My Hyprland config broke after the latest update so I moved to KDE. I'd use XFCE to get closer to the original but it doesn't have Wayland support. This looks nice as well. Spotify theme from the Spicetify marketplace.

TLDR; Appreciation post / love letter to CachyOS devs and community enumerating specific features that keep me locked in here. After running it for a few months I am no longer looking anywhere else.

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I'd just really like to thank the CachyOS devs and the community for all the effort put into this Arch-Linux, fast, modern Operating system. I have this specific distro now installed on all my personal hardware; T2 Macbook Pro 2019, Old hp laptop with 8gb of RAM, Beast gaming rig (7900XTX GPU, 9800X3D CPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM).

All of it works without issues. I have GNOME on the laptops and KDE on the gaming rig. Not only is this OS faster than whatever I had before (Windows, MACOS, Ubuntu), but it can be truly unique and "Yours" in the best kind of way. It has breathed new life into my older hardware as well.

Also, the Cachy-update system, built-in tools like the installer, Cachy Hello, Shelly, and the Steam custom proton layer, the wiki, access to the AUR via paru and pacman (Best package manager, fight me ;)) make this distro feel polished and complete.

I have tried and used for a couple of weeks / months the following distros; Ubuntu and some flavors, Linux mint, Bare Arch, Omarchy, fedora and Bazzite. Although they all have their pros and cons to a certain extent, I can confidently say that CachyOS is the end game for me and many users as I can see. And for that I am truly thankful.

On the gaming rig specifically, I have noticed BIG TIME that, while SOME videogames have lower fps than windows, they FEEL literally much smoother (Less dips, hangs, hiccups???) At first I asked how is that even possible because the games need to be "translated" from windows but Im telling you, it's noticeable in-game.

Cheers guys! <3

A recent YT video about installing games on Linux (specifically CachyOS, that i honestly didn't know existed... there's so many distros now!?) caught my attention and got me pondering an actual switch. I guess it got pushed by YT cause i've been following Valve's news lately, with their Steam Machine, Proton etc and naturally their push for Linux Gaming.

Anyway, switching to Linux has been in the back of my mind for a long time. I have always been curious about it and have started playing around with Linux (without going super deep, mind) ever since i got the courage to "risk breaking my PC" by installing shit on it on my own, around early 2000s. Today i am 42 years old engineer, a husband and dad, but also a geek and a big gamer. I am getting really sick of Microsoft's bullshit, the crazy bloat Windows is nowadays, eating tons of RAM to just run the OS, the constant enshitification of the OS (i am still using Win10, refusing to switch to that pile of shite Win11), the constant risk of viruses etc. However, me being a big time gamer as a main hobby and the general "dependence" on windows-based software has kept me away from really making the switch to Linux for now as my daily driver for my main PC. I use Linux on my travel PC since it's way lighter and better than Windows nowadays for simple travel tasks (mails, maps, banking, simple office type tasks, etc usual things), but i haven't really bothered installing it on my main PC for a good while. I have to admit, i hadn't realised how far Linux has actually gone in terms of gaming.

Reading through some posts and watching a few videos, it seems like it's almost there... but is it really?

I will list my main uses-cases for my home PC here, with some comments and questions:

• General use - web, office, whatever - seems pretty much set to me. Compatibility with MS Office files is not 100% seamless and the tools like OpenOffice are maybe a bit less sophisticated than MS Office but it's good enough. Which is the "best" office solution nowadays? I remember using Libre Office and Open Office and i know that the EU is building it's own Office thing right now...
• Photo editing - my second hobby is photography, so i use Adobe Lightroom a lot. I believe there's no native Linux port ? What's the best way to run LR on Linux ? I know there are some alternatives, some are even free/open source, but so far i haven't found anything that can really replace LR in a definitive way. Any suggestions, if running LR doesn't work well for now?
• Gaming - the big blocker for me - Years ago, when i was playing around with Debian, there was no Proton, Wine was a young thing and wasn't really... great. All in all, gaming on Linux was not worth it. As i said earlier, things seem to have changed A LOT since then. What's even more encouraging is that Valve are building their whole hardware branch on Linux, and them being the biggest company in PC gaming, i believe things will only get better from now on. Maybe companies will start writing native Linux editions of their games too one day... In the meantime, there are a few questions still tho
  • Compatibility through Proton vs SteamOS - the official SteamOS page claims they have over 18k games compatible now... but does that also mean they are all compatible with any Linux+Proton setup too?
  • New games compatibility - Since Proton, if i understand correctly, is a layer that "translates" windows code and sits between games and the OS, it itself needs to be updated to support new releases? Is it case-by-case or more broader compatibility sweeps? Can games be compatible right "out of the box" ? How fast does the project move, currently?
  • ARM vs x64 - I know Valve's main focus is on ARM architecture, since their HW runs on it... is the x64 version of Proton affected negatively by that? (Held back, slower, etc)
  • Multiplayer and anti-cheat - The big one, i guess. The last few years i've been playing more MP than SP games so this is a big concern for me. I found some info about Steam "working hard" on anti-cheat integration in their HW AND Proton, but no real dates or anything solid. I also found this site - https://www.gamingonlinux.com/anticheat/ - according to which Squad, Deadlock and Arc Raiders, Broken Arrow (games i currently play) should work with Proton, however Foxhole (another one i play) is not on the list at all... And i don't even know how reliable the site is. So, what's the general situation currently, with MP games and anti-cheat? Does it generally work, not work, "works but it's complicated", ... ?
  • Performance - from what i see on YT, performance is actually impressive (sometimes better than windows?), but still - what should i expect?
• Other Windows software - Other than office, games and Lightroom for photos, i have many other applications for random shit like focus stacking, home design, digital document signing etc. If there's no native Linux version available, is it possible nowadays to run any Windows-based software on Linux through an emulator of sorts, similar to games through Proton ?

I'd appreciate some genuine answers, not "rtfm" (i will rtfm when/if i get to setting up, don't worry 😛)

When i updated CachyOS and restarted i only get this black screen. How can i fix this?

Edit: Below text is part of my notes I keep to track changes I made. :)

1. Installing software that manages ASUS laptop

asusctl is the well-known tool to manage your ASUS laptop. It can do things that ARMOURY CRATE does in Windows. That includes managing power profiles, GPU profiles, keyboard backlight, battery maximum limit, etc.

a. You can install asusctl from cachy-os repos. (Before installing asus-ctl, see note on G-Helper below) Installing asusctl, rog-control-center didnt work OOTB. After installation, checking the status of relevant systemd services and going through journal logs I noticed error stating /etc/asusd missing. As a fix, I had to

sudo mkdir -p /etc/asusd

sudo systemctl reset-failed asusd

sudo systemctl start asusd

b. Add rog-control-center to autostart apps. I am using KDE. For KDE, open Application Menu (press Windows key), type autostart, hit enter. Add rog-control-center to the list. A quick note: before putting computer to sleep make sure that icon in taskbar is turned blue from red. Not sure whether this is likely to cause issues or not, but this is soemthing I follow.

G-Helper

G-helper is THE lightweight alternative to ARMOURY CRATE on Windows. It is sadly Windows only. Or rather it was. A kind dev took the task and ported the G-Helper to work on Linux. Here's the link to repo. I would probably have used this tool if I had known earlier.

2. Install Octopi

3. Get VSCodium

VSCodium is the completely FOSS build of VSCode. But it doesn't come with the access to all the great extensions for VSCode (only a few extensions from Open VSX Registry). To get access to the extensions from VSCode in VSCodium, run

mkdir -p ~/.config/VSCdoium && echo '{"nameShort": "Visual Studio Code", "nameLong": "Visual Studio Code", "extensionsGallery": {"serviceUrl": "https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/_apis/public/gallery", "cacheUrl": "https://vscode.blob.core.windows.net/gallery/index", "itemUrl": "https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items"}}' > ~/.config/VSCdoium/product.json

I also add alias to code for codium. Simply add alias code 'codium' in /home/username/.config/fish/config.fish. You can also explore using abbr instead.

4. Sleep issues with NVIDIA ¬‿¬

Run:

sudo touch /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-power.conf
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-power.conf

A text window opens. Copy the below block and paste there (with Ctrl+Shift+V).

# put the below
# (NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1 NVreg_TemporaryFilePath=/var/tmp) helps in preserving video memory for sleep/suspend/resume,
# (modeset=1 fbdev=1) required to make Wayland work without black screen
# NVreg_EnableS0ixPowerManagement=1 : if vram usage is low, copies the data to system RAM and completely powers off the GPU's memory. If usage is high, it puts the memory into "self-refresh" mode.
# NVreg_DynamicPowerManagement=0x02 : If an app is open but hasn't touched the GPU for a short period, the driver will power the GPU down and only wake it up the millisecond the app needs it again. good to have for optimus laptop gpus
# options nvidia_drm modeset=1 fbdev=1 # do not add here if (and you should to prevent infrequent race conditions) you are adding to kernel parameters as stated below
options nvidia NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1 NVreg_TemporaryFilePath=/var/tmp NVreg_EnableS0ixPowerManagement=1 NVreg_DynamicPowerManagement=0x02

Press Ctrl+x, then y, then enter.

Run:

# enable services
sudo systemctl enable nvidia-suspend.service nvidia-hibernate.service nvidia-resume.service

Add some high priority options to kernel parameters. Add nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia_drm.fbdev=1 at the end of line LINUX_OPTIONS="zswap.enabled=0 nowatchdog quiet splash" in file /etc/sdboot-manage.conf to make it LINUX_OPTIONS="zswap.enabled=0 nowatchdog quiet splash nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia_drm.fbdev=1". Then run sudo sdboot-manage gen.

5. Wifi driver issues (MT7921)

Note: Nothing seemed to work, and the driver was causing freezes, preventing device sleep, etc. I have disabled it, and using my phone as wifi module with USB tethering. Yep...I know it sucks.

1. Disable ASPM (Active State Power Management): This is the most common fix for MediaTek cards. Add mt7921e.disable_aspm=1 at the end of line LINUX_OPTIONS="zswap.enabled=0 nowatchdog quiet splash" in file /etc/sdboot-manage.conf. then run sudo sdboot-manage gen.

2. To diable wifi module entirely, add module_blacklist=mt7921e instead. I have done this and use wifi from phone instead.

Try to fix MT7921 wifi (ASUS TUF F15 2021) by switching to iwd

https://www.reddit.com/r/cachyos/comments/1s7gl1x/wifi_mt7921_issues/

iwctl device list # to check if it's using iwd. Using iwd: You will see a table listing your wireless devices (e.g., wlan0) and their current status (e.g., "connected" or "powered on"). if not using, command will either not exist or will return an error like "Waiting for IWD to start..." or be empty under devices.
systemctl status iwd.service # to check if it's using iwd. If you are using it: The output will show Active: active (running). If it's not active: You will see inactive (dead) or an error saying the service could not be found

sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/iwd.conf

Add below:

[device]
wifi.backend=iwd

Press Ctrl+x, then y, then enter.

sudo systemctl mask wpa_supplicant
reboot

After reboot:

iwctl device list # to check if it's using iwd

...In my case, it didn't work. The wifi still hangs causing the system to hang.

Edit: A dkms module that appear to fix the issues can be found here along with the installation instructions. I have not tested it.

6. Get browsers' cache to RAM

Cache is one of those items that browsers need to write to... a lot. So instead of keeping it on disk (SSD) we move it to memory (RAM). A downside is that the browser's state gets cleared on every boot. So any notes you had in your favourite online notes app, that were hanging in the cache, will be no more after you reboot.

6.1. Putting the Firefox network cache into the RAM (credits to easylinuxtipsproject)

a. Type in the URL bar of Firefox:

about:config

Press Enter.

b. Now you're being presented with a warning. Ignore it and click on the button "Accept the Risk and Continue".

c. Copy/paste the following into the filter bar (search bar):

browser.cache.disk.enable

Toggle its value to false by double-clicking it: this will disable "cache to disk" entirely.

d. Now you're going to make sure that "cache to RAM" is enabled. It should be enabled by default, but verify it nevertheless. Like this: Copy/paste the following line into the filter bar (search bar):

browser.cache.memory.enable

That existing entry should already be set to true; if not, toggle it to true by double-clicking it.

e. Then you're going to determine how much memory can be used as RAM cache. Copy/paste this into the filter bar (search bar):

browser.cache.memory.capacity

That entry should exist already (if not, create it now).

The current integer value will probably be -1, which automates the maximum size of the RAM cache dependent on the available amount of RAM. So far so good, but this automation usually creates a cache that's far too small....

So set it to 524288 (KB, which equals a maximum of 512 MB) and click the Save button.

6.2. Transfer Chromium's cache hunger to RAM

tmpfs expands and contracts dynamically. You only set a maximum limit; if the directory is empty, it uses nearly zero RAM.

a. Create the mount point:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/chrome-cache

b. Mount it dynamically: b.a. Use this command to set a 2GB maximum limit (it will only use what's needed):

sudo mount -t tmpfs -o size=2G,mode=1777 tmpfs /mnt/chrome-cache

c. Make it persistent: c.a. Add this line to /etc/fstab using a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add below line:

tmpfs /mnt/chrome-cache tmpfs defaults,size=2G,mode=1777 0 0

Press Ctrl+x, then y, then enter.

d. Close Chrome completely.

e. Remove existing cache. Check the folder name! It will very likely be chromium or something :

rm -rf ~/.cache/google-chrome

f. Create the symlink:

mkdir -p /mnt/chrome-cache/google-chrome
ln -s /mnt/chrome-cache/google-chrome ~/.cache/google-chrome

7. Disable UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) logging

sudo ufw logging off

8. Update firewall rules to make sure KDE Connect works

sudo ufw allow 1714:1764/tcp
sudo ufw allow 1714:1764/udp
sudo ufw reload

9. If you have a keyboard with Numpad, turn Numlock ON on startup

Open Application Menu (press Windows key), type Keyboard. Turn NumLock on startup ON.

10. Limit journal logging

sudo nano /etc/systemd/journald.conf

Change #SystemMaxUse= to SystemMaxUse=100M
Change #SystemMaxFiles=100 to SystemMaxFiles=7
Press Ctrl+x, then y, then enter.

11. Configs

Let me know if you want my configs. They aren't fancy by any means, but are rather the standard ones.

• mpv (uosc)
• pipewire (bitrate)
• vscodium (product.json)

12. Audio

Install jamesDSP via AUR (via shelly) or get easyeffects from the repos. Enable convolver with Dolby Atmos .irs. You can find the .irs file for Dolby Atmos here. JamesDSP has a very high quality output with convolver as compared to easyeffects, but it also has issues such crackling, pop, etc.

13. Undervolt Intel CPU (5th to 10th Gen)

Get Undervolt Go. It's a port of undervolt by georgewhewell in Go and has multitude of features built on top. I built it.

14. SSH setup

 ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "myemail@gmail.com+alias"
 eval (ssh-agent -c)
 ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Upload the contents of ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub file to GitLab, GitHub.

15. Enable tweaks from cachy hello

1. psd
2. systemd-oomd

16. Installed downgrade

Get downgrade package from cachyos repos. It helps you downgrade a package to a previous version. Surprisingly useful.

17. Cursor theme

Use Breeze Cursor Dark theme as it has bold borders.

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Anything I should further do to make things better...?

Edit: Added numbers to headings.

I recently made the jump from windows, so forgive me if this is a newbie question. I have only updated Cachy through Cachy-Update and it is listing Cmake, Wayland-Protocols, and other packages as orphaned. As far as im aware, uninstalling them is a bad idea as it could break my system. I am running the KDE Plasma DE and would like to use CMake in the future. From the quick google search I did Wayland-Protocols is necessary for KDE to function. Now I am hesitant to go through with what Cachy-Update is suggesting.

Should I remove them, and if not, what should I do to prevent this from occurring in the future?

how do I force CachyOS to use my dGPU as Primary in all apps, etc.

I tried blacklisting the iGPU, but it causes artifacting on external screen

I tried disabling iGPU through BIOS but CachyOS doesn't seem to respect that choice in the same way as Windows does (it still defaults apps, games etc. to iGPU)

disabled from BIOS but OS still sees and uses the device primarily

The built in switching was not working for me and the Plasma desktop was taking up a GB of vram I needed for AI.

You might not need this on a nvidia system, but I'm on AMD/AMD and could not get the plasma wayland desktop to render on the igpu while I used the dgpu for games/compute.

Update: here is the github, please let me know if it works for you. https://github.com/AudiEtoffe/Plasma-GPU-Router

Cannot boot, update was stuck for an hour and I had to do a hard reset and now something effed up

Can load in to live environment with USB, ran: sudo pacman -Syu linux-cachyos linux-cachyos-headers

as root but still nothing. please advice with instructions

Using grub

Una maravilla, mi laptop no es tan potente y con este sistema rinde mucho mejor que Windows 10. No me arrepiento de dejar atrás Windows.