KDE and XFce DEs are the most customizable to look like MacOS (nothing to do with distros, you can use any distro and then use these DEs to make them look like MacOS). Here’s my XFce: https://mastodon.social/@eugenialoli/114653608461737248

I have tried it, I downloaded it. But while it kinda works now, you can’t untangle AI code in the future. It becomes too complicated and difficult to debug. Any project that uses mostly AI, doesn’t have a future. It only has a temporary present, while things are still simple.

I’m allergic to AI code. It’s worse than spaghetti. I wish it wasn’t AI-made, for the most part.

You will have to reinstall the OS, and redo the partition table (256 MB boot partition (that’s enough for a single OS), 2 GB swap, and the rest / root partition). Then install Debian with XFce on the / partition. You use it normally as with any other Debian-based OS, that Zorin is also one of them, but you use the terminal to update the system. It’s very usable.

For 16 GB SSD with 4 GBs of RAM (which is what most Chromebooks used to be), you will need Debian with XFce, with 2 GB of swap partition. Nothing else will either fit, or work properly. I have given away 3 such laptops to friends with that setup (Arch might fit ok too, but because I was giving it to friends, Debian was easier to work with). After installing the v12 Bookworm Debian OS, with libreoffice, a couple of simple games (e.g. solitaire), Gimp, and that 2 gb swap partition, I was left with 5 GB free space. I had to occasionally do sudo apt autoremove to make sure the space wasn’t eaten away, but overall, it stayed steady (dh -h will give you that info). With Trixie, you might end up with 4 GBs of free space, as it’s bigger. Bookworm has updates until 2029.

If the issue is under X11, try their Wayland session. Otherwise, you will have to wait until December, when they go fully Wayland with their more stable version. If you’re already using Wayland, use X11. I don;'t think there’s much to do otherwise for such an issue.

Anything from Debian. I even run Debian-Testing, and it’s rock solid. Also, Linux mint, on my other partition.

Only thing bothering me on the cosmic desktop is really the fact that the app menu doesn’t have a shadow behind its window. So white menu on white window on the back, you can’t see where one window starts and where the other ends. A patch for that would be great, to be honest.

You are the only one with the answer closer to what I’m looking for, everyone else is thinking in terms of user accounts, where root can override. An encrypted volume can not be unlocked by root without having the password of the said volume.

QCAD can read/write DWG files on Linux, it costs just 40 bucks, and it has an autocad-like interface. But if your instructor says that they need autocad, better keep a Windows machine too.

Another way to read/write DWG files is to download and make executable the appimage here. It converts DWG to DXF. https://www.opendesign.com/guestfiles/oda_file_converter Then you can load the DXF on the Community (Free) version of QCad.

Sure, you could load that DXF file on any Linux app (e.g. librecad, freecad), but qcad is the most autocad-like app of them all. Even Librecad is a very, very old fork of qcad, which hasn’t progressed much since. https://qcad.org/en/ You can make their trial version of QCAD (that supports natively dwg) to become free community edition by removing some library files they request on their UI. The ability to read dwg goes away, but then you have the converter above to do the job.

Linux user since 1998 or 99. Debian-Testing for my desktops, Mint for my laptops. I like things that work well with a GUI (I dislike the terminal, despite being well familiar with it), without bad surprises (Debian-Testing is surprisingly stable).

Different OS, different apps. When you move to another OS, you move your apps too, not expecting to run everything Windows does. If you really want to play that game, stay on Windows. Although you probably did something wrong, since others can play cyberpunk fine (maybe not the cracked version though, or a special pack for it – just vanilla game).

If you want a compatible laptop, you get one that has a version that comes with Linux, without major kernel changes. For example, the DELL laptops. The DELL laptops get hate, but they are tested against Linux. I personally got the 5640: https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/129/776/310/532/073/original/ffe65da00bfd0b39.jpg It now runs Mint and Debian-Testing.

I paid just $900 euros with 32GB of RAM, and my husband got the same with 64GB of RAM for $1000 here in Greece. Everything works 100%, except touchpad’s palm rejection (I made a bug report about it).

The ability to upgrade my cameras’ firmwares, as it requires specialized Win/Mac utilities. Other than that, nothing.

Avoid. It’s mostly games that work well. Use open source alternatives instead.

I like this, because I’m on a slow line here in Greece, and pretty much every time there’s an update, the linux-firmware package is 600 MB, which is massive to download.

He should start with Mint, learn the system in general, and then move to Bazzite, CachyOS, Pika or Nobara, which are more game centric.

Yes, I agree. I personally like Cinnamon and Gnome, XFce if my PC doesn’t have much ram. I don’t really enjoy any of the other ones.

I use the cli on macos often, because some apps need to be manually signed from the terminal. Power users on windows also use the terminal. However, the best of what you ask is Linux Mint.

Linux Mint is not a “rando ubuntu fork”. It’s the most reliable OS for me, along Debian-Stable. It has prefs for almost everything, sane defaults, and a clear release and support schedule. And it uses Cinnamon. I’ve tried everything under the sun, I always come back to Mint. It works.