Parptarf

UPDATE: After hours and dozens of fixes it simple does not work. The Boss Katana Mini X seems to be completely incompatible with Linux. I'm gonna install Windows again on my Surface. W11 works like dogshit on it but at least I can use it to connect to my guitar amp.

Leaving the thread open in case a solution does eventually appear.

OP:

I'm having an issue with a BT speaker, well Guitar amp. actually. (BOSS Katana Mini X)

Device is a Microsoft Surface Pro 7.

It connects, but it wont play any sound at all. I'm now at the point where I'm considering installing W11 on that Surface again just so I can connect it to my amp to play some guitar with backing tracks and whatnot. I hate using my phone for this.

• Speaker is chosen as the output device.
• Tried to switch to PipeWire
• Installed Blueman and a Pulse Audio interface
• Also tried this on Fedora 41(GNOME)
• Bluetooth earbuds from JBL works fine and get normal sound
• I have installed the kernel for Surface devices, but I also tested this BEFORE installing that and there has been no difference on both Ubuntu and Fedora.

What I notice is there's only two configs I can chose from on the settings for the amp as an output device, instead of the long list I have on other devices. Possible cause?

Solution: When I formatted all my drives to install Linux on one and Windows on the other, I kept both connected and they share EFI boot partition as a result. Every time I reinstall Linux it formats the drive and therefore deletes the Windows's EFI Boot as well. One way is to fix this is to reinstall Windows while disconnecting the drive you have Linux on. Or you can move the boot files if you don't want to do that.

I used this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/changing-windows-boot-manager-drive.3571420/post-21561626

Also remember to delete the Microsoft folder in the boot folder on Linux after you’ve checked that the new boot loader is working.

OP:

Currently dual booting as I need Windows for a few tasks and ganes Linux just won’t do. Since setting everything up I’ve reinstalled Linux twice, both times I’ve lost the ability to boot into windows and have needed to reinstall it.

Disk doesn’t show at all in Grub, tried all kinds of things but it just doesn’t show as a bootable OS. It doesn’t show in the boot options in the BIOS or the boot menu for my motherboard. Drive shows up and all the files are still on it. So my guess is the Windows bootloader somehow installs on the same disk that I have Linux on.

I run Linux(Fedora) and Windows on two separate drives.

Windows take forever to install. Anything I can do now to prevent this from happening if I need to reinstall Linux or if I wanna to some distro hopping?

Just to be clear, everything is working right now. But I want to prevent having to reinstall Windows every time I change distro or reinstall my Linux OS

Update: Issue disappeared without doing anything. After just letting my computer sit turned off for a few hours I started it back up to troubleshoot. Now it works again. Something happened to break it and then to unfuck it again without any input from me. Something is unstable and I’m gonna try to figure it out.

Started my PC up today, logged in like normal, but my keyboard wont work after logging in. Except for the calculator button. None of the keys will actually do anything. But logging in works normally.

Worked fine last night, no updates have run or anything. Where to start diagnosing this? In a way where I won’t need a keyboard?

Fedora 42 KDE

Edit: Keyboard works fine in a live environment on the USB I used to install yesterday. Tried a different keyboard on my main install, and that didn’t work either. So it’s not the keyboard itself at least

I’ve got Steam pretty dialed and working great. EA App is also decent but not sure I like Lutris that much. Got Epic and GoG set up on Heroic, but other than a few modern ones, games from either don’t run that good. If I understand correctly this is cause they’re using Wine and not Proton.(?)

Would adding these games to Steam using the third party games function effectively make them use Proton like they’re steam games?(I find conflicting information regarding this) Or is there a way for Lutris and/or Heroic to just use Proton out of the box?

Running Nobara KDE.

Edit: Got Fomo, installing Fedora 42 right now. Testing out Bottles!

My journey into daily driving Linux is going rather well. Decided I’m gonna give myself a bit of a small challenge (or not, this might be easy).

I want to get a couple old games to work. I’ve had to do some tinkering or installed unofficial patches on these games probably since the Vista days. So I know they require some work to run on modern systems. But can’t find info on how to do it on Linux. I don’t want to do a «throw shit at the wall and see what sticks» and end up breaking something in my OS. I’m on Nobara KDE.

Installed in the EA App through Lutris:

• C&C Red Alert 2 and Tiberian sun (Black menus, game runs otherwise)
• Medal of Honor Allied Assault (Crash on startup)

Anyone wanna teach a Linux noob some tips and tricks to make this work? Or a way to install these .exe patch files and go the «windows» route? (Can this be done safely through Wine?)

I ended up with Nobara

As some of you already know I’ve been playing around on a small partition with Linux Mint. Learned basic troubleshooting and fixed some driver issues.

Now I’m very impressed with how it runs and decided to daily Linux and keep Windows for things Linux can’t do. Currently installing Windows on a new small SSD as we speak. (240Gb for the OS plus it’s gonna get a 500GB NTFS partition on my 2TB gaming drive)

This brings me to my question. Which Distro? I’ve narrowed it down to keep using Mint or Fedora KDE Plasma 41. Mint is something I’ve already screwed around with and there’s loads of guides online about it.

But Fedora seems like a better for for me. I’m not afraid of tinkering at all. But as long as I came game and daily it for browsing, emails etc. without too much issues, I’m good.

What’s the consensus? Setting it up tonight after my new W11 install is up and running.

PROBLEM IS FIXED:

Games now run when installed from within Linux through Steam and the EA App. Everything so far have worked flawlessly. Here's a good mix of what I've tried so far. Hitman 3, 9-Bit Armies, Divine Divinity, Metro 2033 Redux, C&C Tiberian Sun, C&C Red Alert 2

Solution: Pop!_OS and Linux Mint doesn't have a kernel new enough to support the Mesa 25 drivers needed for my 9070XT. These commands in the terminal was the fix for this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Original Post here:

Hi guys, it’s me again.

My issues is that no windows game on Steam will run. With any launch option or proton version (tried about 10). Most just doesn’t open at all. (Click play, nothing happens)

Tried for hours last night and resorted to just throw shit at the wall to see if something would stick for the last hour or so. Exhausted dozens of fixes found on ProtonDB and forums.(I want to try some again after another fresh install though)

Testing Linux on a dual boot system. First I tried Mint and had a pretty bad time due to me messing up the size of one of my partitions(Just made everything a bit more work) later reinstalled but tried POP, which went good and it’s a lot nicer to run now.

Here’s a few I tried a bunch of different troubleshooting on:

Hitman 3 - doesn’t open or artifacts and freeze before getting to the menu (Mint, both from a NTFS and fresh install EXT4 drive) 9 bit armies - doesn’t open at all or crash after splash screen (Pop and fresh install on EXT4 drive) Civilization Beyond Earth - Artfacting and 10fps (Mint and Pop, NTFS drive) Cyberpunk- Doesn’t open (Pop and Mint, NTFS drive AOM: Retold - Doesn’t open (Pop and Mint, NTFS and fresh on EXT4) Ready or Not - Doesn’t open (Pop and Mint, NTFS)

Also tried 5-6 more games old and new. None would open.

One thing I will note is that both installs failed to install GPU drivers properly. But I fixed that with a guide and the console.

Specs: R7 7700 RX 9070 XT 32GB RAM

Any tips on where to start ? I’m gonna start from the bottom with a fresh install of either Mint or Pop tonight. (Or any other Distro, honestly)

With all that’s going on. I’ve been really considering setting up a dual boot and testing Linux Mint properly. (i hate virtual desktops, but I have Mint running on one now) I know I have to make some changes to my productivity workload, as I’m an Adobe Lightroom user. I’ll keep that on Windows for now.

But my question is regarding gaming.

I play a lot of varying games, from new singleplayer and multiplayer stuff to old games back up to about 1999. I know I have to do a bunch of research setting things up, but right off the bat I have a question.

What games will not be possible to use on Linux?

For example, will something like Escape from Tarkov work? That’s a game I do not want to even install of there’s a chance it will lead to a ban.

And is comparability with older games better or worse than W11?

Edit: I just wanna extend a huge thanks to the community already! There’s some great info here so I’m gonna set up a dual boot soon!

Edit 2: Dual boot is now setup! Even though Mint makes sense from a long time Windows user. There's a bit of a learning curve. But I'll try it as a daily driver for a few days. Right now my disk setup prioritize Windows, obviously. But if I end up loving Mint, I'll make a full switch and keep a small partition for Windows to run whatever Mint can't.

Edit3: Spent hours trying to get anything to work. Games just would not launch and I exhausted everything I found online. Trying a reinstall and Pop Os this time. Learned a bunch of lessons my first try

I’m looking into Firefox alternatives as I wanna see what’s available. Being Norwegian, Vivaldi seems like a good choice to replace Firefox on desktop and Safari on iOS. Tried it for a night and it works pretty good. I do however have reservations about it being based on Chromium.

How much power does Google actually have over Vivaldi? And would it actually matter for my quest for degoogling myself?

In case anyone’s wondering. I’m also looking into LibreWolf.

Edit: Rewrote the start as people got too hung up on Firefox.