What’s up, guys, gals, and non-binary pals? I switched from Windows 10 to Linux Mint back in December 2024, and I catalogued my experiences in these posts:
- Alright you nerds, I made the jump to Linux.
- Alright nerds, I installed Linux Mint on my MacBook Pro
Just wanted to let you nerds know that everything has been running flawlessly. I can play any game I have, and none of my productivity is blocked. Doesn’t matter whether it’s all my ROMs I archived, my Steam games, GOG games, whatever. Linux plays them, and performance is fantastic. I don’t play any anti-cheat games as the only one I do play periodically is Overwatch, and it runs perfect.
I can without a doubt now say that I will never go back to Windows. Should have switched years ago!
Build specs (the full list is in my first post linked above):
- CPU 9800x3d
- GPU RX 7900 XTX
Here are some issues I still can’t solve on Linux Mint:
- Can’t control my GPU fans
- Can’t control my case fans
- Can’t bind my case fans to ramp up with GPU load
I’ve tried CoreCTRL and so many other solutions I read online, and none of them work. Problem for another day! So all I’ve done for now is increase the count of intake fans I have and set it to a good speed to move plenty of air (but also set my exhaust fans higher to help counter and ensure proper positive pressure airflow. I have too many fans to get the ideal balance of neutral air flow). GPU runs with OEM fan speeds.
Edit: There’s a bug in pasting instance agnostic links, so I just added direct URLs to my instance posts.
How old is the Linux mint kernal and and driver? Have you tried a live dvd of a more current distro just to see if those problems aren’t solved? Fedora would be a decent example, it is really current. Or an arch derivative.
Not sure. I just use the embedded software updated whenever there is a new update to the kernel. I’m on latest GA kernel per fastfetch screenshot.
Unfortunately I’m only ~9 months in as a Linux user, so not sure the best methods to get all these things working.
Thankfully, many other persons also commented some helpful advice, so I’ll include your question as part of my research. Just gotta sit down and try troubleshooting it again when I have some spare time.
Try LACT for GPU control
This works great for me and does all the things you mentioned above.
Have you tried CoolerControl? It’s the only one that really worked with my system. It doesn’t detect my CPU fan for some reason but it works well with the GPU. I assume it has something to do with my hardware.
I second CoolerControl. It is able to control fan speed depending on the temperature of your CPU!
For case fans, with an msi mobo, I had to install some nct drivers from a githib repo.
So if you can’t still control them with CoolerControl, try to lookup for “linux {motherboard name} sensors”.
No way dude! I also have a MSI board and I did just that and the first result was to run
modprobe nct6683 force=1and it actually worked. I can now see all the fans in CoolerControl. That was a godsend, I don’t know how I didn’t come across it earlier. I would give you Lemmy Gold if I could :DI’m on an MSI main board, too. I hadn’t heard about fetching nct drivers, so I’ll check that out. Almost a year ago when I was setting up this computer, I just installed lm-sensors and CoolerControl, then CoreCTRl, etc. But I’ll see if there are other sensors that might be helpful here.
Lm-sensors and CoolerControl need sensors and controllers to be exposed. Nct drivers exposes them thru sysfs.
I had to install NCT6687D for my mobo.
Do you know if this works with Lianli TL case fans?
I don’t see why it wouldn’t as long as they are controlled by the mainboard itself.
Ah, no, that’s the issue lol. I suppose I should have been more specific in that I need something that works with Lianli’s controller.
I’d just try it out in that case, looks like people got it working from a quick google search.
Ha! You activated my trap card, nerd! Now I’m getting lots of advice from these Lemming nerdy losers on how to solve my problems!
I tried CoolerControl back in Dec/Jan but couldn’t get it to work. If I recall correctly, I think only CPU fan was detected but it didn’t see case fans or GPU fans. I see some other comments from others so I’ll check those out.
(More seriously though - thank you for the help!)
Not detecting case fans sounds like it would be not communicating with the motherboard properly. Unfortunately every specific motherboard is going to have it’s own unique set of constraints. But generally this is all handled through “it87” i believe? But it87 can sometimes take some nonstandard params.
Here’s an example gist of instructions for getting things working on one specific motherboard. https://gist.github.com/bakman2/e801f342aaa7cade62d7bd54fd3eabd8
The wifi7 on my motherboard causes kernel panics pretty regularly, and the RGB isn’t properly exposed so I cant control(/turn off) any of the lights. Usually these things work themselves out with time as drivers for the new/nonstandard chips make their way into the kernel/libraries.
Lemming nerdy loser, reporting for duty. Personally I’m struggling with a Bluetooth controller on my Asrock B850 Riptide that used to work perfectly in Linux at first, then one day decided it was no longer detected and has never worked since. Fortunately it’s not critical, and if it doesn’t fix itself eventually I’ll probably just buy a cheap USB one and use that.
I mentioned it in a top-level comment, but if your GPU is AMD (didn’t see if you said either way), LACT might be able to help you do what you need.
Sir you need to activate your linux XP system.
Yeah it’s so weird. I tried using that Mass Grave thing I heard about but it won’t work. Tried running it in Proton-GE, too, and nothing. I guess I’ll live with it, since it doesn’t interrupt my workflow too much.
Is that actually an overlay like unlicensed windows or is that just part of the wallpaper? I kinda want that as an actual overlay lol
This is the extension I installed for LM - https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/extensions/view/82
I created the activation notice watermark in Krita, and styled it after what it looks like on Windows 10.
Edit: I really love this a lot and have kept it on my computer for months now. It’s just silly and makes me giggle when I get a dark wallpaper that makes the watermark really stand out.
I figured it was just the wallpaper. I’m impressed and giggling giddily.
This is so high effort it makes it that much more hilarious. Bravo sir. Gave me a good chuckle.
Whoa, this looks off to me? I downloaded Linux Mint from Alta Vista but I never got this activation screen. Maybe that’s why my thing won’t activate?
It’s not the worst thing in the world I guess. While the watermark on my desktop is sometimes annoying, I often don’t see it. And every now and then my computer plays the popular internet sensational “Rick Roll” (not sure if you kids are familiar with this) video since I haven’t activated, but eventually it stops and then I can move on with my day. I’ve come to grow fond of the song when at first it used to make me cry because it would come on randomly through my speakers and scare me. But at least it’s now down to only twice randomly a Rick Roll per day, and I can live with that.
Edit: I do get tired of the pop ups asking me to verify my credit card information. I’ve filled out that form several times but nothing ever changes. I’ll try calling support again and see if they can help me activate it, but last time, the gentleman on the phone really yelled at me because the store wouldn’t sell me the gift cards I needed to send him to verify my installation.
Remember Lindows OS?
Oh yeah, now that rings a bell! If I remember correctly, it was built by Linus Torvaltine.
Can’t use PyKMS to active Linux, so VBSKeyDaemon.vb?
I can only second that, I made the switch early this year and it’s made me love my PC again.
I don’t think I could’ve done it “years ago” though, Proton in its current form with a user friendly distro like bazzite haven’t been around for too long.
“made me love my PC again.”
I know, right?! That was the best part. It felt so liberating, as if I was transported back to the early 2000s when the OS was a tool, not an ad-infused spyware machine. The best thing is that I have control and - surprisingly - confidence. I was worried I’d only have control and over time I’d get confidence. But essentially, I had confidence day one.
I’m still a nascent Linux user, but using this OS is so refreshing. I love my PC so much.
This is exactly how I felt when I made the switch a couple of years back. Like this is what using a personal computer was always meant to feel like, and this is what Microsoft has taken from us.
I started using Linux most of the time in 1998 because my parents had installed RedHat 5.2 to dual boot with Windows and I didn’t like what Microsoft was doing back then, so I decided to use Linux whenever I’m not playing games. (And then moved on to SuSe 7 in 2001, then to Debian, and later, when Ubuntu was invented, moved to Ubuntu, and when Linux Mint came around, started using that one. (wait, no, actually I moved only when I got pissed off by Unity, which was horrible in its first forms!) Starting from Debian, things were already quite easy, although configuring the graphical environment, X, was super tedious…)
It’s a bit weird feeling reading about how people write about how bad Windows has gone, and not really having experience of it since Windows 7, that I did have for a while in between. That was probably in 2011 or so. Then I soon got a new computer and kind of forgot to install Windows on it, because things worked well enough anyway.
In any case, already when Ubuntu came out, I already felt that every time I had to resolve my friends’ issues on their Windows computers that it was a very good thing that I was running Linux at home, because it meant there was so much less hassle! It felt like “damn, if people only knew how well this works these days, they’d never want to use Windows. And then there would be more software as well!”
I’ve used “Linux for work” and “Windows for gaming” for a long time, about twenty years now. Got fed up with Windows shitting itself on a regular basis, and made myself a new year’s resolution to try Linux-only gaming for a bit, see if it would work for me, and I never went back. That was in 2021, and it’s just been getting better and better.
Linux Mint has always been an easy install, and putting Steam on top to get Proton is pretty trivial. A few things have made an amazing difference:
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installing the official NVidia drivers used to be a pain in the arse. Download them, stop your display manager, blacklist Nouveau, install them from the command line, restart and hope for the best. Awful. I’ve gone fully AMD, but I understand they’re pretty much a non-issue now.
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Proton keeps getting better and better. Seriously, they fix compatibility with about 99% of the games that were broken every year, basically everything runs now. Maybe leave off buying anything with a tech-demo engine for a week, and accept that you won’t be playing stuff with certain anti-cheat, and it’s all good.
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DXVK gets overlooked, but it’s amazing. Basically frame-for-frame with Windows on every game, and on some it’s better as it fixes intrusive stutter by precompiling. Can’t argue with that.
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This is encouraging.
Glad to hear it! Not creeping on your posts, but the other day I was browsing Lemmy and saw you’re on Linux too. How’s Pop_OS! working for you? Linux Mint has been almost 100% flawless for me.
It’s been great! Way easier than I expected it to be. I know both of our distros are supposed to be good entry points for Linux. I spent some time last night figuring out how to add GNOME extensions for customization, which was fun.
I haven’t had time to attempt any gaming on it yet since installing last weekend, but I’m looking forward to trying tonight.
Nice, glad you had some fun just messing around with your PC like we used to do in the good ol’ days!
I’m excited for you to give some time for gaming! When I first installed LM, I spent the first few days just installing different games and trying them out and messing around - so refreshing. But I think I speak on behalf of Lemmy when I say we can use a little less time of you posting at least for a few hours, so you can get some decent gaming in. 😀
Lol, fortunately I tend to post stuff early in the day, and my gaming time is in the evenings after getting the kids to sleep.
A mild concern I have is that my GPU on the PC I’m using for Linux is an old 770… I probably won’t be playing anything close to current. But that’s not linux’s fault.
Can’t control my case fans
https://github.com/lm-sensors/lm-sensors
Can’t bind my case fans to ramp up with GPU load
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface
TY! I’ll try these again. It was Dec/Jan when I was really trying to figure it out. I remember installing lm-sensors and then trying CoreCTRL but they just won’t detect or see my GPU fans.
I doubt
lm-sensorswill interact with your GPU fans. It should work for case fan, though.You should be able to read your GPU temperature by reading from files and control fans by writing to files that are locates in
/sys/class/hwmon/. There should be scripts/programs that exist to do this already, but it isn’t a very complex task, so could be scripted trivially.lm-sensorsshould help you identify the correct files, as well.
so… starting hrt when?
As soon as I unzip my tar balls.
The bliss theme, complete with activation notice, is very nifty, LOL.
I love sneaking memes into serious posts. :)
Very nice
I have a very similer setup.
Though I was naive enough to get a new fancy x870. It’s goodwhen it works, but I was having a shirting problem yntile a fewmonths for a bios update. And the kernal on the mint install wasn’t resent enough for the internet drivers, wired wouldn’t even work. I didn’t consider myself skilled enough to update the kernel from a usb, so I begrugingly installed 24.10 ubuntu
That was a whole other adventure that ended with installing the cinniamon edition later.
But niwwith the 22.2 beta I’m finally back on mint.😃I’ve been using Linux for 20 years. It’s cool that some games are working on it. Again. It wasn’t a problem for me in the Quake 3 days.
I had a package bug with Mesa on Sid today, which got me reading the changelogs.
libd3dadapter9 / GalliumNine was removed. It’s been long coming, since Gallium3D is deprecated, but it did get me a little nostalgic.
GalliumNine is almost the progenitor of the current linux gaming movment, wined3d had been uh… terrible for quite some time and then out of almost nowhere - ‘native’ D3D9 on Linux. Right on the coattails of the Radeon driver starting to seriously not suck (well before amdgpu) - everything sort of came together for real linux gaming experience.
Ave GalliumNine.
Yeah, I always had a dual-boot system and mostly used Win 10 as my main OS for gaming and Linux for troubleshooting and messing around. With the announcement of Win 10 reaching end-of-life this October, I started to go on my Linux side a bit more to try gaming and I was blown away. So I made the switch last fall to 100% Kubuntu 24.04 on my PC.
I can’t believe the progress that’s been made with Steam and Proton in recent years. I’ve always been a huge Linux fan and gamin has always been the only thing blocking me from using it full time. Now I have no reason to use Windows anymore! I’m so happy!
https://github.com/rozniak/xfce-winxp-tc
BTW, this exists.
I’m fairly ignorant about Linux and what goes on under the hood, so the majority of the text doesn’t mean anything to me.
As someone planning to install Linux Mint who also doesn’t want to accidentally dox myself with a screenshot, could I get an explanation from someone on what is censored out and why?
Looks to me like they are just censoring any instance of their username, possibly because it contains their real name.
Edit: also device name
Thank you!
Correct, I’m just redacting anything personal from the images that could pinpoint me. And also of course removed EXIF data from the images before uploading to my Lemmy instance (Lemmy does remove it, but I like to be extra sure).
Haven’t really touched Mint myself, other than moving my dad’s computer to it. I don’t think it shows the user or device name over by the clock. Unless that XP skin adds it, I don’t think that’s it.
Given the “Overcast” bit, maybe it shows a zip code for the weather or something?
Again, I’m not settled on a particular distro yet for sure, but most of my experience is with PopOS so far, and there’s nothing identifying there, so I’m not positive.
I’ve installed Mint on 2 family member PCs, but I haven’t used it myself other than in passing.
Correct, you got it. I hid some particular identifiers that could pinpoint me, such as weather. The rest of the stuff exposed in the screenshot is not enough to triangulate enough information about me.
It’s mostly the account name and computer name, something like
user@computer $
OP might have a good reason (e.g network setup different/real name visible) or is just security/privacy conscious, but you’d be unlikely to dox yourself from a screenshot like this if you’re not a power user.
Mint is quite a friendly distro, definitely a great first choice and one I’d recommend. However if you find it not to your liking but still want to try Linux; fedora is another good no nonsense distro that would be suitable for you.
If you wanna test linux use ventoy and use some distros without installing to see your preferences
Glad it works for you👍
Thank you!
Activate Linux 😂
