this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] JK_Flip_Flop 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I've got a Surface Pro 5 with the dogshit m3 processor and 4GB of Ram, anyone have any concept of how it'd run under linux? It basically folds at any real task in Windows

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Incidentally, I had the exact same device. It actually worked pretty good to be honest!

Of course it will not magically be a top tier device. Programs will need some time to load the first time, and then be thrown out of RAM again.
BUT, compared to Windows, it will be a difference between night and day!

I strongly recommend you the silverblue-main-surface-image from universal-blue.org.

Why?

  • Because you need the linux-surface-kernel for it to work. Otherwise, most functions, like touchscreen, webcam, adaptive brightness, auto-rotate and more won't work at all.
  • You can install the kernel on other distros too, but it might break. I had that already happening. On uBlue, it's baked in and won't break. And if it does, you can just roll back.
  • It comes with Gnome by default and provides you a great touchscreen experience
  • And you can install Waydroid easily, which gives you access to Android apps.

I don't recommend using another DE than Gnome for that. Especially those "light weight" ones like XFCE are horrible for touchscreens, and if you use a browser, those few hundred MBs RAM less used by them is negotiable.

[–] JK_Flip_Flop 1 points 9 months ago

Thanks for the advice, I'd not heard of that particular distro. I'm quite comfortable with Fedora so I think I'll give it a shot

[–] themusicman -5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It would be smooth as butter with a lightweight desktop (probably not KDE). I suggest Linux Mint XFCE edition

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"KDE is heavy" is so 2000s. It's been quite a while since KDE is very tight on resources usage. Unless you're running a raspberry or similar, there's no point on constraining yourself with one of those desktops for an everyday use device.

[–] TCB13 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Everything's about perspective... maybe GNOME became SO bloated that KDE now seems very light. :P

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Look on phoronix for benchmarks. Plasma consumes less RAM and CPU than even XFCE.

[–] TCB13 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Hold on, I was kind of joking, I'm not saying KDE is slow. GNOME for sure is slow as hell.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

All good, but I think it's really often a misconception that a DE like KDE, which is big and brings tons of features, must be more ressource intensive than a (feature wise) smaller DE. Which, as the benchmarks show, is surprisingly not the case.