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Genuine question: I've been hearing good things about PopOS. How realistic is it as a windows replacement ?

fxtentacle 2y ago
I'm using it as a daily driver now: https://hajo.me/blog/2024/07/02/the-year-of-the-linux-desktop-in-retrospect/ https://hajo.me/blog/2024/07/02/the-year-of-the-linux-deskto... Biggest issue is printer drivers, I'd say.
- mattl 2y ago
  And that's not a PopOS issue, that's an issue with CUPS... it seems CUPS was forked by the original developer after his time with Apple. https://openprinting.github.io/cups/ https://openprinting.github.io/cups/
deleted 2y ago
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srik 2y ago
A couple years ago I wanted to try something simple for a daily driver and gave it a shot but it didn’t take long before its inadequacies became unbearable and I switched back; but they’ve been improving, so hopefully it’s much better now.
robrtsql 2y ago
Is the question about Linux in general or about Pop_OS specifically? I've used it--the differences are going to increase once their new desktop environment releases, but right now it's comparable to Ubuntu except with some nice-to-haves (proprietary NVIDIA drivers are installed automatically, no software is delivered via Canonical's 'snaps' which are almost universally hated). I enjoyed it, but in my opinion, popular distros are more similar than they are different. If you mean just replacing Windows with Linux in general: it's great, unless you need to run, say, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, or Fortnite.
- onemoresoop 2y ago
  >t's great, unless you need to run, say, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, or Fortnite. There's no way to use Wine for Microsoft Excel?
  - robrtsql 2y ago
    I've never tried it, but my impression from other people is that it's unreliable and maybe doesn't even work at all for the newest versions of Microsoft Office.
  - renegat0x0 2y ago
    I had problems with configuring wine prefix manually. Some frameworks could be downloaded / installed. With some were problems. 32 bit wine worked, but 64 bit prefix did not most of the times. There were attempts to auto configure apps, like bottles program. This did work quite well when I used it for simple programs. As with Linux. It takes some time to get familiar. Once you set up everything correctly, it will just work.
werzum 2y ago
I am using it for two years as daily driver on two (Lenovo) laptops, and I'm loving it so far! Most things worked out of the box and the UI is a nice balance of being adaptable if you want it, but also having sensible defaults. I keep having to bother with Windows for the sake of using a "real" Excel installation for some of my work, but Im really in love with the simplicity of just using Popos, whereas there are a thousand little spyware-annoyances whenever I boot up Windows again.
jml78 2y ago
For anyone reading this site, sure. Generally public, hell no.
pllbnk 2y ago
I used to give Linux desktop distros a shot every few years for a long time but would always get fed up with something not working or not being able to run some games. The last time I have switched back to Linux (Mint, not PopOS) was around three months ago, it's been a very pleasant experience with comparably few glitches (some that have been fixed with updates, some that I am still dealing with) and I don't have any plans going back to Windows any time soon, if ever.

I'm using it as a daily driver now: https://hajo.me/blog/2024/07/02/the-year-of-the-linux-desktop-in-retrospect/ https://hajo.me/blog/2024/07/02/the-year-of-the-linux-deskto... Biggest issue is printer drivers, I'd say.

mattl 2y ago
And that's not a PopOS issue, that's an issue with CUPS... it seems CUPS was forked by the original developer after his time with Apple. https://openprinting.github.io/cups/ https://openprinting.github.io/cups/

deleted 2y ago

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srik 2y ago

A couple years ago I wanted to try something simple for a daily driver and gave it a shot but it didn’t take long before its inadequacies became unbearable and I switched back; but they’ve been improving, so hopefully it’s much better now.

robrtsql 2y ago

Is the question about Linux in general or about Pop_OS specifically? I've used it--the differences are going to increase once their new desktop environment releases, but right now it's comparable to Ubuntu except with some nice-to-haves (proprietary NVIDIA drivers are installed automatically, no software is delivered via Canonical's 'snaps' which are almost universally hated). I enjoyed it, but in my opinion, popular distros are more similar than they are different. If you mean just replacing Windows with Linux in general: it's great, unless you need to run, say, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, or Fortnite.

onemoresoop 2y ago
>t's great, unless you need to run, say, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, or Fortnite. There's no way to use Wine for Microsoft Excel?
- robrtsql 2y ago
  I've never tried it, but my impression from other people is that it's unreliable and maybe doesn't even work at all for the newest versions of Microsoft Office.
- renegat0x0 2y ago
  I had problems with configuring wine prefix manually. Some frameworks could be downloaded / installed. With some were problems. 32 bit wine worked, but 64 bit prefix did not most of the times. There were attempts to auto configure apps, like bottles program. This did work quite well when I used it for simple programs. As with Linux. It takes some time to get familiar. Once you set up everything correctly, it will just work.

werzum 2y ago

I am using it for two years as daily driver on two (Lenovo) laptops, and I'm loving it so far! Most things worked out of the box and the UI is a nice balance of being adaptable if you want it, but also having sensible defaults. I keep having to bother with Windows for the sake of using a "real" Excel installation for some of my work, but Im really in love with the simplicity of just using Popos, whereas there are a thousand little spyware-annoyances whenever I boot up Windows again.

jml78 2y ago

For anyone reading this site, sure. Generally public, hell no.

pllbnk 2y ago

I used to give Linux desktop distros a shot every few years for a long time but would always get fed up with something not working or not being able to run some games. The last time I have switched back to Linux (Mint, not PopOS) was around three months ago, it's been a very pleasant experience with comparably few glitches (some that have been fixed with updates, some that I am still dealing with) and I don't have any plans going back to Windows any time soon, if ever.