I’ve also heard positive feedback from people who switched from Mac to Mint.

I would choose Mint.

Thanks. I don’t remember anymore how I did it exactly and can’t find the particular page that gave me the tip (It was on the Mint forum, discovered it by accident), but I can say that I didn’t run it as service but still with root privileges. It’s weird that it worked in roughly 95 % of all startup/resume cases. Maybe this solution was based on a script function that’s actually obsolete and not fully supported anymore, maybe a bug, who knows. I switched to manual execution two years ago.

Thanks for the links. I will have a look, didn’t even know about kernel.org, nobody before you mentioned it.

I suspect the polling rate to be responsible because the movement of all USB mice turns out to be incredibly slow and choppy. A few years ago it was the worst, it looked and felt like it was down to 2 Hz. This got slowly better with kernel updates, now it seems to be around 8-10 Hz but that still makes using USB mice pointless. The mouse problem always occurs no matter if the machine is close to idle or doing a lot (with or without USB, doesn’t matter) and no matter which brand or model.

I also wrote a script to apply gamma correction via xgamma whenever the machine starts or returns from standby (because gamma isn’t remembered and returns to default). A little inconvenient in comparison to Windows or Mac. I would be okay with that - if the script would get executed whenever I start the machine or go out of standby. Which is not the case, sometimes it just doesn’t happen and I have to do it manually. So what’s the point of trying to automate anything then if Linux does things whenever it feels like it?

Yes, there are applets for gamma adjustment which also remember settings. But it turned out updating them crashes Cinnamon when it tries to restart (depending on the kernel version), forcing me to force a shotdown with the power button. This is one of those problems that keeps disappearing and reappearing for years. At some point I had enough and decided to use xgamma.

It’s all those little inconvenient and unreliable things that keep me from using Linux for anything that goes beyond browsing the web or doing office stuff (not mentioning missing drivers). I end up spending too much time with maintenance or finding workarounds, ultimately serving the machine more than the other way around.

I would be interested. So far I can’t say that I have ever been helped on social media or dedicated forums when it comes to Linux. It went mostly like this:

Me: “I have problem X. How can I solve it or at least get closer to a solution?”

Answer: “Lol, you idiot, you don’t even know how to do that!”

Me: “No, I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. So what do I have to do? Edit a certain script? Get a certain program?”

Answer: “Grow a brain you noob!”

(Rinse and repeat)

Alternative answer, rarely: (Crickets)

I came to two conclusions because of this. First: The Linux community has the highest density of trolls of all communities. By far. Second: None of those people actually knew the answer to any of my questions, otherwise narcissism would have kicked in at least once and made someone slip a solution, just to brag with their knowledge and skills. Which means that the Linux community is also the least tech-savvy community as well. By far. So if someone actually knows something about Linux, they can’t be found in any Linux-dedicated place. At all.

Everything I learned about Linux to this day is based on trial-and-error. But I don’t have the time anymore to do that and it’s in general too time-consuming to reinstall distros over and over again because I went too far when trying something new. Currently I’m using Mint to browse the internet or do office tasks. But I would like to do more, like running certain Windows programs like DAWs with low latency. Or raising the polling rate of USB mice above 10 Hz (as in ten - that’s not a typo). Fortunately, copying or moving more than 1 GB to or from USB sticks without crashing the entire machine (no matter if NTFS or ExFAT) was solved last year, probably because of a kernel update. Well, it’s a work-in-progress-project, I know that Linux is more of a beta version of an OS and it’s free, I’m not complaining about such issues. I’m experimenting, having a look what can be done.

I’m okay with things actually not being possible. I would never complain about ReactOS not running modern Windows programs either. But I’m tired of Linux trolls claiming all kinds of stuff without ever providing any description, tutorial or evidence. And I’m tired of them insulting me because I don’t know something they obviously don’t know either. It’s ridiculous. So yeah, I’m still interested in talking to a single person who might actually know something and who is not part of “that Linux community”.

I have been out of the loop for a while so please excuse my question: Is it really necessary nowadays to let NVIDIA software connect to the internet to enter/change the graphic card settings? Years ago they only had this bullshit tool for looking up pre-made settings and an update agent, but all you had to do was to not install both when running the driver setup. I can’t even remember the name of them, deselecting this crap became like muscle memory. Did NVIDIA really change that in the meantime?

I mean… they did tell the truth, didn’t they? When I think of Windows 11, terms like operating wouldn’t be on my list…

So instead of three simple mouse clicks I’m supposed to say “Open mixer channel 34, then open the second insert plugin, select the unlabeled potentiometer that is located in the second row and kind-of third column, then turn it to 30 %, wait, no, not the amp potentiometer, the unlabeled one in the second row and kind-of third column, no, the one to the left of the current one, no, not this one, not this one, not this one…”

A little bit like early graphic programs where you had to type in coordinates and color values but way slower, unprecise and totally unreliable. Sounds fun, I bet this new Windows will be loved by all musicians and audio engineers and graphic designers and video editors - if they even manage to log into their Microsoft account while suffering from a common cold (“Log me [cough] in with Boat[cough]y[cough]McBoat[cough]face[cough]42!”). Looks like the guys at Microsoft had their final dose of sodium bromide.

All those platforms work the same way. In the end it’s all about the same social dynamics, about control. “We are the alternative to all the shitty peer groups out there! Join us!” is one of the oldest tricks in the playbook. There is no alternative. Because it’s all based on human nature.

Fixing social media is like fixing guns so they can’t hurt or kill anyone anymore. Both have been designed for a very particular purpose.