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I've just given up on Linux again. Again. And it's the GUI that makes that decision final. There were also (and I'm still fighting 'em) serious file issues (per

I've just given up on Linux again. Again. And it's the GUI that makes that decision final. There were also (and I'm still fighting 'em) serious file issues (perhaps related to file name lengths, perhaps not), but these may well have arisen from Windows/Linux interactions or even Windows not getting along with Windows. But flickering and otherwise unusable or unstable GUI features in the distributions finally did me in. Damn. Just plain not ready for prime time. It's not that you couldn't go Linux if you absolutely had to, but the cost is just way too high. (I put the most time in with Ubuntu and ElementaryOS.)

chmln 7y ago
What specific issues did you have with the GUI? Not sure if you know but there are a number of other polished DEs apart from Gnome. Sounds like your graphics card doesn't work well with Linux. Is it Nvidia ?
- Nomentatus 7y ago
  It is, but I'd be shocked if it were involved, I've tried to keep it out of the mix with Linux.
  - chmln 7y ago
    With nvidia, you must absolutely make sure you are using the proprietary drivers if you want a good experience. Some distros (like Pop OS) use these out of the box, but most (like Debian) use open-source nouveau.
microwavecamera 7y ago
> And it's the GUI that makes that decision final. Which one? There's a crapton.
- Nomentatus 7y ago
  Both those mentioned had more than one deal-breaker issues. The jumpiness (at maybe 5 hz) was ElementaryOS IIRC. No doubt the fact that there are a "crap ton" is the underlying evil.
  - microwavecamera 7y ago
    Evil? It's software not a religion. Not much of that made sense.
    - Nomentatus 7y ago
      Too many forks, not enough fixes or polish. The kernel has avoided forking for a reason. PS - "evil" is not a religious term, it's actually the substitute for a religious term, which is "wickedness" (see Widipedia.)
chungleong 7y ago
Mint Linux is the only distro with a sane UI if you ask me.
Nomentatus 7y ago
Turns out that the most serious file name issues are mostly down to disagreements between Linux and Windows about what characters are kosher - Linux allows a finger-slip to insert characters in folder and file names (such as a forward slash) that cause windows to crash out of copying tasks without specific explanations. It's taking me more than a week to isolate and fix these issues one by one in a large file system. Dead lost time. Extremely expensive. Some file issues appeared to be one Linux vs the other Linux, earlier, however. It wasn't just Windows operations crashing.
- pushpop 7y ago
  Linux will allow anything as a valid file name. Including slashes, colons, new line characters and even none-printable characters. Usually GUIs filter will catch the worst offenders but it’s less of an issue on the CLI because you can escape all of those weird characters pretty easily (at least it’s easy once you know how. There is a little bit of a discoverability problem there though). Windows, on the other hand, not only has special characters that cannot be used but also reserved words that cannot be used as file names (eg COM). Then there’s the issue with magic file extensions and even Windows Explorer hiding extensions entirely by default. On balance I prefer Linux’s approach. Sure it creates some problems but they’re easy to be worked around and usually only rear their head when you start using lesser polished UIs or shared file systems with Windows. Plus Linux empowers you to use those names if needed, or change them if it’s a problem. Whereas Windows has these weird hidden show stoppers - many of which were only relevant in the days of DOS but have been carried forward in every iteration of Windows since (including NT) for compatibility reasons. That causes way more problems to developers - which is my personal use case.
  - type0 7y ago
    Thanks for clarification, haven't realized until now that some of my previous problems with Windows might have been the result of hard-coded characters and those reserved name gotchas. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/fileio/naming-a-file https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/fileio/nami...
  - 7y ago

chmln 7y ago

What specific issues did you have with the GUI? Not sure if you know but there are a number of other polished DEs apart from Gnome. Sounds like your graphics card doesn't work well with Linux. Is it Nvidia ?

Nomentatus 7y ago
It is, but I'd be shocked if it were involved, I've tried to keep it out of the mix with Linux.
- chmln 7y ago
  With nvidia, you must absolutely make sure you are using the proprietary drivers if you want a good experience. Some distros (like Pop OS) use these out of the box, but most (like Debian) use open-source nouveau.

microwavecamera 7y ago

> And it's the GUI that makes that decision final. Which one? There's a crapton.

Nomentatus 7y ago
Both those mentioned had more than one deal-breaker issues. The jumpiness (at maybe 5 hz) was ElementaryOS IIRC. No doubt the fact that there are a "crap ton" is the underlying evil.
- microwavecamera 7y ago
  Evil? It's software not a religion. Not much of that made sense.
  - Nomentatus 7y ago
    Too many forks, not enough fixes or polish. The kernel has avoided forking for a reason. PS - "evil" is not a religious term, it's actually the substitute for a religious term, which is "wickedness" (see Widipedia.)

chungleong 7y ago

Mint Linux is the only distro with a sane UI if you ask me.

Nomentatus 7y ago

Turns out that the most serious file name issues are mostly down to disagreements between Linux and Windows about what characters are kosher - Linux allows a finger-slip to insert characters in folder and file names (such as a forward slash) that cause windows to crash out of copying tasks without specific explanations. It's taking me more than a week to isolate and fix these issues one by one in a large file system. Dead lost time. Extremely expensive. Some file issues appeared to be one Linux vs the other Linux, earlier, however. It wasn't just Windows operations crashing.

pushpop 7y ago
Linux will allow anything as a valid file name. Including slashes, colons, new line characters and even none-printable characters. Usually GUIs filter will catch the worst offenders but it’s less of an issue on the CLI because you can escape all of those weird characters pretty easily (at least it’s easy once you know how. There is a little bit of a discoverability problem there though). Windows, on the other hand, not only has special characters that cannot be used but also reserved words that cannot be used as file names (eg COM). Then there’s the issue with magic file extensions and even Windows Explorer hiding extensions entirely by default. On balance I prefer Linux’s approach. Sure it creates some problems but they’re easy to be worked around and usually only rear their head when you start using lesser polished UIs or shared file systems with Windows. Plus Linux empowers you to use those names if needed, or change them if it’s a problem. Whereas Windows has these weird hidden show stoppers - many of which were only relevant in the days of DOS but have been carried forward in every iteration of Windows since (including NT) for compatibility reasons. That causes way more problems to developers - which is my personal use case.
- type0 7y ago
  Thanks for clarification, haven't realized until now that some of my previous problems with Windows might have been the result of hard-coded characters and those reserved name gotchas. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/fileio/naming-a-file https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/fileio/nami...
- 7y ago