MacBook Air that can't run anything secure in the macOS world. After a few distro's today, I've settled on Fedora. It's a nice UI, pretty nippy compared to the Mac OS, and has most things I need- libra office, Firefox, etc. Can connect it to onedrive and the home NAS if I want to. It's just going to be sat in my shed at the moment for those "how to" video moments.
It's different enough tho from what I'm used to, I wouldn't swap my other devices over. But it's a great use for an old machine. Â Apart from some fenagling with WiFi support, it was really easy. Loads of help on the web. And I am not a unix expert.
Another thing to consider is any unix distro (from what IU've read) is pretty heavy on battery compared to native OS. This is a tired old batt but I'm getting 2-3 hours v 4-5 when I had it running macOS. Not an issue for me, but...
And this is why recommendations from fanboys is problematic.
Lol, I've never been a fanboy before - it's exciting!
linux is fine if you want to produce documents and browse. step off piste though and you're in to a world of forums. which is fine if using computers is your hobby. i've been admonished for posting links to 'dodgy software' before, so here's a link to an article on a reasonably well respected website : https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/22/windows_10_ltsc/
I've always been a Windows guy, but the latest stuff from Microsoft about integrating AI into Windows has started me thinking about alternatives. Apple will surely be thinking along the same lines as Microsoft, which leaves Linux.Â
Does anyone have any Linux distro recommendations? I'm mostly interested in ease of use, and I would probably keep a Windows machine for things like Zwift.
Obviously it depends what you want to do. If you're just browsing the web, reading emails and running a word processor (open/libre office) then it's very straight forward.
If you have any weird requirements or a printer that won't work on Windows, you'll have a less fun time. eg you want to run a specific windows program and can't use anything else. It'll probably work on wine, but it might be a pain to get working. Â
Make sure you take backups of anything before you do any installing. In fact take backups, it's a good idea regardless.
As for the distro, just stick with Ubuntu, it's the most popular by a long way. It's also the easiest to get support for due to it's popularity.
At the risk of sounding like a fanboy again - Zorin will make suggestions for software alternatives if you search their app store for something they don't have a native version of.
This is usually what people mean when they say they "can't" do something on Linux, it's generally more like they won't use an alternative because they're used to a windows only option. Obviously some people are forced to use something by work etc but for a lot of people it's just habit and inertia.
I've just installed Zorin on an older laptop
Zorin looks interesting. It looks to be pitched as a Windows / MacOS replacement. I'll have to have a play with that.
Lol, I've never been a fanboy before - it's exciting!
It's the difference between objective and subjective advice. Â
here's a link to an article on a reasonably well respected website :
If you want to stay with Windows 10 - I did, mostly - then there are options. The El Reg article there is a reasonable pros & cons overview of a couple of them.
At this point in time I'm seeing less and less compelling arguments in favour of W11 at a general use level and more reasons not to; I do not believe that history will be kind to it. I have W11 machines here and there are areas where I need W11 (ironically its WSL2 integration is a lot cleaner), but for me personally I'm using W10 or Linux wherever practical.
"It's the difference between objective and subjective advice."
It's preferences on an OS inc ethics, corporate ownership and a multitude of other factors - it's pretty much subjective by definition.
Kinda my point, yes.
At this point in time I'm seeing less and less compelling arguments in favour of W11 at a general use level and more reasons not to; I do not believe that history will be kind to it. I have W11 machines here and there are areas where I need W11 (ironically its WSL2 integration is a lot cleaner), but for me personally I'm using W10 or Linux wherever practical.
For me 11 has been a bit of a step backwards. I really really like certain things on it - tabbed Explorer, more window snapping options, better HDR support, but other than that, not great.
I'm taking some liberties leaving out the NT line I guess but there does seem to be some truth to the meme...
95 good
98 dud
98SE good
millenium dud
xp good
vista dud
7 good
8 dud
10 good
11 dud
@IvanDobski - thanks for the Zorin plug. Installed on the old macbook air and selected the theme closest to macOS. Â Seems slick and fast. Even using the native Brave browser over FireFox. Battery life is at least 2x the other distro's I tried.
Well I'm very happy with Zorin. Running some kind of hooky whatsapp, youtube and a browser. Installed as Shed-AI 🙂
Even works with my Sonos Roam in there.Â
I've just switched from W11 to Fedora KDE for similar reasons as OP. It's beautiful and fast, but some technical expertise (or willingness to Google) is required. Zorin or Mint are much easier to get started with.Â
Quick update on my progress with Fedora / KDE version.Â
-All hardware is working. Performance is great, the desktop is silky smooth and very snappy. Right clicking something, the menu opens immediately for example.
-My laptop has onboard AMD graphics and an NVidia discrete GPU, I had to manually install the NVidia drivers since the laptop has Secure Boot enabled. Once done, it automatically uses the NVidia card for graphics apps and you can override this with a program called switcheroo (typical open source software name giving zero clues that it's anything to do with the GPU!)
-Fedora is quite bleeding edge so there are occasional problems with the software but nothing show-stopping. The most common is Dragon (video player) crashing when you close it after watching a movie, then also failing to submit a crash report. I just use VLC or SMPlayer instead.Â
-Power stuff all works (e.g. unplugging dims the screen and switches GPUs & CPU to low power mode), sleep works, etc.
-The HP closed source printer driver/GUI is not great
-LibreOffice is an imperial butt-tonne better than last time I used it. Fedora does not include the Microsoft fonts so you need to install those manually. Once that's done, all the documents I've opened have looked correct.
So overall, I would not recommend Fedora for a newbie or somebody needing Windows compatibility out of the box but very positive.Â
My only real complaint is power usage, it is definitely giving me a shorter battery life than W11 by 10-20%, and it seems to drain more when sleeping.
-The HP closed source printer driver/GUI is not great
To be fair, its Windows sibling is hardly a poster boy for quality appage either.
A few days of Zorin (after I sacked off Fedora) I am really happy with it. Snappy performance, intuitive as in close enough to what I'm used to to make it pretty seamless switching from a Mac. Thunderbird email client is good, doubt I'll use it much but all email accounts authenticated fine with little manual wrangling. No native Spoitfy of course, but I tend only to listen to podcasts in the shed and tehre's a good app for that, Â or I could use web spotify client which I've tested.
No current issues with hardware, wifi seems solid, audio drivers all good, battery life is stellar, getting around 5.5 hours (a lot less if I'm just watching vids) and that's a 12 year old battery with a lot of cycles.
I've never tried Fedora, as it's known to be a bit more nerdy to operate!
I've used mint, ubuntu, bazzite and Nobara all with good results... this threads reminded me actually, Ive got a spare 500gb drive in my machine that I used for linux but I need to reinstal one when I get round to it.
I think I'll continue to dual boot windows and linux but it's really at a point know where I can do 99% of what I want in linux, so I can basically use linux most of the time and fire up windows for the odd thing.
Is there a way to get a tablet experience with Linux?
I did try Zorin on USB in the past on a microsoft Surface Pro 3 and it worked well but very much a desktop visual. I use it for browsing and playing music only as it is old and the keyboard died years ago.
Is there a way to get a tablet experience with Linux?
I did try Zorin on USB in the past on a microsoft Surface Pro 3 and it worked well but very much a desktop visual. I use it for browsing and playing music only as it is old and the keyboard died years ago.
Basically yes, some info here:
https://linuxvox.com/blog/linux-for-surface-pro/
I suspect touchscreen might be the major thing to check, but that article seems to suggest Ubuntu. maybe do some googling, theres plenty of results searching for "linux on surface pro"
I'd run it from USB first before installing it properly to check stuff like that, but bear in mind runing an operating system from a flash drive wont perform aswell as if its installed properly.
No native Spoitfy of course, but I tend only to listen to podcasts in the shed and tehre's a good app for that, Â or I could use web spotify client which I've tested.
https://www.spotify.com/us/download/linux/
Must admit i haven't used it recently as I now always stream from my phone, but I used this years and years back and it was excellent
@multi21 thanks, I must have missed that. I'll give it a try although the web version works just fine.Â
@jp-t853 - I think if you get Zorin Pro, one of the extra themes is more tablet focused. Don't quote me on that and I'm not sure if it's tablet compatible as such or just looks like it is. Worth looking into though I'd say.
That said, I'm using an old Lenovo yoga flip laptop thing and the touchscreen works absolutely fine with that out of the box so it's imagine even if it is just a tablet theme it should work fairly well.
@Alex - not the same as an actual app but you can set websites up as web apps and treat them as you would an app app in terms of launching it etc.
Thanks for the updates
Touchscreen worked fine on Zorin and it would be ok but bigger buttons would be nice. I maybe just needed to play with the resolution or theme
I've recently started using Bazzite on a new build having not been on Linux since just after W7 released.
The whole experience feels much more mature from install onwards, and in terms of running games it is a massive leap forward. I've needed to search for a few fixes / run a few shell commands but that's not something exclusive to Linux.
Having just setup W11 on some older hardware for a friend, I had seemingly random crashes ;leading to a cycle of restarts & restores. The error code was pretty generic with about 5 different root causes to work through before I found the right fix. There was several CMD actions to run.
I think the one downside to Linux for a newbie is just the amount of choice, which can lead to confusion. It is also undoubtably one of the strengths once you get used to it though.
For example on Bazzite I can seemingly install things at least 3 ways, all of which I've had to use (and I am pretty sure there are more even on Bazzite e.g. a flatpak) i.e. the GUI package manager, using ujust command line and using an AppIamge.Â
One reason I don't recommend distros to noob much these days is because I've ended up on Arch (btw 😉 ), and not run Mint/Ubuntu/etc for ages.
PopOS was one I would have recommended (I actually have that on the lappy still), mainly because it's Ubuntu based (like Mint is, and Zorin?), and the fact that System76 need to fully support their own experience ot they go bust. But they spent a bit too much effort on their new GUI instead of keeping the very good experience fully up to date.
Problem with Package managers is that if ever there is a push to create the one true package manager for everything, you simply end up with N+1 package managers. Maybe, just maybe the Bazzite/Bluefin/Aurora family might be the trigger to make Homebrew the defacto cross-platform package manager. If not then they end up with 3 ways to install, and as someone who's used Linux since Debian was experimental, even I am not 100% sure which I am supposed to use or in which order. I think Flatpak, Homebrew, Distrobox (but I'm willing to be correct by those who have used Bazzite/Bluefin/Aurora)
I just got a new fake Chinese NUC for less money than one can buy the 32Gb of RAM that's inside it. Plan was to try Zorin cos I hear good things, and Bluefin on a different SSD (although if I was a gamer, then Bazzite, which is from the same team), to see if I get on with the different mentaility and overcome the issues I had with sandboxed apps before. Then I might be able to recommend something other than Mint.
I put Mint onto an old Dell laptop last night and everything seems to be working okay.
Gradually psyching myself up to switch my main laptop to Mint as well.
I have backed up all of the photos/music/documents, etc.
Just need to think what else I need to do before the big switch over.
I've just installed Zorin on an old windows laptop. I've set it up as a dual boot laptop. It was pretty straightforward to do. I can't see me using the Windows 11 OS too often now.
Spotify was in the software catalog and loaded through the UI. No terminal required. It also gave me a reason to tidy up that end of the shed which had become a bit of a dumping ground for random stuff I needed a home for. Â I even watched a vid when I was working on the BfE, way better than loading it on my phone.
Spotify was in the software catalog and loaded through the UI. No terminal required. It also gave me a reason to tidy up that end of the shed which had become a bit of a dumping ground for random stuff I needed a home for. Â I even watched a vid when I was working on the BfE, way better than loading it on my phone.
Yeah spotify is in the app store thingy for mint, also.
Inspired by this thread I thought I'd have a go at rebuilding an XP-era laptop last used for retro gaming duties. Turns out that 32-bit Linux doesn't really exist any more.
The last version of Zorin supporting i386 CPUs is 15.3 Lite but downloading that was more effort than I was prepared to expend. Seems my options are Debian or a couple of immediately forgotten random distros.
Inspired by this thread I thought I'd have a go at rebuilding an XP-era laptop last used for retro gaming duties. Turns out that 32-bit Linux doesn't really exist any more.
The last version of Zorin supporting i386 CPUs is 15.3 Lite but downloading that was more effort than I was prepared to expend. Seems my options are Debian or a couple of immediately forgotten random distros.
MX Linux-23.6 in 386 xfce flavour? Debian-based, but one of the easier ones (yes, I know your expertise)
Security support until June 2028
Blimey, gonna have to shop around to find something 32-bit now.
Ironically though, Steam is still 32bit on Linux? And needs 32-graphics drivers? And I thought only just stopped 32bit on Windows?
Inspired by this thread I thought I'd have a go at rebuilding an XP-era laptop last used for retro gaming duties. Turns out that 32-bit Linux doesn't really exist any more.
The last version of Zorin supporting i386 CPUs is 15.3 Lite but downloading that was more effort than I was prepared to expend. Seems my options are Debian or a couple of immediately forgotten random distros.
My suggestions would be either the XFCE version of Void or the LMDE 6 version of Mint (Debian based version).
Mint will be easier, but is older.Â
https://voidlinux.org/download/#i686
https://linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=308
Debian's a fine distro itself, but it's not configured out of the box as a desktop OS.Â
Cheers both. The whole Desktop Engine thing has always confused me. Like, do I want Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Xbuntu... how would I know, and indeed why should I care?
Honestly, my main driver here was just to see if I could. As I've often mentioned on STW, I have a 2008-vintage laptop which is running Windows 10 if not happily then certainly tolerably. I was curious to see if I could go older for the LOLs.
I've had this thing in the cupboard for a while now, it's a Dell D610 of I think around 2005 vintage. I kept it around because I liked the fact it had a 4:3 screen, I figured it'd be perfect for 8-bit emulation duties and/or running retro PC games. I'd have to look to see what it's currently running, it doesn't boot into a GUI but I think it has the bones of Xwindows(?) kicking about because the ZX Spectrum emulator needed it.
Just wondering for the lols if I still have my pre-XP Athlon, which I'm sure I tried Linux64 on before MS had a 64-bit SKU and before the Core2Duo macbooks that had the hybrid 32/64bit OSX (defaulted to 32bit unless you knew the key combo at boot time). Finding DDR2 RAM and PATA HDD might be an issue. Oh and booting ISO via USB2.
With the current price of RAM, keeping retro going might well be the order of the day. And MS for ain't gonna change their minds about e-waste. So Linux it'll have to be.
Weird though that it's gaming with its marginal gains squeezing out every last milli-FPS that actually holds the honour of the last dregs of 32bit.Â
Cheers both. The whole Desktop Engine thing has always confused me. Like, do I want Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Xbuntu... how would I know, and indeed why should I care?
Personal preference mainly. Â
XFCE - lightweight, quite UNIX-y - reminds me of CDE from Sparc stations. Not fully featured.
KDE - traditional windows like UI - very customisable - very fully featured.
Gnome - clean + polished workstation OS, unlike Windows/Mac - used to be quite like Mac OS 7 but it has morphed from version 3 onwards into its own thing. People who get on with it, absolutely love it.  I personally can't use it! Fully featured.
LX - very lightweight - windows ish. Not fully featured.
Cinnamon - similar to Gnome 3 but with a Windows like UI. Fully featured.
Mate - similar to Gnome 2 but with a Windows like UI. Less resources used than Cinnamon.Fully featured.
There are many others, e.g. Zorin and Elementary both have their own. Â
The best thing about Linux is there is so much choice and you can do what you want, rather than being dictated to and told how to work.
The worst thing about Linux is there is so much choice...
My recommendation is to either try some out, then go with what you prefer, or pick the primary version of whatever with its default experience. So I guess that's Mint+Cinnamon, Ubuntu+Gnome (tweaked to it's style), Zorin+?, or for hardcore gamers, Bazzite+KDE.
I guess Bazzite, SteamOS etc. picked KDE, cos it's solid these days, and kinda feels like Windows? (Not used it myself for 2 decades, but was kinda tempted).
It was the Gnome project team that cheesed me off, rather than Gnome. Told me it was my fault for using a netbook and I had no right to suggest to them ideas to make it more accessible on non-massive screen sizes. Sod them. Went to XFCE/Cinnamon the very same day. Eventually ended up on i3 (not for noobs), and only recently touched Gnome again with PopOS tweaked version. It's usable. For sure it's less buggy than Windows 8.1/10/11 (where i have had the same bug in all versions, on multiple machines, and the average responder on Reddit etc. when I try to find a solution doesn't know what the eff they are talking about).
Cosmic alpha kinda worked (but no way would I recommend to a new user). has a lot of potential, that should eventually be a recommendation for new users.
Niri piqued my interest (but is another not for new users)
We have IceWM on some work machines! Does the job.
I like the Budgie desktop, it's aesthetic is a bit Mac OS ish. Runs well on Solus. File managers are always the thing that don't quite live up to Explorer or Finder alhtough I can live with Nemo
The best thing about Linux is there is so much choice and you can do what you want, rather than being dictated to and told how to work.
The worst thing about Linux is there is so much choice...
My recommendation is to either try some out, then go with what you prefer, or pick the primary version of whatever with its default experience. So I guess that's Mint+Cinnamon, Ubuntu+Gnome (tweaked to it's style), Zorin+?, or for hardcore gamers, Bazzite+KDE.
I guess Bazzite, SteamOS etc. picked KDE, cos it's solid these days, and kinda feels like Windows? (Not used it myself for 2 decades, but was kinda tempted).
KDE for sure, rather than Gnome, I couldn't get HDR to work on Nobara gnome which is a bit of a deal breaker for gaming, KDE version is a bit more user friendly IMO, too.
I've never stuck with KDE, probably time I give it another try to see how it works these days. Have used Cinnamon for a good few years now, it's straightforward to use. Never got on with Gnome 3, just don't like it. Before Cinnamon, I used XFCE, it's good for systems with not much grunt, but before that I used to use Fluxbox, which is basically just the menu (which is fully customizable) and window manager, it's not a full desktop environment. With stuff like Fluxbox, there is though a host of applications that are built up around, and work with a variety of, bare bones window managers, which tend to bring uncommon functionality which you don't see elsewhere, so can build up unique systems.
For sure it's less buggy than Windows 8.1/10/11 (where i have had the same bug in all versions, on multiple machines, and the average responder on Reddit etc. when I try to find a solution doesn't know what the eff they are talking about).
I'd be curious as to what that is.
Yeh, win 10/11 are a lot of things but 'buggy' isn't one of them, IMO.
Chock full of telemetry, spyware, unwanted AI and all that crap sure, that's why I'm moving away from it, otherwise I wouldnt even be looking at linux really.
I used to view linux as somthing to use if your machine isn't up to the hardware demands of windows, but some distros are now real alternatives for a daily driver operating system.
I first really started looking at it more recently when win 11 launched as my old PC was a pefectly good skylake i5 but its not compatible with win11 for 'reasons'.
Funnily enough i was messing about today and managed to lunch my windows drive and I couldn't rescue it*, so I reinstalled, back up and running really quick apart from the hour or so I had to spend disabling all the crap that windows has turned on by ddefault.
*have backups people! one of my flash drives decided it was dead too, so had to buy a new one... teh amount of peopple I come across with stuff on USB flash drives and not backed up is worrying, they are NOT for long term storage, they are for data transfer!!
I'd be curious as to what that is.
The bug? or the nonsense solution?
Actually 2 main bugs. One is icons in the task bar that randomly become blank. And if the task bar is shown on 2 or more screens, what is/isn't blank may be different. And swapping to different virtual desktops changes which are/aren't blank. That one I think has been there since Win7?
Second bug is minimised windows that when unminimised appear off the screen. Once it is in that state, it is persistent for that app even after a reboot. Sometimes you can get it back by dragging another window the the edge of screen and use the autosnap/autotiling feature. That one might just be Win10/Win11.
When I googled before, I had one "solution" saying "you must be using Nvidia, it works OK for me on my AMD, try reinstalling the drivers", and another saying "I guess you have a Radeon GPU, works OK on my Geforce, try reinstalling the drivers".
Hint... it is 100% bog all to do with GPU drivers. I have that on 3 machines. HP laptop, Dell Laptop, Intel NUC. 2 Enterprise machines, so no, I can't simply delete and reinstall the drivers. Oh and if you hadn't guessed already, all 3 are Intel graphics 😉
Oh and the 3rd bug is Win11 new Notepad PoS. Where the text turns blank. Drag the window to any other screen, or even off the screen and back on, and the text reappears. That one is probably just a redraw bug in Notepad.
The first 2 issues are from simply trying to do what I've been doing in Linux for more than 2 decades, using the "new" virtual desktop feature. I gave up wasting time on trying to fix it, and just suffer Windows on work lappy. Got better things to do. Saying that, the first issue hasn't happened recently, so maybe MS finally got around to fixing it after 4 versions of Windows?
I have other (reproducible) bugs too, but they are what I would call MS Cloud (aka the superset of OneDrive, Sharepoint, Outlook, etc.), rather than the OS. But since Win12 will be cloud first, those will become "Windows" bugs in due course.
Still, it's a long way before they reach Lotus Notes levels of bugginess 😉
One is icons in the task bar that randomly become blank.
This smells like a driver issue. Either that or it's an app common to all your loadouts which is buggering things up.
Second bug is minimised windows that when unminimised appear off the screen. Once it is in that state, it is persistent for that app even after a reboot. Sometimes you can get it back by dragging another window the the edge of screen and use the autosnap/autotiling feature. That one might just be Win10/Win11.
What do you mean by "appear off screen"? If they're off screen then they're not appearing?
I used to see something this in like Windows 95 days. It was common when something overrode the screen resolution, or when I have the taskbar at the top of the screen and apps didn't correctly respect the screen origin. I used to retrieve them with [Alt-Space, M] which selects Move for the window, then either cursor keys or wiggling the mouse to snap them back onscreen. Â
Today though? I don't know.
it is 100% bog all to do with GPU drivers.
...
all 3 are Intel graphics
Um...
the 3rd bug is Win11 new Notepad PoS. Where the text turns blank. Drag the window to any other screen, or even off the screen and back on, and the text reappears. That one is probably just a redraw bug in Notepad.
This one is plausibly an issue with the new app but to be honest mate, all of these "bugs" sound like variations on the screen rendering problem and none of it sounds like a Windows issue. It's a sketchy driver, a buggy app or something else you're installing which is messing with things.
What's common to all your Windows machines which isn't common to most other people? That's your answer.
The only thing common that's not common to most people that I can think of is the multiple virtual desktop feature (because it's something pretty "new" on Windows, but something I've been using on Linux since KDE1 or before). Or the fact that the laptop get plugged in to multiple screen setups depending on which office I am in (except the NUC, which is fixed).
For the windows that maximise off screen I try various things to get them back, and one usually works. Common to all? Maybe some Windows GUI toolkit? OpenVPN Connect and KeePass seem to be the most affected. I shouldn't need to get them back. Windows window manager should remember where to place things, and if something's not compatible, then reposition.
You'd think that if MS eventually implemented a feature used by Linux users since 1997, where all the code is open source and viewable by all, they might stand a chance at actually getting it right.Â
Would be curious to know how many people actually know about this feature (especially as the icon is on the toolbar by default). Hard to say amongst colleagues since all our operational work is on Linux and necessarily uses virtual desktops. 6 of them, all pretty full on 43in 4k monitors, with a Windows lappy to the side.
I see the blank icons problem on Windows 11 as well, I think it's related to having multiple screens/virtual desktops. I have almost no hardware in common between the systems I see the problem on but they do all have virtual desktops and/or multiple screens attached.
Wife has the problem on her work laptop too, and that only has Microsoft stuff on it (Windows, Office, Onedrive, etc) so I doubt it's a software package causing it.
Well, I have managed to install Mint on my newer laptop.
It wasn't as straight forward as my older one.
At times it did not see the wifi and apparently the newer laptop was running RST on the drives and I had to change it to AHCI, which was a bit of a faff.
Anyway, all sorted now.
My primary driver for the change was that the two laptops I have ran Windows 10 well, but did not have the TPM chip to allow Windows 11 correctly. There was no way that I was going to bin them and buy new ones!
I use KDE quite happily ATM, only came back to it after a few years recently. I can't remember how current performance compares to previous.
apparently the newer laptop was running RST on the drives and I had to change it to AHCI,
Why, out of interest?
apparently the newer laptop was running RST on the drives and I had to change it to AHCI,
Why, out of interest?
The Mint installer said that it couldn't do it.
Funny thing is that the laptop wasn't running RAID.
One of those MS quirks, from what I read on the internet.
Anyway, it's done now.
Well, I've dug out the old old laptop. Seems it's currently running some creaky version of Debian, poorly. On an IDE spinnydisk, ugh.
Going to try Void this afternoon (which is XFCE), wish me luck.
The Mint installer said that it couldn't do it.
Funny thing is that the laptop wasn't running RAID.
I didn't mean why you couldn't, I meant why you felt you needed to.
Well, and this is why so many people use Windows.
I don't know WTF I'm doing and I've been spoiled by the likes of Ubuntu's installer going "Do you want to install now? Sure thing, boss, go put the kettle on."
It's alive. No network, no GUI, I don't care sufficiently to press on any further. Mint it is, then.
Well, and this is why so many people use Windows.
I don't know WTF I'm doing and I've been spoiled by the likes of Ubuntu's installer going "Do you want to install now? Sure thing, boss, go put the kettle on."
I think microsoft refugees (of which I'm one) really need to stick to the more mainstream fluffy/user friendly Linux distros, at least to start with.
I'd not heard of void, but I guess you have to ask yourself, what's it going to do for you that mint or ubuntu, for example, cannot do?
I'd not heard of void, but I guess you have to ask yourself, what's it going to do for you that mint or ubuntu, for example, cannot do?
...run current packages on i686 era hardware
...run current packages on i686 era hardware
👆🏻 I was editing that and ran out of time.
It's a very lightweight distro, so the installer is not as complete as something heavy like Ubuntu, Bazzite or Mint. It does however mean it can run current XFCE on old hardware.
Apols for the bad steer @Cougar try the release of mint I mentioned (LMDE 6)
No apologies necessary, it's appreciated.
Installing Mint is an altogether different experience. It is glacially slow but this is like 20-year old hardware so it's fairly astonishing that it works at all. Â
I've probably got other 2.5" IDE drives in my Cupboard O' Bits. I'm tempted to see if I can get W98SE going on it. 😁
Holy shitballs, it's just silently set up my printer.
WhyTF can't I ping the outside world anything then. 🤔
I think perhaps 2005 Wi-Fi needs fixing with a cable.
XFCE - lightweight, quite UNIX-y - reminds me of CDE from Sparc stations. Not fully featured.
Thanks for that trip down memory lane 🙂 can't remember the last time i heard CDE mentioned let alone when i used it last, buggy as **** i seem to recall, and soon as solaris 9 came out you switched to Gnome.Â
crap i'm getting on a bit.
/me goes off to grumble about graphical installers.
As predicted/hoped, an Ethernet cable resolved connectivity issues. Smashed 1GB of updates down in 1m 20s😁, not bad for 20-year old hardware. CMOS battery replaced also (despite proprietary bullshit).
It takes an eon to boot, a painful reminder of spinning platter technology, but once it's up it's actually quite snappy. I mean, it's not going to win any performance awards, but it's useable.
I'm liking Mint so far, it's falling into the "someone thought about this" bucket. That distro was a good shout, thanks.