I have never tried Catchy, but some distros require more setup and maintenance than others.

Currently I have Debian and Pop os as my main distros. Those two have worked almost without issue compared to other distros I tried. Troubleshooting and learning how your computer actually works is part of the fun with Linux though. I used to get really discouraged when something on my computer would not work, but I realized that was mainly due to not understanding how to fix it. With Linux you can fix it yourself and it teaches you how to be patient and learn to solve computer issues on your own.

Hmmh. Isn't there some way to fix those two issues? I mean it's usually the case that we have to put in some effort when starting fresh. You probably put in time to get the audio how you like it with Windows, and configured the display subsampling to your liking and now that's all set up perfectly. And now you're trying to set up the computer in a different way. And I'd expect that to sometimes come with a bit of friction?! At least it won't just continue exactly as is, because you're starting fresh with a new operating system.

If you really like to switch... I think configuring a USB DAC should be possible. Not sure about the Nvidia stuff. You'd have to blame the big companies for deliberately messing up HDMI. And LG for not providing any alternative. I mean if it's worth the effort for you, you could try asking for help. If you're okay with Windows and like to avoid starting all over again, maybe just stick with it?!

I mean it's going to be some sort of tradeoff anyway. Currently you have the subsampling right. Maybe on the flipside your CPU performance is worse than it could be with Linux. And it's a bit wasteful with the memory and spies on you. With Linux that might improve, but you might trade it in for a few different quirks. Computers rarely come anywhere close to being perfect. But you can pick your poison.

Go with Debian, same as ubuntu but not bloated and snap focussed

Also default ubuntu is GNOME, which is closer to apple, if you come from Windows its way easier with plasma

Ubuntu is the reason why I hated Linux first. It is crappy bloatware, that is hard to use. You have to open terminal to install deb files, and you have no idea you had to install nvidia driver. Snap packages are attrocity someone caught dead using.

KDE Plasma desktop was the best, then it helped me get into tiling. (Mint is also really cool)

I could not figure out how to get audio to come out of my headphones.

That's probably an Audioengine D3 USB DAC problem and not a Linux problem. Almost all audio systems are supported in Linux, but maybe this one isn't. It is up to the hardware vendor to ensure quality support, that's also how it works with Windows. It's not Microsoft that writes all those drivers, they are written by the OEM vendor.

Only with Linux sometimes users of the hardware implement the support that should have been provided by the vendor.

over HDMI to my LG C1

Don't use HDMI, HDMI is inferior to display port and only serves the purpose to work as a DRM mechanism, something we absolutely do not want.

but I’ve read that X11 provides a poor experience compared to Wayland.

I have no idea what bad user-experience X11 should be the cause of. X11 works absolutely fine, and has features you won't find anywhere else.

But apart from that I've heard Windows is utter crap proprietary spyware, so compared to that you are obviously way better off with Linux.
You should complain to the maker of that audio system about it not working, your complaint here is completely irrelevant, and achieves nothing.

That’s a: factually incorrect, and b: 20 years (at least) out of date.

There are a lot of distros that are plug and play now that switching doesn’t have to be hard

There are soo many options for Linux that it can be hard to make a decision.

My recommendation for people moving from windoze who haven’t used anything else is always Ubuntu. I run an Ubuntu machine, and have a couple of other distros for different purposes.

The advantage of Ubuntu is that it is generally plug and play, and that it is a very easy transition from the dark side.

Once you get comfortable, then move to different distros. Currently, I have Ubuntu, Mint,Pop, and Hannah Montana running.

It’s either “works but evil” (Windows) or “doesn’t work but not evil” (Linux) and that’s unfortunate.

Sorry to be that guy, but Linux does indeed work fine for a lot of folks. Just not for everybody.

I've been using for 8 years now without a single major issue, after having been using Apple products since the early 80s. It mostly depends the use case I imagine and, not being a gamer myself, I'm not sure I even understand completely what was your issue with the GPU. But once again it's obvious it will not work for everyone and I'm sorry you had not experienced that same level of usability as I and many others are.

FYI, for audio output selection I use a little utility called Sound Switcher Indicator, it easily lets me select where I want the audio to play, directly from Mint's taskbar. Maybe this can help? https://yktoo.com/en/software/sound-switcher-indicator/

Something about the HDMI forum not playing ball with the Linux driver devs.

The reason is, the HDMI forum (those who have the rights on HDMI) doesn't like Open Source their drivers, even by reverse engineering. They want to sell the licenses and anything that is Open Source would affect their business. So its purely a money driven decision. And any driver in the Linux Kernel needs to be Open Source. But recently this has changed, because some magic by Valve happened (presumably because of the Steam Machine) and now everyone can use the full extend of the HDMI specs. Probably also because the next HDMI specs are about to release too... so the next catch up starts again.

However I never understood why its not possible to do it like the proprietary graphics drivers of Nvidia, to add it as a module.

Can I ask how you were able to see my post if it doesn’t show in the community page?

You mean the page on linux@lemmy.world? For me it shows up in the list. But besides that, there are different views in Lemmy that shows posts based on different criteria and logic. One of them is to show newest entries first in example.

As much as I'm a fanboy and Windows hater, I hate it much more that people downvote their bad experience with Linux.

1. In general if you use Linux, you need to be aware of what hardware you have and what is supported and what needs extra work. Looks like your Audioengine DAC is troublesome on Linux since years: https://alriklubbers.com/2020/12/29/fix-audioengine-d3-volume-control-on-linux/
2. X11 doesn't provide a poor experience compared to Wayland. If anything, its the other way around, because Wayland has still some missing features and support from all applications that are established standards on X11. But to me this tradeoff is worth it, because Wayland is more secure by design and is the future, while X11 is abandoned. You can run most X11 games on Wayland with the integrated XWayland bridge (it does it for you automatically). -- Also Nvidia is a removed in Linux, so maybe its an issue with their proprietary driver, rather than Linux (which does not invalidate your issue BTW, I'm not discounting the problem you have, just move the blame). Since the RTX 2060 series, there are also Open Source drivers built into the Kernel. But they are not as good as the proprietary drivers directly from Nvidia yet.

Overall Linux is not just a single operating system or vendor, and that's one of the beauty compared to locked down Windows and what Microsoft allows you to do. In Linux you can switch and change graphics system like X11 or Wayland, you can choose the entire desktop environment like KDE or Gnome or build you own by using a Window manager directly. And that's just a few points I listed. When installing first and learning, this is a lot off course. Let alone the customization you are able to do once you are familiar with the system.

Windows 11 can be used with an online account online, that needs to be registered and activated by Microsoft. You have ads in your startmenu, Microsoft is tracking everything, even if you change settings it will revert at some point. Updates are horrendous in Windows. Ai integrated deeply in the system (if you like that, there is even a Linux distribution for you too...).

It's unfortunate that you didn't have much luck when trying Linux out. I'm not sugar coating it here, some hardware setups, and some use cases are just not well suited on Linux. You have to weight what you gain and loose with the switch and if its worth it for you. Maybe there is a distribution out there that fits you well, but its hard to say what exactly caused your issues. I just wish people would not downvote you for sharing your experience and frustration.

A few things that might save the next attempt, whichever distro you land on:

Audio: USB DACs on PipeWire usually work, but sometimes they aren't picked as the default output or end up on an "Off"/"Pro Audio" profile. wpctl status shows whether the D3 is listed under Sinks, and wpctl set-default <id> makes it the default. If it isn't listed at all, aplay -l tells you whether the kernel sees it. pavucontrol's Configuration tab is the easiest place to switch the profile to plain stereo output.

4K120: the 2060 Super only has HDMI 2.0, which is why you need 4:2:0 for 4K120 on the C1 in the first place. A common workaround is an active DisplayPort 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 adapter on the card's DP port. A good one gets the C1 to 4K120 at full RGB, so the subsampling question goes away on Windows and Linux alike (VRR through those adapters is hit or miss, and cheap ones top out at 60Hz, so check that it specifically lists 4K120).

Installer: writing the ISO to a USB stick is much more reliable than a DVD, and checking the ISO checksum first rules out a bad download.

Can they theoretically implement the subsampling mode into Wayland if they wanted to, but they haven't gotten to it, or is it actually locked out?

Try Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Mint as LiveUSB’s to see if you like the experience. Installing different DE’s can be done, and there are also versions of distros with KDE as the default. Giving one distro a shot really does yourself a disservice, especially if your answer is to go back to an OS that has reached EOL.

For the video issues, IIRC that's an issue with HDMI. If that is the issue then switching to Displayport should help. Something about the HDMI forum not playing ball with the Linux driver devs.

Could be a Wayland problem? You don't have to run Wayland. A lot of distros are still using X11. Mint for example

Can I ask how you were able to see my post if it doesn't show in the community page? Also, would you know if the Wayland ycbcr issue will affect all distributions?

I couldn't get everything in my setup to work in catchyos, but everything works in Garuda. Try distros until you find one that doesn't piss you off.

The tiny model is rough in pretty much everything that uses Whisper, it's just too small. Small or medium is where it starts getting usable, and large-v3 is the good one but it wants a graphics card to be quick.

FYI, I make one of these myself, called TalkType. What fixed the accuracy problem for me was NVIDIA's Parakeet model. It's about as accurate as large-v3 and still fast on a regular processor with no graphics card, for English plus 24 European languages. TalkType has it as a choice, and Handy has it too. Hold-to-talk works on Wayland as well.

Yeah. Honestly, things about kde still feel a bit clunky to me in the interface, like in settings, you have kwin (which should be easier for users to understand). Don't call it kwin, just call it desktop effects or something as an example

The biggest issue with gnome though is gnome extensions break every update.

They should take the 10 most common extensions and integrate them into the core desktop. That would fix 99% of the issue with gnome. Similarly, KDE should focus on simplifying the default settings and interface, and bury the more advanced settings a bit more.

Both are great products.

Cosmic is also really cool, but, I found the keyboard focus for me doesn't follow the windows, so I'm always typing in the wrong window

I love that we have both options.

I'm sure they will.

Also, someone on the kde team mentioned they're working on something similar to quick look in dolphin too (which I'm really looking forward to). I actually switched back to gnome because it was missing

Hope Kubuntu catches up quickly. The new Kerner version is supposed to finally include proper Mediatek integrated WiFi/Bluetooth Chip drivers.

I'm a fedora user actually, but, I'm actually a fan of the Coreutils rewrite. And, you're definitely right for pointing it out.

Some of the responses I saw regarding the rewrite were absolutely ridiculous though (there were people claiming they'd add certain parameters behind subscription model, etc, which wouldn't be possible).