In short, no. Linux can be adversarial, finicky, and sometimes just plain bullshit. That’s the price of device freedom though. Can’t speak for anyone else, but it does get easier the longer you stick with it though.

Love Mint. I have LMDE on my archival machine. It’s good stuf

POP_OS runs great and it’s my primary OS on my System76 machine. My issue seems to be more to do with Nvidia Drivers. Nothing that’s a deal breaker, but the Machine Spirit needs appeasement on occasion. I’m actually really excited for COSMIC to be released.

On my Asus machine, I’m just tired of Windows and want to familiarize myself with more of the Linux environment. It’s maybe 2 or 3 years old at this point

I might check out Fedora. Is switching between the iGPU and dGPU relatively straightforward?

Thanks for the recommendations! Bazzite seems like a good fit for this machine’s use case.

Thanks for your thoughts. My experience with Arch has been weird. I can get everything mostly working, but sound has always been an issue on my current hardware. Black Arch was fun to mess around with because I didn’t necessarily care if sound output was borked. I will look into cachyOS and spin up a VM. Thank you friend!

Well… Can’t get one of those now. :(

The FOSS community doesn’t need this kind of mentality. “Us reasonable users” really tells what you think about people with different lifestyles to your own. Quit being weird and fracturing the FOSS community. The Corpos don’t need the help

Hoenn is my favorite region. Emerald is my nostalgia game. What you say is fair and valid. Early game movesets don’t feel good at all. If it’s within your means, I would suggest trying Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire. It feels much better to play through. If you never want to see Hoenn again, then no shame in that. :)

I’m on a slow run through all the games. SoulSilver definitely is hitting

Emerald holds a special place in my heart. Omega Ruby got me back into Pokemon and to this day is my favorite. I’m currently playing through every generation, but no other region hits harder that Hoenn

Absolutely. It’s a little hand wavey, but I agree with the sentiment. If you mod the 3DS it’s an all in one solution. If you want the cartridges, I would start collecting the DS ones sooner rather than later. Heart Gold/Soul Silver and Platinum specifically. The 3DS games are still quite reasonable

Mod a 3DS and you’re off to the races. I just went through a spree of buying cartridges from each generation and I kind of regret it. The 3DS will play every game you want and will be cheaper in the long run. No need to buy a flash cart. Not trying to be overly pedantic but flash carts are still emulation, just hardware emulation instead of software.

Good luck on your Pokemon journey! Currently burning through SoulSilver myself

Game bad because no sales is a weird take. Not really sure why you’re ascribing a “holier than thou” attitude to Yacht Club Games because I don’t really see it but different perspectives I guess. I’d argue comparing anything to Hollow Knight will make it come up short. That game is a masterpiece and it still only costs $15. You should try Shovel Knight. It’s not really a Metroidvania so the comparisons to Hollow Knight and Castlevania isn’t wholly accurate. If you don’t like it you could refund it. Disagreements aside, Silk Song looks like it’s going to be fire when it finally releases, but it’s been so long I’m not going to keep the hype up anymore Happy gaming, homie

I love my S76 but she is not quiet.

So much room for activities!

Based on your post, you sound like you don’t want to use it but feel obligated to. You aren’t obligated to use it. I purchased a Linux machine and daily drive it for everything I can. It was a little rough to start but I have picked up on it pretty quick. You will deal with weird quirks from time to time. Most issues I run into are common enough that a quick Google search will fix me up or get me pointed in the right direction. If you want to try Linux, just know that there is a learning curve and be patient with it. As far as Distros, start with a “Just Works” Distro. I recommend Linux Mint or Pop_OS. They work well out of the box while having plenty of room for tinkering. I’m by no means a programmer or Developer but Linux is still accessible without a deep arcane knowledge base of CS information to draw from. Regardless if you use Linux or not, I hope you enjoy your new PC!

I guess I’m kind of confused as to the debate between Bleeding Edge vs Stable. I get the concept on paper, but what packages are so imperative that you need a Distro that is “Bleeding Edge”. I run Pop_OS and it works great on my hardware(System76 so it kind of has the home field advantage). I have an old laptop running LMDE that doesn’t ever need rebooted and it has every package I need for it to accomplish its job.

Others have given better advice than I will, but maybe determine why you need something that’s bleeding edge. If the only answer is “Cuz Shiny new stuff!” I don’t think it’s needed that bad and tailor your setup for stability and functionality. I prefer Just Works Distros though. VM’s are also a thing if you want to do some Distro Hopping

Pop_OS and I are going to be able to make it home and have fun with you. Huh…