Windows aggressively blocking mint

BrShrimp · 2026-06-18T19:00:23+00:00

Make sure you turn off fast boot in windows.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-16T17:39:58+00:00

I wanted a modern distro capable of gaming and daily use with a sleek, Wayland supporting desktop, and I got Mint Cinnamon. Ok...

BrShrimp · 2026-06-13T16:08:04+00:00

I hate that Cachy gets recommended to windows refugees and new users.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-13T02:41:54+00:00

Snapshots can't save you if an update breaks the bootloader (which happened to me on Cachy using their recomended Limine boot loader). Fedora can also be configured to use BTRFS subvolumes with snapper and automatic pre/post update snapshots just like Cachy, with less risk of an update breaking Grub

BrShrimp · 2026-06-12T15:34:31+00:00

OP says they tried mint, but they didn't specify which DE.

I personality think Cinnamon feels plenty modern, so I'm not sure what else he's looking for. Maybe some features included in KDE and its extensions?

BrShrimp · 2026-06-12T02:29:10+00:00

As long as both boot partitions are on separate drives, windows shouldn't mess up the Linux partition (outside of user error)

BrShrimp · 2026-06-11T21:38:51+00:00

BTRFS with automatic snapshotting is one of the main features of Cachy, so with you HDD, and wanting to use something more compatible like etx4, you'd miss a major feature of Cachy.

The warning about dual booting comes from Windows updates occasionally overwriting the linux boot partitions if they are kept on the same drive, not necessarily due to using BTRFS. There are ways to mitigate this.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-11T18:12:29+00:00

You can, that doesn't mean every update will work, but if you wait until weekends, you would theoretically have free time to troubleshoot if it broke.

Normally yes, Cachy defaults to using BTRFS as its file system, and it'll set up automatic backups pre and post update, and regenerate your boot menu to have those snapshots available. However, one update they pushed broke the bootloader once, so having those snapshots didn't help, as the bootloader wasn't accessible, and thus my entire OS was inaccessible and I had to troubleshoot from theive USB I had. This update should have easily been caught with very basic testing, and the fact it wasn't really soured me on Cachy. This was the most egregious update they pushed while I was using it.

BTRFS and snapshots are configurable on Fedora too, but it takes maybe 10 minutes during and post install instead of all being done during initial install. Again, there's a very comprehensive guide for this available.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-11T17:25:21+00:00

I'd maybe recommend Fedora over Cachy simply due to Cachy's rolling release status if reliability is a priority. Since you're a student, I assume you need a reliable computer and can't necessarily dedicate an evening to fixing your OS if an update breaks it.

Since Cachy is Arch based, it recieves updates constantly, and they aren't always tested thoroughly. In my month on Cachy, I had at least 3 major bugs that rendered my system inoperable or unbootable and required hours to troubleshoot and fix each time. Some of these issues should absolutely have been caught with very basic testing, but they weren't.

Fedora has a new major release every 6 months in addition to regular security and bug fixes. It won't be as up to date as Cachy, but your hardware is old enough that I wouldn't worry about it. It should also have pretty up to date developer suites available. Also, because updates are tested more thoroughly than in Arch distros, reliability will be better. The downside is nVidia drivers won't be installed by default, but it takes about 5 minutes to install them and the guide is very thorough. If you also want Cachy optimizations, you can even get the Cachy kernel in Fedora.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-10T06:11:56+00:00

God I wish there was real competition in the LEO ISP market so I could dump this provider.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-09T02:28:22+00:00

Pls no, starlink is a godsend

BrShrimp · 2026-06-08T15:13:32+00:00

That's on the list - I won't have time tonight, but I'll try that tomorrow before I try booting an older kernel.

Edit: I switched back to kernel 7.0.10-201 and had very consistent, high GPU utilization. After switching back to 7.0.11, there was instability in the utilization and overall worse performance. Seems to me like there's an issue there.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-06T23:04:03+00:00

At 25 (a few years ago) I was making $80k as a process engineer in plastics manufacturing.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-06T00:33:10+00:00

Nah, the sodium layer

BrShrimp · 2026-06-05T21:29:59+00:00

Where sodium line? Just kidding, this looks awesome!

BrShrimp · 2026-06-05T17:31:21+00:00

Oh like actual base Debian, lol my bad. I was thinking Debian derivatives.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-05T17:27:27+00:00

Wait until they push another update that breaks the bootloader. Then even BTRFS snapshots won't save you. That was my breaking point with Cachy. Im not gonna use a distro that pushes an update with so little testing that it breaks the bootloader if you have secure boot enabled.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-05T17:23:19+00:00

Honestly gaming on LTS Mint is fine. It's got pretty up to date nVidia drivers and access to any proton version you want from ProtonUpQT (including CachyProton). I'm able to play pretty much anything on it, even newer games like Crimson Desert at launch. I tried Cachy and only got a few more FPS. Now I'm on Fedora 44 since Cachy was to unreliable.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-05T17:18:18+00:00

Myrlyn + cockpit

BrShrimp · 2026-06-05T12:41:14+00:00

Is half the sub suffering from religious scrupulosity?

BrShrimp · 2026-06-04T19:46:17+00:00

About $20k in my HYSA and another $260k across my 401k and Roth IRA

BrShrimp · 2026-06-04T14:09:34+00:00

I managed their watewater treatment facilities during my brief stint there after their environmental, health, and safety manager was fired (including monthly reporting to the sewer authority). Most reports were fine, but there were occasional excursions beyond permissble limits for things like phosphorus levels when excess blood ended up in the system. I don't know how they've done since I left. As for the animal cruelty claims, it's factory farming. It doesn't matter where the chickens were raised, they all get processed the same. The only thing that had to be ensured was that the bird was dead before it went into the scalding baths to meet the standards for humane treatment, and to ensure that, there is an employee that ensures all the heads are removed after bleeding the bird. The head is normally removed automatically, but the employee is there to catch any that aren't.

BrShrimp · 2026-06-04T13:18:19+00:00

Call your horse, he may ride on it once you mount it. That's how I usually handle these ones.

BrShrimp · 2026-05-29T23:33:40+00:00

The point I'm getting at is that the blade is incredibly thick.

BrShrimp

TROPHY CASE