I just installed Cachyos and I'm having trouble with mount points I think. At boot, I need a password to mount sata drives, and whatever permissions I change don't stay after rebooting. From what I can tell, it has to do with the drives mounting on /run/media, and apparently /run is a temp folder or something.

I think I need to change the mount points to something else, like /media (which doesn't exist and I'm hoping I can just create the folder and use it as a mount point?)

fstab is confusing me, can anyone help me with a quick rundown?

Edit: Think I've got it using gnome disk utility. I switched the mounts, everything boots up connected now. Had an issue where I couldn't read or write to the drives tho haha, but seems to have corrected after a reboot ( I think I may have installed ntfs-3g before the reboot). The owner and group for all of them are now root for some reason, but it seems to be working anyway.

Lately my system has been freezing and completely unresponsive. ctrl+alt+backspace, reisub, nothing works and I have to hard reset. I found some logs, syslog, and have posted a few leading up to the freeze. They're all from ProtonVPN (I'm on beta). I'm hoping there's something I can do without just not using ProtonVPN, assuming proton is the culprit. Can anyone make sense of this?

I don't know how much of this info should be private so I redacted some, timezone, pc name, mac, ports.

2025-12-12T11:09:27.835680TIME MYPC protonvpn-app[4792]: 2025-12-12T15:09:27.835612+00:00 | proton.vpn.local_agent/port_forwarding.rs:225 | INFO | Receiving Response { version: 0, operation: 130, response_code: 0, gateway_epoch_seconds: 4116943, internal_port: REDACTED, external_port: REDACTED, lifetime_seconds: 60 }
2025-12-12T11:09:28.257753TIME MYPC protonvpn-app[4792]: 2025-12-12T15:09:28.257690+00:00 | proton.vpn.session.utils:112 | INFO | API:RESPONSE | '/feature/v2/frontend'
2025-12-12T11:09:28.258827TIME MYPC protonvpn-app[4792]: 2025-12-12T15:09:28.258799+00:00 | proton.vpn.core.refresher.feature_flags_refresher:94 | INFO | Next feature flag refresh scheduled in 1:39:23.178147
2025-12-12T11:09:32.026373-04:00 MYPC kernel: [UFW BLOCK] IN=proton0 OUT= MAC= SRC=REDACTED DST=REDACTED LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=54 ID=30062 PROTO=TCP SPT=REDACTED DPT=REDACTED WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 
2025-12-12T11:32:17.244594TIME MYPC systemd-modules-load[957]: Inserted module 'lp'

Edit: The log includes the first entry after rebooting at 11:32. The system clock froze at 11:09:55, 22 seconds after the kernel entry.

Edit 2: There a whole bunch of entries prior to the ones I posted, all very similar mentioning proton and most with UFW block, for example:

2025-12-12T11:07:12.127370-04:00 MYPC kernel: [UFW BLOCK] IN=proton0 OUT= MAC= SRC=REDACTED DST=REDACTED LEN=52 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=116 ID=9565 PROTO=TCP SPT=REDACTED DPT=REDACTED WINDOW=65535 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

I'm realizing now the reference to Proton is just my connection.

Edit 3: If I'm reading this stuff correctly, a bunch of UFW BLOCK happened before the crash. Assuming SRC is the source IP, they're all different. Assuming DPT is the port they're trying to access, they're all the same ProtonVPN port. There are more but between 11:01:32 and 11:09:32 there were 24 UFW blocks.

Edit 4: Froze again while messing around with my firewall. I had installed Firewall Configuration a little while ago to figure out some server stuff. No idea if it had anything to do with it, but I've deleted that and reset my ufw. I found one post online talking about firewall packets freezing their Arch system, so I'm wondering if that's the root cause, I'm not great with network stuff haha. I've also installed fail2ban to block multiple ip attempts. Only weird thing now is previously my firewall had port numbers and stuff, and now it's 0s like:

Allow incoming 0.0.0.0 ssh (0/TCP)

Allow incoming :: ssh (0/TCP)

Allow incoming 0.0.0.0 dhcpv6-client (0/TCP) etc.

No idea if that's normal

Still pretty new to Linux, I'm on Ubuntu Studio 24.04 LTS and had some issues with updates through the updater with errors and so I did sudo apt update/upgrade instead. Something went wrong and had errors, and after a reboot I had no internet access, Ethernet or WiFi, and no options to connect to anything. Running sudo lshw -c network showed unclaimed networks.

In case anyone has a similar issue, I fixed it by:

1. Reboot, spam shift to get into grub
2. Advanced options
3. Recovery mode for the lower number kernel
4. Enable networking
5. Fix broken packages

My question is about number 3. There were 4 kernel options, 2 normal with a recovery for each (I can't remember the specifics but one had 37 and the other 36). I selected recovery 36 as it was the older kernel. Is that amount of options (2 for each kernel) normal or can I create more? Like 37, 36, 35, 34, etc.

I was in panic mode since this PC is for work, and thought it might be nice to have more older kernel options if possible. I've also learned my lesson and am currently running Timeshift.

A client has asked me to replace their video editor for a video podcast. It's the standard quick-cut style, zooms, loud transitions, and big bubble-letter subtitles throughout.

They recommended using Descript, which looks to be an AI platform that does all the work for you. Throw your video/audio into the site, and it transcribes the video, allowing you to edit based on the transcription. It then makes AI recommendations and inserts zooms and transitions.

There's no getting around using AI for some of this, like subtitle generation, but I'd rather not buy a sub to an AI platform, nor would I like to use one, so I'm looking for alternatives. The pay certainly isn't worth the time it would take without cutting corners unfortunately.

Unfortunately, Davinci Resolve isn't playing well with my system and the nvidia driver I use (580, it worked on 550 but that's not an option in Additional Drivers anymore for some reason) results in a black screen for the video timeline (not ideal for a video editor haha). I've been playing around with Kdenlive and Blender's video editor.

I found an add-on for both programs that transcribes speech-to-text, which I finally got mostly working with Kdenlive (using whisper) but not with Blender. I also found a FOSS app called audapolis which does well pulling a transciption into an exportable file.

Anyone have any experience making these mass-produced-style videos without going full AI? My client mentioned the old VE spent 1-2 hours with Descript for a 15ish min video and 2 shorts. I'm ok doubling that timeframe at first if it means not using Descript.

I have 3 machines I've switched to Linux: an old laptop with Mint, and my primary laptop and PC runing Ubuntu Studio. I use Protonvpn on all 3.

Today I had my app manager on Mint and Discover on Ubuntu showing new updates. I installed Mint's first, via the manager and Proton was an update. It mentioned it would uninstall a few proton things so I figured it had to uninstall them in order to install the new update. Protonvpn stopped working after, it looked uninstalled but my killswitch was still active (so no internet at all and no access to open the vpn app). I had to find out how to kill the network processes via ncmli (good new info to learn!) and do a roundabout uninstall through a process I found in an old Proton post as just uninstalling it with normal commands didn't work, restart the laptop then reinstall Protonvpn.

So on my laptop and PC, I updated via terminal instead, using sudo apt update/upgrade. All smooth and no issues.

Was my Mint problem a one-off glitch or is there a real difference when updating via update manager vs the terminal?

Edit: Thanks guys, seems the general consensus is yes, but some of ya's say no haha. I knew going into the question that having Mint screw up with manager and Ubuntu Studio work with terminal opens a lot of os possibilities beyond simply manager vs terminal.

Next Proton update, I'm going to try the terminal on Mint instead of manager, and the manager on my Ubuntu Studio laptop instead of terminal and see if anything screws up.

Anyone else having this issue? I just updated through Discovery and it auto installed 580. Taskbar froze up, but everything else worked fine. I had to purge nvidia drivers, reinstall 550, and reboot. Now I'm on X.Org Nouveau. Pretty sure I was on Nvidia 570 prior to this but I don't know how to go back, still new to this Linux stuff haha

Edit: Ok, I was able to get back on 570 with software sources (kept getting an error before). 580 is still borked for me though (says proprietary and tested). Do I just wait for the next update?

I'm on Ubuntu Studio 24.04.3 LTS (Noble). I chose this over the newer 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) since 24 has support through 2027, and 25 only has it until Jan 2026. I figured this was the smarter move.

However, as was mentioned by one of you lovely people in my last post, some of my issues may be fixed in 25.04. My taskbar just froze up, and I found a sort of fix to restart Plasma, and it was mentioned this is fixed in Plasma 6, which is in 25.04. That said, I'm terrified of ruining everything haha, so I have more questions:

1: I'm assuming (hoping) this wouldn't be a full wipe and start over? It should just upgrade right?

2: Do I need to do the whole USB route, and if so is there an option to keep everything (I'm hoping, I put a LOT of work into this so far and I don't remember if that was an option on first install).

3: I remember a few apps I installed were specific to Noble, will this break those apps?

4: It seems like there should be an option to upgrade from the desktop, but I don't have that option. If I run

plasma-distro-release-notifier

I should get an update notification right? In which case I can just say "hell yeah!" and it'll do its thing?

I really appreciate all of you, you've made a super stressful experience slightly less stressful so cheers to you all!

It's been a week. Ubuntu Studio, and every day it's something. I swear Linux is the OS version of owning a boat, it's constant maintenance. Am I dumb, or doing something wrong?

After many issues, today I thought I had shit figured out, then played a game for the first time. All good, but the intro had some artifacts. I got curious, I have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 and thought that was weird. Looked it up, turns out Linux was using lvmpipe. Found a fix. Now it's using my card, no more clipping, great!. But now my screen flickers. Narrowed it down to Vivaldi browser. Had to uninstall, which sucks and took a long time to figure out. Now I'm on Librewolf which I liked on windows but it's a cpu hungry bitch on Linux (eating 3.2g of memory as I type this). Every goddamned time I fix something, it breaks something else.

This is just one of many, every day, issues.

I'm tired. I want to love Linux. I really do, but what the hell? Windows just worked.

I've resigned myself to "the boat life" but is there a better way? Am I missing something and it doesn't have to be this hard, or is this what Linux is? If that's just like this I'm still sticking cause fuck Microsoft but you guys talk like Linux should be everyone's first choice. I'd never recommend Linux to anyone I know, it doesn't "just work".

EDIT: Thank you so much to everyone who blew up my post, I didn't expect this many responses, this much advice, or this much kindness. You're all goddamned gems!

To paraphrase my username's namesake, because of @SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone and his apt gif (also, Mr. Flickerman, when I record I often shout about Clem Fandango)...

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall GNU/LINUX OS grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."

I've been working and testing to switch my main PC (used for work like audio recording, music, and general multimedia) and have been playing with Ubuntu Studio on my laptop. Loving it so far but I keep seeing people talk about CachyOS, Bazzite, or the new Debian Trixie.

I'm having trouble finding what's really different about all these distros aside from how they look or slight changes in how they do things (I know Ubuntu Studio has a low latency kernel which seems important for what I need to do). Is there a big difference? Like, if I go with Ubuntu Studio am I gonna end up wiping everything and installing CachyOS or Bazzite or something in a month because it's better? Or are all these distros basically the same thing with a different look and feel and as long as I choose one that gets regular updates, it doesn't matter fundamentally?

I'm trying to grasp the Linux concept but being a Windows user my whole life I'm struggling to 'get it'. Instead of trying to understand in the contex of Windows or Mac, is a better comparison Apple/Android? Like iPhones would be similar to both Mac and Windows (you don't get to choose much) and Android would be Linux (I know it's built on it haha) and it's really just a bunch of different options to do the same thing?

Before I fully make the switch to Linux I'm looking for options to replace an old Windows program called SCRU. You set a folder to watch, and an output folder and it automatically copies specified extensions or extracts rar into the output folder.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to do this in terminal and haven't dug into scripts yet, just want to know of it's possible.

I made the switch! Well mostly, my main PC that I use for work (audio, music, etc) is still Windows for now while I figure out if I can do what I need with Linux. 3 days ago I threw Mint on my old laptop (which I don't use much for testing as it's still slow, even with Linux) and wanted to use my main laptop to test for switching my PC. Unfortunately it's a Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra, which apparently has issues with Linux hardware-wise. I got everything up and running (except for the webcam which was expected) and found Ubuntu Studio, which seems to basically be Ubuntu with auto-install of a suite of audio and video programs, and a low latency kernel (whatever that means. I'll get there to figure it out eventually).

I've learned a LOT. Pulling in Windows vst files through Wine and yabridge was a journey. Every time I fixed an issue and took a step forward, I encountered a new one haha. But, I got it working. I LOVED figuring out the problems, even if I wanted to pull my hair out. The terminal is...really neat.

Anyway it's important to me to try and learn the how/why as I go so here's my question. Librewolf. It installs via terminal, and I'm having issues on Ubuntu Studio. I tried it on Mint and it installed fine. Ubuntu studio however throws up this error: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F

I tried sudo apt-get install -f (which I think looks for missing dependencies and stuff?) but no go. Since both distros are Debian, I'm guessing the biggest difference between Mint and Ubuntu Studio is the kernel? I've been able to fix things with missing dependencies but I'm guessing the public key is something different?

ELI5, why does it work on Mint and not Ubuntu Studio?

Edit: Got it thanks to u/frongt I added the key and it's all good!

Execute the following commands in terminal

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys

where is your missing public key for repository, e.g. 8BAF9A6F.

Then update

sudo apt-get update

Back again haha, I asked a little while ago about making the switch from Windows to Linux and general consensus was maybe don't, as I use my PC for work doing voice acting, music production, and digital art.

Anyway, my PC has been crashing lately so I may be at the point soon of re-installing my OS, so I may as well bite the bullet if/when that happens. Right now I'm making some backups, making a list of Linux programs I'll need, and just trying to get my ducks in a row so I'm not scrambling if I wake up one morning and have to do the thing. Which brings me to Distros.

I've done some research into it but already but there are a bunch of options (thinking maybe Bazzite or Fedora?), and I'd rather know what I'm going with if my PC dies so I don't have to waste time trying to figure it out then. My PC specs are:

Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-11400F @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz

Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

Obviously the priority is to get up and running but I'd really like to use a distro that I can learn some as well. I've installed Mint on an old laptop (recommended for being similar to Windows) but ideally I'd like a distro that's a bit more Linux-y. I'm ok taking some extra time getting up and running, though I'm not at a point for something like Arch yet haha.

EDIT: Wow, lots of comments, thanks! I think I've been overthinking it overall based on these responses. I have Mint on my old laptop and it works well, but had issues on my main laptop (Samsung Book3 Ultra) which I've read has to do with Samsung in general. I also had some issues with Nvidia on it but that may have been a Samsung issue more than anything else. My main PC uses Nvidia so I was under the impression that some distros just don't play well with it and wanted to make sure I used one that worked well with that graphics card.

Bottom line, I've been looking into Linux over the past few weeks and there's still distros mentioned here that I've never heard of haha. It seems really intimidating (hence why I asked) but I'm getting the impression that, at least for now, I'll just go Fedora to start when I bite the bullet. Arch looks really interesting but again, seems intimidating coming from Windows.