You can, but it’s a bit difficult.

My suggestion would be to use a LiveCD. Test it out and see if like whichever distro you choose. It completely replicates the feeling of *nix being on your hardware without any commitment.

It’s not a personal insult. I’m objectively pointing out that your emotional intelligence is low, considering you’re seemingly incapable of understanding that some people mind slurs, and services have every right to police their own platforms…

For example, today I got a popup notification from Microsoft suggesting that I should install an xbox app.

Ahh! If that’s the case you’ve come to the right place! I’ve been begrudgingly using Windows for 2 decades and I’ve found two utilities that help you disable 99% of that nagware.

• https://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer
• https://github.com/builtbybel/privatezilla

Using these 2 applications you can basically gut Windows down to nothing. You can also use Windows Update Blocker to completely disable Windows Update, so features aren’t added or re-enabled without you knowing about it. Make sure you enable “protect services settings!” This breaks winget, but I just pull the wub.exe up, enable updates, use winget, then re-disable updates. Only takes a second.

Doing this will completely change your Windows experience.

If you want to get even more crazy, you can do Windows 10/11 IoT which is a version of Windows designed for embedded devices (which still has windows enterprise level features, including telemetry disabled by default) which comes without a significant portion of the bullshit you get with consumer versions of Windows. Typically, you can selectively enable or install things it doesn’t have if you end up needing them, but I’ve never run into any issues.

If you wanna give it a try you can download Windows 11 (26100.1742) IoT here, or Windows 10 (22H2) IoT here.

Sweet Jesus… We are cooked-cooked, boys.

I thought the driver came in the kernel.

It entirely depends on the WiFi module. Some aren’t included.

I am trying to use it wired

Then this is even more suspicious considering DualSense is probably the most well-supported controllers on Linux, with an official Sony driver. Are you doing USB-A to USB-C? Or USB-C to USB-C? If it’s USB-C to USB-C is your USB-C hubs driver installed correctly? Try a different cable, specifically USB-A to USB-C. Try many different USB ports. You might have to specifically use a USB-A 2.0 port, and not 3.0/3.1/3.2 port.

lmao that’s adorable.

Some people mind. 🤷‍♂️ You do realize more people other than yourself exist in the world, right?

I personally couldn’t care less. But I also recognize that CodeBerg has every right to police their own platform in whichever way they see fit. If they don’t want this kind of shit on their platform because their users disagree with it, then all the more power to them.

Honestly lil bro, you lack emotional intelligence.

In my experience winapps doesn’t work well enough to use for work. I had almost constant issues with it.

I struggled like you for a long time until I found a happy medium. I have a folder on my C: drive called utilities. It’s been added to the %PATH%. In it, I have eget with a config for all my utilities for making Windows easier to use. I also have BusyBox for Windows.

It emulates a good 90% of *nix utilities without having to deal with WSL (older environments) or doing anything extensive to your environment (corporate laptop friendly). I recommend you at least give it a try and see if it works for you.

Here’s my ~/.config/eget.toml

❯ cat eget.toml
[global]
    github_token = ""
    quiet = false
    show_hash = false
    upgrade_only = true
    system = "windows/amd64"
["sharkdp/fd"]
    asset_filters = ["gnu"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\fd.exe"
["nojima/httpie-go"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\ht.exe"
["schollz/croc"]
    asset_filters = ["64bit", "Windows7" ]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\croc.exe"
["BurntSushi/ripgrep"]
    asset_filters = ["pc-windows-gnu", "^sha256"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\rg.exe"
["go-task/task"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\task.exe"
["vamolessa/verco"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\verco.exe"
["ajeetdsouza/zoxide"]
    asset_filters = ["msvc"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\zoxide.exe"
["ducaale/xh"]
    asset_filters = ["msvc"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\xhs.exe"
["casey/just"]
    asset_filters = ["msvc"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\just.exe"
["sxyazi/yazi"]
    asset_filters = ["msvc"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\yazi.exe"
["Dundee/gdu"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\gdu.exe"
["charmbracelet/skate"]
    asset_filters = ["x86_64", "^json"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\skate.exe"
["charmbracelet/gum"]
    asset_filters = ["x86_64", ".zip", "^json"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\gum.exe"
["Wilfred/difftastic"]
    asset_filters = ["msvc"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\diff.exe"
["zyedidia/eget"]
    asset_filters = ["zip", "amd64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\eget.exe"
["sharkdp/diskus"]
    asset_filters = ["gnu"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\diskus.exe"
["fastfetch-cli/fastfetch"]
    asset_filters = ["zip"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\fetch.exe"
["junegunn/fzf"]
    asset_filters = ["zip"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\fzf.exe"
["orf/gping"]
    asset_filters = ["zip"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\gping.exe"
["jqlang/jq"]
    asset_filters = ["amd64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\jq.exe"
["caarlos0/jsonfmt"]
    asset_filters = [".tar.gz"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\jsonfmt.exe"
["lsd-rs/lsd"]
    asset_filters = ["pc-windows-msvc.zip"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\lsd.exe"
["ouch-org/ouch"]
    asset_filters = ["gnu"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\pack.exe"
["SpatiumPortae/portal"]
    asset_filters = ["x86_64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\pack.exe"
["rclone/rclone"]
    asset_filters = ["amd64", "zip"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\rclone.exe"
["upx/upx"]
    asset_filters = ["win64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\upx.exe"
["mcmilk/7-Zip-zstd"]
    asset_filters = ["x64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\7z.exe"
["facebook/zstd"]
    asset_filters = ["win64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\zstd.exe"
["yt-dlp/yt-dlp"]
    asset_filters = ["yt-dlp.exe"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\yt-dlp.exe"
["aria2/aria2"]
    asset_filters = ["win", "64bit"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\aria2c.exe"
["restic/restic"]
    asset_filters = ["windows", "amd64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\restic.exe"
["Beastwick18/nyaa"]
    asset_filters = ["windows", "exe"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\nyaa.exe"
["walles/moar"]
    asset_filters = ["windows"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\moar.exe"
["alecthomas/chroma"]
    asset_filters = ["amd64", "windows"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\chroma.exe"
["charmbracelet/glow"]
    asset_filters = ["x86_64", "^json"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\glow.exe"
["arsham/blush"]
    asset_filters = ["windows", "zip"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\blush.exe"
["nushell/nushell"]
    asset_filters = ["pc-windows-msvc.zip"]
    file = "nu.exe"
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\nu.exe"
["owenthereal/ccat"]
    asset_filters = ["windows-amd64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\ccat.exe"
["FiloSottile/age"]
    asset_filters = ["windows-amd64.zip", "^proof"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\age.exe"
["Owloops/updo"]
    asset_filters = ["Windows_x86_64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\updo.exe"
["mr-karan/doggo"]
    asset_filters = ["Windows_x86_64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\dog.exe"
["aandrew-me/tgpt"]
    asset_filters = ["amd64", "exe"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\llm.exe"
["8LWXpg/ptr"]
    asset_filters = ["x86_64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\ptr.exe"
["astral-sh/ruff"]
    asset_filters = ["pc-windows", "msvc", "x86_64"]
    target = "C:\\Utilities\\exe\\ruff.exe"

It’s nice because you can update everything by running eget --download-all.

That’s even worse. PS5 controllers work out of the box, basically cementing that this is a bluetooth driver issue. Did you make sure to install your bluetooth drivers?

What is your bluetooth device model? Does the driver come in the kernel, or does it require you to explicitly install?

Like I said. It has nothing to do with the hardware, and has nothing to do with Linux. You don’t have the right drivers installed: https://github.com/atar-axis/xpadneo

The drivers tell linux how to control and connect to the device. How can your hardware possibly work if you don’t have that installed at all or correctly?

Again, it’s a driver issue. Has nothing to do with *nix. The manufacturer of the controller doesn’t ensure that *nix distros have access to the driver. So how can it work?

Specifically which controller is it? Have you looked for *nix drivers specifically for that device? From the manufacturer?

You can absolutely dual boot PopOS! and Windows. The only real issue you’ll run into is Windows update is destructive–so you’ll have to manually keep fixing systemd boot to ensure your PopOS! instance can continue to boot after Windows update.

I’m venting because I don’t understand how the experience is so vastly different for people.

It’s always going to be a driver issue. It takes time and money to develop drivers for *nix, so most manufacturers don’t bother. It’s the most significant issue *nix has to deal with and if it wasn’t an issue, no one would deal with Windows.

Linux Mint is NOT usable out of the box.

I set Mint up for my 65 year old mother about 4 years ago, and she hasn’t had a single issue since. I think it’s less about Mint being usable out of the box and more about Mint not doing what you want out of the box…

I asked the man how come and he said “Well, dumb TVs are hard to get and they sell almost immediately. So they’re worth more than the smart ones.”

He’s wrong. They’re cheaper because the manufacturer makes money off selling advertisements.

I enjoyed this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuWPuJZ9NcU

https://www.passwordstore.org/

Just like everything else in life, it’s not a binary situation. You can’t say “either it is, or isn’t stealing! Circumstance doesn’t matter!” because circumstance always matter.

If you come at me with the intent to kill me, and I kill you in self defense, that’s not murder. It would be wholly ignorant to say “well you tried to kill the guy who was trying to kill you, so it’s murder! Circumstance doesn’t matter!” That would be the answer of a child.

The argument of Piracy has never been one of “oh, well, it’s not theft.” Of course its theft. You’d have to be in deep denial to make that argument. It’s not your IP. The argument of Piracy is that taking shit from corpos doesn’t fucking matter–no one is getting hurt. As soon as you stop taking from corpos and taking from the little guy, like indie artists, you’re just a fuckin’ thief. And that’s not moral.

It depends. Some trackers will automatically add newly announced torrents. Some won’t. In either case, adding them directly to the tracker is quicker.

What’s the weirdest one you’ve tried?

NixOS.

Most challenging?

NixOS.

Have you found any really cool defining features in any distro?

Flakes. lol