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[PhsMu]

I was gonna put Linux on it, as I was afraid Windows 11 would be too slow on it, but it works OK But, the last time I looked at this Netflix streaming on Linux was limited to 720p due to some DRM restrictions. Has this changed recently?

Short answer, no.

Long answer, yesn't. Brave does have widevine support, but that by itself is not much when the system doesn't. Ubuntu has mentioned the issue on the past, but their focus is more on the corpos these days so I havn't really checked. Kubuntu would be your best bet if any distro would have it, since its more windows-friendly than vanilla Ubuntu.

I much prefer to download and watch than to stream, but my mother likes the simplicity, even with the caveats of the resolution. That system would be terrible at windows (3rd gen i3 of sub 2GHz clocks, 4gb or RAM) but above that, my father does NOT want a spyware ridden device on his bedroom desk (and I agree), NTLited Windows or not. So its less "Linux is just plain better" (although recently, it has increasingly turned out to be the "Less worse") and more like its the best compromise to the situation. A debloated android would be the best, but unfortunately I don't have any capable of HDMI output.

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

Bummer. Sounds like this is unlikely to ever get fixed going by how slow things develop and progress in Linuxland.

K/Ubuntu is out due to Canonical shenanigans. I settled on Debian, that's what runs my servers and if ever need a Linux desktop, then Debian 13 with KDE it is. But yeah, Debian would be terrible for compatibility issues like this. So, staying on Windows for as long as I can.

 

[PhsMu]

the worst part is that it isn't really a linux issue its an issue with others specifically blocking linux. But yeah, it doesn't affect me, Netflix catalog is crap where I live.

K/Ubuntu is out due to Canonical shenanigans.

the Minimal Installation of Kubuntu is basically KDE desktop. Almost completely free of Canonical crap. I'm pretty sure there's a way to even remove the internal identifiers as 'Ubuntu'. But there's Tuxedo if you live on Europe. Its basically KDE Neon but curated once you remove the Tuxedo-hardware exclusive packages. The downside if you live in america is that their servers are much slower.

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

the worst part is that it isn't really a linux issue its an issue with others specifically blocking linux. But yeah, it doesn't affect me, Netflix catalog is crap where I live.

the Minimal Installation of Kubuntu is basically KDE desktop. Almost completely free of Canonical crap. I'm pretty sure there's a way to even remove the internal identifiers as 'Ubuntu'. But there's Tuxedo if you live on Europe. Its basically KDE Neon but curated once you remove the Tuxedo-hardware exclusive packages. The downside if you live in america is that their servers are much slower.

I used to live in the US, moved to Poland few years back. Yeah, wife watches Netflix, but I don't care about any streaming as I rarely feel like watching anything, I prefer to waste my time with PC games.

I don't like Snaps, I know they can be removed but Canonical is forcing them Microsoft-style and the sound subsystem, possibly other components, will be installed as Snaps in the next Ubuntu release so removing them will be PITA. I don't want to deal with that, this is the kind of crap I hate about dealing with Windows, don't need that in Linux. And I'd rather deal with Windows still, it's a known quantity to me, than with Linux.

 

[PhsMu]

I don't like Snaps, I know they can be removed but Canonical is forcing them Microsoft-style and the sound subsystem, possibly other components, will be installed as Snaps in the next Ubuntu release so removing them will be PITA. I don't want to deal with that, this is the kind of crap I hate about dealing with Windows, don't need that in Linux. And I'd rather deal with Windows still, it's a known quantity to me, than with Linux.

Agreed on snaps. But that is Gnome Ubuntu.

After my last message, I installed Kubuntu on a test machine to see if it can be de-canonified, and surprisingly, its dead simple. So far, I only had to remove two packages (and only one is related to snaps), installed flatpaks on discover and that was it. Then I'd install my own apps, with only Softmaker office needing the commandline to add its repos. Its only five lines because it includes updating all the system and removing unused packages.

sudo apt remove -y plasma-discover-backend-snap ubuntu-pro-client

sudo apt autoremove -y

sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install -y kde-config-flatpak plasma-discover-backend-flatpak

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

But if you are in EU, Tuxedo OS would be your best bet. Its pretty good, if only the updates weren't so freaking slow here in South America...

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

Yup. There is a whole script available on GitHub (sorry I deleted all my Ubuntu related links and notes) that does this all but Canonical will add even more components installed as Snaps, so this is gonna be a never ending battle that feels like fighting Microsoft over Windows. If I ever switch to Linux, I don't want to be dealing with crap like this. I like KDE Plasma and Kubuntu was my top choice for a while but Debian philosophy just sits better with me. Fedora KDE would be my second choice, but their ties to Red Hat turned me off and Fedora frequent updates break stuff too often for my liking. Debian 13 KDE is solid.

I hope though that I can keep de-crapifying Windows for a while as switching to Linux would mean too many compromises for me.

 

[16309]

Modern Linux Using Only 200MB of RAM - Vendefoul Wolf Linux Distro. Gotta be worth taking a look at.

 

[Necrosaro]

Just updated from win 11 23H2 to 25H2 and man o man it's much harder to optimize 25 and get it to 23 Ntlite cleaned. 23H2 after my Ntlite run-through it runs on 1.4-1.5gigs of ram. 25 on the other hand runs at 1.9-2.0.

Still going through some testing but seriously windows really has gotten fat

 

[16309]

Remember when we thought XP was bloated,,,,,

 

[Necrosaro]

Remember when we thought XP was bloated,,,,,

Never really thought that actually. If I remember it was running pretty small after a clean.

There does seem like something back-end going on differently then 23H2. Seems like it works better but cpu/ram grazing is still happening. On 23 it just stopped and no usage going on

 

[16309]

I can get Threads and Processes similar to a heavily tweaked w7 but Handles are roughly double :/

 

[Necrosaro]

I can get Threads and Processes similar to a heavily tweaked w7 but Handles are roughly double :/

I need some stuff on mine however not bare bones. It's a general computer that does gaming,work,movies/tv

 

[16309]

I know and understand that but mine would be an offline machine but for what you do, minus the gaming i accept that for an online machine.

 

[Necrosaro]

Y

I know and understand that but mine would be an offline machine but for what you do, minus the gaming i accept that for an online machine.

Yeah I am probably one of the few who enjoy sign-in for a Microsoft account. Like how all the annoying stuff like bookmarks come right back. After it's done however I remove the cloud and one drive but keep the account signed in.

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

Just updated from win 11 23H2 to 25H2 and man o man it's much harder to optimize 25 and get it to 23 Ntlite cleaned. 23H2 after my Ntlite run-through it runs on 1.4-1.5gigs of ram. 25 on the other hand runs at 1.9-2.0.

Still going through some testing but seriously windows really has gotten fat

Win 11 24H2 was already harder to debloat than 23H2 and 25H2 is mostly similar to 24H2 with few added annoyances but still seems doable. I started tinkering with 25H2 last night and I'm not finding it much different from 24H2. But yeah, there is a clear progression of enshittification visible here. It's just gonna get worse. I doubt even switching to LTSC will save me from the inevitable switch to Linux in the coming years.

Though I do not use RAM usage as my "metrics of success" as that can even vary between machines running the same build. I look at number of tasks running and go through all of them to see if all crap is gone. If all the garbage is gone, then I don't care if it uses 1.8GB or 2.4GB or 3GB of RAM.

Fat indeed. Explorer is still hot garbage. Laggy and prone to hangups even on a clean build. I use StartAllBack and replace the default Win 11 Explorer UI with Windows 11 like. This gets rid of that delay when opening windows and Explorer generally feels snappier.

Modern Linux Using Only 200MB of RAM - Vendefoul Wolf Linux Distro. Gotta be worth taking a look at.

But it looks like it was made in the 90s and the moment you launch a web browser that low RAM usage no longer matters. You probably need to use their own apps to get the full advantage of this distro and it will feel very barebones by today's standards. Even minimal vanilla Debian uses just under 300GB on a Raspberry Pi without a desktop environment so they must have done some serious corner cutting there and the results are visible in the UX. Some people like that or maybe this is a good distro for Raspberry Pi or some really low end hardware.

 

[Necrosaro]

Win 11 24H2 was already harder to debloat than 23H2 and 25H2 is mostly similar to 24H2 with few added annoyances but still seems doable. I started tinkering with 25H2 last night and I'm not finding it much different from 24H2. But yeah, there is a clear progression of enshittification visible here. It's just gonna get worse. I doubt even switching to LTSC will save me from the inevitable switch to Linux in the coming years.

Though I do not use RAM usage as my "metrics of success" as that can even vary between machines running the same build. I look at number of tasks running and go through all of them to see if all crap is gone. If all the garbage is gone, then I don't care if it uses 1.8GB or 2.4GB or 3GB of RAM.

Fat indeed. Explorer is still hot garbage. Laggy and prone to hangups even on a clean build. I use StartAllBack and replace the default Win 11 Explorer UI with Windows 11 like. This gets rid of that delay when opening windows and Explorer generally feels snappier.



But it looks like it was made in the 90s and the moment you launch a web browser that low RAM usage no longer matters. You probably need to use their own apps to get the full advantage of this distro and it will feel very barebones by today's standards. Even minimal vanilla Debian uses just under 300GB on a Raspberry Pi without a desktop environment so they must have done some serious corner cutting there and the results are visible in the UX. Some people like that or maybe this is a good distro for Raspberry Pi or some really low end hardware.

I am one of those people who doesn't like ram usage. More stuff running is not always necessary. Unused ram wasted ram....na unused ram is unused ram simple as that. Going back in time let's say windows 98. Much weaker processors/ less ram but it ran just as fast as they do today.

I just want a clean system and use what "I" want to use. Reminds me of school though. They teach you everything even though everyone doesn't need it just in case.

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

My desktops and laptops have at least 16GB of RAM, most have 32, one has 64, so few hundred MB or even a gigabyte makes no difference to me. While RAM usage is an indication of how bloated a fresh system might be I'm more concerned with "what" is using that RAM rather than "how much" RAM is being used total. And one follows another: once I disable unwanted processes, RAM usage drops as a result, but it's not my primary goal. I am more obsessed with number of processes running and CPU usage (limiting CPU heat and power give tangible results imho) than RAM usage, but like I said one follows another, so it just seems like a different side of the same coin.

 

[Necrosaro]

My desktops and laptops have at least 16GB of RAM, most have 32, one has 64, so few hundred MB or even a gigabyte makes no difference to me. While RAM usage is an indication of how bloated a fresh system might be I'm more concerned with "what" is using that RAM rather than "how much" RAM is being used total. And one follows another: once I disable unwanted processes, RAM usage drops as a result, but it's not my primary goal. I am more obsessed with number of processes running and CPU usage (limiting CPU heat and power give tangible results imho) than RAM usage, but like I said one follows another, so it just seems like a different side of the same coin.

This is why we need programs like Ntlite to help us along and get what we want back. Which reminds me later today need to purchase a updated license for the new features. There are a few things I need to remove and love to support this program!

 

[garlin]

This is why we need programs like Ntlite to help us along and get what we want back. Which reminds me later today need to purchase a updated license for the new features. There are a few things I need to remove and love to support this program!

You keep missing the Black Friday and end of year sales hype??

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

Yup. I took advantage of the end of year holiday sale, so I have a spare license if I ever need it later this year.