2025 The Year Of Linux, but i have one question?!

[Mark Kaine]

From just watching a few recent videos i think I'd go with "mint" (cinnamon or applepie idk?) but regardless of "distro"... can i have this *start menu* on any current Linux version? 

 

 

 

because I really can't deal with the XP one i see on Linux and neither with whatever abomination it is that windows 11 has... i need my tiles (or no deal)

 

So is this possible, and if its possible but doesn't exist how much work and effort would it require to program?  

 

Can you do commissions on Linux? I'd be willing to pay up to ~$100 for a fully functioning tile based *start menu*.  

 

TIA

[ToboRobot]

https://itsfoss.com/windows-like-linux-distributions/

 

Any of these close enough for you?  Best to find something close and go from there.

Yes you can change the way it looks, or hire others to do so, how much effort or cost I can't say.

[jaslion]

Ubuntu has the giant icons menu? Basically first image but the icons are big and no background tile color.

 

That or any distro with KDE really when full screen start menu is enabled. A fav of mine is kubuntu. They also have an overview view you can use appearanrly

[Mark Kaine]

16 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Any of these close enough for you?  Best to find something close and go from there.

well unfortunately from what im seeing they all have this XP style menu... which is ok in theory,  but too squished into a corner, i want it all like in my screenshots (its a w7,8,10 exclusive option afaik) since that's what im using since a decade now and i just love how easy it is to access literally everything with 2 clicks from the desktop.  XP style aint like that because you have a gazillion of subcategories and its just messy. 

 

but thanks, I'll look into those, Zorin seems to be customizable, so who knows...

[Mark Kaine]

7 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Ubuntu has the giant icons menu? Basically first image but the icons are big and no background tile color.

 

That or any distro with KDE really when full screen start menu is enabled. A fav of mine is kubuntu. They also have an overview view you can use appearanrly

yeah, that's what baffles me, any pictures or videos im seeing all have this XP style menu that's squished into a corner... i want BIG FULL SCREEN menu.

[Kilrah]

1 minute ago, Mark Kaine said:

(its a w7,8,10 exclusive option afaik)

It's the Win8 "tablet" UI that was almost universally hated, so not a prime candidate for having someone interested in recreating it...

Ubuntu has the "Mac Launchpad"-like fullscreen view as mentioned

[Mark Kaine]

3 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

It's the Win8 "tablet" UI that was almost universally hated

well, true... i know... im just frankly rather disappointed that all im seeing is more or less a direct copy from windows XP start menu - which tbf was ok at the time but now im used to more convenience and a clutter free desktop (i dont have any icons on my desktop other than the recycle bin) and was honestly wondering if there arent more options on Linux.  im not familiar with the apple "launchpad" but i can imagine it's at least bigger than the usual XP one.

[Nayr438]

I mean would any of these work? As far as XP Style Application Launchers that mostly describes all the smaller Desktop Environments.

Normal KDE Launcher

Spoiler

 

KDE FullScreen Launcher.

Spoiler

 

GNOME Launcher

Spoiler

 

Ubuntu (GNOME Spin) Launcher

Spoiler

 

[Mark Kaine]

4 minutes ago, Nayr438 said:

KDE FullScreen Launcher.

this seems functionally at least to be the closest... no tiles, but also not a lot of clutter... and its alphabetical...

 

the genius with the one's from w10 is that you'll never have to scroll horizontally, only vertically,  and you don't have a gazillion sub categories which makes navigation not only simpler but also faster (hence it needs to be alphabetical) 

 

... thing is idk anything about KDE, how does it differ from mint (gaming, stability, etc?) 

[Nayr438]

16 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

thing is idk anything about KDE, how does it differ from mint (gaming, stability, etc?) 

Linux Mint is a distro, KDE is a Desktop Environment.

If you want KDE id probably go with KDE Neon ( Up to date KDE ( Plasma 6 ) on Ubuntu LTS ) or Kubuntu ( Outdated KDE ( Plasma 5) on Ubuntu )

 

In terms of Gaming they should all be similar as they are all built on Ubuntu, including Mint. In terms of Stability, I would consider KDE to be the worst in this category but it's usually fine, it does tend to have more problems with NVIDIA GPU's, but your going to find that as a common occurrence across linux software if you have one.

 

KDE is more about features and functionality, GNOME is more about being simple and stable. These are the two primary Desktop Environments, everything starts here. In terms of Stability, I would go with GNOME. If you want something more Windows like, I would go with KDE.

As far as Linux Mint, they offer Cinnamon, XFCE, and Mate.

[Mark Kaine]

5 hours ago, Nayr438 said:

As far as Linux Mint, they offer Cinnamon, XFCE, and Mate.

Ok, this is one of the issues with Linux (you could say its a strength but not really for someone who's looking to replace windows basically) there are sooooo many choices and the differences are often not clear - and then these choices have again many options to choose from... 

 

So basically i just have a couple more questions:

 

if i download this

 

https://linuxmint.com/

 

that's all i need (to play games, record videos, edit videos, edit pictures,  play or make music... etc, just the average nerd stuff people do on windows) right?

 

what additional stuff would i need to play games primarily? 

 

What's the difference between Wayland and X11, if there is one?

 

Are there actually significant differences between  cinnamon, xfce and mate? To me cinnamon looks overall most complete, easy to use, but i could be wrong? 

 

Also its confusing to hear that Nvidia isn't supported well even though there are many videos saying that's not true and it works just fine (usually using X11 as far i understand) 

 

 

last question:

 

can i use steam, epic games and battlenet launcher on this Linux Mint version? 

 

(especially i couldn't find info about battlenet but afaik Overwatch works on Linux)

 

 

 

 

[Nayr438]

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

that's all i need (to play games, record videos, edit videos, edit pictures,  play or make music... etc, just the average nerd stuff people do on windows) right?

If you have a NVIDIA GPU you will need to open Linux Mint's Additional Driver utility after install.

 

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

what additional stuff would i need to play games primarily?

Follow the instructions for Mint on this site to properly setup Wine, https://www.gloriouseggroll.tv/how-to-get-out-of-wine-dependency-hell/  Even if you don't plan to use a system build of wine, you still want all of its dependencies for Proton and Other Wine builds.

Edit: Noticed that guide is out of date. For Linux Mint 21.3 the below should work as it's based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish

Spoiler

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo apt-key add winehq.key
sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ jammy main'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-staging
sudo apt install winetricks

 

Steam for Steam. Enable Steam Play (Proton) in Settings. Obtain from the Steam Site. Flatpak and Snap are considered unsupported and problematic by Valve.
Heroic Games Launcher for Epic, GOG, and Amazon. Install Wine via it's GUI.
Lutris for pretty much everything else Windows.

 

Also make sure your games actually work and remember that if it does work today it may not tomorrow.

• https://areweanticheatyet.com/
• https://www.protondb.com/

Also as note. Be aware that Gaming in a VM has slowly been becoming a bannable offense.

 

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

What's the difference between Wayland and X11, if there is one?

They are Display Protocols.
X11 is ancient, held together by various hacks and duct tape, and in minimal maintenance mode until the end of RHEL 9 ( Reg Maint ends 2032 ) at which point it will likely be dropped from distros, if you can use Wayland you should. We are essentially in a transition period.
Wayland is a new Display Protocol that is more secure by design.

• NVIDIA is known to be problematic with it. If you have issues try the X Session.
• Not all software works correctly with Wayland, including Desktop Environments.
• Some Software has started to depend on Wayland, such as Waydroid.
• HDR Support in KDE Plasma 6 I believe depends on Wayland.
• Multi Monitor Refresh rates depend on Wayland.

 

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Are there actually significant differences between  cinnamon, xfce and mate? To me cinnamon looks overall most complete, easy to use, but i could be wrong?

I unfortunately can't answer that as we don't use any of them. We stick to GNOME and KDE because they are the primary targets of the Desktop and have the most backing.
Cinnamon I do however know is based on GNOME 3 and is actually a Linux Mint Project, If you go with Mint this would likely be your best option as this is likely where most of their efforts will be focused.
 

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Also its confusing to hear that Nvidia isn't supported well even though there are many videos saying that's not true and it works just fine (usually using X11 as far i understand)

It's complicated. NVIDIA Supports Workstation/Server and has a history of neglecting the Linux Desktop and Linux Developers only tend to target mesa ( Intel and AMD ).
For some examples of the state of NVIDIA Support

• Waydroid only targets mesa, nvidia unsupported
• Sway NVIIDIA proprietary driver is unsupported
• Hyprland if it works it works, if it doesn't then idk
• NVIDIA adding EGLStreams Support for Plasma since the KDE Team refused to
• GNOME Proposal to Drop the X Session, NVIDIA not considered a blocker if problematic
• Cyberpunk 2077 Launch, no nvidia support due to proprietary driver ( Of course most people also were not running mesa-git, but it highlights one of the issues )
• Steam has a history of breaking Bigscreen on NVIDIA since the Launch of the Steam Deck.

With that said, NVIDIA has been working on a new Open Source Driver, they recently hired the Nouveau dev, and they have been getting more involved in the desktop space, so this could change in the near future.

 

I'm also not going to say AMD is perfect either, there is a divide in support between Workstation/Server and Desktop with the Open Source and Proprietary driver, but for most people the open source driver is more than fine and we technically have a toggle to switch between them. I imagine this would be the same for NVIDIA in the future if they continue on the open-source path.

 

Also the open source stack is very dependent on the kernel and mesa version which varies between distros while proprietary drivers usually don't. So in this situation a GPU can be supported on say Arch but not Ubuntu. Same with feature support, bugs, stability, etc...

 

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

especially i couldn't find info about battlenet but afaik Overwatch works on Linux)

If it's not the Steam version then it's on Lutris, https://lutris.net/games/overwatch-2/

and it does work on Linux according to https://www.protondb.com/app/2357570

 

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Ok, this is one of the issues with Linux (you could say its a strength but not really for someone who's looking to replace windows basically) there are sooooo many choices and the differences are often not clear - and then these choices have again many options to choose from...

It is an issue and one that will likely only get worse. .

[Mark Kaine]

@Nayr438 many thanks for the detailed answer(s) i think i understand it a bit better now... I'll probably try it (Mint) in the next couple of weeks when i can get an additional hard-drive or somehow manage to free up space on an existing one and try to follow your instructions - seems to make sense and more compact than any "guides" i would find probably.   Because im not going to "dual-boot" that seems way too problematic (and i don't need that additional stress lol)

 

And i know... one should probably try several distros, but i gotta start somewhere and Mint ticks all the boxes basically, even the start menu - while not win10 "tablet" seems acceptable  (at lesst it seems possible to have rather large icons etc)

 

 

[goatedpenguin]

9 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

From just watching a few recent videos i think I'd go with "mint" (cinnamon or applepie idk?) but regardless of "distro"... can i have this *start menu* on any current Linux version? 

 

 

 

because I really can't deal with the XP one i see on Linux and neither with whatever abomination it is that windows 11 has... i need my tiles (or no deal)

 

So is this possible, and if its possible but doesn't exist how much work and effort would it require to program?  

 

Can you do commissions on Linux? I'd be willing to pay up to ~$100 for a fully functioning tile based *start menu*.  

 

TIA

This look windows 8/xp like, for this I would either go with kde or xfce and search some themes with the keywords like "windows 8 or XP" on pling.com. In linux mint you might have to uninstall the DE since it will be too much works changing everything on cinnamon so I suggest using debian(or fedora for something more bleeding edger). I also suggest having the dual boot on two seperate drives so windows does not shit on your linux install though that rarely happens. 

[uzivkovic97]

On 5/27/2024 at 7:21 PM, Mark Kaine said:

(especially i couldn't find info about battlenet but afaik Overwatch works on Linux)

I tried installing Overwatch from steam and it didn't work out for me (couldn't start the game for some reason). However, installed it via Lutris and it's working completely fine. I have amd gpu so it takes a little bit to load shaders. I'm not 100% sure if the next is true, but I read somewhere that this is not a thing with nvidia gpu.

I gotta say I'm using POP!_OS and haven't had any major problems with setting it up to my liking.

[goatedpenguin]

51 minutes ago, uzivkovic97 said:

I tried installing Overwatch from steam and it didn't work out for me (couldn't start the game for some reason). However, installed it via Lutris and it's working completely fine. I have amd gpu so it takes a little bit to load shaders. I'm not 100% sure if the next is true, but I read somewhere that this is not a thing with nvidia gpu.

I gotta say I'm using POP!_OS and haven't had any major problems with setting it up to my liking.

Did you enable proton in steam? 

[uzivkovic97]

1 hour ago, goatedpenguin said:

Did you enable proton in steam? 

I did. I tried 5 last versions of proton. I also tried flatpak and .deb Steam and nothing worked for me. Game would install but when I click play, it tries to start it, but after few seconds play button appears again. 
Did just a little bit of googling and couldn't find answer to why is this happening. I then remembered I used to play OW 1 on Lutris back in the day and a quick google search helped me to set everything up. 
 

Though, after I deleted steam and installed OW 2 with Lutris I did search again to why I couldn't run it on Steam and I read that some person had to disable secure boot in BIOS in order for the game to launch on him. This may very easily be my case as well but I didn't want to bother to reboot my pc and check if secure boot was on because I didn't want to mess up with the steam anymore since this is the only game I play and it currently works without any problem.

[goatedpenguin]

23 minutes ago, uzivkovic97 said:

I did. I tried 5 last versions of proton. I also tried flatpak and .deb Steam and nothing worked for me. Game would install but when I click play, it tries to start it, but after few seconds play button appears again. 
Did just a little bit of googling and couldn't find answer to why is this happening. I then remembered I used to play OW 1 on Lutris back in the day and a quick google search helped me to set everything up. 
 

Though, after I deleted steam and installed OW 2 with Lutris I did search again to why I couldn't run it on Steam and I read that some person had to disable secure boot in BIOS in order for the game to launch on him. This may very easily be my case as well but I didn't want to bother to reboot my pc and check if secure boot was on because I didn't want to mess up with the steam anymore since this is the only game I play and it currently works without any problem.

 

Your GPU doesn't support vulkan by default, you need to switch kernel drivers to amdgpu: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU#Loading
also make sure you do not have amdvlk or lib32-amdvlk installed. This is what @Ralphred said and I found this on a reddit post too: 

 

[uzivkovic97]

10 minutes ago, goatedpenguin said:

 

Your GPU doesn't support vulkan by default, you need to switch kernel drivers to amdgpu: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU#Loading
also make sure you do not have amdvlk or lib32-amdvlk installed. This is what @Ralphred said and I found this on a reddit post too: 

 

I just checked, don't have amdvlk or lib32-amdvlk installed. Checked that with command ''dpkg -l | grep"

As for what drivers I'm using, command "lshw -c video" says it's ''amdgpu''.
I'm not very good with commands, but I think this one tells correct driver version I'm using (correct me if I'm wrong).

[goatedpenguin]

22 minutes ago, uzivkovic97 said:

don't have amdvlk or lib32-amdvlk

Install it and add it to the kernel module instructions should be on the arch wiki even though the distro is different its the same.

[uzivkovic97]

1 minute ago, goatedpenguin said:

Install it and add it to the kernel module instructions should be on the arch wiki even though the distro is different its the same.

But wait, I understood you said to make sure I don't have them installed. 

[goatedpenguin]

4 minutes ago, uzivkovic97 said:

But wait, I understood you said to make sure I don't have them installed. 

Oh shit i copied it from the reddit post who had different a gpu, you should install it along with wine and mesa.

[uzivkovic97]

9 minutes ago, goatedpenguin said:

Oh shit i copied it from the reddit post who had different a gpu, you should install it along with wine and mesa.

If the game breaks in the near future, I'll give it a try. I'll also check for the secure boot thing I read about. 

Don't really want to experiment now when I got everything to work fine.

[goatedpenguin]

12 minutes ago, uzivkovic97 said:

If the game breaks in the near future, I'll give it a try. I'll also check for the secure boot thing I read about. 

Don't really want to experiment now when I got everything to work fine.

Well if it aint broke then don’t fix it