TL:DR... I'm looking for projects to level up my command line knowledge.

Hi there everybody,

I've been using Linux for over 4 years now and I've never neglected using the terminal in that time. I would class my level of knowledge to be novice, navigating around directories, changing file permissions, creating and editing files etc... you know the very basic day to day operations.

This past weekend a family member gave me an old laptop they happened to come across while cleaning up storage and I remember watching a YouTube video a while back of someone using a CLI only build to force themselves to learn the terminal better. Well this laptop isn't quite a potato but its still potato-ish so I thought that would be a good idea for my own learning purposes.

So I've installed Debian with no desktop environment to give it a run... so far I've realised sudo wasn't working so I changed to root user, checked for updates, installed sudo and set permission for my account to use it... and now I'm sitting in front of a screen with a cursor flashing and no ideas at all of what I'm actually going to do with it from here.

And this leads to the point of my post. Does anybody have good ideas for intermediate level projects or use cases I can get behind to further my learning?

have a intel i5 mac from 2014 that can no longer update. Wife loves to use the macbook to watch stuff so I'd like to put a wife-friendly distro on there to extend it's life a bit. interested in opinions on non-tech user-friendly distros geared towards entertainment.

What I'm looking for is an image viewer that does not show a checkered bg, but rather "see through". So if you had an image with transparent elements it would be like a cut-out. I've tried swayimg and feh but can't seem to get the result I want. feh is perfect except for this want. I use labwc. Thanks

pic reference: https://imgur.com/a/G55NqyE

Hi, im not sure if this i the right place to ask but i have a old Samsung a52 which i have forgotten the pin and google account password and was wondering if i can bypass it and install linux on it. I tried samFW but the its running android 14 so it doesn't work. It just seems to be a waste to throw away a perfectly good phone. Thanks in advance.

What distro works the best on a PC?
I’ve used Mint Linux on a Legion Tower 5,
It fixed my ram problem of 6-8GB out of 16 always being used …. Now it’s between 2-4gb used.

Apps are smaller sizes…. I’m getting allot more out of the 256ssd and 1T HHD

Is Arch a stable distro for a PC?

Dell XPS 13
Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS
Flatpak 1.16.6

ran command: xargs flatpak install -y < flatpaks.txt

/home/user-name/flatpak.txt contents:
"org.gimp.GIMP

org.kde.krita

org.kde.okteta

org.shotcut.Shotcut

org.telegram.desktop

org.torproject.torbrowser-launcher

org.videolan.VLC"

weird split output begins:

Installing 33/33… ████████████████████ 100%  11.4 MB/s  00:00^[[45;64R^[[45;71R^[[45;80R^[[45;89R
user-name@computername $ 1R;1R;17R;63R;52R;52R;62R;71R;80R;63R;52R;52R;52R;52R;70R;63R;52R;52R;52R;54R;54R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;70R;70R;70R;70R;70R;70R;88R;63R;52R;52R;52R;63R;63R;63R;72R;81R;63R;52R;52R;52R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;63R;70R;70R;70R;70R;70R;70R;88R;63R;52R;52R;63R;54R;63R;63R;63R;81R;63R;52R;52R;70R;63R;52R;52R;52R;63R;72R;81R;63R;52R;52R;63R;63R;81R;64R;53R;53R;64R;64R;64R;64R;82R;64R;53R;53R;53R;64R;64R;82R;64R;53R;53R;71R;64R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;53R;53R;64R;64R;71R;70R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;80R;89R;64R;53R;53R;64R;64R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;89R;64R;53R;53R;64R;70R;71R;71R;70R;70R;70R;71R;71R;71R;62R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;80R;89R;64R;53R;53R;64R;71R;62R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;80R;89R;55R;53R;53R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;71R;80R;89R;64R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;53R;53R;64R;64R;71R;70R;71R;70R;61R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;89R;64R;53R;53R;53R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;89R;64R;53R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;53R;53R;64R;71R;71R;70R;71R;61R;70R;70R;70R;70R;71R;71R;70R;70R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;70R;70R;70R;79R;88R;64R;53R;53R;71R;64R;53R;53R;64R;64R;64R;64R;71R;71R;71R;71R;62R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;80R;89R;64R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;53R;53R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;55R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;71R;80R;89R;64R;53R;62R;71R;64R;53R;53R;53R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;64R;71R;80R

more full pictures of terminal output in this post.

Q1: My computer did enter a suspended state when I walked away and may be the cause; but what is the meaning of these **R; outputs, and why output into the input field?

Q2: Unrelated to Q1 but same vein of interest of automating flatpak install; Initially flatpaks.txt contained org.qgis.qgis but this I removed it due to error.. QGIS has a LTS and Stable choice, but automating it prevented selection. To fix this, could I edit flatpaks.txt **like "**org.qgis.qgis | 1" ?

xargs flatpak install -y < flatpaks.txt

Looking for matches…

Similar refs found for ‘org.qgis.qgis’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system):

1) app/org.qgis.qgis/x86_64/stable

2) app/org.qgis.qgis/x86_64/lts

Which do you want to use (0 to abort)? [0-2]: 0

error: No ref chosen to resolve matches for ‘org.qgis.qgis’

A recent thread with a similar issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/1wajojx/cant_update_linux/

The fix on the older thread above was to uninstall virtualbox and then try again, but that didn't seem to work for me. This thread is basically my exact issue but I couldn't figure out how to fix it with just the answers given there, since trying to uninstall virtuabox seemed to weirdly throw me the exact same error: E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

# System Details Report

---

## Report details

- **Date generated:** 2026-10-04 21:20:45

## Hardware Information:

- **Hardware Model:** Lenovo Legion S7 15ACH6

- **Memory:** 16.0 GiB

- **Processor:** AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800H with Radeon™ Graphics × 16

- **Graphics:** AMD Radeon™ Graphics

- **Graphics 1:** NVIDIA Corporation GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q]

- **Disk Capacity:** 512.1 GB

## Software Information:

- **Firmware Version:** HACN43WW

- **OS Name:** Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS

- **OS Build:** (null)

- **OS Type:** 64-bit

- **GNOME Version:** 46

- **Windowing System:** X11

- **Kernel Version:** Linux 6.14.0-37-generic

I feel I am a noob although I have worked with Linux servers as a CSE graduate for around 3 years.

cd, ls, rm -rf all I know.

bash scripts, all I know.

ssh remote to local port forwarding i know.

But how does that entirety works in the TCP/IP protocol suite? How is that even possible that I write that ssh -N -L type of stupid stuffs and it helps me in this case.

I am in cafe->I can access my proxmox via SSH (via tailscale)-->Proxmox can access the VM inside it via SSH. Now voila, I write a SSH command at the laptop with me in the cafe and I can access the VM inside proxmox via ssh using tailscale semi-public IP. I banged my head so badly. But I do not know..what to do. Not even tcp/ip protocol suite generic textbooks seem to contain information on SSH. And spending time reading an entire book on SSH---> I am not sure if it will be worth it. Because reading books takes me days and weeks.

For some reasons, mv cannot move folders if files are similar. For example...

I have /tmp/codes folder.

Then I have /opt/codes folder.

I want to ensure that codes in tmp overrides codes in opt. I for some reason cannot use mv. Why?

I have to use rsync with -ac flag.

These things are getting over my head linuxadmin folks. I feel like my brain has been neutralized by AI ceos.

I just buy a laptop with linux (I choose it because it’s cheaper than windows) I don’t have any idea of what expect from it!
I already searched for more visual and easy versions!

Hello guys!

I've mostly been a GNOME user, but now I'm considering trying KDE again for the first time in a long time. I like GNOME, but it feels a bit laggy.

Since I don't have much experience with KDE, what distro would you recommend?

I'd like something popular and well-supported, not some random hobby distro. I also want the latest version of KDE and something that's beginner-friendly.

That's All

I know we can't expect rolling release distros to be as stable as traditional distros. But, these days Rolling distros have improved so much and they rarely break. I would like to know about your experience on rolling distros. Which one is the most stable by far? Arch, Tumbleweed, Gentoo, NixOS or Void?

Just as the title says I want to know if it's okay and safe to use GDM for kde plasma and if not, what could go wrong? Thank you.

Just a couple hours ago I did a fresh install debian 13 on my chromebook 100e 2nd Gen with an AMD cpu. It was quite a seamless installation and I suffered no problems.

The real problem comes after the installation; everything from touchpad to my ports seem to be working perfectly fine, except for the audio and the headphone jack. I have searched all around the internet and tried several cmds to work things out but to no avail.

Can someone please guide me on what to do next?

Quero usar pra jogos piratas e steam e trabalho futuramente, não entendo muito de Linux mas já usei o Linux mint xfce e me acostumei um pouco ao uso, mas quero um que seja bem prátic sem precisar configurar muita coisa, bem otimizado pra jogos e ter boa compatibilidade, tô pensando no cachyOS mas não sei muito dele

Meu Pc é um kit xeon x99 DDR3, e5 2673 v3, 16gb ram DDR3 1600mhz e rx 580

Qual é o mais completo pra uso geral?

I'd like to switch to Linux, but I want something I can still use once I've gotten the hang of it. Which Linux distribution do you recommend?

I use Kitty on Arch Linux just because I like it, but I see that lots of terminals advertise that they are "fast" or that they have "GPU acceleration". From my understanding, printing text to console can be a bottleneck that slows down a program executed on a terminal. But at what point the difference is really noticeable?

At the moment the only program I'm aware that would really benefit is Cava, a console music visualizer. What are other programs that would benefit from being ran inside a fast terminal emulator?

I used to run both Windows 10 and Linux Mint a few years back, but I've mostly forgotten what some distros do and the like. I want a freely customizable desktop because, from what I remember, Mint didn't let me do what I wanted, but I also had issues connecting to the theme servers or wtv; I digress. I want it to be quick and light so I can hoard all my vns, freely customizable, preferably from terminal (I love terminal), and won't make me wanna kms. Gentoo is prob the best pick from what i rmbr but I wanna talk to people about it before jumping into it. ty for reading and I hope yall can help me!

I'm trying to do this now, but at the moment I'm limited by a lack of RAM (I only have 8GB), and the development process is very slow.

My main goal is to use Google Drive + AutoCAD + WinApps. My projects are on Drive, and I'll access them through AutoCAD. I was already doing this before, but with WinApps, I'll be able to run only AutoCAD without having to open the entire Windows interface.

I have this tablet/pc thing, that just sits around, and thought i would resurrect it. While its old, i think it could live on with a lightweight linux distro. Here's some specs:

Intel Atom Z3735F "BayTrail" (Quad core 1.33 Ghz)
2 GB DDR3 Ram
30 GB eMMC storage

I tried installing various distros, but got trouble with almost all of them. After a successful installation it simply wouldn't boot, and would show me something like "ubuntu boot failed" in a blue box.

There was one that worked though - Fedora 44 Xfce spin. Even though Xfce is quite lightweight, it is still really slow on this hardware. I'm not sure if it is because of the eMMC drive, but I guess it could be. Suprisingly, once a browser is loaded with youtube it performs fine.

What i found out could be causing the boot trouble is that, while the CPU is 64 bit compatible, the UEFI is 32 bit only, which seems to cause issues. And due to the performance even running Xfce i was hoping i could find some distro, that works on this hardware, 64 bit cpu + 32 bit uefi, with a lightweight desktop environment AND able to load to ram (hoping this would help the performance)

Do you have any suggestions?

I’ve been trying to use LY to switch between sway and gnome so I can rice my computer but when I try to go into sway none of my key binds are working. I went into the config files for say and made sure my mod key was set correctly and I had nautilus set up for my default file manager, still not working properly. How do I get this to work so I can open a terminal?
PS I’ve been following a guide for theming here is the link if it helps https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jFz5gLqv-FM&t=614s&ra=m

When I ask AI to tell how to learn a new skill or anything, it just hypes me up and gives false hopes that can be the best or great in it. What us best source to learn explore. Like if you get bored and want to know about something where do you go. How specifically will you research. Not only about linux but even other things too. I am curious in tech . Like how make youtube recommend better things, knowledged.