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> And before "have you tried this *nix distro??" comments appear, they are still too hard to setup and nowhere near as user-friendly for most people on an every

> And before "have you tried this *nix distro??" comments appear, they are still too hard to setup and nowhere near as user-friendly for most people on an everyday basis. This isn't true. This perception continues to hurt the Linux community along with others. Use a properly supported -buntu distro and you are good.

rsanheim 6y ago
I have. Many times. Every time I end up debugging suspend/resume, graphic drivers, multiple monitor, etc. I spend enough time changing config files for my job, I’m not spending my own time doing it just to get basic functionality working for workstations.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  I think it’s fairly simple to avoid this by buying hardware that is proven to be effective with the OS. E.g. buy a machine with *buntu preinstalled. Same as with mac really.
  - brnt 6y ago
    Even so, I install Ubuntu on a wide range of machines, laptops included, and I can't recall having any hardware related issues since, oh, 2005 or so? Parent must be very unlucky, or in fact not realise it is their tweaking and tuning that causes issues.
    - barrenko 6y ago
      True, installing Ubuntu is probably simpler than installing Windows, it doesn't ask you a million privacy shirking questions.
      - 6510 6y ago
        Lets call this user-friendly.
    - aembleton 6y ago
      Agreed apart from fingerprint scanners on laptops.
      - anonymousse1234 6y ago
        And LTE modems. And sleep and suspend. Oh there is also this bug with screen locking that shows your desktop for few seconds. Oh and with dual graphic chipsets too.
        jimktrains2 6y ago
        > Oh there is also this bug with screen locking that shows your desktop for few seconds. I definitely encountered this on my mac work laptop from three years ago. (Left that job and have been Linux-based since then.)
    - coldtea 6y ago
      Could also be selective memory. "I can't recall having any hardware related issues since, oh, 2005 or so" --> oh, that issue? Yes, of course I had that, everybody has that, that's par for the course...
      - rsanheim 6y ago
        The last time I attempted was 2017/18. Pretty plain clone PC desktop - MSI motherboard, ryzen 1600, AMD Radeon 580, etc. I bought a couple a different WiFi dongles to make sure the chipset was supported. Yet the problems remained. Maybe when people say they had lots of problems and it wasn’t worth their time, take them at their word ?
      - brnt 6y ago
        In which case we can remark Windows and macOS are not without problems either. I do remember having hardware support issues with those this decade.
- joana035 6y ago
  I'm happy GNU/Linux user for many years and I don't remember when was the last time I had to do those kind of things. Choose a mature/stable distro and that is it. Be prepared to trade a bit of convenience for privacy in case of weird/non-free hardware/firmware.
preya2k 6y ago
Personally, I gotta disagree. This still absolutely true, even for large distributions. Every 2 years or so, I give Linux another try on the desktop, and it always ends after a couple of weeks, because I'm just tired of fixing mouse and keyboard settings, touchpads, HI-DPI and multi-monitor settings, font rendering and video codecs. I've tried Ubuntu, Mint and recently Manjaro and – don't get me wrong – all of them had great stuff in it and worked fast out of the box, but it's always the last little details where desktop linux fails for me.
modo_mario 6y ago
>Use a properly supported -buntu distro and you are good. Honestly it sounds insane but I've started recommending Manjaro KDE. Stuff breaking due to rolling release seems to happen less often than me avoiding having to do other stuff that newcomers to Linux are unfamiliar with. Like adding a ppa or struggling to find a package since it lets you easily add the AUR, snaps, flatpaks, what have you without a care about the competition between those. The install is painless. KDE's stuff feels intuitive and familiar to windows users and is customisable enough you don't have to deal with some minor personal preference annoyances.
coldtea 6y ago
>This isn't true. This perception continues to hurt the Linux community along with others. Use a properly supported -buntu distro and you are good. And yet, unvariably people aren't good, and when they complain, they are told, "use this other distro" or whatever...
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> This isn't true. This perception continues to hurt the Linux community along with others. The continual denial, constant evangelism, and needless condescension, which I have watched for 20 years now, is what hurts the Linux Desktop community.

rsanheim 6y ago

I have. Many times. Every time I end up debugging suspend/resume, graphic drivers, multiple monitor, etc. I spend enough time changing config files for my job, I’m not spending my own time doing it just to get basic functionality working for workstations.

Aeolun 6y ago
I think it’s fairly simple to avoid this by buying hardware that is proven to be effective with the OS. E.g. buy a machine with *buntu preinstalled. Same as with mac really.
- brnt 6y ago
  Even so, I install Ubuntu on a wide range of machines, laptops included, and I can't recall having any hardware related issues since, oh, 2005 or so? Parent must be very unlucky, or in fact not realise it is their tweaking and tuning that causes issues.
  - barrenko 6y ago
    True, installing Ubuntu is probably simpler than installing Windows, it doesn't ask you a million privacy shirking questions.
    - 6510 6y ago
      Lets call this user-friendly.
  - aembleton 6y ago
    Agreed apart from fingerprint scanners on laptops.
    - anonymousse1234 6y ago
      And LTE modems. And sleep and suspend. Oh there is also this bug with screen locking that shows your desktop for few seconds. Oh and with dual graphic chipsets too.
      - jimktrains2 6y ago
        > Oh there is also this bug with screen locking that shows your desktop for few seconds. I definitely encountered this on my mac work laptop from three years ago. (Left that job and have been Linux-based since then.)
  - coldtea 6y ago
    Could also be selective memory. "I can't recall having any hardware related issues since, oh, 2005 or so" --> oh, that issue? Yes, of course I had that, everybody has that, that's par for the course...
    - rsanheim 6y ago
      The last time I attempted was 2017/18. Pretty plain clone PC desktop - MSI motherboard, ryzen 1600, AMD Radeon 580, etc. I bought a couple a different WiFi dongles to make sure the chipset was supported. Yet the problems remained. Maybe when people say they had lots of problems and it wasn’t worth their time, take them at their word ?
    - brnt 6y ago
      In which case we can remark Windows and macOS are not without problems either. I do remember having hardware support issues with those this decade.
joana035 6y ago
I'm happy GNU/Linux user for many years and I don't remember when was the last time I had to do those kind of things. Choose a mature/stable distro and that is it. Be prepared to trade a bit of convenience for privacy in case of weird/non-free hardware/firmware.

preya2k 6y ago

Personally, I gotta disagree. This still absolutely true, even for large distributions. Every 2 years or so, I give Linux another try on the desktop, and it always ends after a couple of weeks, because I'm just tired of fixing mouse and keyboard settings, touchpads, HI-DPI and multi-monitor settings, font rendering and video codecs. I've tried Ubuntu, Mint and recently Manjaro and – don't get me wrong – all of them had great stuff in it and worked fast out of the box, but it's always the last little details where desktop linux fails for me.

modo_mario 6y ago

>Use a properly supported -buntu distro and you are good. Honestly it sounds insane but I've started recommending Manjaro KDE. Stuff breaking due to rolling release seems to happen less often than me avoiding having to do other stuff that newcomers to Linux are unfamiliar with. Like adding a ppa or struggling to find a package since it lets you easily add the AUR, snaps, flatpaks, what have you without a care about the competition between those. The install is painless. KDE's stuff feels intuitive and familiar to windows users and is customisable enough you don't have to deal with some minor personal preference annoyances.

coldtea 6y ago

>This isn't true. This perception continues to hurt the Linux community along with others. Use a properly supported -buntu distro and you are good. And yet, unvariably people aren't good, and when they complain, they are told, "use this other distro" or whatever...

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

> This isn't true. This perception continues to hurt the Linux community along with others. The continual denial, constant evangelism, and needless condescension, which I have watched for 20 years now, is what hurts the Linux Desktop community.