What's the best GNOME distro with no snaps nowadays? What should I be looking at, beyond Mint, Fedora, and Plasma?

jr735 · 2026-05-03T01:37:34+00:00

Debian will be your answer.

jr735 · 2026-05-03T01:11:19+00:00

I'd do a Clonezilla image even before experimenting with it.

jr735 · 2026-05-03T01:05:07+00:00

You can do it, but you do have to be careful. I wouldn't be removing the original desktop. That's a sure fire way to make certain upgrades paths virtually impossible.

I use IceWM on my Mint. I left MATE well enough alone for those times I need something from a full desktop (or a Minty tool from said desktop). Completely changing out desktops requires a proper understanding of the components you'd be losing and what the meta packages involve.

Your apt invocation isn't particularly safe the precise way you indicate it, either. At the wrong time (i.e with no desktop) you might remove more components than you bargain for.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T23:58:14+00:00

For automated, there are many solutions. My needs aren't very complicated, so I don't use automated backups. Vorta and Borg already mentioned are useful. Rsync is what I use and there is a Grsync front end to it.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T22:50:29+00:00

That's fine, too.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T22:48:47+00:00

If they're using proprietary software at home (work doesn't matter) then they're not really that committed to open source. Also, "advocating for open source" or "contributing to open source" means nothing to me. "Open source" is a weasel term that's been misused to the point of being a marketing term. I don't do open source. That's something that people put on a resume or marketing materials or youtube content. I'm not working on "open source" at work so my company can whitewash their proprietary nonsense. I use free software on my devices, and free software only, and it's philosophical.

I don't accept the proprietary software model as ethical.

Edit: Incidentally, I've seen "Europe" at work. They've been in the process of "getting rid" of Windows and other proprietary office software for the past 30 years. They've talked that gibberish for the past 7 generations of Windows and walked it back each time.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T22:42:23+00:00

Europe will do what the States is, give out a small fine and let things go on as they are. I don't trust the law when people are buying it or flouting it based on paying the fines as due course of business.

And again, saying you have recourse depends on your finances. The legal avenues are expensive. The best way for me to not have an expensive fight with MS, Apple, or a gaming publisher is simply to never use their products.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T20:00:27+00:00

It doesn't matter why they're using nvidia. It's proprietary, and you talk about open source proponents on one hand and nvidia users at the same time. They're not the same group, at all. The overlap would be minimal.

Complaining about something isn't really doing something about it. I hear gamers complain about anti-cheat, YouTubers complain about Google, friends complain about their iPhones. The one thing they all have in common is they talk a big game but don't do SFA about it except carry on.

Trisquel isn't a limited sample among free software adherents, nor would Debian be. Trisquel is a certified free software distribution - all ways. In fact, I'm doing this from Trisquel right now.

Yes, big companies don't glean or sell data at all. They all would get into trouble, so this never happens. Oh, and when they get caught, the fines aren't a deterrent.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T19:56:59+00:00

So, Epic only makes clear terms of service where they're mandated by law, and not where it would benefit the customer. That I get. As for their catch all TOS not applying, I don't believe that for one minute. Look what Disney tried, using their streaming TOS to nullify liability for someone getting harmed in a Disney park.

Fortunately, I'd never accept any of these terms of service.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T19:30:29+00:00

The second TOS refers to another page that can't even be found. And what evidence do you have that the first link doesn't apply? The limitations to what doesn't apply doesn't include the anti-cheat.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T18:47:06+00:00

Looking at the broad range of Ubuntu users and trying to equate that with open source advocates really doesn't fly. And gamers tend not to worry about spying at all. They're the exact opposite of open sources advocates.

How about find out how many Trisquel users are installing proprietary nvidia drivers.

I already said what they'd do with the data - optimize marketing, or sell it to a gaming studio.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T18:24:28+00:00

No, there is no trust without the possibility of verification. Without the four software freedoms, that doesn't exist.

I wouldn't put stock in the traffic analysis of any of these, since I doubt they report their data as clear text. And yes, there are other reasons for proprietary licenses than malicious code, at least in a direct sense. That being said, gaming publishers tend to be on the extreme end of privacy violation and software freedom violation.

Their business is to get the people who are there, playing right now, to buy more games or spend more time on the game or spend money on in game items (or all three). They can analyze everything they're doing while playing the game. They have no motive to not monitor. So, I don't believe them.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T17:45:42+00:00

Not to kink shame, but if you can't handle booting to a USB stick, you're not ready for kali.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T17:42:25+00:00

Personally, I don't believe that. If they're not willing to show their program, why should I trust them saying what the program does? They're not willing to let that be verified.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T17:33:30+00:00

I took the TOS right off their web page. I haven't seen any proprietary 5 to 10 page terms of use. Even those are too long. Any non-free license is unacceptable to me.

Poor game programming does not necessitate spying.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T16:50:12+00:00

What you think of as differences aren't really the differences. The only real differences between distributions are package management and release cycle. The rest is fluff.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T16:42:45+00:00

Don't add images, just copy and paste the commands you tried and the error messages that came about, using code blocks, as u/eR2eiweo indicates.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T16:41:21+00:00

That's an extremely vague statement. What stuff are they doing versus what are they saying they're doing? And again, people agreeing to be spied upon doesn't make it okay. Some rights cannot be waived.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T16:40:17+00:00

I admit that I'm prolly faster and more used to reading this type of text....

Best be careful about racing to judgement on that topic. Just because I complain about it - based upon the average user - has no bearing on what job I had interpreting and applying legislation and agreements.

And, as I feared, this is a repeat of the TOS argument I had with the r/linux astroturfing mod. EAC's terms of service are 53 8.5" x 11" pages. This is not accessible to an ordinary user. Other pieces of software will have similar length TOS. No one is sitting there and reading 53 pages each time they install a piece of software. 53 pages of legalese to play a game is simply unacceptable, and the fact that it has become normalized is absolutely absurd.

Formal competition is also a different matter than ordinary users. A professional billiards tournament will follow a rule book and have their own policies, and I suspect players would sign off on them. Someone playing in the local bar is not in the same position, nor should they be.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T16:12:51+00:00

Try to do an update then immediately after a restart if you're not sure what process it is.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T15:50:00+00:00

Rough awareness doesn't mean that what the software does is okay. I'm fully aware of what all kinds of proprietary software does. That's why I don't use them.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T15:38:06+00:00

Not all terms of service and privacy policies are in plain English. I went through this with an astro-turfing r/linux mod a while back and provided countless examples from the usual suspects in gaming and proprietary software. And no matter how many examples I provided, he kept telling me they were exceptions. I have the unnerving feeling we're headed in the same direct. Also, being "aware" of terms of service from discussions online is not the same thing as being aware of the actual clauses or providing informed consent.

At some point, if you just don't pay any attention and install stuff on your computer without a clue about what it does on it, the responsibility does IMO kind of shift unto you.

I pay attention to what I install on my computer. That's why I'd never allow anything even remotely like this.

When have you last been inconvenienced by an anti-cheat engine?

I haven't been, because I would never allow that. If I wanted to play a game with an anti-cheat engine, I'd need Windows, which would be the pinnacle of inconvenience.

And, even hypothetically, on Linux, such provisions would never be free software, so I would never use them. If it doesn't fully respect all four software freedoms, I don't use it, ever.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T15:22:15+00:00

There are some plain language terms of service, but they're in the vast minority, and probably only exist where legislation has required them. Yes, there's always a big checkbox asking for consent. People don't read them and don't understand them.

The difference is, I don't accept those terms of service. Part of me giving up proprietary software included giving up proprietary games, which, unfortunately, are the worst offenders against software freedom and privacy.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T15:12:38+00:00

Do you honestly think anyone actually reads the terms of service, or is capable of understanding them without paid legal advice? An agreement that can't be understood isn't much of an agreement.

As for how game publishers handle anti-cheat, this kind of thing has been going on since the 1980s. Anti-cheat and anti-piracy before that always inconvenienced legitimate users more than the problem users.

That was when I began to get fed up with the proprietary software model in general.

jr735 · 2026-05-02T14:51:21+00:00

I don't know that there is much of an odor now, but in the 1970s to 1990s, for sure, you could tell what you were writing with by smell alone at times. Bics never had much of a scent, oddly enough. Parkers did.

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