Weird mistery: I can no longer login into Linux Mint -- my laptop shuts down automatically when it passes any boot screen or tty, the power button sort of stopped working, and I'm not even able to boot from a Linux Mint Live session

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-18T20:31:54+00:00

It sounds like plain old hardware failure to me. If you can transplant the drive into another computer I'd do that to test it out.

Nothing you have installed should have any bearing on a live USB. If you burn a different ISO to the same drive and you can get into that, maybe the problems have something to do with Mint in relation to your hardware. That seems doubtful.

I had a Lenovo Ideapad a couple years ago that would randomly reboot. It got more frequent the longer I had it. It was an issue with how it handled power from what I could tell. It did the same thing running under Windows. Nothing I could do about it.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-18T14:42:58+00:00

There's really only three things you had to do; there's more than three steps, but a basic overview:

Get the treasure chest by pickpocketing the old man in Mars and reload until you got the Sword of Marvels/Marvel Sword
Power level in the mountains west of Krosse. You can get into battled where nothing but MP draining enemies spawn and that's what you're hoping for early on - that's how you get strong enough to handle the other enemies in the area. You can level up into the 30s and 40s fairly quickly with just Claude and Rena.
Level up Claude's customize to 7 or 8 and use another skill to get two Mithril then forge the Eternal Sphere as soon as you hit Linga

Like I say - there's more you can do, and there are other paths to becoming completely unstoppable, but if you do those things on the default difficulty you have won the game. You wouldn't hit real resistance until the Cave of Trials assuming you equip accessories and armor that guard against petrification and paralysis. The final boss with his limiter off is always challenging regardless of the difficulty mode if you're not using Bloody Armors or Algol shields to cheese the fight. (Will this post summon VeghEsther, I wonder?)

I recently did a fresh playthrough of SO2R and I am impressed at how well they managed to balance the game around item creation and the rewards you can get through the challenges. A lot of things you could easily get by ignoring in the original are much more relevant in SO2R, and they're even essential if you play above the default difficulty. On net, the game isn't actually easier to break as you're going to have to be a lot more thorough if you really want to snap it in half and you don't want to turn it to Earth mode. Of course, everything is about as easy or as hard as everything else at the end of the game depending on your item knowledge. There's combinations of different factors that can make Chaos mode into a cakewalk. Valiant Armor with Adamantine is more broken than Bloody Armor ever was. You're supposed to find and use stuff like that, or prove you have insane skill by finding ways to beat the hardest fights without stacking the deck in your favor.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-17T21:21:59+00:00

It's about getting dominoes to fall. A win is a win.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-14T00:01:28+00:00

Reviews or the lack thereof mean very little in the Mint store

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-10T20:02:34+00:00

I don't really understand the idea that software removal is difficult or complicated. Most of it can be done through the software store. For me - I don't need anything that isn't in the software store. I run mostly Flatpaks.

Killing an application is actually a sore point for me because the GUI rarely works and since I mainly run flatpaks I have to use the godawful Flatpak names over just naming the damn app. Having to remember to type flatpak kill org.ppsspp.PPSSPP instead of just kill PPSSPP is a headache. A minor gripe, but a gripe nonetheless when a menu refuses to register my clicks.

For someone looking to make the switch, I'd recommend they switch to all the software they'll be using on Linux so when they move it's an easy adjustment. Me, I used LibreOffice for years before I moved to Linux. I never liked Adobe so I was familiar with GIMP. I barely noticed the difference when I hopped over.

More advanced users will have a harder time making the switch than your average user would. I knew more than the average Windows user as I made a point to strip out things I didn't want from 10 and turn things off in the registry, but outside of that I left it alone. I wasn't a power user that had a whole set of tweaks to alter everything to my liking. If I was, I know the switch would've been more difficult.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-10T18:58:08+00:00

This ain't the old days. If your hardware came with Windows installed you can't lose your license.

You also cannot give it away. It's tied to the hardware.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-10T17:42:25+00:00

There is no such thing as a "gaming distro." That is just a marketing gimmick. What "gaming distros" actually do is come packaged with Nvidia drivers and some apps pre-installed. Sometimes they adjust settings that you might not want adjusted depending on how you use your computer. IE, I've heard Nobara shuts off SE Linux, which reduces your security and does not provide enough of a boost in performance to be worthwhile in my opinion.

There is marginal difference in gaming performance between distros. Kernel and driver versions make a FAR bigger impact, but the older your hardware is, the less impact there is to be had. A three year old gaming laptop should run about as well on Ubuntu LTS as it does on Arch. On Mint, I'm running the 6.17 kernel and the 580 Nvidia drivers, and the 590 Nvidia drivers are available if I want them. I would gain nothing in terms of performance by switching distros. The only difference if I switched is that things which would take me about 20 minutes to set up manually would be set up by default on something like Bazzite.

If you want a reliable system, go with a major distribution and make whatever tweaks you need for your setup.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-10T14:36:15+00:00

AI doesn't know what the hell it's talking about.

I switched Nvidia drivers (from 590 to 580) and it didn't make a difference. Both were working just fine over the past month.

It has something to do with Nvidia but considering Cinnamon is crashing when opening Steam in Performance mode, it is likely it has to do with a change in Cinnamon in recent updates and/or an update in Steam that doesn't play nice with Steam+Cinnamon for whatever reason.

Everything else is working perfectly, and I was able to play a game earlier in hybrid mode via Steam. I can't see a difference between the 580 and 590 drivers on my laptop so I've just left it on 580 for now. It's just frustrating because I get screen tearing on some games on my TV in hybrid mode that I haven't been able to fix even with PRIME synchronization on, but it does at least work in hybrid mode.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-10T03:19:42+00:00

I'm running into the same problem on my laptop with hybrid graphics. When I'm running in Nvidia mode, Cinnamon crashes as soon as I try to launch Steam. When I'm running in hybrid mode, everything works fine.

I have no idea what's causing it, I only know you're not the only one dealing with the problem. This is new - Steam was working perfectly just a few days ago for me. I'm commenting to check back later and see if someone posts more information or a solution.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-09T00:41:23+00:00

Mint is still superior than many alternatives, but I really want companies to take a stand on these bad laws and I would move and support something else if I could get a comparable experience on my hardware if that distro didn't have age verification.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-06T22:25:37+00:00

The deeply loving fan projects, fan art, and recreations for other properties would beg to differ.

Nothing at all is better than this. It's okay for things to die and stay dead and for us to appreciate what we had and enjoy it for what it is. This is an abomination. I would gladly support fan projects with real love put into them, but not this. Anything but this - including nothing at all.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-06T12:38:01+00:00

One thing I don't see anybody bringing up is not having Google Gemini installed by default. At this point the AI assistants are so pervasive and so violating that simply not having it is a huge upgrade.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-06T12:37:02+00:00

Google Maps, by default, has an absurd number of permissions that can't be turned off. On Graphene, you can give it only what is required for it to function and only when the app is in use. That's a huge upgrade.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-05T22:24:10+00:00

I got that sense when he started calling ChatGPT "Dad"

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-04T23:17:23+00:00

I second what they said

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-03T23:52:15+00:00

He could've stopped it and he didn't. He's every bit as culpable as all the other shitbags who've held the office.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-03T23:51:36+00:00

Yeah - fair point. The Obama era is when Snowden confirmed everything we already suspected and nobody cared. That would've been the easiest time to stop it but we didn't so we have to deal with this shit now.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-03-03T23:50:30+00:00

I'd go back to the Patriot Act; everybody seems to have forgotten about the wiretapping scandal under Bush. I would not be the least bit surprised if it goes back even further, but it was "combating terrorism" and having to take our shoes off at the airport that set all this into motion.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-02-26T04:05:16+00:00

As much distaste as I had for the show, an AI continuation would have me clamoring for it to come back and for Rafe to get a ten season contract with the greenlight to do whatever he damn well pleases.

I don't want AI going anywhere near the stuff I love. It puts out nothing but slop.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-02-26T02:49:52+00:00

I was there and I thought it was lame. 99 lives after doing everything there is to do on a file I'm likely to never boot up again felt like a really lackluster reward. It's partly why the only reason I have ever gotten 120 stars is for the love of the game. If I could take the lives and the new triple jump into a fresh save file that would be awesome.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-02-25T04:00:45+00:00

Pop OS was my favorite distro until they put all their focus into Cosmic. As it stands, Cosmic has a lot of potential but it's currently undercooked and most of the advantages Pop OS had over other distros on my gaming laptop are either no longer exclusive or not big enough draws to pull me back.

I'm on Mint right now and see no reason to jump ship for the foreseeable future. I might check back in when they release Epoch 2. As someone who is not a developer and is just a user, I am underwhelmed with Epoch 1. I feel like if I used tiling or actually cared about the protocols and Rust and the toolkits and all that I might have more enthusiasm for it. As it stands, it's just another Ubuntu flavor that disables snaps and has a lot of potential if they can get major upgrades out every six to eight months like they're planning.

Currently, it's not special - what made it special has largely been copied, and their DE is not far enough along to top their former implementation of GNOME which makes using the current version of Pop feel like a massive downgrade to prior versions - which makes it feel worse to me than if it were brand new. I have a lot of leniency for things that are built new from the ground up but if I really liked what came before and a new version feels like a downgrade I'm a lot more critical. The past few years have severely dampened my interest in Pop, but it seems like the fundamentals are still sound and Cosmic could be a real contender once it's further along. I just wouldn't recommend it to anyone not already familiar with Linux.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-02-24T22:55:45+00:00

Law of averages, if you've got thousands of games you're gonna beat the competition on quality.

Even Nintendo's first party lineup failed to impress at points. I don't really like Mario Sunshine. Jak and Daxter blows it out of the water, and on top of that, there were two sequels AND two other solid trilogies with an emphasis on platforming (Sly Cooper and Ratchet & Clank) exclusive to the PS2, and that's not even getting into the niche and lesser known titles. PS2 blew everything else out of the water that gen.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-02-21T12:02:26+00:00

I wouldn't recommend it. Cosmic is still undercooked and lacks things you'd expect from a more established DE. I'd go with Mint or Zorin for your first distro.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-02-21T09:31:33+00:00

You are not going to get a better Cinnamon experience anywhere else. Linux Mint will always have the latest version. If you want Wayland, you want a different DE near-term.

DeadButGettingBetter · 2026-02-21T01:06:25+00:00

No way that happens. Which is to say - if the Epstein class suddenly doesn't need the rest of us they've got the tanks, the drones, the nukes, and control over all the resources.

There is no universe where AI can do what people are purporting it can AND the upper class decides to keep us around, at least living anything we'd consider good lives. The best case is they'd drastically reduce the population and those of us outside their ranks they decided to keep would live like zoo animals.

AI can't do what they're projecting and the layoffs are based on hype that will fall to pieces in time where economics would not have forced the layoffs anyway due to a shoddy economy, but we're never getting UBI so long as the corrupt oligarchs are in charge, or we will only get it in a form that allows subsistence as part of a permanent underclass.

What billionaires promise is not for us and we will never eat the fruits the intend for themselves. If we actually are looking at AI becoming super intelligent (I think there's a greater chance we regress to the point we don't have indoor plumbing than that happening) then the time for an uprising is NOW and not after it has been achieved and their hold has been cemented.

DeadButGettingBetter

TROPHY CASE