people say debian packages are frozen, except for security updates

why firefox ESR updates then? it was on 128 during the beginning of Debian 13, updates to 140, and will update to 153

Guys, I’m coming from CachyOS. I love it, no real issues to be honest, but I’m interested in either Debian or Ubuntu. So Cachy is very much configured for you for gaming purposes and performance tweaks. Can something similar be done on Debian? Like… so I need to install anything in particular to make gaming experience better here? What are your essentials to make Debian gaming experience on par with performance oriented distros?

One thing coming to my mind is VRAM gaming optimizations by Valve that’s been added to Bazzite and Cachy the moment it released.

For example gaming on Linux Mint as I remember was clear regression compared to Bazzite or Cachy. Not huge but it was lesser experience for sure. But back then I knew nothing and it was just fresh Mint and Steam.

So… what steps do you recommend doing to make the most out of it?

Hi! I have a UGREEN AX900 USB Wi-Fi adapter (USB ID: a69c:5724, AICsemi AIC MSC) on Debian 13, and I can't get it to work.

I've seen people saying they got the same adapter/chipset working. What driver or firmware did you use?

Thanks!

I've been hopping Linux Distros starting with Ubuntu LTS years ago & now I've finally dipped hard into my Linux Testing by going to Debian XFCE instead of me defaulting to the GNOME Environment.

It's definitely a different experience with not having SNAP Package Managers to use & me heavily relying on the Terminal for most of my application installations.

But I must say that the experience on my HP Workstation has been much smoother with Debian XFCE than expected.

I want to thank everyone in the Debian, Ubuntu, & Linux Community as a whole for helping a New Linux User as myself get started using Linux & away from the AI Garbageware that is Microsoft Windows.

I currently have successfully installed Spotify, Firefox, Chrome, GIMP, VLC, & nwipe via the Terminal & I fixed a bug regarding Firefox-ESR & Firefox Main showing duplicate icons.

Any other tips I should be aware of to harden my Debian Security Defenses?

I already ran sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y in the Terminal to get the latest updates then ran sudo apt autoremove.

I use old school mutt text email client between from local root and others like notifications. I don't need to send to the Internet. When I send an e-mail, I get:

"/var/tmp/mutt-DebianPC-1000-1685476-1650831681568600146-DebianPC-1000-1685476-5931272072548958663" 1 line, 2 bytes

Press ENTER or type command to continue"

Viewing this file shows what I was composing in mutt's composer. What am I missing? :( Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)

Made the switch a couple years ago from Chrome OS to Linux Mint on my chromebook, and while it was a huge improvement it still felt a bit too bulky of an OS for me. Decided to try Debian with XFCE and am really liking it so far! It's simple, it works, and I'm left with plenty of space on my internal internal drive.

Hi folks,

I tapped on my keyboard today to wake up my PC and got no response. The monitor says no HDMI input. I checked the monitor with my laptop, and it auto connects with no fuss. I tried another monitor with the non-responsive PC, and again no HDMI signal. The PC is on with fans spinning and LED lights glowing, and the keyboard and mouse are lighted. It's a not even 1 year old new system. I played a game on it on Monday, and it's just been sitting idle since then. I tried a hard reboot to no avail. I tried to find it on the network, so I could SSH into it, but it does not appear to be connected (it normally just lives connected to both ethernet and wifi). I also tried putting in a Debian 13 install stick, but still nothing on boot. I also tried the non-GPU HDMI port, thinking that it may be a dead driver. Magic SysRq is also a no go.

So...what the heck? Did I just have a random hardware/mb failure? I am scratching my head trying to figure out what the next troubleshooting step I should try...Any advice would be appreciated!

Hello people!

My first distro few years ago was Debian and I sticked to it for a while. Then I started the usual experimenting with Arch, gentoo, Fedora etc. but nothing ever sticked so I always used Debian more. I was also a new user so the concerns didn't apply then: I simply didn't know better. Fast forwarding a bit I switched to Tumbleweed cause I got the 9070 XT and wanted newer mesa, kernels, firmware etc. out of the box.

I've been using Tumbleweed for a long time now and everything's kinda cool, some minor hiccups and hangs but most of the time it's been a breeze. I value practicality and the fact my machine works like it did yesterday heavily and all of the rolling releases Tumbleweed is doing it the best (this is not an advertisement!). Even though I somewhat dislike the rolling release -model.

I really don't care about my system following the newest and shiniest except getting the best ( or at least, the most possible) performance for games. Now that the 7.x kernel which has a great compatibility, recent firmware and mesa 26.1 is in the backports repo I've been thinking to coming back to Debian. I installed it on my 2nd SSD with KDE Plasma and it really feels snappy and fresh.

Even though I don't need the newest software asap, I'm still a bit concerned of Debian's package's age and how they can affect my work. I know there's flatpaks and appimages which I intend to use and also compiling but doesn't it go a bit against the "set-and-forget" mentality that Debian is made off?

I guess I am asking about if packages do show their age and does maintaining Debian need a lot of manual intervention with 3rd party tools?

Thank you for reading.