3 ms·

I've been "very lucky" with five computers in a row now, for almost a decade. Linux is actually a good, reliable desktop OS these days.

1attice 3y ago
> I've been "very lucky" with five computers in a row now, for almost a decade. Linux is actually a good, reliable desktop OS these days. This. I've been using Linux as a primary OS across all my devices for about twenty-five years. This comprises half a dozen Raspberry Pi 4s, two laptops and a monster workstation (AMD|Intel x86_64; ASUS, Dell, and ASUS, respectively.) I used to have enormous linux compat problems with laptops as a matter of course, and I earned my stripes doing custom kernel compiles with patches, etc. The last time I had to do this was, I think, 2016 or so. In particular, the past half-decade's worth of installs have all Just Worked -- at least, after I turn off Secure Boot.
- tambourine_man 3y ago
  My feeling is that after you’ve compiled your kernel a few times, everything just works because you learned to debug it the hard way and it seems easy now. What I understand as “just works” is having a webcam, bluetooth, audio, graphic acceleration, hibernation, wifi, media keys, etc, all working when you first boot after the install.
  - 1attice 3y ago
    literally, that is now the case. Did you not read my post.
    - tambourine_man 3y ago
      Is that a question? If so, I did and it wasn't explicit. My point is that people used to compiling their kernel have a different idea of what just working means from the rest.
      - 1attice 3y ago
        To be clear, not every question requires a question mark :) Punctuation is not a DTD. And to be clear about the earlier thing: even if I didn't know how to do anything with Linux, it is now possible to install and have everything just work. Including and especially all the parts listed. When I say "Just Work", I'm speaking as a model user, not a model hacker (with apologies to Umberto Eco's "model reader/model writer" distinction)
  - WolfeReader 3y ago
    By your definition, Linux just worked literally the first time I tried it (Linux Mint in 2015) and each subsequent install as well. The distros I have the most experience using are Linux Mint, LMDE, Qubes, and NixOS. They've all cooperated flawlessly with my hardware. I'd recommend Mint for literally anybody, especially since you can try it on a live USB and verify your hardware before installing. (There is one exception: my client wanted me to use this out-of-date screen casting device which only had support for Windows and Mac. I tried to get it to work for all of ten minutes, and did not succeed.)

1attice 3y ago

> I've been "very lucky" with five computers in a row now, for almost a decade. Linux is actually a good, reliable desktop OS these days. This. I've been using Linux as a primary OS across all my devices for about twenty-five years. This comprises half a dozen Raspberry Pi 4s, two laptops and a monster workstation (AMD|Intel x86_64; ASUS, Dell, and ASUS, respectively.) I used to have enormous linux compat problems with laptops as a matter of course, and I earned my stripes doing custom kernel compiles with patches, etc. The last time I had to do this was, I think, 2016 or so. In particular, the past half-decade's worth of installs have all Just Worked -- at least, after I turn off Secure Boot.

tambourine_man 3y ago
My feeling is that after you’ve compiled your kernel a few times, everything just works because you learned to debug it the hard way and it seems easy now. What I understand as “just works” is having a webcam, bluetooth, audio, graphic acceleration, hibernation, wifi, media keys, etc, all working when you first boot after the install.
- 1attice 3y ago
  literally, that is now the case. Did you not read my post.
  - tambourine_man 3y ago
    Is that a question? If so, I did and it wasn't explicit. My point is that people used to compiling their kernel have a different idea of what just working means from the rest.
    - 1attice 3y ago
      To be clear, not every question requires a question mark :) Punctuation is not a DTD. And to be clear about the earlier thing: even if I didn't know how to do anything with Linux, it is now possible to install and have everything just work. Including and especially all the parts listed. When I say "Just Work", I'm speaking as a model user, not a model hacker (with apologies to Umberto Eco's "model reader/model writer" distinction)
- WolfeReader 3y ago
  By your definition, Linux just worked literally the first time I tried it (Linux Mint in 2015) and each subsequent install as well. The distros I have the most experience using are Linux Mint, LMDE, Qubes, and NixOS. They've all cooperated flawlessly with my hardware. I'd recommend Mint for literally anybody, especially since you can try it on a live USB and verify your hardware before installing. (There is one exception: my client wanted me to use this out-of-date screen casting device which only had support for Windows and Mac. I tried to get it to work for all of ten minutes, and did not succeed.)