(Also extends to people who refuse to use Linux too!)
Every unique Linux Desktop setup tells a story, about the user’s journey and their trials. I feel like every decision, ranging from theming to functional choices, is a direct reflection of who we are on the inside.
An open-ended question for the Linux users here: Why do you use what you do? What are the choices you’ve had to make when planning it out?
I’ll go first: I use OpenSUSE Tumbleweed with the Niri Scrolling Compositor(Rofi, Alacritty and Waybar), recently switched from CosmicDE
I run this setup because I keep coming back to use shiny new-ish software on a daily basis.
I prefer this over arch(which I used for 2 years in the covid arc), because it’s quite a bit more stable despite being a rolling release distro.
I chose niri because I miss having a dual monitor on the go, and tiling windows isn’t good enough for me. Scrolling feels smooth, fancy and just right. The overview menu is very addicting, and I may not be able to go back to Windows after this!
This was my first standalone WM/Compositor setup, so there were many little pains, but no regrets.
Would love to hear more thoughts, perspectives and experiences!
how does the xanmod kernel and kisak ppa stack up? whats the performance gain?
Xanmod has a bunch of little tweaks, mostly I’d say it helps with frame pacing more than anything else. It’s only maybe 1-2fps difference most of the time, but it’s very close to the upstream mainline kernel in terms of release timing, whereas Mint keeps to LTS kernels.
Likewise, the kisak-mesa PPA just keeps you more up to date with the upstream package version.
IMO the biggest differences are responsiveness, frame pacing, and getting to have access to the latest fixes/features ASAP while still getting to use the very stable package versions for the rest of the system.
will def try this out!