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I would like to, but just always put off by various small things. I like the UIs available in linux and the free and open software. But often there is a difficu

I would like to, but just always put off by various small things. I like the UIs available in linux and the free and open software. But often there is a difficulty, a nag, an issue to solve. And things don’t fit together, it’s lack synergy between its components. Hardware support is another difficulty- track pads like others said. Tbh, I am looking to upgrade my laptop, and was thinking of going pure linux, but all these things are making me reconsider. I don’t want to buy a nice piece of hardware and then struggle to use it because of software compatibility. Yes I know there are Linux only systems with dedicated hardware, but tbh the hardware (system76 etc) isn’t as good as other options (that I can tell), and it locks me to linux. And yes, there are linux/windows laptops like x1 and xps, but I don’t want to buy Lenovo and I’ve had bad experiences with dell. So, I’ll probably end up going Apple and donating to some linux alternative to help forgive my sin of giving in.

ASalazarMX 5y ago
I learned that you gotta pick a boring Linux distro as your main OS. For me it's Kubuntu LTS. Sure, I've had small glitches like bluetooth headphone issues or flaky double screen support, but once you solve them, you're set for 5 years. At my age, I'll upgrade my main OS maybe 10-15 times at most. I used to eagerly try the six-month releases, but I can't devote time to beta test anymore. Give me a boring, non-bleeding edge Linux, I can work with that.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- madamelic 5y ago
  I think that's the big point here. Too many people think Linux and think some complicated OS where you are handed a barebones OS and you have to assemble the rest. You can absolutely do that but you really shouldn't unless you know why you are doing that. Ubuntu LTS works great. I've been running off it for over a decade (god. just realized that.) and it's almost always been plug-and-play. The days of having to constantly fiddle with drivers is over. I made the jump back when node development on Windows required fiddling but node on Linux did not. `sudo apt install build-essential` and I was basically ready to go. The few times where I had to fiddle with Ubuntu were pretty painless. The nice thing about using a really common OS where some tinkering skill is expected is you can search for anything and someone has almost definitely written out exact steps on how to solve it. If you get a problem with Windows: good luck, because the technical support for Windows is taking it to Geek Squad / re-installing the OS entirely. I'll admit I am being a little facetious on this.
- plouc 5y ago
  This is it. I came to the same conclusion and my experience with Linux (in my case, plain Ubuntu) is painless!
- marviio 5y ago
  When I ran Linux full time this was true for most desktops but not for laptops. There was always some hardware component (wifi, trackpad, webcam, sound, sleep/wake, GPU, USB) that needed the bleeding edge kernel. I remember always eagerly waiting for the next beta of Fedora. Is it better now?
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    Forgot to mention I also use a boring laptop. Dell sells laptops with Ubuntu preinstalled, so most flavors of Ubuntu work well on them even if you buy it with Windows and dual boot.

ASalazarMX 5y ago

I learned that you gotta pick a boring Linux distro as your main OS. For me it's Kubuntu LTS. Sure, I've had small glitches like bluetooth headphone issues or flaky double screen support, but once you solve them, you're set for 5 years. At my age, I'll upgrade my main OS maybe 10-15 times at most. I used to eagerly try the six-month releases, but I can't devote time to beta test anymore. Give me a boring, non-bleeding edge Linux, I can work with that.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
madamelic 5y ago
I think that's the big point here. Too many people think Linux and think some complicated OS where you are handed a barebones OS and you have to assemble the rest. You can absolutely do that but you really shouldn't unless you know why you are doing that. Ubuntu LTS works great. I've been running off it for over a decade (god. just realized that.) and it's almost always been plug-and-play. The days of having to constantly fiddle with drivers is over. I made the jump back when node development on Windows required fiddling but node on Linux did not. `sudo apt install build-essential` and I was basically ready to go. The few times where I had to fiddle with Ubuntu were pretty painless. The nice thing about using a really common OS where some tinkering skill is expected is you can search for anything and someone has almost definitely written out exact steps on how to solve it. If you get a problem with Windows: good luck, because the technical support for Windows is taking it to Geek Squad / re-installing the OS entirely. I'll admit I am being a little facetious on this.
plouc 5y ago
This is it. I came to the same conclusion and my experience with Linux (in my case, plain Ubuntu) is painless!
marviio 5y ago
When I ran Linux full time this was true for most desktops but not for laptops. There was always some hardware component (wifi, trackpad, webcam, sound, sleep/wake, GPU, USB) that needed the bleeding edge kernel. I remember always eagerly waiting for the next beta of Fedora. Is it better now?
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  Forgot to mention I also use a boring laptop. Dell sells laptops with Ubuntu preinstalled, so most flavors of Ubuntu work well on them even if you buy it with Windows and dual boot.