Technology

I have three ideas: First, you could switch the desktop environment to one of the ones that has a GUI settings tool to set passwordless automatic sign in. I think Gnome 3 on Ubuntu, and Mate Desktop on Linux Mint have that feature. There are probably others.

Second, you could switch your display manager to "nodm". The display manager is the thing that runs the X server or Wayland, and it starts the greeter (the greeter is the program that shows the login screen). nodm is a special display manager that doesn't use a greeter or ask for a password. It immediately starts the session using the username and desktop environment specified in its configuration file.

I use nodm for my HTPC and it works very well. The only downside is that you have to edit its configuration file, /etc/default/nodm , using a text editor. I'm not aware of any GUI configuration tool for it. However, it's pretty easy to configure.

Third, you could abandon all display managers, and start the session manually, either from a shell script, or over SSH. This is a little more complex. You will probably want to get comfortable with SSH before trying this (SSH is the command-line analog of remote desktop).

Configuring automatic login shouldn't be difficult. Here are instructions on Ubuntu (should work on any GNOME system), and here's how to do it with pretty much any KDE system. This is a feature of desktop managers (like gdm or sddm), not desktop environments (like GNOME or KDE), so if neither works for you, you're probably using a different one. If that's the case, reply with your distro and as much info as you can provide.

That said, what exactly is the problem you're trying to solve? It's usually a lot easier to login remotely using SSH instead of remote desktop, and then use console commands to do whatever you need. To login with SSH:

ssh <user>@<IP address>

So if your username is tux and your IP is 1.2.3.4:

ssh tux@1.2.3.4

And then if you want to reboot:

sudo reboot

And if you want to shutdown:

sudo shutdown -h now

I use an app on my phone to login, so I can get it done while sitting on the toilet in like 10s (I use it to unlock my computer so my kids can use it). If you're accessing from your computer and just need to run a single command, provide it after the command in quotes (note, sudo commands won't prompt for a password and will just fail).

I have a pi5 at work (upgraded this year) that I use to administer my work network from home. I use ubutnu mate with xrdp for the desktop. Works great, even the sound works. No monitor and even if you hooked one up it would just show a login prompt.

What about SSHing into it?

I think the first thing is actually recommend is enabling a daemon that launches Plex at boot without login. sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserver For something like a Minecraft server I'd recommend reading up on the setup process. (It's a fair bit to summarize)

If the application doesn't come with a systemd service I'd recommend making a cron. They're scary looking but actually pretty easy to use, I use it for automating maintenance on my server.

It may feel counter intuitive but Linux servers don't really need a desktop to manage them so most the tools don't really come with graphical apps. If you want an interface to check on things I'd recommend installing and using cockpit web based graphical interface.

If you want to do it proper on a systemd system make a systemd.service it's not as easy to learn but you get extra tools to manage it.

I've heard there's a lot of work that has been done in kde and gnome to get rdp (remote desktop protocol) with remote login.

I hope this helps! If not, almost everything can be done through the terminal and ssh(secure shell) makes that process really easy. I installed and setup my Linux laptop and my server that way.

If you just want to transfer files there is sshfs(secure shell file system) and the ability to go to your file browser and type in an sftp(secure file transfer protocol) address. In kde dolphin for example you select network and type in the bar sftp://(IP address or hostname)@(user):(working directory). Make sure you have sshfs installed on both machines and sshd enabled on at least the system you want to access.

Yeah I also haven't found a good alternative for a windows management host for RDP. I use my last remaining windows box as an "admin host" and the Linux alternative to this would be vnc or xrdp, both of which have their issues (no dynamic resize, clipboard issues, session restore issues)... I've also tried x2go recently which is closer but still not as slick/simple as a windows RDP session.

Get a virtual hdmi dummy plug. A very cheap and easy fix. Because the machine now thinks a screen is attached it will create a desktop environment you can remote in to.

I don't know what rizon - Linux is is but I guess that's just the internet. I don't know what to say other than I hope you have better luck next time.

It's amazing how fast we got here though isn't it. There were a ton of talented people, most of them working without pay just to make it happen.

I love the sense of community from something like that even if all I could do is be a beta tester, request potential improvements, and donate to my favorite projects.

NVIDIA spent many many years doing a very very poor job of providing drivers for Linux.

Many people have not forgiven them for that.

It definitely helps you become a lot more independent as a Linux user. The tools you learn when you troubleshoot things are incredibly universal. Tools on Linux are intentionally designed to be intuitive and informative which is quite refreshing to obtuse tools like regedit.

the barrier for getting Linux to work is too high right now for a very large part of the population

My elderly (late 80s) parents have Windows on their laptops and it would be impossible for them to use it without my regular intervention. I might as well take the plunge and set them up with Linux.

Definitely give Linux Mint a shot!

Even if something like proxmox or a Debian install with docker is more customizable. It's a steep learning curve.

But isn't something like truenas scale a option? I run Emby(as my media Server) and the arr's on it. All the apps are already in the "software store" including plex. And setup of the arr's is just the same as normal. All installs are basically automatic.

I easy passthrough my intel gpu in the config page on the webportaal, but don't how easy it is for Nvidia or amd. Especially with Nvidia due to drivers. But maybe someone here knows?

Have you tried Linux Mint yet?

I recently installed it on a Dell laptop (work) to dual boot, and it seemed pretty much as simple as installing windows.

I’m a daily Linux user and had been using other distros in VMs, but I still wanted to try it.

Also stuck on Windows but for specific software (Adobe & Revit). Zorin has looked like a promising distro for a little while now, at least coming from Windows.

I use ardour as DAW, but only for recording on Linux. It's also available for macOS and windows. So you can check if it fits your work flow.

I mostly only use Linux, but sometimes you just need a program with out support. In my case it's sometimes qlab, Linux show player is great(and I have used it for many shows). But it's not feature compatibel with qlab

Reaper is Linux friendly and free for 60 days, I would give it a try. It's free after the 60 days but will prompt you to pay. The audio interface, I'm not to sure about, I personally do not run Linux.

It sucks man, I feel you. There are a lot of free options out there you might want to check out!

I'm not experienced in this field but prosonus is working on a Linux version of their studio one app. I think they are trying to make VST extensions work at least on their software.

I'm probably not the best person to answer that question but maybe it helps. Most proprietary stuff is typically designed for Ubuntu or redhat so Ubuntu based or fedora is probably your best bet.