this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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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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My time with Linux has been equal parts amazing and absolutely infuriating. Linux Mint is NOT usable out of the box. Here have been my issues:

Nvidia GPU - Trying to figure out how to get the drivers working was a nightmare with ten million different people giving different advice on how to get it to work. Eventually I was able to get them signed and it seems to work

Bluetooth - Another nightmare. Bluetooth is terrible on Linux. It took hours to get it even remotely working ok, but I still don't think it's perfect.

Compatibility - Some things just straight up don't work for seemingly no reason. None of my controllers work with Steam, no matter how many countless hours I've spent troubleshooting.

And that is where I am disappointed. Troubleshooting Linux issues sucks. There are so many people giving their opinions and all of them are different and most don't work.

When Linux is working right it is amazing, and I love it. But right now, it just isn't as good as Windows and extremely infuriating more often than not. Guess I am going to switch back and give Bill Gates all of my info again. Really fucking disappointing

Update: Controllers seem to work after forcing compatibility mode in Steam. No idea why that was off or why Steam was essentially hijacking my controller, but it seems to work now. For everyone that helped thank you.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

So all of this can be traced back to using a NVIDIA gpu and having to use secure boot?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Dual boot with Windows. Dumb windows requires it

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

Sorry to hear that Linux Mint is not working well for you. Unfortunately, things can sometimes still be rough when it comes to hardware support. I have personally also had issues with Nvidia GPUs and Bluetooth. Often this is because the manufacturers only provide drivers for Windows and Linux drivers need to be created by the community.

Regarding Nvidia and secure boot. I've had the same issue (on both Mint and other distros). After some frustrations (including a BIOS update) I finally gave up and disabled secure boot. Since then, I haven't had any issues with my dual boot with Win 10 (but I probably won't buy another Nvidia GPU). What makes you say that Windows requires Secure Boot?

No I didn’t. When I installed Linux mint the first time I was able to fix everything. I needed to reinstall it and that is where this controller issue started

This seems quite weird. Are you perhaps missing a package (e.g. steam-devices)?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I have steam-devices and same issues. No luck at all. Thanks for the response.

[–] 0x0 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You might be better off with bare-metal linux and shoving windows inside a VM where it belongs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I tried installing a VM but man it was really laggy. I used the open source one on linix, not virtualbox. I probably fucked something up, though.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nvidia isn't responsible for the other issues you have... Did you do any research about your hardware and Linux compatibility?

Bluetooth will be whatever wireless chipset you're using likely.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

No I didn't. When I installed Linux mint the first time I was able to fix everything. I needed to reinstall it and that is where this controller issue started