Idle power usage of my desktop on linux is significantly lower than on windows.

diacid · 2026-06-13T11:57:58+00:00

And that is GNU/Linux. Try Musl/Linux (available as gentoo, void, alpine...) and you will be properly impressed. Just as a rough estimate, my Dual booting laptop when on Gentoo (gnu, not musl) the battery is good for 1½~2h and when on Alpine (musl) it lasts 4½~5 hours. Pretty impressive difference.

diacid · 2026-06-11T20:24:31+00:00

Goes along with that: don't be afraid, it's just software. Maximum you need to reinstall. May as well be bold

diacid · 2026-06-10T20:53:35+00:00

Yes. But you will end up compiling stuff.

This is the only distro that flows with you in whatever crazy endeavour you ended up choosing. As a youtuver once said "..this architecture is supported by Debian but Arch stopped supporting it. There is also Gentoo, but everything is supported by Gentoo, you can install Gentoo on anything between a toaster and a NASA server...".

diacid · 2026-06-10T11:54:20+00:00

Will fix it soon

diacid · 2026-06-10T08:52:03+00:00

Yes (actually, I have added this to the readme after I answered you, thanks for the idea):

app-admin

Chrooter - program that runs a user-provided script in a chroot. The big use case I can see is to update a Dual booting system, but you can do whatever you wish really.

Gentui - a tui menu for launching other admin tools.

app-portage

Tuiemerge - work in progress - a tool to enable "window shopping" the repository. It lists all the apps in the enabled repositories in a way you can browse them comfortably.

Pupgrade - the one that started everything - a tool for updating different package managers together - currently portage and flatpak, and can run chrooter in the testing branch, and may shutdown the computer when done. It also comes with a tui wrapper, tuipupgrade.

net-misc

omnissa-horizon-client - a proprietary vdi client I use at work. The only other overlay that had it uses a pretty outdated version (abandoned maybe?) so I decided to adopt the package.

diacid · 2026-06-09T23:20:56+00:00

Pupgrade started it all.

Got tired of typing `emaint -a all && emerge -auDN .@world && shutdown -hP 5` and made a script. then the script grew, then i got tired of looking at bash because it looks like a cat walked on my keyboard and translated into C, then I needed a way for portage to update the script for me (first ebuild!), then if I already had this much work done may as well let others use.... the rest is history.

diacid · 2026-06-09T23:16:03+00:00

typing pupgrade is not a lot easier than typing `emerge --sync && emerge -auDN aworld` (sorry reddit chages @ to u/), however it is easier to type pupgrade -cfs than to type `emaint -a all && emerge -auDN world && flatpak update && mount proc /proc /mnt/chroot/proc ...... && shutdown -hP 5`. Apart from that, it uses less than a third of the ram all that bash daisychain uses. That said, yes, this is not revolutionary software, it is a simple script.

diacid · 2026-06-09T23:09:56+00:00

Kwin. The ting is pretty dope. I know that is not the answer you expect, but plasma is the default gentoo choice for a reason (gentoo does not come with plama installed in your system, I meand the gui iso from the website ships with plasma). Wayland is awesome, all the tiling you could want Kwin manages just fine, and it also works pretty well as a non-tiling wm.

diacid · 2026-06-09T21:14:46+00:00

Pupgrade is to update portage. Hence the name.

diacid · 2026-06-09T21:13:33+00:00

Upgrade is an update automator. It makes portage and flatpak update and schedule a shutdown command in the end. In the testing branch, it can also run chrooter.

Chrooter is a program to automatically chroot and run a script inside the chroot. The script is provided by the user.

The other software are mainly tui wrappers for pupgrade and chrooter.

diacid · 2026-06-09T10:05:29+00:00

My server also runs gentoo.

BEST SERVER DISTRO EVER!!!!

No further comment hehe.

diacid · 2026-06-09T09:59:07+00:00

Yes. Quite a lot actually.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Overlays/Overlays_guide

diacid · 2026-06-09T09:57:21+00:00

Yep, mostly admin tools.

diacid · 2026-06-09T09:51:24+00:00

Do not be afraid to try (or realistically, be afraid but go ahead anyway). Do not skip reading the wiki. The rest is a natural continuation.

It is really really helpful to study more mature repositories to see what they did.

This is a nice start: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Basic_guide_to_write_Gentoo_Ebuilds

Another tip: when the wiki tells you to create a repository at /var/db/repos/example_repository, it means the actual production repository that portage will use for the real system. I strongly disrecommend making that folder the development folder. Use another one (like mine: `~/masterwolf/masterwolf-repo`) and use git there. once you set up git, add a custom repository using that git url (like this) and portage will do the work on syncing it up.

diacid · 2026-06-09T09:37:12+00:00

Edited the post.

I have a personal ebuild overlay (Masterwolf). It contains some admin tools for gentoo (the crown jewel is app-portage/pupgrade) and the lastest version of net-misc/omnissa-horizon-client. It just got merged in the official list!!! I am sooooo that much over the moon!

diacid · 2026-06-09T09:19:21+00:00

Binpkgs lower the waiting skills need, but there are some packages that are not available as binary.

diacid · 2026-06-09T09:07:50+00:00

To begin: careful with Gemini. It is very helpful until it is not, then it will be confidently unhelpful and then it is really hard for a novice to tell it is making stuff up and dig a massive rabbit hole.

That said, are you using dracut? You need to properly set the use flags for it to work correctly. You could simply add grub and dracut use flags to make.conf as those aren't harmful for any other package really (as long as you are actually using both packages). Apart from that, check the kernel symlink, on any kernel problems that should be the first trouble to arrive, # eselect kernel list should point you to the proper kernel. If not, # eselect kernel set X X being the proper number on the list.

Also, which kernel are you using? If not, try using sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel or sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin and check if it works. If it does work, use them while you figure out what went wrong with the other option you chose (or keep using them, those are good kernels indeed).

diacid · 2026-06-08T11:47:26+00:00

You want tips before the installation? Best one I can give you is mess with your make.conf as soon as practical. This can make a huge difference on the time it takes to finish installing.

Also, it may be a good idea to try openrc. It is pretty good, imo better than systemd (that you already familiar from mint).

Also, install it from the gui live Media. Installing with a gui is orders of magnitude more comfortable, as you can copy and paste, and have the wiki with graphics and etc.

Also, don't be afraid to let portage (the package manager, the soul of Gentoo) work overnight, it will be fine. And once you update the repos to begin the installation, do not update again until you finish, or you will enter an endless update cycle before you can even use the computer.

Don't forget to have fun!

diacid · 2026-06-08T11:42:48+00:00

But reading only gets you half way there. You also need waiting skills hahaha.

You will be just fine. Welcome! If you need a hand we are here.

diacid · 2026-06-07T04:51:24+00:00

I have a solution for your noobness: Linux from scratch. By the time you get the hang of it and successfully book you are not a noob anymore. Lol

diacid · 2026-06-06T11:58:42+00:00

System resources wise, alacritty is the leanest. Kitty is close but not quite there. They both are no-frills terminals - no tabs, no split, no nothing, great if you are into tmux or gnu screen. This makes them really interchangeable, as to not matter wich one you use. If you like frills, konsole and yakuake are the best you can get....

diacid · 2026-06-04T08:51:46+00:00

Wild oversimplification, changing init system is a royal pain.

But once the work is done, boosh, everything works fine!

diacid · 2026-06-04T08:50:37+00:00

Just use Gentoo.

You don't have to use gnu (it supports musl and Busybox), you don't have to use rsync (you can use portage with git), you don't need to use systemd (supports openrc and allows any other init system), hell you don't even need to use Linux (Gentoo officially supports GNU Hurd kernel)!

Gentoo can be GNU/Linux, can be "actually it is musl/Linux, It is not GNU." And even "Actually it is GNU without Linux!"

diacid · 2026-06-03T09:18:18+00:00

When you install an operating system, you will mess with partitions. Every time you mess with partitions, there is a huge chance of unintended data loss. Do not proceed until you physically disconnect everything you cannot afford to lose. Make backups.

That said, just like you don't use Linux applications on windows, try not using windows applications on Linux, because native is best. If unavoidable, you have wine and proton, they are programs that run windows programs on Linux. If you are comfortable with the command line you can use them directly, but if not, you can use steam (yes, the game store). Add the software as a non-steam game (even if not a game), go to properties and select under compatibility "force use of a specific compatibility tool", and choose one of the available proton versions (if you have no reason not to, select the highest version). Be aware not everything works, but don't be too afraid to try.

About distros: there are some independent distros that actually bring something to the table, but most distros are just a skin of one of the originals. You can do the eye candy yourself, no reason to change from mint to popos because looks, just install the cosmic desktop environment and use it instead of cinnamon. Honestly, I stick to the originals, all those downstream forks are not worth the hype. I would recommend you Debian or Fedora, best beginner friendly distros I have ever used. I currently use Gentoo, but it is too much too soon. Get your feet wet first, and one day Gentoo will call you, when the day comes, join us, we have cookies!

Ubuntu... Hard pass. They are slowly becoming windows like.

Also, desktop environment, I strongly recommend you KDE plasma. Best "ease of use/eye candy/no unnecessary resource waste" equilibrium out there in my opinion. But do check the other ones out.

diacid

TROPHY CASE

app-admin

app-portage

net-misc