Neophyte journey

codezer0 · 2025-09-23T16:24:32+00:00

… Or, can I avoid typing in command lines that require a credit card to answer? So, to recap from the other thread… Bazzite kinda worked, but gave up on it because of its constant griping about secure boot; no matter how many times I entered the password it lists in its support thing, it rejected it every time on an actual install. So, Linux mint. First impressions are… It’s leaner, on the USB at least. Doesn’t gripe about secure boot. But does nag me an awful lot for the admin password to do things. Feels like Vista with UAC all over again, but worse. Couldn’t get online at first; my home network literally has every Ethernet plug occupied. At first tried refusing a Belkin adapter that I gave a Windows XP machine; no dice. It recognized it but refused to talk to it. Had to fish out another adapter that it would like. Seeing it’s app store for the first time, and saw a few familiar entries. Loading up Steam and trying out ut99… At first impression, finding it won’t give a display at all with the opengl renderer. Yet worked with the d3d renderer. Out of any environment where I didn’t expect that behavior, it’d be here. Unfortunately, having to reconfigure it every other day is a peeve. Spot Open RGB being available through said app store; download it, to help me manage lights. And running into another quandary that makes no sense to me and has me going in circles. It downloads and installs, then when I launch the program, it tells me it needs some kind of rules set, and to run it as root. If I right click, I see no such option… I thought being admin was enough? What the hell. I go and download the linked script file it instructs me to, but all that happens when I click on it is it just opens in notepad. Right clicking for context gives me no clue of what the hell to do next to make this work.

ugly95

codezer0 Seems for now, I need to figure out a way to basically run OpenRGB as a root service in order to have things operating correctly.

I think you should be able to use a systemd service to run something as root on startup.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a service file for systemd, so I don’t want to lead you down the wrong path. But I think services in /etc/systemd/system are run as root.

codezer0

ugly95 Certainly close. OpenRGB supposedly does have its own system service in the Linux build. Had to sudo the commands, and while the dev in chat believes it shouldn’t need a reboot, it did for me.

The plugins don’t auto-start but that is a minor speedbump compared to everything else it took to get to this point. At least the program is working, and I can now have it operate the motherboard rgb properly 👍️

codezer0

codezer0 Forgot to share these.

codezer0

Okay, next program on the docket… OBS, and by association, NDI.

Way back before I realized that me doing my own streaming sessions was instantly going over the ISP data caps I was able to set up a two PC streaming arrangement over the LAN, and using a thing called NDI to capture the output over the network to rebroadcast out to Twitch. Even back then, when the system doing the reencode was an amd fx system, the resulting output quality was insanely good. What let the experience down was the substandard nic on the fx motherboard.

Fast forward to current year, it’d be nice if Arceus could do that instead. By all accounts, it should be a better experience, right?

Wrong again. before I could even attempt to find if NDI was a thing on Linux, it already is insisting that I have no avenue to GPU encode at all. It’s acting like the Radeon VII doesn’t exist. I know for a fact that GPU encoding on this card was supported in windows since it was brand new, what is this thing talking about?

My frustration is ramping up again and I’m just basically told to “go back to Windows or Mac.” My [racial slur] in Christ, with that attitude, I would if I could. The reason I’m even trying to make this crap work is precisely because I can’t go back to Windows on this build. I do not have $500 to buy a replacement ssd from micro center or anyone else because of ai data hoarding putting storage back at 1990s rates, for crying out loud.

Sadly, I find that NDI won’t even make a release to work on Linux. But at least there is an alternative plugin meant to work like it that is available on Linux. Of course now the issue is the program gaslighting me in trying to insist there is no GPU encoding support whatsoever on this system. And my patience is rubbed raw to the point where I’m just not having it anymore.

Eventually break down and go to the program’s discord to try and post about getting help, they demand a log file before anything. I share the log file, and… Then I’m told that they don’t support this release and I need to redownload it, too.

This is now the second time where the app store offered a program and the community meant to support said program, insists that the release on there is not supported. In as many words, this is trying my patience. Why even offer the program at all on the app store if you’re actively choosing not to support it, then?

I’m genuinely sick of this disconnect between the quality of the program and the ability to get crap to work. And then being blamed for it by the very community claiming to offer support for it.

ugly95

codezer0 This is now the second time where the app store offered a program and the community meant to support said program, insists that the release on there is not supported. In as many words, this is trying my patience. Why even offer the program at all on the app store if you’re actively choosing not to support it, then?

This can be an issue with a distro like Linux Mint that uses extended release packages. They’re old packages that only get security fixes, while the software itself has moved on (sometimes around 2 years by the end of the extended release cycle). And evelopers usually don’t want to spend the time trying to troubleshoot an issue for something that might have been fixed already in a newer release.

I do have OBS and have had it working. But I don’t use it very often, and it’s been a long time since I’ve needed to use it. And I’ve never heard of, or tried NDI.

Somewhat-Reticent

Many Windows drivers have been legally hacked and/or ported to other systems.
A dev doing this may be harassed by bored trolls exceeding their scope.
…
Is there any way to contact the dev(s) of the release of interest?

codezer0

Somewhat-Reticent Both the OBS and the OpenRGB Discord servers imply that some of the staff responsible for the software visit it. Whether they actually show up might be another matter entirely.

At least with OpenRGB, it was rather hilarious that the dev of it showed up just after that other user happened to look through the source and realize that the code meant to talk to the motherboard’s controller in the (then)current build was just flat out missing.

I’ve not seen any such show up yet, with regards to OBS.

It’s also just as frustrating when I finally get home to try to download the “official” version that is meant to be supported, get something called a .flatpakref file, and all it does is link me BACK TO THE VERY SAME APP STORE.

Comparatively, the most shocking thing was that the NDI like plugin made for OBS that had a compatible build for Linux, already had a shell script file that was already provisioned to be executable from the start. I wish the various udev things did that. So installing the plugin for OBS was overall easier than for OpenRGB.

So far, the most trouble-free was setting up the Linux build of the Fan Control program. Only had to run its udev once, it was able to pick up all the sensors and I was able to set up the fan rules from there. While I do wish it was better spelled out from the start, I’m at least relieved it worked like it should from the first try.

codezer0

ugly95 NDI is, or was, how to handle capture over LAN. The site advertises itself as having more functionality, but that’s the beginning and end of it, for me.

With this, I wasn’t having to also sort out getting some ultra expensive capture card to accept a Displayport cable, extra cables, and something that could handle a 4K source, since it also needed to go out to the monitor without lag. Back then, with the GPU handling encoding, it was able to give a sharp 1080p stream, to Twitch. So whatever it is about it worked especially well to efficiently GPU decode, rescale, or whatever it is it needed to do. What let it down, was that the realtek nic on the pc that was receiving the capture and re-encoding it out to Twitch would quickly get overwhelmed and just give up after a few minutes.

Back then, Arceus was my main pc. And for what few games were too much to play and stream from the one pc, the two pc setup made possible with NDI, allowed me to game with full performance and have a better quality of output. If I could get OBS on Linux to be able to handle it, that in itself would be a healthy plus for whenever I can finally move to somewhere with better internet options.

codezer0

… And the obs discord just gave up, telling me I need to contact mint.

Who am I supposed to contact over any of this?

Considering all I’ve gone through to try and get these programs working, the stereotypes about Linux continue to persist. And my patience and willingness to muddle through it continues to be not so much burned away, as sliced and cauterized on the spot.

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