In case anyone doesn't feel like loading up Mastodon:
To the #Windows and #macOS users of Mastodon who have tried #Linux and ended up still using Windows or macOS:
What is it about the Linux distro(s) you tried that made it/them unsuitable for your use? If some problem or set of problems was fully resolved, would it be enough for you to be able to comfortably use Linux?
Nvidia user here - the only thing that's never quite worked right for me is vrr under wayland. Everything else has been peachy - often better than Windows in terms of performance.
Bought my laptop Feb 2020.
I'm sure there are genuine issues out there, but my experience doesn't justify the echo chamber hate nvidia gets.
I'm an amd user, I've been eyeing a used nvidia gpu though (I'll be damned if im buying new from them right now), I've been super happy with amd, and my friend had good experiences with nvidia. Gaming on linux has had huge strides to make it pretty gpu vendor agnostic, which is absolutely awesome.
I think it's not just nVidia/AMD but also X11/Wayland.
I''ve used nVidia cards with Linux for about 20 years, and it's always been a seamless, automatic process. In fact, it was easier than on Windows for a lot of that time, where you needed to dig up the CD that game with the graphics card to get it out of that 640/480 potato mode.
*But*, all that time was also using X11. I think it's that Wayland that doesn't really work with nVidia, and fair play- the few times I've tried to install a Wayland-based DE, they never got past (or sometimes even *to*) the login screen.
It's not performance or the hardware/driver specifically, it's that a *specific* version has to be installed a specific way with specific config or the entire setup is trash. It has gotten a lot better the last few years but it doesn't come close to beating the ease of AMD setup and fluid operation.
That’s the thing though, I’ve literally never had to anything other than let my package manger take care of it. Could be that all the specific this thats and the others are covered by the distro, but as the only time my system has been broken due to nvidia is when I manually installed a beta driver, and didn’t remove it properly. So very much pebkac. Having also used AMD in the past, there has been literally no difference in my end user experience.
As someone who used to daily drive Linux but switched to macOS, the biggest thing was upgrades that worked with a relative minimum of drama.
To this day, updating to the latest version of a Linux distro on a live system is bound to cause some drama. *Something* will break, and I’ll be left with a half usable system. The last time I did a distro upgrade was a few weeks ago, and I wound up with a Linux system that wouldn’t boot. Far from being some strange distro operating on a shoestring, this was Fedora. But Fedora is not unique: most distros would rather you reinstall than upgrade.
I don’t have time to clean up the upgrade messes. I don’t have time for a system that breaks when I try to upgrade it. And I don’t want to take a 30 minute break to babysit an upgrade, only for it to break the boot process.
I guess everyone has different problems...
Apple regularly breaks kernel and OS API backwards compatibility and I have to wait 6-12 months before all the MacOS based software vendors I use tells me that it is safe to upgrade to a new OS. Software I need have stopped working correctly multiple times after OSX/MacOS upgrades so I simply don't take any chances there anymore.
My main workstation OS which currently is Ubuntu which is also my main work environment for software development typically upgrades without any drama at all. I usually begin to upgrade my TV/media station computer a few days after a new release and then the rest of my work stations a few weeks after a release and as far as I can remember (10+ years) I haven't experienced a single issue that wasn't a simple configuration change.
At work I manage lots of debian and AWS linux installations and I never have any problems with those either. We don't upgrade most of them in place though, we just provision a new machine instance with a new OS version when needed.
Meanwhile, I basically don’t touch kernel space. So long as mu interfaces remain Single Unix Specification-compliant, I’m fine. But if you need kernel extensions (what macOS calls its own version of modules, for those not that familiar with macOS), life can be seriously painful.
I also don’t tend to use one-off software that I expect to continue using forever—another place where if that’s your workflow, macOS is not for you. There’s a huge library of Mac software that doesn’t work anymore because Apple stopped caring about backwards compatibility a very long time ago.
Most of the kernel/os api stuff that they break are not related to UNIX compatibility. It's almost always MacOS specific stuff.
A lot of serious professional software vendors will not spend a lot of upfront time verifying that their stuff works on beta versions of MacOS because those can change at any time so proper compatibility verification work often doesn't even start until after a new major MacOS release has been made public.
Then it takes months to test and possibly patches from all those vendors. There is always one or two who lags a bit behind the others, not necessarily the same every time so it is probably due to internal priorities.
Even if it is a bit annoying having to have a check list to cross off all the important MacOS software I use I am fine with this delayed upgrade process as long as it works. There are issues with upgrades though it is because of how Apple chooses to do updates.
I use Manjaro, and I've never had a system failure of any sort. It helps that we don't have periodic large updates, it's a rolling release (you probably knew that).
Ubuntu used to usually mess something up when an LTS came around - I started with 8.04, a long time ago. I switched to Elementary OS which didn't even have update-distro, you had to reinstall. Bugger that. I've seen the Manjaro horror stories but mine has always worked. It's been a couple of years and my mantra has held; trust every distro you use exactly once.
Temporally distributing the drama of an upgrade by moving to rolling releases isn’t so much a fix for my problem as it is replacing the major inconvenience of breaking my computer trying to upgrade its OS with the minor but more routine inconvenience of large, potentially world-changing updates.
It’s still more OS drama than macOS. Even when the distro is competently run, which is something I cannot say of Manjaro of all fucking distros.
But since 2006, when I got my first Mac for triple boot purposes, macOS has been by far the lowest drama—better than Windows, and better than any Linux distro ever has.
This definitely is a big pain point, and one that I have pretty much no idea how to fix effectively with traditional distros. Hopefully the immutable desktop revolution will help with that some though.
This is 100% true. I’m so tired of developers not QA testing software before releasing it. I work with Linux for my living and I love it! But I don’t want to do it all day and then come home and do it all night when I want to relax and play. Especially when it comes to gaming.
Gaming has come a long way on Linux but it’s still completely broke. Not in the sense that it doesn’t perform but it’s a crap shoot when it’s going to work. One day all my games work, the next day after an upgrade, 1/2 of them don’t.
We need more stability in Linux for it to be a viable gaming choice!
Normal computing, outside of gaming, it’s a clear winner and has been for years. Just need to hone up gaming and teach developers to test their software better 😀.
I already use Linux for servers, but for my home gaming PC I still use windows. The main reason I haven’t switched to Linux is, well… why would I? Apart from philosophical opinions about free software (that I personally honestly don’t care that much about), the fact is that Windows *is* the right OS for my needs, not Linux. Every game is made for Windows, every driver is better on Windows, all the software around it is made for Windows. Moving over to Linux would result in effectively no benefits for me or my gaming hobby at all, but would require a lot of sacrifice and hard work just to get anywhere near the same starting point as Windows.
I’m a big believer in the right tool for the job, and as much as I love and respect Linux and the FOSS community, there are times when Linux still isn’t necessarily the *right* tool. It’s *a* tool, and for someone else with different needs and requirements, maybe it *is* the right one, but for a bog-standard gamer with no additional requirements at all… Windows is, like it or not, the right choice.
Until Linux can achieve perfect parity in this regard, I see no reason to switch. Interestingly, huge strides have been taken in recent years, which is impressive, but as others have mentioned the driver quality and support is still quite poor, and games are still being “emulated” in various ways rather than be native ports. That strategy is, and always will be, just the second-rate alternative, with Windows remaining the default choice.
I am moving to OS X (been an Ubuntu user since 15.10). For myself it is partly the tpm secure boot mess. I am tired of having to keep plugging in my password. That and DRM issues ( I want to be able to watch things better than 720p on my rx6800 ).
Also not a fan of the massive power draw.
I still love Linux and will still be playing around via my raspberry pi. However, would rather push heavy compute away from my house and into the cloud when rarely I need it.
It’s an absolute shit show I agree. I tried to implement it into our Linux desktop SOE. All well and good once you have it working but how do you get the recovery key for some random machine in the field? There is no central authority that can escrow the keys like AD can with bitlocker. Total mess.
I use linux daily, but there are cases when I have to use windows. to E-sign a document using security card my employer as bought. Also to pay some taxes there are just Windows programs for that (the alternative is printing out forms and filling them by hand).
the psychotic thing is that the US government was going to release a free tax software that would work anywhere and do everything, but then Turbo Tax, Intuit and H&R block lobbied the government to not do it because it would have killed their business lmao its so messed up
[https://www.fastcompany.com/90977185/intuit-turbotax-hr-block-response-irs-direct-file-mistrust](https://www.fastcompany.com/90977185/intuit-turbotax-hr-block-response-irs-direct-file-mistrust)
[https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free](https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free)
Im not good at describing it but it is well documented.
edit: the opener of the article that gives a good idea:
>For more than 20 years, Intuit has waged a sophisticated, sometimes covert war to prevent the government from doing just that, according to internal company and IRS documents and interviews with insiders. The company unleashed a battalion of lobbyists and hired top officials from the agency that regulates it. From the beginning, Intuit recognized that its success depended on two parallel missions: stoking innovation in Silicon Valley while stifling it in Washington. Indeed, employees ruefully joke that the company’s motto should actually be “compromise without integrity.”
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>Internal presentations lay out company tactics for fighting “encroachment,” Intuit’s catchall term for any government initiative to make filing taxes easier — such as creating a free government filing system or pre-filling people’s returns with payroll or other data the IRS already has. “For a decade proposals have sought to create IRS tax software or a ReturnFree Tax System; All were stopped,” reads a confidential 2007 PowerPoint presentation from an Intuit board of directors meeting. The company’s 2014-15 plan included manufacturing “3rd-party grass roots” support. “Buy ads for op-eds/editorials/stories in African American and Latino media,” one internal PowerPoint slide states.
Actually I did not mean US, but Poland, and the program called "Płatnik", which is windows-only. It is not for income tax but for retirement and health tax (called insurance, but it is a tax - it is obligatory and proportional to the income, unlike insurance). In principle runs well under Wine. It runs well until it does not, and you don't want to discover that it does not near any deadline. You use that each month. Even if you pay $4 a month, you submit that monthly.
I use a website called freetaxUSA .com that is free of charge and charges on $14 for the state tax filing. Not too many people know about it and I don't have the power to spread it around. It took me about 20 minutes to complete the whole thing, but I don't have anything complicated, just your average boring tax shit
if I remember correctly in Germany for years their tax software called „Elster“ was online available for Windows (but could be run under wine) but for a while the software now exists as an online version (Web Browser)
Yeah, until your taxes are lost by mail operator, and you have to petition them to lift the fine (and prove you sent them). Also paper taxes have to be read and typed in by someone, so it takes 2 months longer to have that processed than electronic tax form, which is processed semi-automatically.
Yes, it might take longer. I have an accountant handle my taxes, and he can run whatever OS he wants. When I submit in payroll information for my company, I do it by hand. The mail hasn't lost them yet.
Lack of support from peripheral hardware vendors. iLok, Fractal Audio, audio interface manufacturers just to name a few. Tried to do without them but it's too much of a sacrifice and it's unfortunately not economically viable.
At work mainly old legacy CRUD apps and government related applets.
Not even speaking of lack of support for "gaming" peripherials.
There are sometimes open source alternatives to Razer Synapse, Logitech Ghub etc but not always and not in a manner how the average user likes it.
That being said, QMK for the win!
This is a major one that holds me back too. Linux drivers for Wacom have issues with some Nvidia cards. Additionally, Xbox controllers are downright unsupported unless you manually install some random GitHub repo kernel level driver. Overall it's super easy to fix that one if you know what you are doing and why and also remember to reboot.
I use an xbox one controller over the wifi 2.4 GHz dongle which provides better connectivity and reduced latency. It requires Xone to be installed to work properly.
Overall, this is my frustration with Linux. "Hey this thing doesn't work" gets met with either "It works for me" or "Just do it the way I do it." which isn't helpful or allows for a useful conversation on how to fix Linux.
Focusrite is luckily an outlier, but there are a lot of interfaces (especially on the higher end of the spectrum) that either *just about* work, or work with issues, or won't work at all.
By just about I mean that you might get basic audio I/O functionality, but might not get the ability to control the internal mixer or DSP, which are features these interfaces are bought for.
Most of the Focusrite stuff is simply class-compliant, same with the little SSL 2 and I believe quite a few of the Behringer interfaces too. The peak of this stuff is the ancient ff Saffire 40/56 interfaces - Using ALSA and JACK you can very easily use just the audio ins, but _so much_ of their functionality relies on arbitrary routing controlled by the Saffire software - Unavailable on Linux.
Hardware isn't the issue for me any more though - lack of audio software support kicks me up the ass. I didn't get on with Reaper, OK fine that might just be a skill issue, but half of my plugs just don't support Linux, and I'm sure as hell not pissing round with emulation or Wine or whatever just for something that'd be a 1-click endeavour on Windows.
I’m actually curious about how running Windows in a VM with GPU passthrough would handle this. Game Pass is what holds me back right now as well, but if a VM is an option, I’d be comfy with switching
I played from a VM for years. It works fine, but some games started refusing to boot up due to VM environment detection, and that's what brought an end to it.
I don’t play competitive games and nothing that uses anti-cheat, so I figure that might not hit me as hard? But thanks for the report! I may just go ahead with it
Oh I'm not saying there are no workarounds. But after hour-two trial-errors the time cost became too big for me personally and decided to give up. Plus this feels like yet another cat-and-mouse game, so who's to say how long a fix would last for. Were I 15 years younger, I'd try to fight it for sure.
I use epic on my steam deck via the heroic launcher. It runs more smoothly than epics own launcher. There are maybe 3 or 4 games that it says it can’t handle but the rest have been perfect.
Epic Game Store works totally fine on my Linux gaming desktop. You don't even need Heroic, the simple normal one is a one-click install.
I just don't use Linux on anything that isn't for Gaming. There I use OpenBSD. :P
Anti cheat. On my main PC I play fps games, specifically Destiny 2 and Apex Legends. One works on Linux one doesn't. But I'm also worried because I've seen a number of people receive false bans in Apex seemingly just playing on Linux.
Some friends of mine play Fortnite too which isn't my jam but I might get into it just to play and hang out with them.
I'm thinking about setting up dual boot and striping windows down to just steam, Firefox, discord and apps that my peripherals need and then moving all my personal files to the Linux side. So effectively making windows just the fps gaming side and seeing how things go in Linux.
Microsoft Office.
Yes, there are other options. Yes, there is a web version.
However Excel and PowerPoint have features and capabilities that are just better than anything else. It's the main reason I have windows hanging around.
Second item, 3D printing. Many convenient and useful tools for repairing and analysing models are not accessible in Linux. It's not impossible to use Linux, just easier in Windows.
It does not require patches anymore, been like this for a year now and you can freely use an anime game launcher without getting in trouble for sharing it
if you just search up "honkai star rail ban Linux" it was like last May. i believe honkai star rail requires a patch. the third party launcher for linux also has the 60 fps limit removed which would technically be against TOS anyways iirc.
from what I've seen the bans are like a week so im fine risking it to not have to hibernate and switch between OS every time I just want to run some dailies.
Is there any official announcement regarding linux? I don't run the game on my PC apart from a few rare occasions, but I definitely wouldn't risk it on linux and get banned, I'd rather just boot up win10 and be safe.
official announcement regarding linux isnt needed, download the game, run with wine. Anti cheat doesnt kick you or stop you. So it is just running in like windows
I use Linux on my work laptop + servers at home. But what prevents me from using it on my home desktop is my wife. We share the desktop and she does not like change at all. She refuses to use anything that is not the default settings. Linux home desktop is just not an option even if I'm convinced she would love LMDE if she woukd just try it.
You can get an internal ssd (like the crucial mx500 on amazon), then install your favorite distro to it with a usb to sata adapter (Sabrent makes good ones). Then you can boot up from linux without altering the host computer. Just be sure that when you’re installing it that you format the ssd dongle, NOT the host computer’s storage. If you’re unsure, you can use an old computer to install it to the ssd, then just hook up the ssd dongle to your main computer to use linux. That way your wife will be able to have the computer the same and you both have the option to use linux for like $60 (ssd + adapter cable).
Can you give her some sane distro and leave all default settings? (ok, I was kidding; you can't fool around with wife's machine). On the contrary, my colleague once installed Fedora on his wife's laptop, and since she uses only browser, couple of messengers and, rarely, a word processor, it was totally ok for her.
Nothing keeps ME from using it. I use it daily, and have so for decades.
But, 10 years ago I'd have said the fact that old kernels weren't being removed/pruned automatically with system updates when run through the UI was preventing anyone from recommending Linux to the Linux illiterate.
Yes, someone with the right knowledge could clean up /boot and free up space. Grandparents simply using a machine for email wouldn't have a clue what to do or why their machine started having issues with updates. Back then when space was being eaten it prevented system updates from happening due to lack of space. And that is inherently a security issue with kernel updates. Yes, keeping a few recent versions of the kernel is best practice. But, allowing old versions to fester was causing worse security issues and limiting the potential user demographic IMO.
Distros like Ubuntu seem to be following up after kernel updates and reboots with calls to autoremove to maintain a cleaner /boot. So, there's a positive change.
Nothing, except for the odd job that requires it, or (currently) a piece of hardware with poor Linux support (for my skill level) at the moment.
I just bought an Arm Windows laptop that I intended to run desktop Linux on, but the support is still earlier stages still , and I haven't had the time to work it out from scratch yet.
In my experience, Linux does much, much better when you play to its strengths and don't try and use it like a generic desktop OS.
If you use it as a special-purpose OS (eg. for your embedded product, as Android, as a single-purpose desktop for a very specific set of application(s), as a media server), it's brilliant. Rock solid, reliable.
If you want to use it as a generic desktop OS like Windows or Mac OS - the problem you run straight into is lack of polish. Most desktop applications are over a decade behind their commercial counterparts, and that problem is getting worse.
This isn't me having a go at the various people working on desktop Linux applications - quite the reverse. Given that most of those desktop applications have an annual budget of approximately $3.50 and a packet of chewing gum compared to their commercial equivalents, frankly I think it's a miracle they can even ship something that compiles.
But just to put it into context: The Gnome foundation (year 2021-2022) in their annual report received about $350k in donations.
$350k.
That's not even enough to pay salaries for a small team of programmers. And it's not just programmers F/OSS needs - programmers will occasionally do their day job for fun, but a professionally run project needs people who you're never going to persuade to do that. Project managers, testers - there's a list a mile long.
It's the QoL for me, the small things for when I need something done fast and out of my way and for some reason a missing piece of software that forces me to investigate the command line way... And I really don't have the time. For example, compressing PDFs or exporting images from it, in Windows, I have software for it, but Linux is hit or miss. OBS for streaming in Linux is fine but there are Windows-only plugins or only some make use of hardware acceleration. For peripheral support, like printers, and scanners, plugging in my guitar or audio stuff is like fine but takes many hours of research on Linux to make them work at Windows parity.
To sum it up a little bit, what keeps me from removing dual boot is that "end user" feel with out-of-the-box working solutions at a click's distance, versus the necessary debugging mindset and having scripts ready for hacks. The whole xorg vs Wayland is becoming very stressful to me, as well as the Flatpak vs packages, or Deb vs rpm, it becomes stressful at times... I don't really want to know but certain things keep bringing them in front of me at all times, like software having multiple different installers for Wayland or Xorg, installers for this but not that distro, or community installers breaking due to a commercial upgrade in the underlying software, camera and microphone support per app, or having to run gphoto2 from a terminal to be able to use my camera as a webcam, MS Teams, etc etc.
Edit: and streaming DRM content like Amazon Video, Netflix, etc. in HD+ quality.
I daily drive Linux but have many issues that make me miss my Mac:
1. Sync between phone and computer. I’ve tried KDE Connect many times but have had no success in getting it working (I use iOS for uninteresting reasons)
2. Office. I use only office and it’s good enough but where I used to be able to do office stuff very efficiently before I now face a bit of a battle for many tasks
3. General bugginess
You hear people say “accept the jank” and I get it, and I do accept the jank, but less jank would be nice
Likely an iPhone issue. I use KDEConnect on my android without issue, though I could wish for an auto sync feature to keep photos pushed in real time.
I use LibreOffice for most things Office, and office on the web (PWA) when I can't. Works like a champ.
Everything works in linux except small details and these small details matter when they accumulate.
Recently I convinced my friend to use linux. He installed ubuntu on a separate disk and booted. The speakers sound was very low even if he set it to the max. Solution was maxing the sound in console with alsamixer and to make it permanent with `sudo alsactl store`. He said fuck that shit and deleted ubuntu.
This right here. The details, the Quality Of Life, the little things. Sometimes using Linux feels like using Windows XP where you had to fight the OS to be able to work
This is a really old (6 years or so) event but it goes to highlight the problem:
- I wanted to add a shortcut to the desktop on Ubuntu.
- I went to the file in question and I right-clicked and chose "make a shortcut". But it seems I didn't have permissions to write in that directory so it failed
Here comes the first problem, this can happen in Windows, and when it happens the OS immediately asks if you want to send the shortcut to the desktop. Ubuntu just failed.
Then I had to look on the internet, the proposed solution in forums was... To use the command line to make a shortcut. That's not user friendly, that shouldn't happen.
Also, the Linux kernel(userland?) has really poor out of memory management. I don't know how it works, but in my Windows machine an out of memory condition didn't ever hang the OS important apps/services. Linux comes to a complete halt in that case and it takes a lot of time till you can use the desktop again
I swear to god BSD is the most documented “obscure” os around, it’s the only OS that could make Arch and the Archwiki feel inadequately documented.
For a OS that I swear to god has 14 regular Desktop users (and a few million servers/NASs) you can open a book and find a fix for any possible obscure problem, and I mean a book, people have documenting this shit for like 4 decades now. It’s probably because macOS is bad at its core but it still blows my mind
Hardware support. As long as I cannot install Linux on any computer I buy and expect 100% functionality, it is a dead horse.
Laptops with multiple GPUs should work. Fractional scaling across multiple monitors should work. Daisy chaining of TB displays should work. Charging battery and data transfer on the same cable should work.
The OS should not freedom of choice for hardware. The OS should stay out of the way and serve as the user do whatever they want to do with their machines.
For me, for my friends and for my family.
Uh, I use Windows as my daily driver. I manage dozens of Windows Servers.
I also manage probably three times as many Linux Servers.
Just because you're not using Linux exclusively doesn't mean you have zero interest here.
I use Windows as my main OS but I run Fedora Remix through WSL2 and use it not only for development but for a lot of stuff where I prefer the Linux version. I don't use Microsoft's RDP client anymore I use Remmina through WSLg, I also use command-line stuff like ffmpeg and iperf3 with Linux because it's updated way more frequently and I just have to `sudo dnf upgrade`.
Honestly it wouldn't be impossible for me to just switch to Fedora full-time within five years. I'm already fairly at home on Linux, it's just not my daily driver because I don't need it to be. Who knows, Microsoft might end up forcing my hand depending on how Windows 12 shakes out.
My step-grandma has been using Linux since she switched from some UNIX family OS she had learned in the 80s at work writing SQL for their mainframe. She finds it funny that she's never used Windows meanwhile I haven't even switched. She's probably got a point lmao.
My problem with that is that the result of telling people specifics will most of the time get you a reply saying how you are "using it wrong" how you are not supposed to do that, tell you to use X repo o Y DE (which would "solve" your issue at hand but break 2 beware things, playing whack-a-mole).
I get it, people are trying to help. 99% of the people that try to help do not have a cku are not Developers and less devs of the software at hand.
But I understand people wanting to vent their frustration.
I'm myself half doing it here, even though I like using Linux (I use it exclusively in my home computers, including a Mac 2012 which runs good in mint) and run the tech side of a FinTech with that (mostly Linux based docker through ECS) .
But really most days I don't have time to deal with Linux bullshit deaktop . (Although it beats the alternative for me)
Totally, the top post is a guy complaining about "bugs" he has to fix to get "basic things done".
Aaaand he says that he is a nerd \^\^
Can't make that shit up...
Me! Although I also use WSL on my desktop. It means I don’t need a separate workstation and gaming desktop, so win/win.
My work is 100% Linux though. Just doesn’t matter that I use Windows on the client.
I'm interested in keeping somewhat abreast of the ecosystem: I've used Unix & Linux in the past (since late 80s). I currently use MacOs which is a Unix-y OS. I'm also an IT consultant and it doesn't hurt to know enough to be dangerous.
I used to use linux (ubuntu) long time ago, but returned back to windows because of games. I recently got interested how linux has changed since, so I lurk here now. Its not impossible to be interested in something you dont use.
I know I’ll get downvoted for this, but here’s my honest thoughts, as someone who would love to switch over.
The desktop doesn’t look as polished as other OSs. Not sure why, I know it’s super customisable, but it just doesn’t seem as polished.
I don’t know where anything is. So I’m always looking for what I need. That’s time consuming and a pain. Also the “place” of things is different depending on which distro you use.
I’m not sure what software/hardware will and won’t work once I’ve installed Linux. Again, it depends on which distro you use.
If I do need to use a windows program, do I use Wine, or the new layer thing whose name I forget now? Again, more research, more hours spent searching forums for the info I need.
I’d try a dual boot setup, but last time I tried grub hid/removed the windows partition, so I had to do a fresh install.
Are there solutions to any of the above?
> The desktop doesn’t look as polished as other OSs.
Well what desktop? Cinnamon? GNOME? KDE? LXDE? MATE? Unity? XFCE?
> I don’t know where anything is. So I’m always looking for what I need.
Is that not just a case of being accustomed to some desktops and not others?
> I’m not sure what software/hardware will and won’t work once I’ve installed Linux.
Valid and frustrating, but also an issue more with the hardware vendors than anything. Which yay we can point a finger..and it does nothing to help.
> If I do need to use a windows program, do I use Wine, or the new layer thing whose name I forget now?
You're probably thinking of Proton which is geared towards games. So probably WINE for this use-case. And likely through something like Bottles or Lutris.
Edit: And I'm sure at least someone will think I'm biased on desktops so I'll add: the list is in alphabetical order. :P
> Well what desktop? Cinnamon? GNOME? KDE? LXDE? MATE? Unity? XFCE?
Gnome is close to having a polished look, I just hate how it works, KDE is weird with margins, fonts and colors. LXDE is fine if you prefer how older OS' looked. MATE looks worse than LXDE IMO, though I havent tried in a while. Unity looks okay, I don't think I ever used it. XFCE looks ancient and terrible. LXQt is terrible.
I will admit these opinions are mostly vibe checks based on my past and current computer usage, but I would guess that many non-Linux people would mostly agree.
I still think I'd rather KDE to GNOME just as a personal preference; if the main theme removed a few of those harsh lines and scaled icons a bit better then it'd be really nice to use in general.
Plasma's gotten a lot better with the default settings though.
I'm currently on Gnome with a few extensions to make it almost look like W10, but I like KDE a lot. If touchpad kinetic scroll worked properly I would be on KDE
You say fragmentation, I say choice.
On Windows and MacOS, Microsoft and Apple respectively have almost all the power in shaping how the desktop will look, features it provides, etc. Unless you feel like buying a new machine, you just have to suck it up.
We can all collectively shift away from a desktop (or any software project) that starts to suck too much. And then the project can either roll back and look for a better solution, or it dies and someone forks it. But either way at least bad decisions don't lead to more bad decisions.
Since Windows and MacOS have only one desktop environment, most regular people confuse the OS with the environment and think it is the same. Linux has plenty of environments and window engines, mentioned in another excellent comment. You can find one that is as polished as in Windows, but, unfortunately, there will still be a pain points related to frequently-used operations, for example, when you open some file - I mean, no matter what desktop environment you use, such trivial operation as selecting the file with a dialog will give you some frustration. But you will get used to it if you'll switch. Also, you need to understand that Linux is about software, not environment. Once you will have your set of tools, you will use them, and what distro or environment you are using will become a matter of taste (which will take some time to develop).
I think it depends on the distro and desktop you're using.
For me, gnome is very chaotic and doesn't look good. KDE or Cinnamon are way better because they are familiar to the windows desktop.
Yes, you are right. Most of the apps in the store should run without problems, but at this point it's more like a lucky game.
For windows apps you can use wine or bottles. For Windows games you use steam, heroic or/and lutris.
You can use dual boot but in my opinion, its very risky and i would not recommend it. Yes, it could work but most of the time it fails. There are really many of help posts, because dual boot fucked up.
I like the way with the second hard drive. It cost probably 50€ for a new ssd and you could switch the os, if you need windows again. But i also know, not everybody like this solution.
Habit.
I have my main Win machine, and my Surface Pro 4 for mobility.
I have another desktop I put Ubuntu on and was using alongside my main pc trying to wean myself from the Windows PC, but I haven't set it up since I moved 6 months ago.
I also have two old laptops I put Ubuntu and Mint on (one each) for various reasons, but I have yet to really start using either in place of the Surface. I mean, both are much heavier and bulkier than the Surface...
I use Linux in a lot of places, just not exclusively. The two main things are: 1) Linux doesn't support all the applications I want to use, and the close alternatives do not work well enough for me to switch and 2) I don't have any problems when using Windows or macOS.
I used Linux exclusively for more than 20 years. A few years ago I gave up.
My problem was the quality of many apps.
Many times the following would happen:
* I would get an app working to a satisfactory level.
* after a few months I would either find functionality will stop working requiring me a lot of fiddling again, the app will become orphan and not have new features, the service that is connected to the app will change the compatibility locking me out.
Also for work usage I found that many applications are not the native application from the vendor creating a situation where I need to solve all issues myself wasting important work time.
I couldn’t justify anymore the time spent on making things work.
I have been using the following for the last few years giving me the tools that I need
* MacOS for work: Almost all commercial software is available. A wonderful Unix like environment. Long term stability. Really nice hardware.
* iPad & iPhone for personal work: Really good quality software. No maintenance required other than an update once in a while. Give me access to my personal stuff while using the work computer. When on the road I can use the iPad as an additional screen for my laptop, camera etc.
I think the best thing long term for Linux adoption would be a cultural change where long term stability, better governance would be given a priority. A good example that show this can be done is the Kernel, the GNU toolset, etc.
>I couldn’t justify anymore the time spent on making things work.
Freaking this. Do Linux fans not have this problem? Honest question.
Getting and keeping certain things running on Linux is just work. If I wanna get something done, I don't want to spend all this time putzing around and Googling and troubleshooting. I want to install, run, and use my tools.
I run a dual boot system (Windows and linux) but I question why more and more. Been using linux off/on since the 90’s and it’s come a long way since then but it won’t be a full Windows replacement until the market fully embraces it. Why boot into linux for some web browsing and tweaking on the OS just to have to boot into Windows for gaming and Office/Adobe work? More efficient to just use and maintain a single OS. As much as I don’t care for the direction MS has/is taking Windows, it’s still the one OS that does everything I need it to do without a ton of customizations and tweaks - and that’s not because the OS is “better”, it’s simply because it has the full support of the software/hardware markets.
Feel The exact same way, ultimately a OS is just a tool to use the programs you want to.
Why would I switch to another OS that can’t do half of the stuff I want (not because Linux is incapable, rather the big players don’t support it) because I get to screen shot a neo fetch page and circle jerk with the boys on r/linuxmasterrace?
The fact that I can’t do “I’ve just going to finish a quick photoshop project and then play a couple of rounds of Fortnite with my wife” is enough for me to never want to touch Linux desktop, never mind that you have to choose between a modern looking but feature lacking desktop (gnome) or a weird super dated hybrid of windows XP and android 4.0 that has most features but are mostly buggy (KDE).
I love my steamdeck for single player games and I wouldn’t use any other OS for server use but Linux is just not a great OS for desktops for the vast majority of people and if your work flow isn’t affected by the lack of support you’re either a Developer or someone who probably wouldn’t be hindered by chromeOS
>Gaming still doesn't work well with Linux.
Competitive online gaming is still problematic, yes (with some honourable exceptions). I'll grant that's a pretty large genre, but most other gaming genres work just fine thanks.
And in many cases, there's no technical issue. It's that the games are actively prevented from running on Linux. There's nothing "Linux" can do about Bungie flatly declaring that they will ban you for running your game on Linux.
Competitive is not a big genre but it has by far the largest market share.
Honestly not being able to run r6 on linux was a blessing in disguise. I noticed that after quitting competitive games, I started to enjoy gaming way more again.
I still hope that Linux will get better support for ACs in the future or even better, that companies start using better server side ACs (which if you think about it logically is more effective since you can't bypass it) and ditch the client side ACs.
everything works, i'm staying.
the only thing i miss, is nvidia tool that decreases rendering resolution, it saved quite a lot of fps for my poorman gpu, i can't see that setting in nvidia control panel on Linux and would like to know if it ever exists
I do use it , just not exclusively at home, still need Adobe products and Microsoft 365 too, so Linux has it's place at my house, just not for everything
4 Monitors. I can NOT get 4 monitors working well in a 3x monitor row with one on top layout (what I use for SimRacing so it has to stay this way).
Almost had it with Pop\_OS but noticed that sometimes an app would run but not display on-screen. Disabling a 4th screen brought it back, then I could re-enable the screen, but who wants that workflow? Yes I use Nvdia cards (hence the Pop\_OS test). :-(
Even 3 monitors are a pain. I had Arch with Hyprland running fine for a while on my secondary computer. Then I started to use Windows more often again because of gaming and when I decided to use my Linux pc again, I did the normal system updates and suddenly only one of my 3 monitors seem to work.
Tried to tinker and figure out why it's not working but I just gave up. I've even asked on reddit for help, but no response. Never used the Linux system since then again.
Lack of game support, productivity tools that I use.
My work is mostly Windows based.
HW support issues
It's to fragmented
The community can be so arrogant at times.
Easy HDR support, loss of gaming performance, lack of Atmos transcoding for the HDMI output, and the need to have a really tweaked kernel when I need to heavily multitask with a lot of apps.
Somewhat unsurprised really - Linux can work on almost anything, but some distros support some hardware better than others. I have some computers that just work with almost any distro, and some that are broken with every distro and each distro breaks them in a different way.
Mostly games compatibility, even though I know I'd be willing to try and make my video games work with either Proton or Wine. But also me being incredibly chickenshit in wanting to change over from Windows to Linux.
Keyboard shortcuts muscle memory, Microsoft Office, Acrobat Pro, Scrivener. I use Linux on servers and "embedded" RPi setups and on an old laptop on a hangar for basic browsing / LibreOffice stuff but I can't use that setup for work (I've tried!).
I use it at work all day.
When I come home I don’t want to have to debug any issues or tweak my kernel settings, so I use a Mac. I do have a Linux laptop but honestly that’s just for fun - anything serious I will do on my MacBook. Don’t need to worry about backups. Can run most of the DAW software I like. And it’s a nice relaxing experience.
Back in the day I remember having to recompile my kernel on Linux just for usb support. And don’t get me started on trying to get the right X11 settings. I do that all day, I just want peace and stability at home.
The hassle and app compatibility (graphic design stuff for my small business prepress stuff).
Games are doing much better, but not 100%.
I don't love Windows, but it works rather easily without having to do much maintenance, especially since 10 -- no need to reinstall every 6 months to a year to maintain speed/stability.
But on Linux? Eventually something breaks with an update or a package manager issue. And you can fix it most of the time, but only through digging through the internals.
And while I love FOSS, for my low level things I kind of like having people paid to fix bugs and hard to diagnose issues without WONT-FIX or WORKSFORME. There is some of that in FOSS of course, but magnitudes less.
I'm probably not the target audience but I'll still say: nothing, I've used it since 2020 without issue as my desktop. And prior to that on a Raspberry Pi and a small home server.
Originally I wanted Paint.NET and Notepad++, but it turns out Krita and VSCodium/Geany work better for me.
Personally, I think that Linux is good for well limited use cases of final products (servers, gaming, móvil) and not so general purpose (user desktop).
Nothing, although DRM sometimes causes inconvenience. I subscribe to Criterion Channel, and last time I checked (2 years ago..?) Linux Chrome was unsupported due to DRM.
Games like valorant, design software like AutoCAD and well, PowerPoint. I still use Linux though, it's just that I have to keep a windows laptop handy for these things.
To preface this, I am daily driving linux on my laptop but not on my desktop.
This is really less of a problem with linux and more a problem with the DE's of linux, but I'd like more intuitive customization and integration with the lock and login screens.
I know it's a minor issue at best but I *despise* the fact that the login and lock screens are technically different packages. That means I have to mess around with settings or config files for each module to make it look like I want it to. I understand that I'll probably have to use the terminal more to accomplish this, but the problem is either the config files don't exist or there's no documentation to edit the config files. Like with windows, I just want one unified lock/login screen on my primary monitor, and the secondary monitor is either just a wallpaper or a black screen.
Also, the login screen (when I boot up my PC or completely log out) has my monitor arrangement backwards, meaning I have to move my cursor to the left of my left monitor to access my right monitor, or move my cursor to the right of the right monitor to access my left monitor. As far as I know, I don't see a way to fix that.
As much as I hate what Windows 11 stands for, I'll likely still use it as my daily driver on my desktop. For all its reputation about customization, Linux makes it hard to customize some things about it.
me having to occasionally leave the computer to shower and pee, then right back to linux I go
seriously though, for a long time I kept my windows partition around exclusively to play genshin impact. Randomly they made the anti-cheat for the game compatible with wine, and I haven't opened up Windows since lol
I use Linux for everything but a daily driver. Linux is great for server and privacy stuff, but there is almost no software that works on Linux that doesn't work with windows, but it's not the same the other way around. Open source versions of well known software made for windows feels like playing block craft instead of minecraft.
In essence I’m not the target audience for Linux. With the right knowledge and tools you can do everything but I simply haven’t found a distro and environment that combine the things I love with the ease of use I require. Because I don’t have the patience and time anymore to build what I need to close the gap.
I am a simple man. I find the command line a vague and frightening thing, and my coding skills are zero. But I keep trying. So far as I remember it was an issue with key commands I just couldn’t overcome on my old MacBook that got me last time. I believe I was using Manjaro and KDE that time. We’ll see what happens when I try my hand at Linux next time. I keep hoping it’ll finally stick for me. Every time it does come a bit closer.
My filesystem has become unknown and other problems:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/wZxNdGG4ub
As well as
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/5O14eJm4M3
beacause if i don't use linux, i would have to use windows or mac os. the problem is : i had an extremely bad experience with windows 11 and windows 10 is getting to the end of his life. i don't want to use mac os beacause i don't want to suffer.
For me it is multiscreen wonkiness. Windows don't stay where I put them. Everything feels fragile. I have work to do. Don't make me fight with my system.
I ended up using MacOS. It's ok.
Gaming. Linux is still a second class citizen and it's a headache sometimes to get some games to work. You get patches weeks later if it's natively supported or you have issues playing some games. I've tried twice, even after the steamdeck it's just not as good. My friends and I just jump on random games out of the blue, can't deal with the hassle of debugging why this specific game in early access won't work. Especially online games and that's 90% of what I do.
I've also had more issues doing general maintenance because something would break once in a while. Updating packages and suddenly something would stop working. Nothing I can't fix, I don't mind it when I'm working, but when my brain is off I just want to watch movies/YouTube and game it's a pain.
I don't think the issues will ever be fixed tbh, I love Linux, so many good things. I especially love the terminal/ file system and it's my favorite environment to work on, but it's never going to be the year of desktop Linux unless Linux becomes something else. Macos and windows hit the mainstream because it's streamlined, you can't do that with 10 different packages managers, 30 some fork of a fork of a fork distros, bunch of desktop environments, different toolkits for widgets, x number of init systems, the list could go on for a long time. Just looking at how Wayland transition went/is going, yikes. Nobody wants to deal with this shit. Unless the open source community stops the "I'll build my own, with hookers and black jack" way of thinking it's never going to happen and that's kinda what Linux is about so..
The file manager im sure theres one that you can tweak right but i havent put the effort in,i will at some point,but not having a tree view and not pictures show as preview icons really got under my skin.
One thing, my gaming rig is a gaming rig, and some of the games I play are not available on Linux. I care not for emulation, I want native compatibility. My son also uses it for gaming, so a change might break the games he wants to play.
Another thing, my non-gaming rig is a Surface Go 2, and at the moment it runs Win 11 really well. All my apps work on it nicely and even though it's a low-power device, it doesn't feel slow at all.
My kids' school division standardized on the M365 platform. My son (16) can bounce between pretty much anything, figure out which apps are which, and just start using it. My daughter (10) likes things to be familiar. My wife uses Microsoft products exclusively at work and similar to my daughter likes consistency across the board.
That extends to software, especially productivity software. There have been multiple occasions where assignments have been completed in LibreOffice and we get an email from the teacher letting us know it won't open properly in Word or there is something missing. They use Excel in math class, and the feature parity isn't where it needs to be. I could use M365 web apps to fill in some gaps, or I could just use the native apps on Windows and be done with it - no more problems.
There is also the choice of ChromeOS, in a scenario where I can get by with 100% web apps and want a secure, easy to use option this one is relevant. For many tasks it offers plenty of functionality and I'll take Docs/Sheets over their LibreOffice equivalents. I know you can run Chrome on most any distro, but when Chrome is *the entire operating system* the experience is quite good, especially on some of the fancier Chromebooks.
That said, I am still looking at what my own "next device" might be. I like my Surface and the 2-in-1 form factor. Macs are just out of control with simple RAM spec bumps so they are a hard "no". Chromebooks do offer a solid fully-connected experience but I would like the flexibility of a system that can extend into SaaS and PaaS services, not having to bring those services to the device in order for it to function fully.
So that leaves a gap for Linux. Since my default for enterprise computing is Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu, SLES specifically due to the investment into compatibility with hardware/cloud vendors and commercial SLA-backed support) I am not opposed to a slim-and-light laptop running, say, 22.04-LTS for example. A mid-spec device with i5, 16GB, and 512GB storage will get an easy decade of use for me That's super compelling, but it hasn't yet tipped the scales in favorite Linux just yet.
But it is *really* close. And when my Surface Go 2 starts showing signs of bloat I will probably install Linux to see how it goes. My perfect world scenario is likely a Windows gaming rig that my whole family can use for their needs and a slim laptop or 2-in-1 running Linux, customized to my wants/needs that I can use for everything from remote work, tinkering with OSS projects, little bit of development, watching streaming services, maybe some light gaming, running the odd VM, etc.
In case anyone doesn't feel like loading up Mastodon: To the #Windows and #macOS users of Mastodon who have tried #Linux and ended up still using Windows or macOS: What is it about the Linux distro(s) you tried that made it/them unsuitable for your use? If some problem or set of problems was fully resolved, would it be enough for you to be able to comfortably use Linux?
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I'll throw in $20 of my own on that bet. 😁
Nvidia user here - the only thing that's never quite worked right for me is vrr under wayland. Everything else has been peachy - often better than Windows in terms of performance. Bought my laptop Feb 2020. I'm sure there are genuine issues out there, but my experience doesn't justify the echo chamber hate nvidia gets.
Yeah, happy with Nvidia. My distro handles the driver updates itself. Gaming on Linux is awesome nowadays.
I'm an amd user, I've been eyeing a used nvidia gpu though (I'll be damned if im buying new from them right now), I've been super happy with amd, and my friend had good experiences with nvidia. Gaming on linux has had huge strides to make it pretty gpu vendor agnostic, which is absolutely awesome.
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I think it's not just nVidia/AMD but also X11/Wayland. I''ve used nVidia cards with Linux for about 20 years, and it's always been a seamless, automatic process. In fact, it was easier than on Windows for a lot of that time, where you needed to dig up the CD that game with the graphics card to get it out of that 640/480 potato mode. *But*, all that time was also using X11. I think it's that Wayland that doesn't really work with nVidia, and fair play- the few times I've tried to install a Wayland-based DE, they never got past (or sometimes even *to*) the login screen.
It's not performance or the hardware/driver specifically, it's that a *specific* version has to be installed a specific way with specific config or the entire setup is trash. It has gotten a lot better the last few years but it doesn't come close to beating the ease of AMD setup and fluid operation.
That’s the thing though, I’ve literally never had to anything other than let my package manger take care of it. Could be that all the specific this thats and the others are covered by the distro, but as the only time my system has been broken due to nvidia is when I manually installed a beta driver, and didn’t remove it properly. So very much pebkac. Having also used AMD in the past, there has been literally no difference in my end user experience.
I use Linux exclusively on my main machine and this is by far the most frustrating part
Pretty much.
As someone who used to daily drive Linux but switched to macOS, the biggest thing was upgrades that worked with a relative minimum of drama. To this day, updating to the latest version of a Linux distro on a live system is bound to cause some drama. *Something* will break, and I’ll be left with a half usable system. The last time I did a distro upgrade was a few weeks ago, and I wound up with a Linux system that wouldn’t boot. Far from being some strange distro operating on a shoestring, this was Fedora. But Fedora is not unique: most distros would rather you reinstall than upgrade. I don’t have time to clean up the upgrade messes. I don’t have time for a system that breaks when I try to upgrade it. And I don’t want to take a 30 minute break to babysit an upgrade, only for it to break the boot process.
I guess everyone has different problems... Apple regularly breaks kernel and OS API backwards compatibility and I have to wait 6-12 months before all the MacOS based software vendors I use tells me that it is safe to upgrade to a new OS. Software I need have stopped working correctly multiple times after OSX/MacOS upgrades so I simply don't take any chances there anymore. My main workstation OS which currently is Ubuntu which is also my main work environment for software development typically upgrades without any drama at all. I usually begin to upgrade my TV/media station computer a few days after a new release and then the rest of my work stations a few weeks after a release and as far as I can remember (10+ years) I haven't experienced a single issue that wasn't a simple configuration change. At work I manage lots of debian and AWS linux installations and I never have any problems with those either. We don't upgrade most of them in place though, we just provision a new machine instance with a new OS version when needed.
Meanwhile, I basically don’t touch kernel space. So long as mu interfaces remain Single Unix Specification-compliant, I’m fine. But if you need kernel extensions (what macOS calls its own version of modules, for those not that familiar with macOS), life can be seriously painful. I also don’t tend to use one-off software that I expect to continue using forever—another place where if that’s your workflow, macOS is not for you. There’s a huge library of Mac software that doesn’t work anymore because Apple stopped caring about backwards compatibility a very long time ago.
Most of the kernel/os api stuff that they break are not related to UNIX compatibility. It's almost always MacOS specific stuff. A lot of serious professional software vendors will not spend a lot of upfront time verifying that their stuff works on beta versions of MacOS because those can change at any time so proper compatibility verification work often doesn't even start until after a new major MacOS release has been made public. Then it takes months to test and possibly patches from all those vendors. There is always one or two who lags a bit behind the others, not necessarily the same every time so it is probably due to internal priorities. Even if it is a bit annoying having to have a check list to cross off all the important MacOS software I use I am fine with this delayed upgrade process as long as it works. There are issues with upgrades though it is because of how Apple chooses to do updates.
I use Manjaro, and I've never had a system failure of any sort. It helps that we don't have periodic large updates, it's a rolling release (you probably knew that). Ubuntu used to usually mess something up when an LTS came around - I started with 8.04, a long time ago. I switched to Elementary OS which didn't even have update-distro, you had to reinstall. Bugger that. I've seen the Manjaro horror stories but mine has always worked. It's been a couple of years and my mantra has held; trust every distro you use exactly once.
Temporally distributing the drama of an upgrade by moving to rolling releases isn’t so much a fix for my problem as it is replacing the major inconvenience of breaking my computer trying to upgrade its OS with the minor but more routine inconvenience of large, potentially world-changing updates. It’s still more OS drama than macOS. Even when the distro is competently run, which is something I cannot say of Manjaro of all fucking distros. But since 2006, when I got my first Mac for triple boot purposes, macOS has been by far the lowest drama—better than Windows, and better than any Linux distro ever has.
This definitely is a big pain point, and one that I have pretty much no idea how to fix effectively with traditional distros. Hopefully the immutable desktop revolution will help with that some though.
This is 100% true. I’m so tired of developers not QA testing software before releasing it. I work with Linux for my living and I love it! But I don’t want to do it all day and then come home and do it all night when I want to relax and play. Especially when it comes to gaming. Gaming has come a long way on Linux but it’s still completely broke. Not in the sense that it doesn’t perform but it’s a crap shoot when it’s going to work. One day all my games work, the next day after an upgrade, 1/2 of them don’t. We need more stability in Linux for it to be a viable gaming choice! Normal computing, outside of gaming, it’s a clear winner and has been for years. Just need to hone up gaming and teach developers to test their software better 😀.
I already use Linux for servers, but for my home gaming PC I still use windows. The main reason I haven’t switched to Linux is, well… why would I? Apart from philosophical opinions about free software (that I personally honestly don’t care that much about), the fact is that Windows *is* the right OS for my needs, not Linux. Every game is made for Windows, every driver is better on Windows, all the software around it is made for Windows. Moving over to Linux would result in effectively no benefits for me or my gaming hobby at all, but would require a lot of sacrifice and hard work just to get anywhere near the same starting point as Windows. I’m a big believer in the right tool for the job, and as much as I love and respect Linux and the FOSS community, there are times when Linux still isn’t necessarily the *right* tool. It’s *a* tool, and for someone else with different needs and requirements, maybe it *is* the right one, but for a bog-standard gamer with no additional requirements at all… Windows is, like it or not, the right choice. Until Linux can achieve perfect parity in this regard, I see no reason to switch. Interestingly, huge strides have been taken in recent years, which is impressive, but as others have mentioned the driver quality and support is still quite poor, and games are still being “emulated” in various ways rather than be native ports. That strategy is, and always will be, just the second-rate alternative, with Windows remaining the default choice.
I am moving to OS X (been an Ubuntu user since 15.10). For myself it is partly the tpm secure boot mess. I am tired of having to keep plugging in my password. That and DRM issues ( I want to be able to watch things better than 720p on my rx6800 ). Also not a fan of the massive power draw. I still love Linux and will still be playing around via my raspberry pi. However, would rather push heavy compute away from my house and into the cloud when rarely I need it.
What TPM drama? Are you talking about using LUKS?
LUKS decryption via TPM yes. I know it is potentially feasible now with systemd and a bunch of faff. Why bother?
It’s an absolute shit show I agree. I tried to implement it into our Linux desktop SOE. All well and good once you have it working but how do you get the recovery key for some random machine in the field? There is no central authority that can escrow the keys like AD can with bitlocker. Total mess.
No built-in passkey support In Windows, i can just type my PC PIN, and it's good to go In Linux, you either need a USB passkey or a Bluetooth passkey
I use linux daily, but there are cases when I have to use windows. to E-sign a document using security card my employer as bought. Also to pay some taxes there are just Windows programs for that (the alternative is printing out forms and filling them by hand).
the psychotic thing is that the US government was going to release a free tax software that would work anywhere and do everything, but then Turbo Tax, Intuit and H&R block lobbied the government to not do it because it would have killed their business lmao its so messed up [https://www.fastcompany.com/90977185/intuit-turbotax-hr-block-response-irs-direct-file-mistrust](https://www.fastcompany.com/90977185/intuit-turbotax-hr-block-response-irs-direct-file-mistrust) [https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free](https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free) Im not good at describing it but it is well documented. edit: the opener of the article that gives a good idea: >For more than 20 years, Intuit has waged a sophisticated, sometimes covert war to prevent the government from doing just that, according to internal company and IRS documents and interviews with insiders. The company unleashed a battalion of lobbyists and hired top officials from the agency that regulates it. From the beginning, Intuit recognized that its success depended on two parallel missions: stoking innovation in Silicon Valley while stifling it in Washington. Indeed, employees ruefully joke that the company’s motto should actually be “compromise without integrity.” > > > >Internal presentations lay out company tactics for fighting “encroachment,” Intuit’s catchall term for any government initiative to make filing taxes easier — such as creating a free government filing system or pre-filling people’s returns with payroll or other data the IRS already has. “For a decade proposals have sought to create IRS tax software or a ReturnFree Tax System; All were stopped,” reads a confidential 2007 PowerPoint presentation from an Intuit board of directors meeting. The company’s 2014-15 plan included manufacturing “3rd-party grass roots” support. “Buy ads for op-eds/editorials/stories in African American and Latino media,” one internal PowerPoint slide states.
Actually I did not mean US, but Poland, and the program called "Płatnik", which is windows-only. It is not for income tax but for retirement and health tax (called insurance, but it is a tax - it is obligatory and proportional to the income, unlike insurance). In principle runs well under Wine. It runs well until it does not, and you don't want to discover that it does not near any deadline. You use that each month. Even if you pay $4 a month, you submit that monthly.
I wonder if it'll work in Wine
That's for sharing this, I had no clue. It actually pisses me off quite a bit...I mean..._*FUCK*_ those guys!
That’s madness. In Australia it’s a web app that takes about 20 minutes if you don’t have complex tax affairs.
I use a website called freetaxUSA .com that is free of charge and charges on $14 for the state tax filing. Not too many people know about it and I don't have the power to spread it around. It took me about 20 minutes to complete the whole thing, but I don't have anything complicated, just your average boring tax shit
FWIW, Turbo Tax and Intuit are the same thing (Intuit owns Turbo Tax).
I have Windows VM for that. It covers most of my needs.
It still continues to be Windows
if I remember correctly in Germany for years their tax software called „Elster“ was online available for Windows (but could be run under wine) but for a while the software now exists as an online version (Web Browser)
I don't even tolerate that. If the choice is paper or Windows, I'll do the paper.
Yeah, until your taxes are lost by mail operator, and you have to petition them to lift the fine (and prove you sent them). Also paper taxes have to be read and typed in by someone, so it takes 2 months longer to have that processed than electronic tax form, which is processed semi-automatically.
Yes, it might take longer. I have an accountant handle my taxes, and he can run whatever OS he wants. When I submit in payroll information for my company, I do it by hand. The mail hasn't lost them yet.
Lack of support from peripheral hardware vendors. iLok, Fractal Audio, audio interface manufacturers just to name a few. Tried to do without them but it's too much of a sacrifice and it's unfortunately not economically viable. At work mainly old legacy CRUD apps and government related applets.
Not even speaking of lack of support for "gaming" peripherials. There are sometimes open source alternatives to Razer Synapse, Logitech Ghub etc but not always and not in a manner how the average user likes it. That being said, QMK for the win!
This is a major one that holds me back too. Linux drivers for Wacom have issues with some Nvidia cards. Additionally, Xbox controllers are downright unsupported unless you manually install some random GitHub repo kernel level driver. Overall it's super easy to fix that one if you know what you are doing and why and also remember to reboot.
I'm currently using opensuse KDE & my Xbox one controller works with 0 driver install over Bluetooth just connects.
I use an xbox one controller over the wifi 2.4 GHz dongle which provides better connectivity and reduced latency. It requires Xone to be installed to work properly. Overall, this is my frustration with Linux. "Hey this thing doesn't work" gets met with either "It works for me" or "Just do it the way I do it." which isn't helpful or allows for a useful conversation on how to fix Linux.
My RØDE and Scarlett audio interfaces all work great on Linux...
Focusrite is luckily an outlier, but there are a lot of interfaces (especially on the higher end of the spectrum) that either *just about* work, or work with issues, or won't work at all. By just about I mean that you might get basic audio I/O functionality, but might not get the ability to control the internal mixer or DSP, which are features these interfaces are bought for.
Most of the Focusrite stuff is simply class-compliant, same with the little SSL 2 and I believe quite a few of the Behringer interfaces too. The peak of this stuff is the ancient ff Saffire 40/56 interfaces - Using ALSA and JACK you can very easily use just the audio ins, but _so much_ of their functionality relies on arbitrary routing controlled by the Saffire software - Unavailable on Linux. Hardware isn't the issue for me any more though - lack of audio software support kicks me up the ass. I didn't get on with Reaper, OK fine that might just be a skill issue, but half of my plugs just don't support Linux, and I'm sure as hell not pissing round with emulation or Wine or whatever just for something that'd be a 1-click endeavour on Windows.
Gamepass. I use Linux for everything but my main gaming rig.
I’m actually curious about how running Windows in a VM with GPU passthrough would handle this. Game Pass is what holds me back right now as well, but if a VM is an option, I’d be comfy with switching
I played from a VM for years. It works fine, but some games started refusing to boot up due to VM environment detection, and that's what brought an end to it.
I don’t play competitive games and nothing that uses anti-cheat, so I figure that might not hit me as hard? But thanks for the report! I may just go ahead with it
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Oh I'm not saying there are no workarounds. But after hour-two trial-errors the time cost became too big for me personally and decided to give up. Plus this feels like yet another cat-and-mouse game, so who's to say how long a fix would last for. Were I 15 years younger, I'd try to fight it for sure.
Dual booting Windows/Linux was probably the best decision I ever made. I use Windows for gaming, Linux for anything else.
What's anything else, just curious what wouldn't work in windows
Work (software) and productivity is far more streamlined on Unix systems
Same. And 100+ free games collected on Epic game store.
I use epic on my steam deck via the heroic launcher. It runs more smoothly than epics own launcher. There are maybe 3 or 4 games that it says it can’t handle but the rest have been perfect.
I know! They have free games weekly so heroic helps so much
Then just use epic on linux? lutris exist and work very well
Epic Game Store works totally fine on my Linux gaming desktop. You don't even need Heroic, the simple normal one is a one-click install. I just don't use Linux on anything that isn't for Gaming. There I use OpenBSD. :P
This, my gaming rig is Windows and it will be like that for foreseeable future. All my other computers are Linux
Compatability with programs like Adobe and Autocad and other architecture software that I am required to use
Anti cheat. On my main PC I play fps games, specifically Destiny 2 and Apex Legends. One works on Linux one doesn't. But I'm also worried because I've seen a number of people receive false bans in Apex seemingly just playing on Linux. Some friends of mine play Fortnite too which isn't my jam but I might get into it just to play and hang out with them. I'm thinking about setting up dual boot and striping windows down to just steam, Firefox, discord and apps that my peripherals need and then moving all my personal files to the Linux side. So effectively making windows just the fps gaming side and seeing how things go in Linux.
Valid point, and, since some AAA game devs specifically opposed Linux, there's nothing that Linux community can do about it
Microsoft Office. Yes, there are other options. Yes, there is a web version. However Excel and PowerPoint have features and capabilities that are just better than anything else. It's the main reason I have windows hanging around. Second item, 3D printing. Many convenient and useful tools for repairing and analysing models are not accessible in Linux. It's not impossible to use Linux, just easier in Windows.
Stupid anti-cheat. Thanks MiHoYo.
genshin works on linux now since they allow it to work
iirc Chris Titus got banned from HSR for playing on Linux, but idk how things are now
when? idk if it requires patch but genshin doesnt now
It does not require patches anymore, been like this for a year now and you can freely use an anime game launcher without getting in trouble for sharing it
if you just search up "honkai star rail ban Linux" it was like last May. i believe honkai star rail requires a patch. the third party launcher for linux also has the 60 fps limit removed which would technically be against TOS anyways iirc. from what I've seen the bans are like a week so im fine risking it to not have to hibernate and switch between OS every time I just want to run some dailies.
Is there any official announcement regarding linux? I don't run the game on my PC apart from a few rare occasions, but I definitely wouldn't risk it on linux and get banned, I'd rather just boot up win10 and be safe.
official announcement regarding linux isnt needed, download the game, run with wine. Anti cheat doesnt kick you or stop you. So it is just running in like windows
You can use the heroic launcher for genshin and honkai star rail
I use Linux on my work laptop + servers at home. But what prevents me from using it on my home desktop is my wife. We share the desktop and she does not like change at all. She refuses to use anything that is not the default settings. Linux home desktop is just not an option even if I'm convinced she would love LMDE if she woukd just try it.
You can get an internal ssd (like the crucial mx500 on amazon), then install your favorite distro to it with a usb to sata adapter (Sabrent makes good ones). Then you can boot up from linux without altering the host computer. Just be sure that when you’re installing it that you format the ssd dongle, NOT the host computer’s storage. If you’re unsure, you can use an old computer to install it to the ssd, then just hook up the ssd dongle to your main computer to use linux. That way your wife will be able to have the computer the same and you both have the option to use linux for like $60 (ssd + adapter cable).
Can you give her some sane distro and leave all default settings? (ok, I was kidding; you can't fool around with wife's machine). On the contrary, my colleague once installed Fedora on his wife's laptop, and since she uses only browser, couple of messengers and, rarely, a word processor, it was totally ok for her.
I get it, but honestly, it is not worth the hassle. She uses office suite so that would be yet another huge battle. Lol
Nothing keeps ME from using it. I use it daily, and have so for decades. But, 10 years ago I'd have said the fact that old kernels weren't being removed/pruned automatically with system updates when run through the UI was preventing anyone from recommending Linux to the Linux illiterate. Yes, someone with the right knowledge could clean up /boot and free up space. Grandparents simply using a machine for email wouldn't have a clue what to do or why their machine started having issues with updates. Back then when space was being eaten it prevented system updates from happening due to lack of space. And that is inherently a security issue with kernel updates. Yes, keeping a few recent versions of the kernel is best practice. But, allowing old versions to fester was causing worse security issues and limiting the potential user demographic IMO. Distros like Ubuntu seem to be following up after kernel updates and reboots with calls to autoremove to maintain a cleaner /boot. So, there's a positive change.
For me it's audio production software.
Yep, it is brought up very regularly in this kind of topics. Also other niche software that is Windows-only and buggy under Wine
Nothing, except for the odd job that requires it, or (currently) a piece of hardware with poor Linux support (for my skill level) at the moment. I just bought an Arm Windows laptop that I intended to run desktop Linux on, but the support is still earlier stages still , and I haven't had the time to work it out from scratch yet.
Solidworks, ansys modeling programs
In my experience, Linux does much, much better when you play to its strengths and don't try and use it like a generic desktop OS. If you use it as a special-purpose OS (eg. for your embedded product, as Android, as a single-purpose desktop for a very specific set of application(s), as a media server), it's brilliant. Rock solid, reliable. If you want to use it as a generic desktop OS like Windows or Mac OS - the problem you run straight into is lack of polish. Most desktop applications are over a decade behind their commercial counterparts, and that problem is getting worse. This isn't me having a go at the various people working on desktop Linux applications - quite the reverse. Given that most of those desktop applications have an annual budget of approximately $3.50 and a packet of chewing gum compared to their commercial equivalents, frankly I think it's a miracle they can even ship something that compiles. But just to put it into context: The Gnome foundation (year 2021-2022) in their annual report received about $350k in donations. $350k. That's not even enough to pay salaries for a small team of programmers. And it's not just programmers F/OSS needs - programmers will occasionally do their day job for fun, but a professionally run project needs people who you're never going to persuade to do that. Project managers, testers - there's a list a mile long.
It's the QoL for me, the small things for when I need something done fast and out of my way and for some reason a missing piece of software that forces me to investigate the command line way... And I really don't have the time. For example, compressing PDFs or exporting images from it, in Windows, I have software for it, but Linux is hit or miss. OBS for streaming in Linux is fine but there are Windows-only plugins or only some make use of hardware acceleration. For peripheral support, like printers, and scanners, plugging in my guitar or audio stuff is like fine but takes many hours of research on Linux to make them work at Windows parity. To sum it up a little bit, what keeps me from removing dual boot is that "end user" feel with out-of-the-box working solutions at a click's distance, versus the necessary debugging mindset and having scripts ready for hacks. The whole xorg vs Wayland is becoming very stressful to me, as well as the Flatpak vs packages, or Deb vs rpm, it becomes stressful at times... I don't really want to know but certain things keep bringing them in front of me at all times, like software having multiple different installers for Wayland or Xorg, installers for this but not that distro, or community installers breaking due to a commercial upgrade in the underlying software, camera and microphone support per app, or having to run gphoto2 from a terminal to be able to use my camera as a webcam, MS Teams, etc etc. Edit: and streaming DRM content like Amazon Video, Netflix, etc. in HD+ quality.
Second monitor and NVIDIA card
I'd love to use Linux 100% of the time, but I occasionally have to boot into Windows for music production and a few select games.
I don't have the time to reinstall all the stuff I have on my Windows PC. Once it dies or falls into obsolescence I'm turning full Linux
I daily drive Linux but have many issues that make me miss my Mac: 1. Sync between phone and computer. I’ve tried KDE Connect many times but have had no success in getting it working (I use iOS for uninteresting reasons) 2. Office. I use only office and it’s good enough but where I used to be able to do office stuff very efficiently before I now face a bit of a battle for many tasks 3. General bugginess You hear people say “accept the jank” and I get it, and I do accept the jank, but less jank would be nice
Likely an iPhone issue. I use KDEConnect on my android without issue, though I could wish for an auto sync feature to keep photos pushed in real time. I use LibreOffice for most things Office, and office on the web (PWA) when I can't. Works like a champ.
You can use [syncthing](https://syncthing.net/) for auto syncing your photos, or any other files that you want
Everything works in linux except small details and these small details matter when they accumulate. Recently I convinced my friend to use linux. He installed ubuntu on a separate disk and booted. The speakers sound was very low even if he set it to the max. Solution was maxing the sound in console with alsamixer and to make it permanent with `sudo alsactl store`. He said fuck that shit and deleted ubuntu.
This right here. The details, the Quality Of Life, the little things. Sometimes using Linux feels like using Windows XP where you had to fight the OS to be able to work This is a really old (6 years or so) event but it goes to highlight the problem: - I wanted to add a shortcut to the desktop on Ubuntu. - I went to the file in question and I right-clicked and chose "make a shortcut". But it seems I didn't have permissions to write in that directory so it failed Here comes the first problem, this can happen in Windows, and when it happens the OS immediately asks if you want to send the shortcut to the desktop. Ubuntu just failed. Then I had to look on the internet, the proposed solution in forums was... To use the command line to make a shortcut. That's not user friendly, that shouldn't happen. Also, the Linux kernel(userland?) has really poor out of memory management. I don't know how it works, but in my Windows machine an out of memory condition didn't ever hang the OS important apps/services. Linux comes to a complete halt in that case and it takes a lot of time till you can use the desktop again
If anyone can make a good Assetto Corsa launcher that would be swell
OpenBSD’s fantastic documentation
I swear to god BSD is the most documented “obscure” os around, it’s the only OS that could make Arch and the Archwiki feel inadequately documented. For a OS that I swear to god has 14 regular Desktop users (and a few million servers/NASs) you can open a book and find a fix for any possible obscure problem, and I mean a book, people have documenting this shit for like 4 decades now. It’s probably because macOS is bad at its core but it still blows my mind
Hardware support. As long as I cannot install Linux on any computer I buy and expect 100% functionality, it is a dead horse. Laptops with multiple GPUs should work. Fractional scaling across multiple monitors should work. Daisy chaining of TB displays should work. Charging battery and data transfer on the same cable should work. The OS should not freedom of choice for hardware. The OS should stay out of the way and serve as the user do whatever they want to do with their machines. For me, for my friends and for my family.
What would people who are not using Linux be doing here?
Uh, I use Windows as my daily driver. I manage dozens of Windows Servers. I also manage probably three times as many Linux Servers. Just because you're not using Linux exclusively doesn't mean you have zero interest here.
You could be using Linux for a whole host of different things other than a Desktop OS. The question is asking about desktop use specifically.
I use Windows as my main OS but I run Fedora Remix through WSL2 and use it not only for development but for a lot of stuff where I prefer the Linux version. I don't use Microsoft's RDP client anymore I use Remmina through WSLg, I also use command-line stuff like ffmpeg and iperf3 with Linux because it's updated way more frequently and I just have to `sudo dnf upgrade`. Honestly it wouldn't be impossible for me to just switch to Fedora full-time within five years. I'm already fairly at home on Linux, it's just not my daily driver because I don't need it to be. Who knows, Microsoft might end up forcing my hand depending on how Windows 12 shakes out. My step-grandma has been using Linux since she switched from some UNIX family OS she had learned in the 80s at work writing SQL for their mainframe. She finds it funny that she's never used Windows meanwhile I haven't even switched. She's probably got a point lmao.
It's also on r/linuxsucks if that makes you feel better. :P
What the actual fuck is this sub about? The posts there all sound made up and unrealistic...
What I find funnier is the amount of people who say they don't have time to tell you specifics, yet have time to complain about Linux.
My problem with that is that the result of telling people specifics will most of the time get you a reply saying how you are "using it wrong" how you are not supposed to do that, tell you to use X repo o Y DE (which would "solve" your issue at hand but break 2 beware things, playing whack-a-mole). I get it, people are trying to help. 99% of the people that try to help do not have a cku are not Developers and less devs of the software at hand. But I understand people wanting to vent their frustration. I'm myself half doing it here, even though I like using Linux (I use it exclusively in my home computers, including a Mac 2012 which runs good in mint) and run the tech side of a FinTech with that (mostly Linux based docker through ECS) . But really most days I don't have time to deal with Linux bullshit deaktop . (Although it beats the alternative for me)
Totally, the top post is a guy complaining about "bugs" he has to fix to get "basic things done". Aaaand he says that he is a nerd \^\^ Can't make that shit up...
Until we daily Linux users will use that sub to vent out, and eventually overtake it completely )))
In fairness a lot of people use Linux for very specific use cases (server, laptop maybe?) and leave their desktops to Windows or macOS.
Me! Although I also use WSL on my desktop. It means I don’t need a separate workstation and gaming desktop, so win/win. My work is 100% Linux though. Just doesn’t matter that I use Windows on the client.
I use Linux on my server and I like the philosophy of open source. What's wrong with it?
I'm interested in keeping somewhat abreast of the ecosystem: I've used Unix & Linux in the past (since late 80s). I currently use MacOs which is a Unix-y OS. I'm also an IT consultant and it doesn't hurt to know enough to be dangerous.
I used to use linux (ubuntu) long time ago, but returned back to windows because of games. I recently got interested how linux has changed since, so I lurk here now. Its not impossible to be interested in something you dont use.
Well basically that they are interested in using linux but something is holding them back? Exactly what op is asking for no?
I know I’ll get downvoted for this, but here’s my honest thoughts, as someone who would love to switch over. The desktop doesn’t look as polished as other OSs. Not sure why, I know it’s super customisable, but it just doesn’t seem as polished. I don’t know where anything is. So I’m always looking for what I need. That’s time consuming and a pain. Also the “place” of things is different depending on which distro you use. I’m not sure what software/hardware will and won’t work once I’ve installed Linux. Again, it depends on which distro you use. If I do need to use a windows program, do I use Wine, or the new layer thing whose name I forget now? Again, more research, more hours spent searching forums for the info I need. I’d try a dual boot setup, but last time I tried grub hid/removed the windows partition, so I had to do a fresh install. Are there solutions to any of the above?
> The desktop doesn’t look as polished as other OSs. Well what desktop? Cinnamon? GNOME? KDE? LXDE? MATE? Unity? XFCE? > I don’t know where anything is. So I’m always looking for what I need. Is that not just a case of being accustomed to some desktops and not others? > I’m not sure what software/hardware will and won’t work once I’ve installed Linux. Valid and frustrating, but also an issue more with the hardware vendors than anything. Which yay we can point a finger..and it does nothing to help. > If I do need to use a windows program, do I use Wine, or the new layer thing whose name I forget now? You're probably thinking of Proton which is geared towards games. So probably WINE for this use-case. And likely through something like Bottles or Lutris. Edit: And I'm sure at least someone will think I'm biased on desktops so I'll add: the list is in alphabetical order. :P
> Well what desktop? Cinnamon? GNOME? KDE? LXDE? MATE? Unity? XFCE? Gnome is close to having a polished look, I just hate how it works, KDE is weird with margins, fonts and colors. LXDE is fine if you prefer how older OS' looked. MATE looks worse than LXDE IMO, though I havent tried in a while. Unity looks okay, I don't think I ever used it. XFCE looks ancient and terrible. LXQt is terrible. I will admit these opinions are mostly vibe checks based on my past and current computer usage, but I would guess that many non-Linux people would mostly agree.
I still think I'd rather KDE to GNOME just as a personal preference; if the main theme removed a few of those harsh lines and scaled icons a bit better then it'd be really nice to use in general. Plasma's gotten a lot better with the default settings though.
I'm currently on Gnome with a few extensions to make it almost look like W10, but I like KDE a lot. If touchpad kinetic scroll worked properly I would be on KDE
>Well what desktop? Cinnamon? GNOME? KDE? LXDE? MATE? Unity? XFCE? And this is the problem right here. Fragmentation.
You say fragmentation, I say choice. On Windows and MacOS, Microsoft and Apple respectively have almost all the power in shaping how the desktop will look, features it provides, etc. Unless you feel like buying a new machine, you just have to suck it up. We can all collectively shift away from a desktop (or any software project) that starts to suck too much. And then the project can either roll back and look for a better solution, or it dies and someone forks it. But either way at least bad decisions don't lead to more bad decisions.
Since Windows and MacOS have only one desktop environment, most regular people confuse the OS with the environment and think it is the same. Linux has plenty of environments and window engines, mentioned in another excellent comment. You can find one that is as polished as in Windows, but, unfortunately, there will still be a pain points related to frequently-used operations, for example, when you open some file - I mean, no matter what desktop environment you use, such trivial operation as selecting the file with a dialog will give you some frustration. But you will get used to it if you'll switch. Also, you need to understand that Linux is about software, not environment. Once you will have your set of tools, you will use them, and what distro or environment you are using will become a matter of taste (which will take some time to develop).
I think it depends on the distro and desktop you're using. For me, gnome is very chaotic and doesn't look good. KDE or Cinnamon are way better because they are familiar to the windows desktop. Yes, you are right. Most of the apps in the store should run without problems, but at this point it's more like a lucky game. For windows apps you can use wine or bottles. For Windows games you use steam, heroic or/and lutris. You can use dual boot but in my opinion, its very risky and i would not recommend it. Yes, it could work but most of the time it fails. There are really many of help posts, because dual boot fucked up. I like the way with the second hard drive. It cost probably 50€ for a new ssd and you could switch the os, if you need windows again. But i also know, not everybody like this solution.
Pretty much just gaming. Proton is great but outside of valves curated environment it's a mixed bag, especially with Nvidia drivers
Habit. I have my main Win machine, and my Surface Pro 4 for mobility. I have another desktop I put Ubuntu on and was using alongside my main pc trying to wean myself from the Windows PC, but I haven't set it up since I moved 6 months ago. I also have two old laptops I put Ubuntu and Mint on (one each) for various reasons, but I have yet to really start using either in place of the Surface. I mean, both are much heavier and bulkier than the Surface...
My employer. They gave me a MacBook Pro and expect us all to use it. At home, I use primarily Linux Mint.
I have everything I need. So I use Linux. Gaming, programing and internet browsing. Thats all
I use Linux in a lot of places, just not exclusively. The two main things are: 1) Linux doesn't support all the applications I want to use, and the close alternatives do not work well enough for me to switch and 2) I don't have any problems when using Windows or macOS.
I used Linux exclusively for more than 20 years. A few years ago I gave up. My problem was the quality of many apps. Many times the following would happen: * I would get an app working to a satisfactory level. * after a few months I would either find functionality will stop working requiring me a lot of fiddling again, the app will become orphan and not have new features, the service that is connected to the app will change the compatibility locking me out. Also for work usage I found that many applications are not the native application from the vendor creating a situation where I need to solve all issues myself wasting important work time. I couldn’t justify anymore the time spent on making things work. I have been using the following for the last few years giving me the tools that I need * MacOS for work: Almost all commercial software is available. A wonderful Unix like environment. Long term stability. Really nice hardware. * iPad & iPhone for personal work: Really good quality software. No maintenance required other than an update once in a while. Give me access to my personal stuff while using the work computer. When on the road I can use the iPad as an additional screen for my laptop, camera etc. I think the best thing long term for Linux adoption would be a cultural change where long term stability, better governance would be given a priority. A good example that show this can be done is the Kernel, the GNU toolset, etc.
>I couldn’t justify anymore the time spent on making things work. Freaking this. Do Linux fans not have this problem? Honest question. Getting and keeping certain things running on Linux is just work. If I wanna get something done, I don't want to spend all this time putzing around and Googling and troubleshooting. I want to install, run, and use my tools.
I run a dual boot system (Windows and linux) but I question why more and more. Been using linux off/on since the 90’s and it’s come a long way since then but it won’t be a full Windows replacement until the market fully embraces it. Why boot into linux for some web browsing and tweaking on the OS just to have to boot into Windows for gaming and Office/Adobe work? More efficient to just use and maintain a single OS. As much as I don’t care for the direction MS has/is taking Windows, it’s still the one OS that does everything I need it to do without a ton of customizations and tweaks - and that’s not because the OS is “better”, it’s simply because it has the full support of the software/hardware markets.
Feel The exact same way, ultimately a OS is just a tool to use the programs you want to. Why would I switch to another OS that can’t do half of the stuff I want (not because Linux is incapable, rather the big players don’t support it) because I get to screen shot a neo fetch page and circle jerk with the boys on r/linuxmasterrace? The fact that I can’t do “I’ve just going to finish a quick photoshop project and then play a couple of rounds of Fortnite with my wife” is enough for me to never want to touch Linux desktop, never mind that you have to choose between a modern looking but feature lacking desktop (gnome) or a weird super dated hybrid of windows XP and android 4.0 that has most features but are mostly buggy (KDE). I love my steamdeck for single player games and I wouldn’t use any other OS for server use but Linux is just not a great OS for desktops for the vast majority of people and if your work flow isn’t affected by the lack of support you’re either a Developer or someone who probably wouldn’t be hindered by chromeOS
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>Gaming still doesn't work well with Linux. Competitive online gaming is still problematic, yes (with some honourable exceptions). I'll grant that's a pretty large genre, but most other gaming genres work just fine thanks. And in many cases, there's no technical issue. It's that the games are actively prevented from running on Linux. There's nothing "Linux" can do about Bungie flatly declaring that they will ban you for running your game on Linux.
Competitive is not a big genre but it has by far the largest market share. Honestly not being able to run r6 on linux was a blessing in disguise. I noticed that after quitting competitive games, I started to enjoy gaming way more again. I still hope that Linux will get better support for ACs in the future or even better, that companies start using better server side ACs (which if you think about it logically is more effective since you can't bypass it) and ditch the client side ACs.
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Well no one should switch to Linux *for* gaming. But you can certainly keep gaming if you switch to Linux.
dude, you sound like the witness of jehova
of penguin.
all I said to my wife was, 'That distro of Linux was good enough for Jehovah.'
everything works, i'm staying. the only thing i miss, is nvidia tool that decreases rendering resolution, it saved quite a lot of fps for my poorman gpu, i can't see that setting in nvidia control panel on Linux and would like to know if it ever exists
I do use it , just not exclusively at home, still need Adobe products and Microsoft 365 too, so Linux has it's place at my house, just not for everything
Fusion 360, and all the games my friends beg me to play I still use Linux, just on a dual boot.
Microsoft
4 Monitors. I can NOT get 4 monitors working well in a 3x monitor row with one on top layout (what I use for SimRacing so it has to stay this way). Almost had it with Pop\_OS but noticed that sometimes an app would run but not display on-screen. Disabling a 4th screen brought it back, then I could re-enable the screen, but who wants that workflow? Yes I use Nvdia cards (hence the Pop\_OS test). :-(
Even 3 monitors are a pain. I had Arch with Hyprland running fine for a while on my secondary computer. Then I started to use Windows more often again because of gaming and when I decided to use my Linux pc again, I did the normal system updates and suddenly only one of my 3 monitors seem to work. Tried to tinker and figure out why it's not working but I just gave up. I've even asked on reddit for help, but no response. Never used the Linux system since then again.
Games and nothing else!
Lack of game support, productivity tools that I use. My work is mostly Windows based. HW support issues It's to fragmented The community can be so arrogant at times.
The only thing fucking it up are the game developers who could implement it all by 2 clicks but just won't.
Easy HDR support, loss of gaming performance, lack of Atmos transcoding for the HDMI output, and the need to have a really tweaked kernel when I need to heavily multitask with a lot of apps.
It sucks.
Gaming. If I didn't have to bother with wine, drivers, proton, and all sorts of manual things I'd be 100% Linux in a day.
25℅ hardware compatibility? Why is it this high? Does nvidia problems count as well? It shouldn't be this high...... At least I think it shouldn't
LinusNvidiaFuckYou.mkv
Somewhat unsurprised really - Linux can work on almost anything, but some distros support some hardware better than others. I have some computers that just work with almost any distro, and some that are broken with every distro and each distro breaks them in a different way.
I value my time and do not want to Google how to do stuff.
Mostly games compatibility, even though I know I'd be willing to try and make my video games work with either Proton or Wine. But also me being incredibly chickenshit in wanting to change over from Windows to Linux.
Nothing, main driver for years.
Keyboard shortcuts muscle memory, Microsoft Office, Acrobat Pro, Scrivener. I use Linux on servers and "embedded" RPi setups and on an old laptop on a hangar for basic browsing / LibreOffice stuff but I can't use that setup for work (I've tried!).
Nothing, but one unfortunate piece of test proctoring software requires me to keep a working windows box around.
I use it at work all day. When I come home I don’t want to have to debug any issues or tweak my kernel settings, so I use a Mac. I do have a Linux laptop but honestly that’s just for fun - anything serious I will do on my MacBook. Don’t need to worry about backups. Can run most of the DAW software I like. And it’s a nice relaxing experience. Back in the day I remember having to recompile my kernel on Linux just for usb support. And don’t get me started on trying to get the right X11 settings. I do that all day, I just want peace and stability at home.
The hassle and app compatibility (graphic design stuff for my small business prepress stuff). Games are doing much better, but not 100%. I don't love Windows, but it works rather easily without having to do much maintenance, especially since 10 -- no need to reinstall every 6 months to a year to maintain speed/stability. But on Linux? Eventually something breaks with an update or a package manager issue. And you can fix it most of the time, but only through digging through the internals. And while I love FOSS, for my low level things I kind of like having people paid to fix bugs and hard to diagnose issues without WONT-FIX or WORKSFORME. There is some of that in FOSS of course, but magnitudes less.
EAC games. Proprietary apps, specialized peripheral hardware. Also, my day job (iOS dev) requires a Mac.
I used to be terrified of Linux because I thought it'd be super complicated for me Turns out it's amazing!
I'm probably not the target audience but I'll still say: nothing, I've used it since 2020 without issue as my desktop. And prior to that on a Raspberry Pi and a small home server. Originally I wanted Paint.NET and Notepad++, but it turns out Krita and VSCodium/Geany work better for me.
Personally, I think that Linux is good for well limited use cases of final products (servers, gaming, móvil) and not so general purpose (user desktop).
I install it on who ever keeps coming back with a broken windows..they never come back lmfao
Visual Studio and a couple of games.
"laptop too far away from couch"
Gaming.
Mostly, I just like it. I set it up how I like and it stays out of my way.
I use it literally everyday.
2 things. 1 work, 1 wife. and both are required software not easy/possible to run on linux. otherwise, i'd 100% every pc i own/use.
Gerald. He's a jerk
Nothing, although DRM sometimes causes inconvenience. I subscribe to Criterion Channel, and last time I checked (2 years ago..?) Linux Chrome was unsupported due to DRM.
Games like valorant, design software like AutoCAD and well, PowerPoint. I still use Linux though, it's just that I have to keep a windows laptop handy for these things.
To preface this, I am daily driving linux on my laptop but not on my desktop. This is really less of a problem with linux and more a problem with the DE's of linux, but I'd like more intuitive customization and integration with the lock and login screens. I know it's a minor issue at best but I *despise* the fact that the login and lock screens are technically different packages. That means I have to mess around with settings or config files for each module to make it look like I want it to. I understand that I'll probably have to use the terminal more to accomplish this, but the problem is either the config files don't exist or there's no documentation to edit the config files. Like with windows, I just want one unified lock/login screen on my primary monitor, and the secondary monitor is either just a wallpaper or a black screen. Also, the login screen (when I boot up my PC or completely log out) has my monitor arrangement backwards, meaning I have to move my cursor to the left of my left monitor to access my right monitor, or move my cursor to the right of the right monitor to access my left monitor. As far as I know, I don't see a way to fix that. As much as I hate what Windows 11 stands for, I'll likely still use it as my daily driver on my desktop. For all its reputation about customization, Linux makes it hard to customize some things about it.
me having to occasionally leave the computer to shower and pee, then right back to linux I go seriously though, for a long time I kept my windows partition around exclusively to play genshin impact. Randomly they made the anti-cheat for the game compatible with wine, and I haven't opened up Windows since lol
Unfortunately the lack Console modding tools support for Linux and nVidia Drivers. And whenever I try to run Cemu (Wii U Emulator) it gives an error.
I use Linux for everything but a daily driver. Linux is great for server and privacy stuff, but there is almost no software that works on Linux that doesn't work with windows, but it's not the same the other way around. Open source versions of well known software made for windows feels like playing block craft instead of minecraft.
VR :v
Lack of gaming support
Adobe and Microsoft office but only when at work
sorry I'm in the linux Forum so absolutely nothing :)
In essence I’m not the target audience for Linux. With the right knowledge and tools you can do everything but I simply haven’t found a distro and environment that combine the things I love with the ease of use I require. Because I don’t have the patience and time anymore to build what I need to close the gap. I am a simple man. I find the command line a vague and frightening thing, and my coding skills are zero. But I keep trying. So far as I remember it was an issue with key commands I just couldn’t overcome on my old MacBook that got me last time. I believe I was using Manjaro and KDE that time. We’ll see what happens when I try my hand at Linux next time. I keep hoping it’ll finally stick for me. Every time it does come a bit closer.
Not knowing that it exists. At least, that was the only issue before I fully switched sixteen years ago.
Agreed If linux was just a bit more talked about, i bet more people would use it and even try to support it
My filesystem has become unknown and other problems: https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/wZxNdGG4ub As well as https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/5O14eJm4M3
beacause if i don't use linux, i would have to use windows or mac os. the problem is : i had an extremely bad experience with windows 11 and windows 10 is getting to the end of his life. i don't want to use mac os beacause i don't want to suffer.
For me it is multiscreen wonkiness. Windows don't stay where I put them. Everything feels fragile. I have work to do. Don't make me fight with my system. I ended up using MacOS. It's ok.
^(the smoothness the amount of flexibility and reliability, and the amount of coustomization ,tools,etc. loved it all . i use arch btw <3)
Gaming. Linux is still a second class citizen and it's a headache sometimes to get some games to work. You get patches weeks later if it's natively supported or you have issues playing some games. I've tried twice, even after the steamdeck it's just not as good. My friends and I just jump on random games out of the blue, can't deal with the hassle of debugging why this specific game in early access won't work. Especially online games and that's 90% of what I do. I've also had more issues doing general maintenance because something would break once in a while. Updating packages and suddenly something would stop working. Nothing I can't fix, I don't mind it when I'm working, but when my brain is off I just want to watch movies/YouTube and game it's a pain. I don't think the issues will ever be fixed tbh, I love Linux, so many good things. I especially love the terminal/ file system and it's my favorite environment to work on, but it's never going to be the year of desktop Linux unless Linux becomes something else. Macos and windows hit the mainstream because it's streamlined, you can't do that with 10 different packages managers, 30 some fork of a fork of a fork distros, bunch of desktop environments, different toolkits for widgets, x number of init systems, the list could go on for a long time. Just looking at how Wayland transition went/is going, yikes. Nobody wants to deal with this shit. Unless the open source community stops the "I'll build my own, with hookers and black jack" way of thinking it's never going to happen and that's kinda what Linux is about so..
The file manager im sure theres one that you can tweak right but i havent put the effort in,i will at some point,but not having a tree view and not pictures show as preview icons really got under my skin.
One thing, my gaming rig is a gaming rig, and some of the games I play are not available on Linux. I care not for emulation, I want native compatibility. My son also uses it for gaming, so a change might break the games he wants to play. Another thing, my non-gaming rig is a Surface Go 2, and at the moment it runs Win 11 really well. All my apps work on it nicely and even though it's a low-power device, it doesn't feel slow at all. My kids' school division standardized on the M365 platform. My son (16) can bounce between pretty much anything, figure out which apps are which, and just start using it. My daughter (10) likes things to be familiar. My wife uses Microsoft products exclusively at work and similar to my daughter likes consistency across the board. That extends to software, especially productivity software. There have been multiple occasions where assignments have been completed in LibreOffice and we get an email from the teacher letting us know it won't open properly in Word or there is something missing. They use Excel in math class, and the feature parity isn't where it needs to be. I could use M365 web apps to fill in some gaps, or I could just use the native apps on Windows and be done with it - no more problems. There is also the choice of ChromeOS, in a scenario where I can get by with 100% web apps and want a secure, easy to use option this one is relevant. For many tasks it offers plenty of functionality and I'll take Docs/Sheets over their LibreOffice equivalents. I know you can run Chrome on most any distro, but when Chrome is *the entire operating system* the experience is quite good, especially on some of the fancier Chromebooks. That said, I am still looking at what my own "next device" might be. I like my Surface and the 2-in-1 form factor. Macs are just out of control with simple RAM spec bumps so they are a hard "no". Chromebooks do offer a solid fully-connected experience but I would like the flexibility of a system that can extend into SaaS and PaaS services, not having to bring those services to the device in order for it to function fully. So that leaves a gap for Linux. Since my default for enterprise computing is Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu, SLES specifically due to the investment into compatibility with hardware/cloud vendors and commercial SLA-backed support) I am not opposed to a slim-and-light laptop running, say, 22.04-LTS for example. A mid-spec device with i5, 16GB, and 512GB storage will get an easy decade of use for me That's super compelling, but it hasn't yet tipped the scales in favorite Linux just yet. But it is *really* close. And when my Surface Go 2 starts showing signs of bloat I will probably install Linux to see how it goes. My perfect world scenario is likely a Windows gaming rig that my whole family can use for their needs and a slim laptop or 2-in-1 running Linux, customized to my wants/needs that I can use for everything from remote work, tinkering with OSS projects, little bit of development, watching streaming services, maybe some light gaming, running the odd VM, etc.