8 ms·

There Has Never Been a Better Time to Switch to Linux

53 points by dxs 2y ago

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 2y ago
I've been pleasantly surprised how well Steam does with Linux gaming. Even "Windows only" games often work, as I recently found with Phasmophobia.
jmkni 2y ago
My problem is just that I've been spoiled by the MacBook air. All of the power I need, fanless, insane battery life, unix shell. I know I can put Asahi on it, but I also know there are still issues around webcam/graphics drivers (I spend a lot of time on video calls) If there was something with the form factor of a MacBook Air I could put Linux on, and it would run as well, I wouldn't look back. The closest is the Framework laptop, amazing bit of kit, but still a fan, and worse battery life.
- lkdfjlkdfjlg 2y ago
  A laptop that's fanless? Is that real? Or do they call it fanless because it's very quiet? The wikipedia article for fanless design redirects to quiet which to me suggests some people use the term in this way.
  - eptcyka 2y ago
    The air makes do with but a heatsink, no fans. After all, the same chip works just fine in fanless iPads.
  - coffeefirst 2y ago
    No there’s really no fan. It can throttle performance if it starts to overheat but I’ve only seen that happen when I was sitting outside.
  - adamomada 2y ago
    Already confirmed but it’s legit one of the best features of all time: a completely silent portable computer. Second-best is a mobile-first portable computer, that you don’t have to worry about having it plugged in except for an hour or so every ~day of usage. These things don’t really show up in any kind of stats but I can say that they change the definition of computing for humans (vs. data centre servers, etc)
  - fortran77 2y ago
    I don’t think my Lenovo X13s has a fan. I’ve never heard it.
- capitainenemo 2y ago
  A reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/150cx0y/arm_laptop/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/150cx0y/arm_...) mentioned the: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx/ https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx/ and https://www.robo-kala.com/computer https://www.robo-kala.com/computer Not what I'm looking for personally in computing so no idea if either are what you are looking for.
- twiclo 2y ago
  A fan is a weird thing to be hung up on. This sounds like a clear example of moving the goal post. For what it's worth, I've heard my FW 13's fan kick on only a couple of times.
  - jmkni 2y ago
    Personally I find it like going from an automatic gearbox back to a manual one
cjk2 2y ago
Best time to Linux ever. But worst time to dump other platforms which you rely on. Same as the last 25 years.
- littlestymaar 2y ago
  Windows is getting worse every years though…
  - cjk2 2y ago
    I don't use windows. My point is roughly there isn't even a remotely comparable bit of software to the stuff built into macOS on Windows or Linux (calendar, contacts, notes, reminders, mail, maps).
    - partitioned 2y ago
      I’m surprised someone actually thinks the OS bloat ware is the reason why they want an OS
      - cjk2 2y ago
        Bloatware? The only thing that matters is the software! I've run my entire life, business and academic study with this software for over a decade. Works across my computer, ipad and phone. Works offline for days at a time. Never goes wrong.
    - nilamo 2y ago
      On the other hand, almost all of that has moved to cloud services which work totally fine on any os.
      - cjk2 2y ago
        Well there is some variability in that. A lot of the cloud services out there don't work offline at all, suffer from sync issues, have poor quality apps if they even have one or have poor or undocumented privacy architecture. (I have Apple ADP turned on, so all my keys are on-device only. I also have period of up to 2 weeks where I am completely disconnected from the Internet)
beart 2y ago
I recently switched back to Windows on my workstation. Multi monitor support with two different resolutions just doesn't work in too many scenarios. I have a long bullet list of issues but that one was at the top.
- polairscience 2y ago
  It works great in KDE
  - cjk2 2y ago
    Then along comes GTK...
- drunner 2y ago
  I have found Wayland (±sway) handles this really well once configured. Even when I switch my laptop between two different external monitors at two different physical work locations. What WM or DM were you using?
  - beart 2y ago
    The "once configured" is the problem for me. I would rather be working on the task, not the tool. And at this point in my life, my "tinkering" time is done in other areas.
- enceladus06 2y ago
  Multi monitor support is working on Ubuntu 24.04 with a 34" 4k monitor and 24" 1080p monitor. 4k is set to 1,5x scaling (scaled 1440p), and everything is being driven by the default intel drivers. Works perfectly.
  - wafflemaker 2y ago
    I'm using Ubuntu Mate on desktop, and multi monitor is wonky. After each reboot I have to pluck out and put in cable for the bigger main screen so it can be detected by system. Then have to re-arrange position of monitors on the desktop. Might be an Nvidia issue tho. Still better than Windows.
lucb1e 2y ago
Their reasoning is this: > [Hardware on Linux] have mostly become just plug-and-play. That favorite software [and game] of yours probably either works natively on Linux nowadays or there are alternatives/workarounds to make it work. > But this is not an article about Linux and its current features so far. In fact, what should be pushing you towards Linux should not only be the features it has to offer nowadays. Instead, it should be the grim future with Windows that you should try to escape from. > Microsoft just announced [...] “Recall” has been added to Windows which takes screenshots of your screen every few seconds so that you can ask the AI model about your previous activities anytime you want. > This is not to add on some other spyware-like “features” in Windows 11, such as ads being displayed right in your start menu or File Explorer according to your user metrics.
- AlienRobot 2y ago
  Terrible reasoning. I have more faith in Microsoft to stop breaking Windows than on the Linux community to fix any of their desktop distros and environments.
  - gmuslera 2y ago
    Microsoft won't fix intended, by design, behaviour, it is not broken from their point of view. And even if you disable Recall by whatever name they put to hide it, it could be silently reenabled by "security" updates. At least if some Linux distro includes something that users consider bad for their privacy, you can choose among several alternatives, including direct forks. That is an actual strength of that approach.
    - AlienRobot 2y ago
      It took 10 years[1] for GTK to add the ability to rename files and folders to its file picker. I think Microsoft will change their minds faster than Linux will fix its other problems. 1. https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325150 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325150
      - 2y ago
jmclnx 2y ago
Getting: 504 Gateway Time-out
- tony-allan 2y ago
  Try https://archive.is/uCtn5 https://archive.is/uCtn5
- lucb1e 2y ago
  Very slow here as well. Just checked: as suspected, it's Wordpress. I guess they forgot to turn on the option to convert pages to static content on the fly, aka caching, necessary because the system is too bloated to handle a peak in readership otherwise
- jmclnx 2y ago
  Finally got in, a very good article and make a decent case for people on Windows 11 to ditch it and go to Linux.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
oldpersonintx 2y ago
[dead]
denimnerd42 2y ago
If I could use gnome at work I would totally switch back to Linux full time. I used gnome 3 for years during HS and college but it was too jarring to switch back and forth once I had to start using Windows full time. The window management muscle memory is just painful.
- andai 2y ago
  Just use xfce? My windows and linux setups are basically identical. In fact since Windows keeps changing things, I usually configure Linux to be more like (old) Windows than Windows is.
- adhamsalama 2y ago
  Have you tried KDE Plasma?
nbzso 2y ago
I don't know a lot of users outside specific developers which are not multiplatform and work exclusively with Linux desktops. After an Apple fiasco, I switched the whole office to Manjaro. This lasted several months. But the offer of long battery, silent and powerful computing device is still in their hands. Anyway, the reason in the near future will be the AI intrusive implementation on both leading desktop platforms, so Linux will continue to be the choice of privacy conscious.:)
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
acidburnNSA 2y ago
Big Linux user here. It's been my daily driver on my personal desktop and laptop for coming up on 20 years (damn). I haven't had any of the dreaded graphics-driver-breaking-during-update or other hardware issues since like 2008. It works great with Zoom, Teams, WebEx, whatever you throw at it. It's fast and stable. My laptop uptime regularly hits 30+ days before I go down for an upgrade. When my 70+ mom needed a new computer, I put Ubuntu on it and turned on unattended upgrades. I do SSH into it every 6 months and update her Zoom .deb manually (I guess there's a ppa for that?). She uses it every day and has had no problem. I'm really impressed with the Linux experience. Thanks to all who have contributed!
- gazby 2y ago
  You didn't mention your distro, which I think is very relevant when discussing upgrade failures and GPU issues.
  - acidburnNSA 2y ago
    It did happen a lot back in the 2007 Fedora Core days. Now I use PopOS and Ubuntu and it doesn't happen. My mom's computer is using Ubuntu.
    - gazby 2y ago
      Thanks for the reply :)
  - aaomidi 2y ago
    Honestly what’s more relevant is, is it an nvidia gpu. If not then you’re basically golden no matter what you use.
ugjka 2y ago
Was thinking of switching my mom's pc to linux because windows 10 is nearing its end and the pc doesn't have tpm chip for Win 11. But thankfully i found that windows 11 Iot LTSC version doesn't require tpm (or uefi secure boot) and doesn't have most of the crapware preinstalled. But the ethics of acquiring it and activating it is a different story (MAS)
- haunter 2y ago
  +1 for LTSC, made a similar comment just saw yours. Honestly MS doesn't care about piracy at all. They rather have you pirate Windows than lose you as a user to another OS.
qwerty456127 2y ago
Perhaps Linux distros should now ship with local AIs as well to match what Windows can offer. Purely local, transparent and intuitively configured with high level of detail, on opt-in basis. Essentially do the same thing but better.
- artiontily 2y ago
  Does not sound like a Linux distro problem. Can you name any free software pieces that fit the description? If they exist, they're likely to be in a lot of distros' package repos already. I think I've tried some TUI chatbot with a small llama LLM recently, just out of curiosity. It was available in Arch repo by default. Can't remember the name though.
  - qwerty456127 2y ago
    Every desktop Linux DE/distro comes with a calculator, a simple text editor, a file manager etc. Perhaps it's time to ship a sensibly-preconfigured AI tool alongside these to win more non-techie desktop/laptop users. I personally don't need anything pre-installed, I can pick Arch or even LFS, install and configure everything I need, also write my own AI tool for my needs. But non-techies (whom we need if we are sad about how little desktop Linux market share is) often can't even apt install anything. Everyone is using AI, Windows PCs are coming with AI, Macs are coming with AI and Linux is not. Many consumers are probably going to view this like an OS without built-in network support soon. At the same time shipping better AI tools with transparent, sensible and privacy-friendly defaults OoTB can attract those who are not happy with Microsft/Apple approach. This is a conceptual idea however - no, I can't name any specific free software. Perhaps it is yet to be written.
tony-allan 2y ago
I have used MacOS forever and it has worked well for me. I would love to use Linux + Framework Laptop (awesome hardware). What I need is some suggestions for a distribution that just works. My workload is development plus lots of web browsing (100+ tabs).
- pjmlp 2y ago
  That hardly exists, there is always something on laptops that isn't supported, or needs a couple of late nights to properly configure. The best Linux experience remains classical desktops.
  - dualogy 2y ago
    Can't confirm for the last ~12 years, various laptops from Dell and Lenovo, lower and higher end, various distros ranging from Ubuntu to Fedora to VoidLinux to now Garuda (an Arch deriv), various DEs / WMs (Gnome, KDE, i3). But then I never multi-monitor. But everything these laptops had, was working without a hitch.
    - pjmlp 2y ago
      Likewise I can't confirm, in the various laptops I have used since 1999, there was always something broken, between wireless, battery, finger printer reader, 3D, hardware video decoding, webcam. Toshiba, Dell, IBM, Lenovo, Asus, HP.
  - felurx 2y ago
    My experience with a Framework Laptop has been that the one or two things that are relevant were quite well-documented, I'd guess because Framework actually cares about Linux and there's a lot of overlap between "folks who want what Framework offers" and "folks who want what Linux offers"
- adhamsalama 2y ago
  Fedora KDE is working well for me.
eduction 2y ago
It’s amazing how far Linux has come, but it feels several years behind in terms of laptop battery life with default settings vs Apple Silicon laptop. This is purely my impression, I have not run an apples to apples test. I just see sleep and hibernation and so forth as things people still tend to struggle with, especially if they are trying to get good battery life. As with anything on Linux, you can often make some real gains with sufficient research and time. Basically it seems like Linux will always be several years behind on something and so it’s most likely to gain popularity when Apple and Microsoft stop figuring out how to make new laptops interesting.
snide 2y ago
Right now Linux on Desktop offers: - The best developer experience with the most hackable toolkit - A great gaming experience that plays the vast majority of titles on Steam - A "dumb by default" non-cloud enabled workstation - IMHO the most well-design, does most things "vanilla" desktop environment with GNOME. The tradeoff is - You will need to learn to update your system and learn some new things. Things will seem difficult till you learn how they work. - There are gaps in third-party applications (primary, video editing is sub par). The smaller apps you pay for now, you'll end up making scripts or small pieces of software to replace. Eventually this will be freeing, but it's a learning curve and you'll initially miss some things (Alfred, Screenshot tools...etc). - Customization comes with a larger maintenance cost. - Your phone is not really connected to your PC, and syncing systems is all manual. If it's not web-based, that app you like doesn't probably doesn't work. I switched 3 or so years ago and it's been a revelation. Although I'd been using computers since the 80s I never really understood how an OS works. While you could argue I never needed to, I find myself much more digitally literate now. After a hump year, I mostly tailor the OS to what I need it to do, and it feels like an extension of me. I wrote a blog post about this more generally here. https://www.davesnider.com/posts/im-a-linux https://www.davesnider.com/posts/im-a-linux
- pjmlp 2y ago
  For UNIX workloads development, and by offering Windows compatibility layer, so that game developers can keep ignoring GNU/Linux, while having no issues targeting other POSIX like platforms.
- adhamsalama 2y ago
  > Your phone is not really connected to your PC Not exactly sure what you mean, but KDE Connect is amazing for connecting my phone (and any device that has the app, including other PCs) to my PC.
  - joshspankit 2y ago
    Jumping in as I’ve enjoyed what we’ve had as well as wished for more. Does your setup: 1. Back phone things up to the PC wirelessly? Not just photos but app data, documents, drawings, etc. Note: must all be in original quality/format 2. Allow your PC to update an app itself (in a way that can be scripted)? 3. Allow copy/paste between the desktop and the phone? (Though with LocalSend being decent this is less and less relevant) 4. Transfer edit history for photos, videos, and audio? 5. Allow you to install and debug your own apps wirelessly? (ok, this one is a gimmie bc linux to android does this natively through adb) 6. Allow your phone to mount drives from your PC so that you can access and transfer files wirelessly?
Hasu 2y ago
Yeah I've been running Windows and Linux for years (I only use MacOS if my job makes me and pays for the machine), and I just spent the weekend setting up Linux on my former Windows machine. There really isn't much of a reason to run Windows anymore unless you have very specific software needs.
mark-r 2y ago
I was forced to switch this last year. I decided to upgrade my 10 year old motherboard, and Windows refused to boot with the new one despite nothing else changing. I absolutely refuse to pay good money to "upgrade" to a worse version of Windows, so Linux it is. Mostly it's been a good experience. I can still open all my old documents, and you can't even tell the difference when browsing. There are some Windows only apps that I relied on, including a couple I helped develop - I haven't figured out how to deal with the loss of those yet.
- exe34 2y ago
  have you tried wine?
  - mark-r 2y ago
    Yes, I tried Wine. Dismal failure right off the bat.
    - fuzzfactor 2y ago
      Before you give up all the way, a fragrant Chardonnay might be more appealing?
beardyw 2y ago
As a seasoned Windows (and DOS from the very early days) user for too many years I took a dislike to Windows 10 when 7 came to end of life in 2000. I bought a laptop with Ubuntu preinstalled and never looked back. Yes, some things took a little while to get used to, but really I was at home right away. So glad I did it.
- dualogy 2y ago
  > when 7 came to end of life in 2000 typo I guess, it was in 2020. (Last Windows I really liked was Windows 2000 btw. =)
  - beardyw 2y ago
    Oops, yes correct. Thanks.
butz 2y ago
"Switch" could be too harsh for some users, how about trying it out for some time first as a secondary option? Either grab an old device, or dual boot it on your current PC, or even use in "live" session. And be sure to share your pain points, be it hardware related, or community related, any feedback helps.
haunter 2y ago
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 just came out a week ago. No crapware, no TPM, no Secure Boot etc. Works like a charm. I'm using LTSC versions for a long time and it's the Windows version that should be the default for every home user. Yes LTSC is not "legal" to use as an ordinary end user but MS doesn't care about piracy at all.
opyate 2y ago
A mate cycled 15km to my house back in 1995 with a stack of floppies a foot high, saying "dude, you need to install this right now. And when it asks for mount point, just put a /, that's the only tricky part". It was Slackware. I've used all sorts since: redhat, Gentoo, yellow dog, Debian, arch. Never looked back. A job I had once required windows, and I tried WSL, but it felt ... so limited.
- hnbear 2y ago
  I had a similar start, probably similar era, maybe a '98ish. My mom grabbed me one day and said I had to meet the new neighbors. So, I went round and they had a front room full of a whole crazy mix of stuff. Some Next machines, Macs, AUX, Sun, BeOS, everything, on all sorts of crazy hardware. We got chatting, he handed me a Yellow Dog CD and told me to install it and see what it's like. That led to SuSE 6.4 then 7, some BeOS, Gentoo, Ubuntu, etc. Had to purchase the SuSE CDs early on because on 56k couldn't download the ISO and didn't own a CD burner anyway.
  - opyate 2y ago
    Yeah, I remember a time when it was easier/cheaper to drive somewhere to pick up a burned CD/DVD than to download it :)
kkfx 2y ago
Issues with IT in general and GNU/Linux in particular today are: - way too much people developing on Docker and co, thinking it's a good idea wasting storage and running binaries made by someone you do not know on internet instead of pushing declarative systems like NixOS or Guix System; - an immense repo of unfinished apps/webapps designed in Silicon Valley berserk mode without any real idea why; - more and more commercial parasites in major distros. So well... As a decades old GNU/Linux user, started from 2.2 in early '00 and back then tried to switch back to FreeBSD, than switched to OpenSolaris, IllumOS and hopeless again with GNU/Linux I think today is a very bad time to switch to GNU/Linux but if the user came from any other OS GNU/Linux is the sole usable option left...
plutoh28 2y ago
Unless your current OS is interfering with the productivity or utility of your machine, I see no practical reason to switch.
johnea 2y ago
But it's defninitely NOT "free software", that's comonism. The inability to even utter that phrase is the primary ddemonstration of the modern corporatized linux environment... p.s. been using a linux, fluxbox desktop for ~25 years
Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago
Notice that fedora can't run playwright right now. Lucky we are on linux, so i was able to put it in docker and render the window back to the host (amazing!)
Papagalu 2y ago
It certainly is. However, caveat emptor: https://ludditus.com/2024/05/27/epic-linux-saga/ https://ludditus.com/2024/05/27/epic-linux-saga/

53 points by dxs 2y ago

I've been pleasantly surprised how well Steam does with Linux gaming. Even "Windows only" games often work, as I recently found with Phasmophobia.

jmkni 2y ago

My problem is just that I've been spoiled by the MacBook air. All of the power I need, fanless, insane battery life, unix shell. I know I can put Asahi on it, but I also know there are still issues around webcam/graphics drivers (I spend a lot of time on video calls) If there was something with the form factor of a MacBook Air I could put Linux on, and it would run as well, I wouldn't look back. The closest is the Framework laptop, amazing bit of kit, but still a fan, and worse battery life.

lkdfjlkdfjlg 2y ago
A laptop that's fanless? Is that real? Or do they call it fanless because it's very quiet? The wikipedia article for fanless design redirects to quiet which to me suggests some people use the term in this way.
- eptcyka 2y ago
  The air makes do with but a heatsink, no fans. After all, the same chip works just fine in fanless iPads.
- coffeefirst 2y ago
  No there’s really no fan. It can throttle performance if it starts to overheat but I’ve only seen that happen when I was sitting outside.
- adamomada 2y ago
  Already confirmed but it’s legit one of the best features of all time: a completely silent portable computer. Second-best is a mobile-first portable computer, that you don’t have to worry about having it plugged in except for an hour or so every ~day of usage. These things don’t really show up in any kind of stats but I can say that they change the definition of computing for humans (vs. data centre servers, etc)
- fortran77 2y ago
  I don’t think my Lenovo X13s has a fan. I’ve never heard it.
capitainenemo 2y ago
A reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/150cx0y/arm_laptop/ https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/150cx0y/arm_...) mentioned the: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx/ https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx/ and https://www.robo-kala.com/computer https://www.robo-kala.com/computer Not what I'm looking for personally in computing so no idea if either are what you are looking for.
twiclo 2y ago
A fan is a weird thing to be hung up on. This sounds like a clear example of moving the goal post. For what it's worth, I've heard my FW 13's fan kick on only a couple of times.
- jmkni 2y ago
  Personally I find it like going from an automatic gearbox back to a manual one

cjk2 2y ago

Best time to Linux ever. But worst time to dump other platforms which you rely on. Same as the last 25 years.

littlestymaar 2y ago
Windows is getting worse every years though…
- cjk2 2y ago
  I don't use windows. My point is roughly there isn't even a remotely comparable bit of software to the stuff built into macOS on Windows or Linux (calendar, contacts, notes, reminders, mail, maps).
  - partitioned 2y ago
    I’m surprised someone actually thinks the OS bloat ware is the reason why they want an OS
    - cjk2 2y ago
      Bloatware? The only thing that matters is the software! I've run my entire life, business and academic study with this software for over a decade. Works across my computer, ipad and phone. Works offline for days at a time. Never goes wrong.
  - nilamo 2y ago
    On the other hand, almost all of that has moved to cloud services which work totally fine on any os.
    - cjk2 2y ago
      Well there is some variability in that. A lot of the cloud services out there don't work offline at all, suffer from sync issues, have poor quality apps if they even have one or have poor or undocumented privacy architecture. (I have Apple ADP turned on, so all my keys are on-device only. I also have period of up to 2 weeks where I am completely disconnected from the Internet)

beart 2y ago

I recently switched back to Windows on my workstation. Multi monitor support with two different resolutions just doesn't work in too many scenarios. I have a long bullet list of issues but that one was at the top.

polairscience 2y ago
It works great in KDE
- cjk2 2y ago
  Then along comes GTK...
drunner 2y ago
I have found Wayland (±sway) handles this really well once configured. Even when I switch my laptop between two different external monitors at two different physical work locations. What WM or DM were you using?
- beart 2y ago
  The "once configured" is the problem for me. I would rather be working on the task, not the tool. And at this point in my life, my "tinkering" time is done in other areas.
enceladus06 2y ago
Multi monitor support is working on Ubuntu 24.04 with a 34" 4k monitor and 24" 1080p monitor. 4k is set to 1,5x scaling (scaled 1440p), and everything is being driven by the default intel drivers. Works perfectly.
- wafflemaker 2y ago
  I'm using Ubuntu Mate on desktop, and multi monitor is wonky. After each reboot I have to pluck out and put in cable for the bigger main screen so it can be detected by system. Then have to re-arrange position of monitors on the desktop. Might be an Nvidia issue tho. Still better than Windows.

lucb1e 2y ago

Their reasoning is this: > [Hardware on Linux] have mostly become just plug-and-play. That favorite software [and game] of yours probably either works natively on Linux nowadays or there are alternatives/workarounds to make it work. > But this is not an article about Linux and its current features so far. In fact, what should be pushing you towards Linux should not only be the features it has to offer nowadays. Instead, it should be the grim future with Windows that you should try to escape from. > Microsoft just announced [...] “Recall” has been added to Windows which takes screenshots of your screen every few seconds so that you can ask the AI model about your previous activities anytime you want. > This is not to add on some other spyware-like “features” in Windows 11, such as ads being displayed right in your start menu or File Explorer according to your user metrics.

AlienRobot 2y ago
Terrible reasoning. I have more faith in Microsoft to stop breaking Windows than on the Linux community to fix any of their desktop distros and environments.
- gmuslera 2y ago
  Microsoft won't fix intended, by design, behaviour, it is not broken from their point of view. And even if you disable Recall by whatever name they put to hide it, it could be silently reenabled by "security" updates. At least if some Linux distro includes something that users consider bad for their privacy, you can choose among several alternatives, including direct forks. That is an actual strength of that approach.
  - AlienRobot 2y ago
    It took 10 years[1] for GTK to add the ability to rename files and folders to its file picker. I think Microsoft will change their minds faster than Linux will fix its other problems. 1. https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325150 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=325150
    - 2y ago

jmclnx 2y ago

Getting: 504 Gateway Time-out

tony-allan 2y ago
Try https://archive.is/uCtn5 https://archive.is/uCtn5
lucb1e 2y ago
Very slow here as well. Just checked: as suspected, it's Wordpress. I guess they forgot to turn on the option to convert pages to static content on the fly, aka caching, necessary because the system is too bloated to handle a peak in readership otherwise
jmclnx 2y ago
Finally got in, a very good article and make a decent case for people on Windows 11 to ditch it and go to Linux.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

oldpersonintx 2y ago

[dead]

denimnerd42 2y ago

If I could use gnome at work I would totally switch back to Linux full time. I used gnome 3 for years during HS and college but it was too jarring to switch back and forth once I had to start using Windows full time. The window management muscle memory is just painful.

andai 2y ago
Just use xfce? My windows and linux setups are basically identical. In fact since Windows keeps changing things, I usually configure Linux to be more like (old) Windows than Windows is.
adhamsalama 2y ago
Have you tried KDE Plasma?

nbzso 2y ago

I don't know a lot of users outside specific developers which are not multiplatform and work exclusively with Linux desktops. After an Apple fiasco, I switched the whole office to Manjaro. This lasted several months. But the offer of long battery, silent and powerful computing device is still in their hands. Anyway, the reason in the near future will be the AI intrusive implementation on both leading desktop platforms, so Linux will continue to be the choice of privacy conscious.:)

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

acidburnNSA 2y ago

Big Linux user here. It's been my daily driver on my personal desktop and laptop for coming up on 20 years (damn). I haven't had any of the dreaded graphics-driver-breaking-during-update or other hardware issues since like 2008. It works great with Zoom, Teams, WebEx, whatever you throw at it. It's fast and stable. My laptop uptime regularly hits 30+ days before I go down for an upgrade. When my 70+ mom needed a new computer, I put Ubuntu on it and turned on unattended upgrades. I do SSH into it every 6 months and update her Zoom .deb manually (I guess there's a ppa for that?). She uses it every day and has had no problem. I'm really impressed with the Linux experience. Thanks to all who have contributed!

gazby 2y ago
You didn't mention your distro, which I think is very relevant when discussing upgrade failures and GPU issues.
- acidburnNSA 2y ago
  It did happen a lot back in the 2007 Fedora Core days. Now I use PopOS and Ubuntu and it doesn't happen. My mom's computer is using Ubuntu.
  - gazby 2y ago
    Thanks for the reply :)
- aaomidi 2y ago
  Honestly what’s more relevant is, is it an nvidia gpu. If not then you’re basically golden no matter what you use.

ugjka 2y ago

Was thinking of switching my mom's pc to linux because windows 10 is nearing its end and the pc doesn't have tpm chip for Win 11. But thankfully i found that windows 11 Iot LTSC version doesn't require tpm (or uefi secure boot) and doesn't have most of the crapware preinstalled. But the ethics of acquiring it and activating it is a different story (MAS)

haunter 2y ago
+1 for LTSC, made a similar comment just saw yours. Honestly MS doesn't care about piracy at all. They rather have you pirate Windows than lose you as a user to another OS.

qwerty456127 2y ago

Perhaps Linux distros should now ship with local AIs as well to match what Windows can offer. Purely local, transparent and intuitively configured with high level of detail, on opt-in basis. Essentially do the same thing but better.

artiontily 2y ago
Does not sound like a Linux distro problem. Can you name any free software pieces that fit the description? If they exist, they're likely to be in a lot of distros' package repos already. I think I've tried some TUI chatbot with a small llama LLM recently, just out of curiosity. It was available in Arch repo by default. Can't remember the name though.
- qwerty456127 2y ago
  Every desktop Linux DE/distro comes with a calculator, a simple text editor, a file manager etc. Perhaps it's time to ship a sensibly-preconfigured AI tool alongside these to win more non-techie desktop/laptop users. I personally don't need anything pre-installed, I can pick Arch or even LFS, install and configure everything I need, also write my own AI tool for my needs. But non-techies (whom we need if we are sad about how little desktop Linux market share is) often can't even apt install anything. Everyone is using AI, Windows PCs are coming with AI, Macs are coming with AI and Linux is not. Many consumers are probably going to view this like an OS without built-in network support soon. At the same time shipping better AI tools with transparent, sensible and privacy-friendly defaults OoTB can attract those who are not happy with Microsft/Apple approach. This is a conceptual idea however - no, I can't name any specific free software. Perhaps it is yet to be written.

tony-allan 2y ago

I have used MacOS forever and it has worked well for me. I would love to use Linux + Framework Laptop (awesome hardware). What I need is some suggestions for a distribution that just works. My workload is development plus lots of web browsing (100+ tabs).

pjmlp 2y ago
That hardly exists, there is always something on laptops that isn't supported, or needs a couple of late nights to properly configure. The best Linux experience remains classical desktops.
- dualogy 2y ago
  Can't confirm for the last ~12 years, various laptops from Dell and Lenovo, lower and higher end, various distros ranging from Ubuntu to Fedora to VoidLinux to now Garuda (an Arch deriv), various DEs / WMs (Gnome, KDE, i3). But then I never multi-monitor. But everything these laptops had, was working without a hitch.
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    Likewise I can't confirm, in the various laptops I have used since 1999, there was always something broken, between wireless, battery, finger printer reader, 3D, hardware video decoding, webcam. Toshiba, Dell, IBM, Lenovo, Asus, HP.
- felurx 2y ago
  My experience with a Framework Laptop has been that the one or two things that are relevant were quite well-documented, I'd guess because Framework actually cares about Linux and there's a lot of overlap between "folks who want what Framework offers" and "folks who want what Linux offers"
adhamsalama 2y ago
Fedora KDE is working well for me.

eduction 2y ago

It’s amazing how far Linux has come, but it feels several years behind in terms of laptop battery life with default settings vs Apple Silicon laptop. This is purely my impression, I have not run an apples to apples test. I just see sleep and hibernation and so forth as things people still tend to struggle with, especially if they are trying to get good battery life. As with anything on Linux, you can often make some real gains with sufficient research and time. Basically it seems like Linux will always be several years behind on something and so it’s most likely to gain popularity when Apple and Microsoft stop figuring out how to make new laptops interesting.

snide 2y ago

Right now Linux on Desktop offers: - The best developer experience with the most hackable toolkit - A great gaming experience that plays the vast majority of titles on Steam - A "dumb by default" non-cloud enabled workstation - IMHO the most well-design, does most things "vanilla" desktop environment with GNOME. The tradeoff is - You will need to learn to update your system and learn some new things. Things will seem difficult till you learn how they work. - There are gaps in third-party applications (primary, video editing is sub par). The smaller apps you pay for now, you'll end up making scripts or small pieces of software to replace. Eventually this will be freeing, but it's a learning curve and you'll initially miss some things (Alfred, Screenshot tools...etc). - Customization comes with a larger maintenance cost. - Your phone is not really connected to your PC, and syncing systems is all manual. If it's not web-based, that app you like doesn't probably doesn't work. I switched 3 or so years ago and it's been a revelation. Although I'd been using computers since the 80s I never really understood how an OS works. While you could argue I never needed to, I find myself much more digitally literate now. After a hump year, I mostly tailor the OS to what I need it to do, and it feels like an extension of me. I wrote a blog post about this more generally here. https://www.davesnider.com/posts/im-a-linux https://www.davesnider.com/posts/im-a-linux

pjmlp 2y ago
For UNIX workloads development, and by offering Windows compatibility layer, so that game developers can keep ignoring GNU/Linux, while having no issues targeting other POSIX like platforms.
adhamsalama 2y ago
> Your phone is not really connected to your PC Not exactly sure what you mean, but KDE Connect is amazing for connecting my phone (and any device that has the app, including other PCs) to my PC.
- joshspankit 2y ago
  Jumping in as I’ve enjoyed what we’ve had as well as wished for more. Does your setup: 1. Back phone things up to the PC wirelessly? Not just photos but app data, documents, drawings, etc. Note: must all be in original quality/format 2. Allow your PC to update an app itself (in a way that can be scripted)? 3. Allow copy/paste between the desktop and the phone? (Though with LocalSend being decent this is less and less relevant) 4. Transfer edit history for photos, videos, and audio? 5. Allow you to install and debug your own apps wirelessly? (ok, this one is a gimmie bc linux to android does this natively through adb) 6. Allow your phone to mount drives from your PC so that you can access and transfer files wirelessly?

Hasu 2y ago

Yeah I've been running Windows and Linux for years (I only use MacOS if my job makes me and pays for the machine), and I just spent the weekend setting up Linux on my former Windows machine. There really isn't much of a reason to run Windows anymore unless you have very specific software needs.

mark-r 2y ago

I was forced to switch this last year. I decided to upgrade my 10 year old motherboard, and Windows refused to boot with the new one despite nothing else changing. I absolutely refuse to pay good money to "upgrade" to a worse version of Windows, so Linux it is. Mostly it's been a good experience. I can still open all my old documents, and you can't even tell the difference when browsing. There are some Windows only apps that I relied on, including a couple I helped develop - I haven't figured out how to deal with the loss of those yet.

exe34 2y ago
have you tried wine?
- mark-r 2y ago
  Yes, I tried Wine. Dismal failure right off the bat.
  - fuzzfactor 2y ago
    Before you give up all the way, a fragrant Chardonnay might be more appealing?

beardyw 2y ago

As a seasoned Windows (and DOS from the very early days) user for too many years I took a dislike to Windows 10 when 7 came to end of life in 2000. I bought a laptop with Ubuntu preinstalled and never looked back. Yes, some things took a little while to get used to, but really I was at home right away. So glad I did it.

dualogy 2y ago
> when 7 came to end of life in 2000 typo I guess, it was in 2020. (Last Windows I really liked was Windows 2000 btw. =)
- beardyw 2y ago
  Oops, yes correct. Thanks.

butz 2y ago

"Switch" could be too harsh for some users, how about trying it out for some time first as a secondary option? Either grab an old device, or dual boot it on your current PC, or even use in "live" session. And be sure to share your pain points, be it hardware related, or community related, any feedback helps.

haunter 2y ago

Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 just came out a week ago. No crapware, no TPM, no Secure Boot etc. Works like a charm. I'm using LTSC versions for a long time and it's the Windows version that should be the default for every home user. Yes LTSC is not "legal" to use as an ordinary end user but MS doesn't care about piracy at all.

opyate 2y ago

A mate cycled 15km to my house back in 1995 with a stack of floppies a foot high, saying "dude, you need to install this right now. And when it asks for mount point, just put a /, that's the only tricky part". It was Slackware. I've used all sorts since: redhat, Gentoo, yellow dog, Debian, arch. Never looked back. A job I had once required windows, and I tried WSL, but it felt ... so limited.

hnbear 2y ago
I had a similar start, probably similar era, maybe a '98ish. My mom grabbed me one day and said I had to meet the new neighbors. So, I went round and they had a front room full of a whole crazy mix of stuff. Some Next machines, Macs, AUX, Sun, BeOS, everything, on all sorts of crazy hardware. We got chatting, he handed me a Yellow Dog CD and told me to install it and see what it's like. That led to SuSE 6.4 then 7, some BeOS, Gentoo, Ubuntu, etc. Had to purchase the SuSE CDs early on because on 56k couldn't download the ISO and didn't own a CD burner anyway.
- opyate 2y ago
  Yeah, I remember a time when it was easier/cheaper to drive somewhere to pick up a burned CD/DVD than to download it :)

kkfx 2y ago

Issues with IT in general and GNU/Linux in particular today are: - way too much people developing on Docker and co, thinking it's a good idea wasting storage and running binaries made by someone you do not know on internet instead of pushing declarative systems like NixOS or Guix System; - an immense repo of unfinished apps/webapps designed in Silicon Valley berserk mode without any real idea why; - more and more commercial parasites in major distros. So well... As a decades old GNU/Linux user, started from 2.2 in early '00 and back then tried to switch back to FreeBSD, than switched to OpenSolaris, IllumOS and hopeless again with GNU/Linux I think today is a very bad time to switch to GNU/Linux but if the user came from any other OS GNU/Linux is the sole usable option left...

plutoh28 2y ago

Unless your current OS is interfering with the productivity or utility of your machine, I see no practical reason to switch.

johnea 2y ago

But it's defninitely NOT "free software", that's comonism. The inability to even utter that phrase is the primary ddemonstration of the modern corporatized linux environment... p.s. been using a linux, fluxbox desktop for ~25 years

Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y ago

Notice that fedora can't run playwright right now. Lucky we are on linux, so i was able to put it in docker and render the window back to the host (amazing!)

Papagalu 2y ago

It certainly is. However, caveat emptor: https://ludditus.com/2024/05/27/epic-linux-saga/ https://ludditus.com/2024/05/27/epic-linux-saga/