7 ms·

The TPM thing for Windows 11 makes all my home PCs (5+) not meeting the requirements for upgrade, even though they all work totally fine. I am seriously conside

The TPM thing for Windows 11 makes all my home PCs (5+) not meeting the requirements for upgrade, even though they all work totally fine. I am seriously considering moving to Linux desktop and I am doing research on it. I have tried a couple times in the past and my experience with Linux desktop was terrible. I am still not convinced to make the move. Maybe I need a Chromebook kind of OS for my family and a different one for myself.

mike_ivanov 5y ago
Don't consider - just do it. One at a time. The more you consider, the lesser the chance that you actually will. Linux desktop is terrible only as long as you perceive it as an "other Windows" thing. No, it is something completely different. Instead - make a commitment, embrace it - and you will learn to love it.
- temp8964 5y ago
  I actually tried this approach before, but eventually something would be come a last straw to force me give up. For example, as I know, there is nothing comes close to Windows RDP on Linux Desktop. On Linux desktop, it's very hard to remote to the local desktop session from remote, also no automatic resolution adjustment like RDP.
yakireev 5y ago
You might have heard it before, but here it is again: your "terrible" experience might be (partly or not) due to the fact that you've been using Windows for decades and know how to solve problems. On desktop linux, you might not, so you experience friction and frustration. Desktop Linux is indeed somewhat behind OS X or Windows. I'm currently on (somewhat dated) Ubuntu 18.4 from 2018, and it is more or less on par with Windows 7 from 2009. For me that's not a problem, I liked Windows 7 and actually stayed on it until 2018, but keep this lag in mind.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago
  I gave Windows another chance with Windows 8 after switching to Linux Mint KDE of all things and that finally killed off any desire to use it as a daily driver for good. I found KDE very understandable coming from Windows, in all honestly it felt more like "proper Windows" than the industrial accident that was Windows 8's UI ever managed. A user-friendly Linux distro like that was a gateway drug into becoming a terminal jockey though.
- jbluepolarbear 5y ago
  It’s definitely Linux that’s the issue. Too many driver issues, software version issues, lack of unified distro environment.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
Yeah, I feel your pain. I hate Windows more and more every day, but whenever I try to use a Linux Desktop for anything serious I find I hate that even more. Some day Microsoft will achieve a level of awfulness that makes Linux Desktop's awfulness the more tolerable alternative for me, but it won't be today. Maybe if I get really really lucky Haiku will be usable for my use cases by then, but that doesn't look very likely.
- qsort 5y ago
  I just can't bring myself to use Windows anymore, but I agree that Linux Desktop just isn't there. I'm mostly on Macs these days, but I still have a Dell laptop running Fedora 35. Every other day something breaks. We're spanning the entire range here, from petty stuff like Firefox missing fonts, to straight up the kernel not booting. And obviously everyting in between, like apparently the only way to receive Exchange mail is to pay for a Thunderbird add-on. Or setting up the VPN requiring arcane SELinux magic. I honestly don't see how one can recommend desktop linux to someone without at least a minimal knowledge of how the OS works and some decent terminal-fu. As sad as it is your parent is right. Non-technical users should just get a chromebook.
  - vetinari 5y ago
    Exchange access outside Outlook and Apple's Mail.app is PITA anywhere. Part of why you need to pay for Thunderbird add-on is that Microsoft asks for license fees. Nobody is going to pay that for you (and for Apple, it is hidden in the overall package price). What SELinux magic you had to do for VPN? All VPNs that I've set up were fine with just clickety-click in the GUI.
  - edgyquant 5y ago
    Well you are running Fedora which is a bleeding edge distro aimed at Linux devs and is a testing ground for red hat. You’d have a lot less problems on Ubuntu.
    - vetinari 5y ago
Tozen 5y ago
Maybe look at using Android for the desktop. Example Android-x86 (https://www.android-x86.org/ https://www.android-x86.org/) and others. The thing is, many people are already using Android for their smartphone. The jump to laptop or desktop is arguably smaller than many make it out to be.

mike_ivanov 5y ago

Don't consider - just do it. One at a time. The more you consider, the lesser the chance that you actually will. Linux desktop is terrible only as long as you perceive it as an "other Windows" thing. No, it is something completely different. Instead - make a commitment, embrace it - and you will learn to love it.

temp8964 5y ago
I actually tried this approach before, but eventually something would be come a last straw to force me give up. For example, as I know, there is nothing comes close to Windows RDP on Linux Desktop. On Linux desktop, it's very hard to remote to the local desktop session from remote, also no automatic resolution adjustment like RDP.

yakireev 5y ago

You might have heard it before, but here it is again: your "terrible" experience might be (partly or not) due to the fact that you've been using Windows for decades and know how to solve problems. On desktop linux, you might not, so you experience friction and frustration. Desktop Linux is indeed somewhat behind OS X or Windows. I'm currently on (somewhat dated) Ubuntu 18.4 from 2018, and it is more or less on par with Windows 7 from 2009. For me that's not a problem, I liked Windows 7 and actually stayed on it until 2018, but keep this lag in mind.

BoxOfRain 5y ago
I gave Windows another chance with Windows 8 after switching to Linux Mint KDE of all things and that finally killed off any desire to use it as a daily driver for good. I found KDE very understandable coming from Windows, in all honestly it felt more like "proper Windows" than the industrial accident that was Windows 8's UI ever managed. A user-friendly Linux distro like that was a gateway drug into becoming a terminal jockey though.
jbluepolarbear 5y ago
It’s definitely Linux that’s the issue. Too many driver issues, software version issues, lack of unified distro environment.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

Yeah, I feel your pain. I hate Windows more and more every day, but whenever I try to use a Linux Desktop for anything serious I find I hate that even more. Some day Microsoft will achieve a level of awfulness that makes Linux Desktop's awfulness the more tolerable alternative for me, but it won't be today. Maybe if I get really really lucky Haiku will be usable for my use cases by then, but that doesn't look very likely.

qsort 5y ago
I just can't bring myself to use Windows anymore, but I agree that Linux Desktop just isn't there. I'm mostly on Macs these days, but I still have a Dell laptop running Fedora 35. Every other day something breaks. We're spanning the entire range here, from petty stuff like Firefox missing fonts, to straight up the kernel not booting. And obviously everyting in between, like apparently the only way to receive Exchange mail is to pay for a Thunderbird add-on. Or setting up the VPN requiring arcane SELinux magic. I honestly don't see how one can recommend desktop linux to someone without at least a minimal knowledge of how the OS works and some decent terminal-fu. As sad as it is your parent is right. Non-technical users should just get a chromebook.
- vetinari 5y ago
  Exchange access outside Outlook and Apple's Mail.app is PITA anywhere. Part of why you need to pay for Thunderbird add-on is that Microsoft asks for license fees. Nobody is going to pay that for you (and for Apple, it is hidden in the overall package price). What SELinux magic you had to do for VPN? All VPNs that I've set up were fine with just clickety-click in the GUI.
- edgyquant 5y ago
  Well you are running Fedora which is a bleeding edge distro aimed at Linux devs and is a testing ground for red hat. You’d have a lot less problems on Ubuntu.
  - vetinari 5y ago

Tozen 5y ago

Maybe look at using Android for the desktop. Example Android-x86 (https://www.android-x86.org/ https://www.android-x86.org/) and others. The thing is, many people are already using Android for their smartphone. The jump to laptop or desktop is arguably smaller than many make it out to be.