• A new patch is being quietly pushed to Windows 10 (and 11) PCs
  • It’ll force upgrades in certain circumstances to keep the PC in support
  • This update will mean more nag prompts coming to your PC
20 points

Anyone know where I can buy a gaming PC with linux preinstalled instead of windows?

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4 points
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Yeah, you buy a gaming PC with Windows and you insert a USB stick and install Linux. Otherwise, you’ll be paying a high premium for a company that does basically the same thing. Things to look out for are try to find a PC with Intel networking and bluetooth adapters. Realtek is relatively well supported, but has been known to have issues.

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10 points

If gaming is top priority. Go all amd, disregard Nvidia. AMD has extraordinary linux support and if it runs on the steam deck it will run on any all AMD machine.

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2 points

True, but Nvidia has come a long way and I believe announced support in the recent months, but don’t quote me on the last part. I have a desk and laptop both with Nvidia GPUs, and I don’t have any issues. Wayland did not work until 4-6 months ago, but everything is pretty stable now.

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2 points

if your work involving CUDA then nvidia is the only option.

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10 points

Build one!

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2 points

I’m sure if you searched for stuff nearby you could find a small local shop who could help you out.

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7 points

I built one — took about 4 hours once all the parts arrived. My first build. Installed Linux Mint from a flash drive and it worked perfectly. Ended up switching to Zorin OS later — also works fine.

I have been able to play every game I wanted, except one requiring a VR headset.

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1 point

Were you able to play other games requiring a VR headet?

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2 points

Didn’t really try. Couldn’t get SteamVR working without lots of hacking. I ended up buying a smaller second hard drive and installing windows just for that use. Once I was done with that game, I haven’t booted into Windows since, as there is no reason to.

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13 points

At least when it came to a laptop, I bought mine without a preinstalled OS - that is far more common than preinstalled Linux.

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20 points

Just build one, cheaper to boot.

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7 points

Ew and buy components? No thank you, just mine, smelt, and build them, cheaper to boot.

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2 points

Well…you’re not wrong.

It’s the specialized tools you’ll also need to do all of that that’ll get you, though.

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25 points
1 point

Writing this on a Tuxedo Pulse 14 gen 3 - great laptop, flawless Linux support and a coding workstation. Perfect for a bit of eg. Disco Elysium or Crusader Kings 3 on the go, but it’s no gaming machine; it has a lot of pixels for a Radeon 780M to push. They do have a list of gaming laptops, though, if you wanted a speciality machine?

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2 points
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And for those on the other side of the Atlantic, there are several computer shops that will just put a computed together for you without an OS.

Here’s a random example “configure your own computer” from a computer shop in France. In this one the OS (Système d’exploitation) is not included and you have to pay extra for it.

In my experience with custom assemblies like this the OS is never included.

When I live in the UK at some point I’ve even used of these kind of stores there to get a custom notebook.

It’s basically an “assemble your own computer” for people who don’t know how to do it and aren’t confident enough to try (understandable given that the parts value of a whole desktop PC adds up to at least €1000 so there generally is some fear of fucking it up if you’ve never done it before).

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33 points

Pretty much all modern Linux installers offer to wipe the existing drive and overwrite. Just prepare a USB drive and boot from it, then follow the steps in the wizard.

Create bootable media - Linux Mint

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11 points

Always remember to disable secureboot and remove bitlocker before installing linux on a oem windows machine. They make it hell to remove that malware from newer machines.

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8 points
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Bitlocker doesn’t mean anything when you delete its partition.

I would recommend keeping secure boot enabled if your OS supports it, and manually enrolling the key if it doesn’t. Boot chain attacks are a real concern.

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2 points

I get that, and this is likely what I will do for my existing PCs. The reason I ask is three fold: 1) To save time. I don’t have a ton of spare time, so I would rather spend it gaming than messing around with wiping drives and installing stuff. 2) To encourage my friends to switch over, many of whom are less likely to spend time and effort than I am. 3) This is less important, but wouldn’t I be paying for a windows license I won’t even use? Not a fan of wasting the money, not a fan of paying Microsoft for a service I’m actively fighting to get away from.

Nonetheless, thanks, I will try to find some time to fiddle with installing on an older machine I have and see how that goes.

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2 points
  1. The actual time needed to wipe out Windows and install is under 30 minutes.
  2. See above.
  3. Prebuilt machines use OEM keys, which are $10-$20 at best - whoever you buy the system from is definitely getting a volume discount. In my opinion, a small sacrifice to be free of M$.
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1 point

System76, tuxedo computers or for handheld a steam deck

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1 point

As others have mentioned, it’s incredibly easy to install yourself. You just need a flash drive and another device with internet access.

If you’re gaming, I’m using Garuda Dragonized, which is set up for gaming. I’ve liked it and seen many others like it too. Regardless, KDE is probably the DE you want if you’re coming from Windows, but there are plenty of others you may prefer.

You probably can’t get it pre-installed, which I think is probably monopolistic if the only OS choice presented to customers is Windows. That’s how it’s spread so far, not because it’s easier. The issue with pre-installing is they’d either have to let you choose from a ton of options or just limit your choices. It’s easier to let the customer handle it.

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23 points
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I have a system76 machine. It’s been really good with steam. Or a steam deck, it’s just a PC.

Their laptops are not worth it if I’m honest. They have issues with the hinges. I had two of them give out. They use a very cheap plastic. But you are guaranteed no driver issues if you use PoPOS on their own machines.

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1 point

Steam deck maybe

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2 points

System76, Dell, HP.

That said, I feel it’s very worth taking an evening to backup and install yourself

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45 points

I am very glad I moved to Linux full time

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36 points

Despite what everyone told me on message boards about lack of support for Adobe products and CAD software… somehow I’ve been really successful on linux-only for many many years now.

It’s really nice. Remember when your computer was actually yours? You choose what apps to install, what configuration you want, and who you share your data with? Those dreams are alive with Linux: Not just for nerds anymore.

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1 point

What did you end up using for CAD? qCAD?

I’ve been wanting to learn but all of my peers in school learned on AutoCAD.

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3 points

Despite what everyone told me on message boards about lack of support for Adobe products and CAD software…

Do you know something I don’t? I can get away with running Affinity software through wine instead of Adobe, but the only good CAD option is running OnShape in your browser, but then you have to deal with the terrible licensing model of OnShape

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11 points

Finally, the year of the Linux desktop

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4 points

I’ve been hearing that since 2007

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1 point

That’s the joke.

But damned if MS aren’t trying to make it a reality at every turn.

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18 points
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Is there anyway to permanently stop windows from updating? I tried few methods off YT but updates do not stop.

(No, don’t recommend me Linux. I have tried it(Mint and Manjaro) and it is way out of my skillset)

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1 point
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Just a heads up, it’s not out of your skill set if you can operate Windows. If anything, it’s usually easier if you don’t want to do anything particularly technical. It requires relearning things (which you had to do for Windows too, and will again in the future), but if you don’t understand something you search online or ask for help, like you’re doing here. It turns out, you can’t do everything you want with Windows, but you’ve grown accustomed to it. That’s the difference. You have to grow to get used to anything new, even if it’s “better” or “easier.”

Turning off updates likely requires editing registries, which is far more technical than anything you’ll need to do on Linux.

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3 points

Last time I tried as trivial as changing a theme on linux, it broke my taskbar(idk what you call it in linux) and wouldn’t respond at all. I looked for solutions online and couldn’t find the solution as the forum threads keep closing before they arrive on a fix.

So I tried to fix it myself and changed to another theme. This theme doesn’t have the same issue but somehow it breaks the only game I play which used to run just fine before.

And that’s the last nail in the coffin for linux for me.

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1 point

I don’t know what went wrong for you, but personally when I last used Windows my taskbar (still called that on Linux BTW), crashed probably at least once a month, and I’d have to restart my computer to do anything because so much was connected together for no reason.

No operating system is perfect. I will always argue that Windows isn’t easier though, you’re just used to dealing with it’s horrible issues. If you could learn to deal with Windows you can learn to deal with Linux. It’s annoying having to learn something new, but I promise you it’s worth it once you get settled. You can’t go into it expecting it to be Windows, because it isn’t, but if you go in with an open mind and a willingness to learn, it’ll treat you better than Windows does.

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6 points

I’m not here to change your mind, but man… Mint and Manjaro are not great introductions to Linux IMO.

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-3 points

+1 for manjaro

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2 points

Don’t use manjaro because.

  1. Holding back packages.
  2. They wanna add a telemetry that is opt out
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3 points

Mint was everywhere when I searched beginner linux distros. I tried Manjaro because my friend had it running and likes it a lot and we thought we can recreate issues and find solutions together if we are on same distro.

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6 points

Yeah, I really don’t get why so many people call Mint good for beginners. There are so many reasons it’s not, yet it has this incredibly vocal crowd who insist it’s so fantastic.

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9 points

No, don’t recommend me Linux

Ok, ok… Get a mac 🤣

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6 points

Brb ordering a big mac

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5 points

Get a royal with cheese instead.

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9 points

Yes, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Every day, attackers develop new methods to compromise your system. Those updates fix the vulnerabilities. In this increasingly connected age, those fixes are critical.

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8 points
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Turn off TPM support in bios to prevent the windows 11 install popups. Win 11 requires TPM.

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1 point

Win 11 requires TPM.

until they need that last few percent to make line go up

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3 points

you could always just find the folder windows update lives in and change the permissions so the system can’t access it.

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4 points

Disable the Windows Update service?

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7 points

https://github.com/tsgrgo/windows-update-disabler

Everything else people commonly suggest online does not work.

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2 points

Woah, thanks for dropping the link. I did disable w10 update by modifying registry for each services which time consuming.

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5 points

Disconnect the PC from the internet.
It’s also the only way to safely run a computer without updates.

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17 points

I’m glad to see someone not downvoted for refusing to use Linux on Lemmy. The environment here is getting better for even non-linux users.

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7 points
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The US (which is usally a majority as it was for Reddit) just hasnt woken up yet /s

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5 points
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Absolutely, yes, I’ve had it disabled since the first W10 feature update. It gets harder with every new release, but it is doable.

You need to manually disable these services with Regedit

-Update Orchestrator (UsoSvc)

-Windows Update Medic Service (WaaSMedicSvc)

-Windows Update (wuauserv)

-Microsoft Edge Update Service (edgeupdate + edgeupdatem)

-Microsoft Edge Elevation Service (MicrosoftEdgeElevationService)

Then you need to go into Task Scheduler and disable all the tasks under the services listed above. I’d also suggest not using Edge, as it will now aggressively repair Windows Update, even with all this stuff disabled.

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1 point

Thanks man, will try these out.

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