Talk about some Privacy Stuff

HungryPooch · May 23, 2026, 5:20pm

The Revolution will not be prompted

Well done, Joe, for just deleting and not putting up with Microsoft's forced Azure integration.

I cannot believe BigTech's dystopian vision for humanity.
NVIDIA's CEO has proclaimed the end of personal computing.
Apparently we are to pay a subscription to access content and compute that they control and curate, all whilst entrusting our credit card to their agents to purchase goods from their sponsors.
We need not worry our pretty little heads. Just chew the cud.

I hope Linux and OpenSource will keep home computing alive. It's been my hobby since I was 12 years old.

But without any hardware available...

Whatever happens, one thing is for sure: I'll never buy another product from NVIDIA again.

In other news...

I'm gaming in native Wayland again and it works brilliantly

With changes I made these past couple of days, I'm now playing my game on native Wayland and it feels better than X11. It is absolutely smooth and effortless.

The key was setting up environment variables to change how my game, Wayland rendering, and the GPU interact.

These are the two key articles:

I cannot emphasise how smooth the game runs now - even in a window. It's running exactly how Wayland claims it should.

I made a few other changes as well, such as:

switched to GEProton (CachyOSProton's latest update made my game unplayable)
removed a flatpak app along with related, redundant NVIDIA flatpak modules, thereby simplifying my configuration
complete removal and reinstall of CachyOS optimised GPU drivers (595.71.05 open)
I've left Optimus(Intel/NVIDIA hybrid) turned off in the BIOS - a battle for another day

These Environment Variables go to prove the old adage:
RTFM!

Revisit optimising my game on ZorinOS running under Wayland

Now that I've finally realised what appears to be the Wayland promise of secure, silky smooth gameplay, I'm going to try to duplicate my Wayland configuration in ZorinOS. If successful, I'll create a post to share with the forum. I plan to keep to ZorinOS best practices and default configurations as much as possible.

Hopefully it will just be a matter of setting environment variables, configuring optimal proton settings, and assuring the NVIDIA modules are installed cleanly.

Another Benefit: Broken YouTube is now working under Wayland

The Environment variables also fixed YouTube so I am again running my browsers under Wayland

I think the key variables were:
env = GBM_BACKEND,nvidia-drm
env = NVD_BACKEND,direct

The variables instruct the Graphics Buffer Manager (GBM) to redirect from Wayland's default route (Mesa), and instead use the Nvidia DRM (Direct Rendering Manager).
Likewise, the second variable tells Nvidia to use direct rendering to the GPU, rather than going through Wayland's Mesa rendering.

Ironically, these tweaks are making the Wayland session behave like X11 by forcing direct rendering on NVIDIA rather than going through Wayland's rendering pipeline.

Unfortunately, this appears to be the best we can do given Nvidia is forcing their way of doing things upon us.

Preserving the configuration now that Wayland Gaming is working properly

For fear of things breaking again, I am now in the habit of creating BTRFS Snapshots so I can switch back to a known working system configuration. If a change or update breaks things, I can revert easily.

Chezmoi for dot file configuration management

Likewise, I've started using a solution called Chezmoi to backup and manage my user environment configuration dot files to my locally hosted Gitea (Git) server.
It's very cool.

I'm logging bugs and issues within Gitea, so if I break something, I can review the commit history and revert.

Finally, I'm also performing file backups using open-source UrBackup along with Proxmox scheduled VM backups.

Microsoft Exodus t-minus one month

I'm giving myself one more month to disassociate myself from my hotmail account, then it is goodbye to Microsoft.
The NVIDIA video above has scared me of what is coming next.

Screenshot of Gitea and BTRFS (Snapshots) Assistant

A couple screenshots of my snapshot and configuration management strategies.

Everything is hosted on my home network using Docker and Proxmox.

Q: What are you going to use for a phone as the singularity takes over?

I'm currently using an iPhone, but Google and Android appear to be taking a similar direction.

Android 17 is Scaring Me

And later that evening...

I was right to make restore points and configuration backups.
I managed to mess up the performance whilst experimenting with kernel settings, and couldn't get the system back to how I had it configured.
Restoring from system snapshot and reapplying settings fixed everything.

Joe · May 26, 2026, 11:24pm

well, i agree 100 percent!
Microsoft is a dangerous decision now!
Since Apple decided to open their servers to Palantir it's the same thing!
And Android is on the way to make the same move. But if you're using nextcloud, foldersync, k9 mail, tasks, aCalendar+, memories and davx5 on android, google can't touch you an your data!
At least it's comming to go to F-Droid on android smartphones to get full open source. the community is already on the way. think another 2 years maybe.

android 17 seams to be a scamsystem.....

I appreciate your work on wayland and hyprland with positiv results.

great work!

HungryPooch · May 29, 2026, 8:26am

Hey Joe,
Here's the latest from this week.

Palantir and BigTech

Not having researched deeply the "why" behind Apple, Microsoft, etc. opening their doors to Palantir, I wonder if it has to do with obtaining government contracts.
If Palantir is embedding itself in militarys and government agencies, BigTech may need follow suit to acquire government contracts.
The other reason may be that Palantir has made itself the de-facto gateway into an AI-powered global surveillance community.
Again, I need to do some reading from credible sources to figure out the "why" behind Palantir's rise and the "why" behind BigTech jumping on the bandwagon. Both the public relations sanitised "why", and the true "why" driving the industry (£££).

I'm under no illusion that surveillance to control and manipulate user experience for profit is a primary driver for most everything.

We are cattle to do as we are told. And should we not, the nefarious convenience of agents will help direct our attention and money to where it needs to go.

In other news...

I've been using Safing I/O's Portmaster to locally filter traffic on my main laptop. It's really good for cutting off BigTech traffic in real time.
Have a look.
Warning: It can be quite daunting. Lots of dials and knobs.

Portmaster by Safing I/O

Safing IO Portmaster - Resist Network Surveillance

Filter out BigTech

Filter out connectivity to BigTech in real time by simply checking a box within Portmaster to allow/disallow traffic.

I keep the Portmaster UI running in a window off to the side of my browser when I'm having a tinfoil hat day.

Monitor and filter traffic by source/destination country

Prevent DNS Bypassing by apps

Prevent apps and browsers from bypassing Portmaster DNS monitoring/filtering - configured globally or by browser

Set rules globally or by application

For example, allow Brave browser to use its own Secure DNS settings, whilst blocking other DNS bypassing apps globally.
The power of this filtering is that you can block all BigTech globally, then only enable connectivity as needed per app such as when browsing a BigTech associated website (e.g., YouTube) for a short time.
Once finished, disable connectivity as needed.

Home Network: Pihole with Unbound

I've also implemented Pihole with Unbound on my home network which in effect filters traffic through Pihole's DNS blocking, then upstreams requests via Unbound. Unbound acts as a TLS encryption gateway and local cache for DNS upstream requests to my trusted, privacy-oriented, third-party DNS provider.

This keeps DNS Lookups from all devices hidden from my ISP.

Microsoft Exodus

Despite my previous proclamation, I haven't really made much progress since I posted my intentions to finish with them within a month.

Community Give-Back

I'm going to try to take a day a week to give back to the community by creating something useful to share.

Today I'm going to take my Wayland CachyOS learnings and attempt to apply them to ZorinOS. If all goes well, I'll create a separate post in the ZorinOS Forum to share what I found made my game run well under native Wayland.

Easier said than done as avoiding distraction is not my strong suit.

Then, later that same day...

Boom! Setting the Environment Variables did the trick!

I've applied the same environment variables to ZorinOS as recommended for Hyprland and the game now runs buttery smooth under ZorinOS Wayland's desktop as well.

Within /etc/default/grub, added two NVIDIA.DRM parameters to the end of the Linux cmd line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nvidia-drm.modeset=1 nvidia-drm.fbdev=1"

and within /etc/environment, added the following variables:

LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=nvidia
GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm
__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia

Before sharing the tweaks, I'm going to see if there is a friendly way of making the changes that doesn't involve sudo-ing at the command prompt.

After changing the grub config, it is necessary to run:

sudo update-grub

then reboot.

Also, like my CachyOS installation, I'm using the NVIDIA 595 Open driver. This latest driver is now available to install via the ZorinOS Software & Updates app.

Oh! And lest I forget. I run GE-Proton10-34 under Steam compatibility with the following proton flags set at game launch:
MANGOHUD=1 PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 PROTON_PRIORITY_HIGH=1 PROTON_DLSS_UPGRADE=1 PROTON_USE_NTSYNC=1 %command%

Goverlay/MangoHud

MangoHud isn't displaying GPU Stats, but I'll figure it out... eventually.
If MangoHud GPU Stats display in Wayland on CachyOS, then there must be a way of doing it in ZorinOS.

Environment Variables: not a silver bullet

Whilst the game runs fantastic, the Steam interface flickers and can be unusable unless in Big or Small screen modes.
I need to continue digging to figure out the root cause.
If it works in CachyOS, then it can work in ZorinOS. I just need to figure out what is missing or conflicting.
I may try running an alternative desktop or just a window manager (Hyprland) on top of ZorinOS to eliminate something in the Gnome desktop.

In summary, the game runs great and smooth, but not everything is happy on the Gnome desktop - in particular, the Steam interface.
It's a common problem in the forums.
Aside from the Steam interface and MangoHud GPU stats not appearing, the Gnome desktop experience is great!
I think this may come down to the configuration of 32-bit drivers as I believe Steam makes use of 32-bit code.

And I must keep in mind

So I've reset Zorin back to its defaults from when I originally installed it.
The game plays perfectly fine using the NVIDIA 580 drivers (without requiring 595) without the variables in place.
So, I may be seeing massive gains because "I want to see" massive gains.
The issue with MangoHud and the flickering Steam client remains. I will figure it out.
And I do think the environment variables make a difference, just not a massive difference. In CachyOS, the variables made the game go from playing well to feeling buttery smooth, but that is not all of the time.
There are many variables at play.

I'm like a bloodhound. I'll get there.

Steam client runs under Xwayland

mike@zb16:/etc$ xlsclients
zb16 gsd-xsettings
zb16 ibus-x11
zb16 steamwebhelper
zb16 mutter-x11-frames
zb16 steam

From what I've read in forums, Steam has a chromium dependency that requires running under Xwayland. The hunt continues...
Regardless, given that Steam can run in a CachyOS Wayland session (Xwayland or not) means there must be a way of configuring the Steam client or ZorinOS to play nice with each other under Wayland.

Steam - what I believe to be the root failure

[2026-05-30 08:10:03] Browser - launching child process with: /proc/self/exe --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=41014 --enable-crash-reporter=, --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --enable-chrome-runtime --user-data-dir=/home/mike/.steam/debian-installation/config/htmlcache --user-agent-product=Valve Steam Client --force-device-scale-factor=1 --disablehighdpi --buildid=1779918128 --steamid=0 --valve-initial-threadpool-size=20
[2026-05-30 08:10:03] Browser - launching child process with: /proc/self/exe --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=41014 --enable-crash-reporter=, --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --enable-chrome-runtime --user-data-dir=/home/mike/.steam/debian-installation/config/htmlcache --user-agent-product=Valve Steam Client --force-device-scale-factor=1 --disablehighdpi --buildid=1779918128 --steamid=0 --valve-initial-threadpool-size=20
[2026-05-30 08:10:03] SteamBrowser-'data:text/': WasHidden 1: (0, 0) 1x1
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] SteamBrowser-'data:text/': Applying safe browser shutdown workaround
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Webhelper: An X Error occurred on display 0x5ad630425bf0
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Major opcode of failed request: 10 (X_UnmapWindow)
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Resource id in failed request: 0x1c0001b
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Serial number of failed request: 831
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Webhelper: An X Error occurred on display 0x5ad630425bf0
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Major opcode of failed request: 7 (X_ReparentWindow)
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Resource id in failed request: 0x1c0001b
[2026-05-30 08:11:44] Serial number of failed request: 832

The above is the smoking gun.

NVIDIA Driver 610 has come out for CachyOS this week.

Linux is such a moving target. Here I was thinking 595 was still bleeding edge.
I'm looking forward to seeing what improves in 610.
P.S. I'm still battling with the Steam client. Game runs great in a Zorin Wayland session, the Steam client on the other hand...

HungryPooch · June 5, 2026, 6:55am

In case it needs to be said (again)...
I apologise for being overly enthusiastic in my posts.
I can become overly optimistic about my capabilities and bite off more than I can chew.
Turns out I'm subject to hallucinating as much as AI.

Now that I have my game running great under ZorinOS Wayland, I'm actually spending a lot more time booted into Wayland. ZorinOS is so polished as a distribution.
Inspired by Hyprland, I've tweaked the ZorinOS desktop to my liking and it is quite beautiful in a simplistic way.
Clean and functional are the words that come to mind.

Steam on ZorinOS Wayland

I've settled with running Steam in "small mode" so none of the problematic (Chrome Extended Framework) web elements are exposed. I can use my web browser for looking through the Steam store.
The problem is that Valve is using an older version of Chrome Extended Framework (CEF) with a flickering bug that isn't fixed until a later version of CEF.
Whilst there could be work-arounds for it, Valve hardcoded the graphic settings for CEF which results in overrides being ignored.

Wayland Gaming

The game continues to run great and smooth under ZorinOS Wayland.
The key is using GE-Proton with the appropriate Proton flags. I'm not terribly sure if my environmental variables make a huge difference as I think GE-Proton does most of the heavy lifting of taming Wayland.

GPU Stats not showing in Mangohud

The fix is provided by @scottyPee : Installing mangohud - #7 by scottyPee
Thank you, @scottyPee

Aravisian · June 5, 2026, 7:31am

Well, to opportunistically grab this statement for my own purposes...
Both you and @Joe have been accurate and factual - and have not strayed from the effects of certain global affairs directly on computing and GnuLinux.

Let's make sure that we stick to the merit of actions, decisions and affects without attaching them to labels for broader groups of people.

We have members from many different countries and with many different personal views. Keeping the conversation centered on specific policies, products, companies, and facts helps ensure that everyone feels comfortable participating.

HungryPooch · June 5, 2026, 3:47pm

@Aravisian

You're so right. Apologies for emoting over past relationships - tech or otherwise.
I'll handle myself with more discretion from here on out to assure everyone feels included and welcome in the community.
Apologies again.

And thank you for the gentle coaxing.
Ashamedly, as I go down my rabbit holes, I forget there is a world of other people out there.

Aravisian · June 6, 2026, 6:25am

None needed; that was not a formal mod note. As I read through the thread, I did take note of a few terms that separate groups, so wanted to ensure we stay grounded in that: We are all in this together.

Both of you stayed on points that are factually accurate and did not stray from the direct effects on GnuLinux/ Computing.

Speaking as a citizen of the USA, I say plainly that it is gratifying to see a shift where arrogance and power hunger are being opposed and stood up to, at long last.
And that momentum is gaining to encourage free market.

This is good for FOSS.
Not so much for Meta or Facebook.

HungryPooch · June 6, 2026, 8:34am

I'll stay on guard for divisive labels in my writing which are too easily thrown about nowadays.
Thank you for the reminder to stay mindful and considerate of others outside of my immediate circle.
You all do a marvellous job maintaining the civility of this forum.
I aspire to post concisely and to the point as the rest of you, but my autistic mind tends to go wild stallion.
I'll get there. Just need to set up some intentional guardrails to keep the horse corralled.
I cringe to think I may use AI to sanitise, but it is likely the smart thing to do when I find myself a bit all over the place.

HungryPooch · June 9, 2026, 2:12pm

I'm going to keep my eye on GrapheneOS as a replacement phone when the time comes.

What I hope though is that whatever I choose will not require expensive hardware to run. It would be nice to run Graphene on a second-hand phone.

Ponce-De-Leon · June 9, 2026, 5:22pm

Graphene runs primary on Google Phones. But there was an Announcement for a Corporation with Motorola to bring a Motorola Phone with Graphene OS by default. but it seems to be a more ... price-intense Model.

Maybe Alternatives with a bit more widespread Phone Support like CalyxOS, Lineage OS or eOS could be something?

Joe · June 18, 2026, 1:57pm

Would be a great solution if it works with all open source stuff like nextcloud, FolderSync, DavX5, aCalendar+, Memories and Tasks etc pp.
Then it's time to switch on the phone too.

Time will tell.

Hope we can hold on data secure delivery on Linux. That's the biggest point of future living.

Joe · June 18, 2026, 1:59pm

Hope we're getting a very good alternative to Google/Android soon.

Joe · June 18, 2026, 2:25pm

Yeah, good point.
We as Linux Users are living like in a sandbox and take a look from inside out.
we have to keep the community clean on thoughts and watch out for data insecure options comming from the outside.
The community is big and from different countries, and the personal sight of the world should be on third place while discussing different positions of political offers.

So you're right to say we don't have to harm others while this forum is about computing. So I can handle that

Thanks for your reminder.

HungryPooch · June 20, 2026, 7:54am

Feeling nostalgic for the Commodore 64?
Not only a flip phone, but runs on Linux.
"Less scroll, more soul."

Ponce-De-Leon · June 20, 2026, 9:58am

I already saw this. But the Price is ... high for something like this.

HungryPooch · June 21, 2026, 9:38pm

CachyOS's new Proton 11 is really good.

The latest CachyOS updates broke my game under Proton-GE, and I was getting ready to reinstall CachyOS when I discovered the article below.
All of my fancy variables and flags have been reduced down to the following:
MANGOHUD=1 %command%

proton-cachyos-11.0 takes care of the rest.

https://www.fosslinux.com/156986/proton-cachyos-11-released-natively-integrating-optiscaler-and-simplified-hdr-gaming.htm

However, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows...

Under this new proton build, about a minute after my game launches a couple of threads of execution (executing I don't know what) keep running in the 95 to 100C temp range (bursting I assume).
This makes Mangohud report a 98 to 100C temperature, although only 2 cores of 16 are affected. The threads eventually stop doing whatever they're doing after 5 minutes or so and reported game temps return to normal.
I'll eventually figure out what the threads are doing. For now, the behaviour means that I must run the game when the laptop is sitting on a cooling stand as it gets fry-an-egg hot otherwise.

And more heat is not something I necessarily welcome during this "scorchio" heatwave we're experiencing in Europe.

HungryPooch · June 24, 2026, 6:26am

The legend, Michael Tunnell of This Week in Linux, agrees with you.

Nonetheless, I find the concept really cool. I assume the device is priced for enthusiasts rather than mass market adoption.
Michael makes a good point that you could just buy an entry level smart phone then lock down apps and functions. But beyond function or lack thereof, I think Commodore is marketing the phone for its nostalgic aesthetic to those of us who remember the analog world.

swarfendor437 · June 24, 2026, 6:28am

And instant fail by including WhatsApp by default:

@community_moderators I think this thread needs splitting. It started on help with nvidia graphics and veered off onto privacy and security. Appreciate some members cannot access 'The Lounge', so perhaps split where this thread deviates to 'Chat about Zorin?'

Having recently viewed @Bourne 's post on Telegram founders talk at the Freedom Forum I am now using Telegram.

Ponce-De-Leon · June 24, 2026, 10:21am

I splitted these Comments off to a new Thread. Maybe the Beginning is not quite accuarte and some Parts of Comments, too for this. But I didn't wanted to go too deep in it and remove Stuff for not risking destroying Context.

Ponce-De-Leon · June 24, 2026, 10:23am

Maybe not the best Idea.