1. Recommendations for Notepad++ replacement. Desired features:
- Tabbed with ability to have multiple files open via tabs at the top
- find and replace with regex ability, find and replace over multiple files in folder, find pop-out that shows all the lines with the desired text and allows clicking to jump to them. 
- Ability to jump to line via inputting number
- basic tools for conversion like URL decoding/encoding and base64 decoding/encoding (or addons for such, no I don’t like pasting potentially sensitive info in random converter websites), 
- column select mode (alt on notepad++), 
- encoding settings switch
- code language highlighting, 
- dark mode (dark background option)
- line operations like trim trailing space (or all excess space), ability to view and manipulate (find/replace) symbols like end of line, whitespace, carriage return, etc.
- Not driven entirely by three dozen memorized keyboard shortcuts 
- I am NOT coding in this, I am at most editing some markup files (xml, lua) or doing some find and replace for updated functions, doing text manipulation, using as an intermediary step in managing large sets of data.
- Ability to open fairly large files without freezing up (e.g. 400mb text file opens instantly in NPP but locks up windows default notepad)

  1. I have an iPhone, I like to back it up and sync music via a cable to it using iTunes. Would it work fine to have a persistent Windows VM on Linux with iTunes installed? Any issues?

  2. I do some gaming. I own several games exclusively on the EA App (they’ve rebranded it from origin), the Command and Conquer series and Dragon Age at this point I think are the ones I don’t have elsewhere and care about. Anyone have any thoughts to share on that and how well it works? I know several of the C&C games are rated as “garbage” on WineHQ so that worries me. I have no worries about my Steam games given the work they’ve done and the fact they have a Linux client though I do worry about my GoG games a little. I suppose I could run these in a Windows virtual machine but I worry how well that will work, I’m not sure older games will necessarily take well to being run in a VM of a modern OS like Win10. I also off and on play WoW though I gather from WineHQ that it works well. I don’t do any competitive online stuff other than that though.

  3. How do Xbox One controllers work wired with Linux? Is there something I can install where it just works with supported games as it does on Windows or is it likely I’ll need to mess with things each time?

  4. Recommendations for GUI mpv frontend?

  5. Suggestions for an FFmpeg GUI wrapper? >> NOT handbrake <<. I already use that, it’s not useful when I don’t want to operate on video but only audio or only extract subtitles, etc. Preferably something easy to use but hard to master in that it works without too much tinkering as expected but it has a lot of depth and options? I’m looking for something that I can drag say an mkv file to with video and audio and subtitle tracks and I can choose to convert ONLY the audio which is say DTS-HD MA to FLAC or Opus and set the quality level, channels, etc. (I previously used a Windows software called xmediarecode)

  6. I use software called AdvancedRenamer. I’m looking for software on Linux that >> via GUI << allows mass renaming using things like replace <stringa> with <stringb> or adding text at the beginning or end of file names by pattern, regex, removing things by pattern or by count from the start end of a filename, incrementing/decreasing numbers in names by a set amount, that kind of thing. I like a preview window of the results before I click commit.

  7. Keyboard shortcuts. Control+C and V I believe work the same but is there a way to get common windows key shortcuts working in a similar-ish fashion on Linux? For example winkey+L locks the session without logging out but requires a password and I tend to do this all the time, multiple times a day, is there a way to get Linux to respond to those key-presses and do the same thing? Other key combos I like would be win+d for hiding windows and showing the desktop. Others I can probably deal with learning new combos but those two are pure muscle memory.

  8. I don’t understand Linux distro segmentation especially when it comes to software availability. On Windows it’s simple, there’s either a download for Windows or there isn’t and short of it being for something ancient like Win98 it’ll tend to just work with Win10 with compatibility enabled. But with Linux often there are multiple files for different flavors, one for Ubuntu, one for Debian, one for Mint, one for Arch, one for CentOS, etc. Sometimes there’s just one option for Linux but it specifies it’s for something like Arch. If I run into a software I need and it specifically indicates it’s for another flavor of Linux than the one I run, how likely is it that I can get it to work on another distro without any real trouble? (Real trouble meaning I need to do web searches and edit config files or add flags that vary by software to the executable launch)

  9. Last but not least. I’m looking for suggestions for a Linux distro to use that fits my needs.

I tried Ubuntu a couple of years ago and I hated it. Among other things the settings app was too simple and didn’t have 1/10th of the kind of options I am familiar with on Windows, it looked like the settings for a phone or smart system like a streaming device. I know GUI settings are not a strong suite of Linux but I have to admit I hate, hate, hate the idea of too much stuff via command line/shell or editing config files. That said if that’s how it’s going to be I think I might be able to deal with it.

I’d describe myself as a power user. I use arcane and strange programs from time to time to meet odd needs and every 4-6 months I find myself searching up some odd problem or need I have and pouring over old forum posts. I game (mostly older stuff). I use mods with games. I manage a media server among other services in my home so have to work with video files, audio tracks, subtitles, etc. I do not like the command line but I’m not afraid of it. Just because I can problem-solve and troubleshoot does not mean I want to spend my free-time doing so or babysitting an unstable distro.

So I’m caught between not wanting a beginner, simple-use-case (think someone who browses the web, edits some basic text or docx files and almost nothing else) distro AND not wanting one that’s bleeding edge experimental or super strange in execution so it’s breaking all the time or needs troubleshooting so I need to go into the terminal for every single thing I do or so I have to go and make forum posts asking for help every 4 months.

I do want something actively developed with regular and prompt security updates in response to vulnerabilities. So it needs to have a certain size and userbase, not be a bespoke hobby project.

I use an NVIDIA graphics card (1070 because I’m not rich and haven’t needed anything more yet) so I’ll need something that allows installation of the necessary (proprietary) drivers for that and doesn’t cause a big fuss with that if there’s a problem.

I am going to be using firejail and want to be able to use opensnitch firewall. I also need to remote desktop connection to a Windows server (GUI) and have a stable connection to that. I am also likely to have a Windows10 virtual persistent installation via virtualbox (unless someone knows a better option) which I will use for a few things but have no interest in using most of the time for common tasks or heavy programs which need to run native on Linux if I’m switching.

Strong preference all options offered be free as in beer (small 1-time fees are fine, subscriptions are not).

However they may be based on non-free licenses and have proprietary/closed source code if it’s the best option. (Do try and keep suggestions somewhat mainstream, don’t just search for me and suggest the first thing you find on github with all of 2 stars made by a user named notmalware 3 months ago or something else sketchy. I’m looking for personal or heard experience and suggestions. If I don’t get any I’ll search myself.)

  • verdigris@lemmy.ml
    30·
    2 months ago

    Based on this post I’m gonna say take it slow with a dual boot or live installation, if at all. You mention a lot of IMO fairly minor and subjective look and feel type criteria that indicate that you’ll be quite bothered by minor changes. Using Linux is going to involve major changes. If you’re not willing to leave your comfort zone and relearn a few things, might as well stay on Windows.

  • quinkin@lemmy.world
    192·
    2 months ago

    In the time it took you to write that you could have installed Linux and had a better idea than any of this back and forward.

    • 0ops@lemm.ee
      1·
      2 months ago

      They’re asking which distro. They said they already tried Ubuntu and didn’t care for it

  • ma1w4re@lemm.ee
    9·
    2 months ago

    1. Kate, Neovim, Emacs, +lots and lots more, pick your poison.

    2. QEMU/KMV can host windows guests pretty flawlessly, pain to setup though. I use it to work in visual studio for college stuff. USB passthrough should work. No idea about thunderbolt though.

    3. Native games work as expected, not native games only work through a translator either raw Wine or Proton (is better suited for games). They have frontends, such as Steam, Lutris, and other. Not all games work through translators. Consult protondb for games you want to play.

    4. Natively? No idea, didn’t play a single native game. Through Steam - flawlessly.

    5. Playing video through mpv has GUI. It has GUI. For videos. You might want to consider VLC, if audio GUI is a requirement. Or any other GUI audio player.

    6. Any DAW/video editor. I’ll bet my life on that 90% of them use ffmpeg. Tools like flacon most likely use ffmpeg. It’s everywhere.

    7. rename command. Probably dolphin and nautilus have mass renamers with a GUI, but I only used rename and it gets the job done.

    8. Depends on your desktop environment, kde probably has support for anything shortcut related.

    9. On Linux we usually don’t install random shit we download through browser. That’s what package managers are for, every base distro has its own package manager with its own structure. And if package managers are lacking then we get source code and build it. In very rare cases like Reaper DAW probably only then we download binaries.

    More about fragmentation: Linux uses ELF executables. Amd64 elves will work on every amd64 Linux machine (that has required libs). Some distros package apps into intermediary archives that are prebuilt into a more structure friendly to that distro way. If you install one distros prebuilt archive on another one, it might install files into different dirs and you will not know how to get out of that situation. All Linux software is available under every distro, if you include building from source as an option. If you really must download shit off of web and install it but it doesn’t display your exact distro follow these instructions: 1. child distro usually can install base distro’s intermediary archives and be ok about it, example: ubuntu is child to debian, popos is child to ubuntu. 2. Extract archive and locate the binaries, that’s it. Then put it somewhere in $HOME/.local/opt and ln -s fullpathtoappbin fullpathtolocalbinarydir or just run from $HOME/Downloads.

    1. I stopped reading around here, that’s way too much fucking text for me alone.
      • ma1w4re@lemm.ee
        3·
        2 months ago

        Little addendum to the last part of About Fragmentation section, since I don’t want to leave it unfinished and make people struggle if they follow my advices:

        $HOME/.local/opt is a “usual” (there are few more, I prefer this one) location for pre-built (downloaded) and built-locally apps that you don’t want to install system-wide.

        For example:

        1. I downloaded neovim binaries because I didn’t have time to build em (lazy ass), but at least I did it from their git repository.
        2. I untarred the archive using tar xvf nvim<press TAB>, or right clicked on the archive in a GUI file manager and clicked decompress.
        3. moved nvim-linux-x64 directory into .local/opt, and renamed it to nvim (usually done in one command, if using terminal - mv nvim-linux-x64 $HOME/.local/opt/nvim)
        4. Changed dir into .local/opt/nvim and found the executable, in our case something like ./bin/nvim.
        5. I link that executable into a directory for binary files that lies on the PATH (system checks PATH it to find shit), like this - ln -s /home/<my nickname>/.local/opt/nvim/bin/nvim /home/<my nickname>/.local/bin/nvim this command requires absolute paths and creates a SYMBOLIC link (you can read up on that if you’re interested). GUI file managers usually have functionality for creating symlinks, right click on file to find out.
        6. Some distros include .local/bin to path by default, while others don’t. Simple way to do so is open your .bashrc or .zshrc that’s located in $HOME in a text editor, and somewhere close to the end of file write export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
        7. I close and reopen my terminal. Nvim is now installed, by hand.

        Something like that. It’s all done just for organization and quality of life.

  • dinckel@lemmy.world
    7·
    2 months ago
    1. Pretty much any reasonably maintained editor has these features. Even without doing any programming VSCode is a good place to start, otherwise, a lot of desktop environments have their own editors, such as KDE’s Kate.
    2. You can use a vm, but I believe you can also just run iTunes through Wine. I haven’t done so personally, so mileage may vary.
    3. I do all of my gaming on linux, with the exceptions of games with an invasive anticheat. Have yet to find something that just plain does not work. Otherwise, performance is on par, or ironically, better in rare cases. Your first stop here should be Protondb and AWACY. With newest stable Proton, or Proton-GE, you will rarely have issues.
    4. Expect support for these
    5. mpv by itself does the job
    6. No comment here, i use cli.
    7. No comment again, I use cli. KDE has a batch renamer in the frameworks bundle
    8. Your usual shortcuts work as expected, although keep in mind that some are modified for terminal emulators, for example Shift+Ctrl+C instead of Ctrl+C. Otherwise, your desktop environment, or keybind manager of choice will let you change just about anything.
    9. Segmentation is mostly an illusion here. There are several major choices: Debian, Arch, Fedora, Nix, Gentoo, and SUSE. Everything else is a derivative of these. Some offer minor changes, some offer more considerable ones. Generally, the differences between Linux distributions is just the package manager. Find what works for you, and look from there.

    I suggest you try Endeavour. It’s a good all-rounder, and if you don’t like manual installation of Arch, it takes the effort out of that. Otherwise, it’s essentially the same. Simple, and just works. The wiki is your friend

    • lily33@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 months ago

      To add about the distro framgentation, and particularly:

      If I run into a software I need and it specifically indicates it’s for another flavor of Linux than the one I run, how likely is it that I can get it to work on another distro without any real trouble?

      You might have. Some software is distributed as a portable binary and can run on any distro. However, many installers are distro-specific (or distro family-specific, since they’re made for a specific package manager). For example, a software packaged for Ubuntu as a .deb file would install fine on Ubuntu or Mint, and probably install fine on Debian, but if you want to install it on Fedora or Arch you’ll have to manually re-package it.

      Most distro-specific software usually ships debian or ubuntu package - so you might go with that for that reason. Or Arch/Endeavor: while you’ll rarely see an official Arch package, most often someone will have already re-packaged it and put it on the AUR.

      That said, for the major distros, the desktop environment makes much more difference than the distro.

      • dinckel@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        Generally speaking, if something’s been published as .deb exclusively, someone’s already repackaged it in AUR too, so I personally never worry about it. Same story with Nix, which has an even larger repository of things in unstable

    • olympicyes@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      2 months ago

      VS Code hits on every single point that op asked for. I don’t totally agree on the keyboard shortcut concern but it’s not like we’re talking vi or eMacs.

  • m4m4m4m4@lemmy.world
    6·
    2 months ago

    Can’t answer for all your requirements but for the gist of it I’m guessing you’d like KDE. I guess you’d like Kate as your text editor and Krename as your file rename tool. It comes with some Windows-y keyboard shortcuts set by default as Win+L to lock the screen (and ask for your password).

    Can’t tell about ffmpeg nor mpv GUI frontends as I’m more of a cli person but I seem to recall there are several KDE/Qt frontends for mpv and it won’t be surprising if there’s one for ffmpeg too.

    As for your distro question I’d try Fedora if I were you, though you might feel adventurous and try with Arch (and surely you’ll learn a thing or two about Linux and your computer).

    Other than that, the nice people in here surely can give you better options.

  • mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    2 months ago

    I don’t get why you need an mpv frontent because mpv itself is a frontend but controls are keyboard based. If i has to use one without knowing keybindings, i would use VLC, instead of using a player which runs mpv inside it

  • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    I’d say play with Linux in Virtualbox or Hyper-V. I used the former before transitioning.

    Also, I’d say don’t use Ubuntu; it jumped the shark years ago and has lost much of its quality.

    I usually recommend PopOS for people new to Linux, as I find it to basically be decrapitated Ubuntu.

    I don’t personally use openSuSe (I’m a big Debian/XFCE guy), but its YaST settings are more comprehensive than other distros.

    However, I would warn you you might not be able to avoid config files and terminal sometimes, though. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, though; sometimes, the terminal and text files are the most efficient way to do something and a GUI simply can’t expose a program’s full power. That’s why I recommend you starting in a VM - you can have a bit of fun without the full commitment.

    As for ffmpeg, I don’t know that there is a good GUI. Honestly, though, learning command line ffmpeg isn’t the worst idea - I’ve found it very useful and something I got used to. If that doesn’t work for you, then best of luck finding a GUI.

    For trying to run applications designed for a different distro, you could use distrobox. However, it’s pretty rare these days that an application doesn’t have a universal Flatpak. Honestly, if an application is deliberately limited to one distro, I find it isn’t worth it and may signal low software quality.

    For notepad++, you could use something like VSCodium, but honestly, if you’re used to Notepad++, just run it under Wine.

    For virtualization, don’t use Virtualbox on Linux. It doesn’t use the built in hypervisor module, KVM, but its own proprietary one. I’d recommend the Virt Manager GUI instead.

    Most distros seem to have OpenSnitch in their repos.

  • glaber@lemm.ee
    3·
    2 months ago

    I can only confidently answer for some of these

    1. the Heroic launcher is probably what you’re looking for and it should work really well. You may also be interested in looking up Lutris and Bottles for other games.

    2. these should work 1:1 on most desktop enviroments from my experience. If not, they should be quite easy to configure

    3. most of the time software will be available natively as a Debian package, and then other distros. Sometimes there won’t be a native package for your system, especially if you use anything outside of Debian, Arch, Fedora or their derivatives. If that happens there’s distro agnostic Flatpak, which works a charm. You also have tools like alien or dpkg, which convert formats from one system to a different one. They are slightly hit and miss, but a great tool if you’ve exhausted othe avenues

    4. I vovch for what other people have said, Fedora KDE. It works out of the box, has lots of customizability and you don’t need to use the command line much at all. You might be interested in lagging one version behind (the three latest distros are supported at any given time, to allow people to skip one when updating) and install Fedora 39 so that any possible bugs are completely ironed out and compatibility of packages and programs is higher.

    I would also recommend Linux Mint 21.3 (for the same reasons as I said to lag one version behind with Fedora, I would recommend to only update between one X.3 version and the next X.3 version) but the Cinnamon desktop environment might be a bit simple for what you’re looking for. It’s made for people coming from Windows though, so it will feel very familiar.

    Boot them both up as a live system and fiddle around with them for a bit. You can keep your session and everything in it as long as you don’t unplug the pendrive or reboot the computer, so you can reslly take it for a week- or a month-long spin if you really want.

    • winterayars@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      2 months ago

      For running applications: in addition to Flatpak (which is “cross platform” in that it works on most/all distros) there’s also Appimage. Appimage is the most like downloading a Windows application (technically it’s even more Mac-like) because you download a self contained program that just works. Not every application has a Flatpak or Appimage option, though.

  • gnuhaut@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 months ago

    1: Probably any non-basic text editor has all these features. Except the tabs, which are not available by default on vim and emacs, but I think KDE’s kate (?) and Gnome’s gedit might have tabs by default, maybe. All the cool kids use vim or emacs though.

    4: Haven’t tried but arch wiki says XBox One controllers work by default over USB. I will say that I have seen games not recognizing my (not XBox One) controllers sometimes when not running through steam, but in general the controller situation seems good on Linux.

    5: mpv is perfect as it is

    7: I know you said GUI but that’s a shell one-liner if I’ve ever seen one.

    8: Yes there are Windows-key shortcuts (often called “Super” key on Linux) available for window management. The exact shortcuts depend on the window managers / desktop environment and are usually configurable.

    9: Yes most anything works on any distro. For best results though, stick to mainstream distros and don’t be fooled by “trendy” distros. Those are not necessarily mainstream, even if you think they are based on what teenagers spam on reddit. If it doesn’t have at least a 10 year track record, it’s probably a fluke and won’t be supported in two years.

    Nvidia: Just google whatever your distro + Nvidia, look for the official wiki or whatever, and follow the instructions. It shouldn’t be that hard on any distro. Never install the nvidia driver through nvidia’s website, that won’t work out well. The nvidia driver is system/kernel level software, you cannot install it in a way that isn’t specific to your distro without breaking something.

    I personally do not like KDE, but you seem like someone who should go with KDE, which has lots GUI knobs and twists, which should suit your tastes. Windows power users tend to love that shit.

    Also, for god’s sake, try to learn some shell commands, I swear it’ll make your switch easier.

    Personally, my favoritism distribution is Debian, I would recommend it. RTFM though.

    • amazingsparrow@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Thank you so much! Especially for the NVIDIA advice and it does seem like KDE is the best option. I’ve used some KDE stuff before and liked it.

      However I disagree on the the shell one-liner for renaming. I often do complex multi-step operations. Incrementing and decrementing for example one set of numbers in naming while not touching another, changing capitalization, removing x number of characters at the start or end, and so on. The time saved by a GUI compared to remembering and typing all this out (and dealing with my errors in syntax) each time is easily worth some money to me. I already have a number of scripts I use for managing my media and working with mkvtoolnix for instance but looking at how I do renaming, the number of scripts would be endless and editing them each time would be more trouble than it’s worth. I’ll find something though, this I’m willing to spend time on to save time haha.

  • flashgnash@lemm.ee
    2·
    2 months ago

    Check protondb instead of winehq, it’s normally accurate and something like 95% of games are playable now

    Though no games outside of steam, personally I don’t have many games on anything other than steam that I want to play so I don’t know how other launchers fare (though heroic is a thing for epic and gog)

    Notepad++ I couldn’t say because I only really use terminal based stuff now with the aforementioned million shortcuts, but I think kde’s built in one (Kate) does exactly what you want

    Nvidia drivers aren’t that much of a problem anymore, last big issue for me was explicit sync which they fixed a couple months ago (though some distros make it a bit of a pain to install them)

    Rdp not an issue unless the machine you’re rdping into is using strict AD settings that only allow connections from other AD machines, you should use Remmina imo it’s very good

    Xbox one controllers should work fine, I don’t own one but I’ve used controllers that present themselves as Xbox one controllers

    Only controller that hasn’t just worked perfectly straight away is PS5 and that was because of a Bluetooth setting

    As for distro, bazzite is probably a pretty good one to look at, it’s immutable so there’s a limit to the amount you can break it though sometimes it can make more technical things difficult to do

    MPV is a frontend by itsself, just set it as your default in your file browser and it’ll play video files if you open them

    Depending on the game modding can be a challenge. If mod organizer supports it you can usually get it to work fine, anything that supports mods by default will generally be fine and Minecraft is pretty much the exact same modding experience as windows

    While you can do a lot on Linux without the terminal now you shouldn’t be afraid of it as it can often be the quickest and easiest way to do things. It’s one of the big advantages of Linux in general that the terminal experience is so good

  • anon5621@lemmy.ml
    2·
    2 months ago

    About 1 i am using https://github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext Feels very close experience to notepad++

    2.I am using ifuse without any need for itunes i simply copy paste files as it would be android phone i am using it in cli ,but u can try to use https://github.com/Helltar/idevicegui

    1. I am using celluloid or smplayer which is frontend for mpv,mplayer and other,great tool.

    2. U can customize almost any shortcut u want

    About distribution i like linux mint cinnamon for me it feels quite polished and also using arch linux with kde,but i don’t think it’s for u,at least for now.But at the same time arch have the biggest repository of any kind of programs comparing with other distros + aur .i am running it on everyday bases and mostly everything just works except if nvidia driver break something from time to time.

  • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
    31·
    2 months ago

    As others have already said, Kate should work as text editor. I think, the only thing that’s not built-in is base64 en-/decoding, but you can set that up like this:

    That’s for decoding. For encoding, just change the name to “base64 encode” (exact name doesn’t matter) and remove the “–decode” from the Arguments-field.
    This relies on a CLI utility called base64, which is going to be pre-installed on most distros.
    It’s not entirely perfect, because it’ll always insert a newline, as that’s part of the base64 output. If you do want to get rid of that, you could write a tiny script and then call that script instead, but obviously, you don’t have to.

    You can also install Kate on Windows, if you want to give it a test-ride: https://kate-editor.org/
    (The base64 CLI won’t be available on Windows, though.)

    • Scrath@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      2·
      2 months ago

      Not OP but I’m curious about one thing I personally miss with kate.

      Do you know if it is possible with kate to keep temporary text files open after closing the program the same way notepad++ can?

      • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Hmm, Kate has a feature called “Sessions”, which might be able to do that.

        You can create just one session and then in the settings, set it to always load that session:

        Well, and there are those two checkboxes, which I’ve also marked. The “Newly-created unsaved files” sounds like what you want, but seems to be broken on my system. It just reopens an empty file for me. Is that also broken for you?

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    TBH: tl;dr (…but read ~1/4 and skimmed the rest.)

    Emacs can likely do most, if not all, of what you’re looking for.

    As far as distros, go with either Fedora Workstation or Silverblue. If you can run SB, try to avoid messing with the base system as much as possible, skip using the toolbox containers system and just use distrobox. With distrobox, you have almost all Linux distros available as containers, so you build on them. The only exception I know of is NIX. You can’t run NIX in distrobox. You probably could run the NIX package manager, but that involves this weird setup where a user owned directory exists in / root. Personally, this is just too weird for me to use it. I expect all user activity and configuration files to be confined to /home/$USER/

    Fedora just works, but try and lag behind the release cycle a little bit. Like right now F40 is pretty solid, but there were some issues in the first month or so after F40 first came out. I have lagged in every release since ~F28 and never had issues. I switched to F40 within the first week or so and a few packages were wonky. Basically Python was super fresh and did some odd stuff with containers where it did not work without manually removing and replacing Python in each container. I think that was the only manual intervention issue I’ve had with Fedora. I have a 3080Ti laptop with the 16 GB GPU. The Anaconda system in Fedora builds the Nvidia kernel module automatically in the background each time the kernel is updated. It works flawlessly, even with secure boot enabled.

  • Malcolm@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 months ago

    Can’t speak to all of your points, but the main thing I’d recommend is to try distro hopping with some of the common recommendations. If you have a spare drive that would be the easiest. Mint and PopOS are probably the first two worth trying to see how things go.

    In terms of games, you should really be checking protondb for compatibility. It shows the C&C series generally looking pretty good. If you’re out of the loop, Proton is essentially an improved version of Wine that Valve maintains that’s focused on games, but it’s free for anyone to use.

    For text editors, there are an insane number of options. I’ve been pretty impressed with Kate from the KDE folks. Ties in best with a KDE-based flavor of Linux, but works great everywhere. Codium is a fork of VSCode that strips out all of Microsoft’s telemetry. Also great to use and very powerful with insane flexibility through plugins.

    Regarding fragmentation across distros, you’re mainly looking at RPM-based (Fedora, Suse), deb-based (Debian, Ubuntu, and a whole slew of others based on those). Most programs will be bundled up as a deb or rpm. Efforts have been made to make more platform-neutral packages for distribution like Flatpaks, Snaps, and AppImages. Those have their quirks, and people have strong opinions about their merits and weaknesses, but generally you’ll be able to get those to work on any distro without much fuss. There are some cool utilities like Distrobox which do a pretty good job of setting up containers for different distros so you can install and run their native packages.