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For ages, every 5 years or so I attempt to move away to Linux. I've done it about three times already and each one was a different kind of hell of new terminolo

For ages, every 5 years or so I attempt to move away to Linux. I've done it about three times already and each one was a different kind of hell of new terminology I could not understand at the time (what the hell is a swap folder?), core features that broke randomly (why is my left speaker mute, after plugging a second monitor), software that failed or wouldn't run (games, photoshop), etc. Every time I ran to get help to the internet, communities always tended to be hostile or just arcane (oh you obviously need to open up a terminal and run 'xgrt -y -r <your resolution>' -- what in the world is a terminal?). Windows just works, it's bundled with every PC ever, and it's hard to want to leave that for something so much more difficult. Nowadays, I know I could get a Linux box up and running without issue, and that friction is an order of magnitude lower than it was a decade ago, and I'm itching towards trying once more given that these thousand cuts in Windows are killing me, but it's gonna take time to gather up the drive to undertake the jump.

martin_bech 6y ago
OSX, it just works, even more than windows.
- phreack 6y ago
  That's sadly not a viable option in Latin America due to cost. A laptop that's like generation or two old might go for $1k, maybe more.
Chyzwar 6y ago
You want to use linux. Check first if your hardware is supported. 5 min of googling and you would have perfect experience. You take normal distro like Ubuntu/Fedora follow default install and you are good to go. I use Linux for the last 7 years. Zero issues so far. I have dual bot for gaming and windows have more hardware issues than Linux. On Windows my Wi-Fi card would sometimes fail to start.
sjy 6y ago
Similar experience here – I tried desktop Linux in 2003, 2008 and 2013 but couldn’t handle it and switched back to either Windows or macOS as my main OS. I tried again in 2018 after upgrading my Windows hardware and being told yet again that activation had failed and I’d have to call Microsoft. Now I use Arch. My desktop still breaks regularly (eg. I just spent a week not being able to use the terminal properly because alacritty was crashing on launch), but I had similar issues on Windows (eg. all Microsoft Store apps, including the calculator, crashing on launch for a month). Arch gives me useful error messages, a place where humans respond to my bug reports, and freedom from licensing bullshit.
sergeykish 6y ago
It is to early for Windows user on Linux. It does not work for Linux user on Windows either - Why I have to install drivers? - Why terminal is so ugly? - Where is my package manager? - How many Settings are there? - I do not like desktop manager, what alternatives do I have? - I want to patch Explorer. Where can I find sources? - I have some troubles with programming language, why? Since Windows XP I find its outlook ugly. And it is getting worse.

martin_bech 6y ago

OSX, it just works, even more than windows.

phreack 6y ago
That's sadly not a viable option in Latin America due to cost. A laptop that's like generation or two old might go for $1k, maybe more.

Chyzwar 6y ago

You want to use linux. Check first if your hardware is supported. 5 min of googling and you would have perfect experience. You take normal distro like Ubuntu/Fedora follow default install and you are good to go. I use Linux for the last 7 years. Zero issues so far. I have dual bot for gaming and windows have more hardware issues than Linux. On Windows my Wi-Fi card would sometimes fail to start.

sjy 6y ago

Similar experience here – I tried desktop Linux in 2003, 2008 and 2013 but couldn’t handle it and switched back to either Windows or macOS as my main OS. I tried again in 2018 after upgrading my Windows hardware and being told yet again that activation had failed and I’d have to call Microsoft. Now I use Arch. My desktop still breaks regularly (eg. I just spent a week not being able to use the terminal properly because alacritty was crashing on launch), but I had similar issues on Windows (eg. all Microsoft Store apps, including the calculator, crashing on launch for a month). Arch gives me useful error messages, a place where humans respond to my bug reports, and freedom from licensing bullshit.

sergeykish 6y ago

It is to early for Windows user on Linux. It does not work for Linux user on Windows either - Why I have to install drivers? - Why terminal is so ugly? - Where is my package manager? - How many Settings are there? - I do not like desktop manager, what alternatives do I have? - I want to patch Explorer. Where can I find sources? - I have some troubles with programming language, why? Since Windows XP I find its outlook ugly. And it is getting worse.