4 ms·

Just switch to Linux people!

by ciconia 5mo ago

advael 5mo ago
Hard to overstate the sunk-costness of it all
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
throwa356262 5mo ago
My first hand experience with Windows vs Linux this month: A friend of mine recently bought a very expensive laptop to do some gaming. I helped him set it up and god that was a horrible experience. For example, we could not get rid of LinkedIn and other crap Microsoft wanted to force on him. Disabling copilot and removing Office required registry surgery. And the damn fans were always running because of some unknown activity in the background, maybe Microsoft is moving into bitcoin mining business? He eventually got fed up, installed Ubuntu 26.04 as an experiment and a week later still seems to enjoy the experience. Games run fine on steam and his laptop finally feels like his own. Most surprisingly, Linux worked fine out of the box. Windows 11 on the other hand needed a bunch of PowerShell and registry hacks to be copy pasted from various sources before it was even remotely usable. It's funny how it felt as if Windows was the OS for nerds with too much free time on their hands while Ubuntu was created for ordinary people. And my god, Ubuntu feels so much more fluid on the same hardware. The difference is *huge*.
- mkayokay 5mo ago
  Gaming on Linux works pretty good now. Setup is easy thanks to Steam and other launchers (e.g. heroiclauncher).
  - td2 5mo ago
    Sure, for many games Riot games / others with kernal level anticheats dont support linux sadly
    - kushagrajunior 5mo ago
      linux makes user god. windows makes anticheat god. apparently riot wants their anticheat to remain god. so no linux. sad gamer.
- rincebrain 5mo ago
  Not the main focus but, FYI, a number of pieces of hardware will default to full tilt fans unless you have their tooling running to manage things. NVIDIA GPUs were infamous for doing this with nouveau on less ideally supported cards, for example.
  - hiq 5mo ago
    But it's the kind of things you'd expect Windows to take care of automatically, or in the worst case, to prompt the users to install on first boot, especially if Linux (with overall less driver support from manufacturers). And with a preinstalled Windows (tuned to the laptop) this behavior should not be observed at all.
    - rincebrain 5mo ago
      One would hope. I have never personally owned one, but I have been told that some Alienware and similar flavored devices have had issues like this when you closed their bespoke Alienware management software because it was the thing driving the fan controls.
- lawn 5mo ago
  I installed CachyOS for my 8-year old son and his desktop instead of Windows. It's been wonderful.
- kushagrajunior 5mo ago
  someone needs to strip-down and re-built windows 11 and make it open-source. i cant wait to see that day, lol. rip microsoft licenses.
jofzar 5mo ago
Except I can't because of the games I play?
- amlib 5mo ago
  That is a problem of any operating system switch, you need to figure out what software is compatible or weather there are suitable replacements. It's the same even if you switch between iOS and Android. That said, Linux used to be a tough cookie because there were so little support for software people wanted to run and the alternatives didn't do it any favours, plus the barrage of problems you used to get installing it on a random machine was discouraging, at best. Nowadays your chances of running it well on a random machine is pretty damn good and getting the software you need is lot more feasible. But don't go YOLOing a linux install, see if meets your use cases. There is nothing wrong with waiting until it's good enough.
  - technothrasher 5mo ago
    I'm just down to Creative Cloud now. It's the only thing I still need Windows for. Everything else runs on Linux or there is a suitable alternative. So I've got several Debian machines running at home and at work, and one Windows machine that I boot only for photo editing.
- Accacin 5mo ago
  This is a choice for you! I'm a pretty heavy PC gamer and whilst I've run Linux since I was in college (UK college, not US) I've always had a Windows install for gaming. A few years ago, I finally decided I'd had it with Windows and their crap and uninstalled it. If I game doesn't run on Linux, I don't play it. Simple as that. I'm lucky in that a majority of games I play run fine on Linux, the only real game I'd love to play is Vermintide 2. My friends also run a mix of Linux and Windows and so we're fairly fine skipping games as a group if we can't play on Linux.
  - globalnode 5mo ago
    >If I game doesn't run on Linux, I don't play it. Simple as that. yes ive reached that point too.
pliny 5mo ago
I got a new computer a couple weeks ago, with a 5070, and installed ubuntu on it and it was incredibly slow. I looked online and found some claim that 24.04 has some incompatability with nvidia, tried installing a bunch of different driver versions and nothing helped, tried turning everything off in gnome tweaks and still slow, tried installing 26.04 and 22.04 but the installer hangs forever in both, tried linux mint 24.04 still slow, gave up and installed windows with WSL :/
- fsflover 5mo ago
  If you wanted to run Ubuntu from the beginning, it would be better to search for a computer designed for it, not for Windows.
  - alkonaut 5mo ago
    This is the one thing I want from an OS: I want it to work for the hardware I have, and the hardware I get tomorrow. Without having to google whether it will, or what hardware to buy. Without having to google some workaround or configure anything to get the most of it.
    - fsflover 5mo ago
      Your expectations are not reasonable. Imagine complaining about MacOS not working on a Windows laptop or vice versa. You should buy preinstalled the OS you want instead.
      - alkonaut 5mo ago
        Mac chose another path. You buy a pc and OS and the same vendor makes both. You can’t choose but at least you also never need to wonder whether your laptop and OS work together. Microsoft took a more difficult path. They have close contact with OEMs, run certification programs etc. A massive apparatus to make it somewhat likely that hardware will ”just work”. Both of these are valid models. I’d be happy to use either. I’m not very keen on doing this work myself though. I can buy a PC with Ubuntu but then it’s still hit and miss if I buy something new for it. There is no canonical store selling canonical gear like the Apple Store
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
twilo 5mo ago
No thanks
FridayoLeary 5mo ago
Came here to say that. I've recently tried linux mint and it just works. You don't have to use the terminal if you don't want to, but i do enjoy using it. It's a breath of fresh air after windows. I'm now waiting for the year of the linux desktop. Though i'm not holding my breath. The average person will carry on using their system until it grinds to a halt under all the crap they've installed on it, and then complain their computer is too old.
internet2000 5mo ago
Switch to Mac OS on the MacBook Neo, actually. Much better.
vor_ 5mo ago
Unfortunately, Linux is nowhere near ready for the desktop outside of the techies/programmers who read Hacker News.
kushagrajunior 5mo ago
nah, i tried gaming on linux. cool but cant play pubg on it.

Just switch to Linux people!

by ciconia 5mo ago

Just switch to Linux people!

advael 5mo ago

Hard to overstate the sunk-costness of it all

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

throwa356262 5mo ago

My first hand experience with Windows vs Linux this month: A friend of mine recently bought a very expensive laptop to do some gaming. I helped him set it up and god that was a horrible experience. For example, we could not get rid of LinkedIn and other crap Microsoft wanted to force on him. Disabling copilot and removing Office required registry surgery. And the damn fans were always running because of some unknown activity in the background, maybe Microsoft is moving into bitcoin mining business? He eventually got fed up, installed Ubuntu 26.04 as an experiment and a week later still seems to enjoy the experience. Games run fine on steam and his laptop finally feels like his own. Most surprisingly, Linux worked fine out of the box. Windows 11 on the other hand needed a bunch of PowerShell and registry hacks to be copy pasted from various sources before it was even remotely usable. It's funny how it felt as if Windows was the OS for nerds with too much free time on their hands while Ubuntu was created for ordinary people. And my god, Ubuntu feels so much more fluid on the same hardware. The difference is *huge*.

mkayokay 5mo ago
Gaming on Linux works pretty good now. Setup is easy thanks to Steam and other launchers (e.g. heroiclauncher).
- td2 5mo ago
  Sure, for many games Riot games / others with kernal level anticheats dont support linux sadly
  - kushagrajunior 5mo ago
    linux makes user god. windows makes anticheat god. apparently riot wants their anticheat to remain god. so no linux. sad gamer.
rincebrain 5mo ago
Not the main focus but, FYI, a number of pieces of hardware will default to full tilt fans unless you have their tooling running to manage things. NVIDIA GPUs were infamous for doing this with nouveau on less ideally supported cards, for example.
- hiq 5mo ago
  But it's the kind of things you'd expect Windows to take care of automatically, or in the worst case, to prompt the users to install on first boot, especially if Linux (with overall less driver support from manufacturers). And with a preinstalled Windows (tuned to the laptop) this behavior should not be observed at all.
  - rincebrain 5mo ago
    One would hope. I have never personally owned one, but I have been told that some Alienware and similar flavored devices have had issues like this when you closed their bespoke Alienware management software because it was the thing driving the fan controls.
lawn 5mo ago
I installed CachyOS for my 8-year old son and his desktop instead of Windows. It's been wonderful.
kushagrajunior 5mo ago
someone needs to strip-down and re-built windows 11 and make it open-source. i cant wait to see that day, lol. rip microsoft licenses.

jofzar 5mo ago

Except I can't because of the games I play?

amlib 5mo ago
That is a problem of any operating system switch, you need to figure out what software is compatible or weather there are suitable replacements. It's the same even if you switch between iOS and Android. That said, Linux used to be a tough cookie because there were so little support for software people wanted to run and the alternatives didn't do it any favours, plus the barrage of problems you used to get installing it on a random machine was discouraging, at best. Nowadays your chances of running it well on a random machine is pretty damn good and getting the software you need is lot more feasible. But don't go YOLOing a linux install, see if meets your use cases. There is nothing wrong with waiting until it's good enough.
- technothrasher 5mo ago
  I'm just down to Creative Cloud now. It's the only thing I still need Windows for. Everything else runs on Linux or there is a suitable alternative. So I've got several Debian machines running at home and at work, and one Windows machine that I boot only for photo editing.
Accacin 5mo ago
This is a choice for you! I'm a pretty heavy PC gamer and whilst I've run Linux since I was in college (UK college, not US) I've always had a Windows install for gaming. A few years ago, I finally decided I'd had it with Windows and their crap and uninstalled it. If I game doesn't run on Linux, I don't play it. Simple as that. I'm lucky in that a majority of games I play run fine on Linux, the only real game I'd love to play is Vermintide 2. My friends also run a mix of Linux and Windows and so we're fairly fine skipping games as a group if we can't play on Linux.
- globalnode 5mo ago
  >If I game doesn't run on Linux, I don't play it. Simple as that. yes ive reached that point too.

pliny 5mo ago

I got a new computer a couple weeks ago, with a 5070, and installed ubuntu on it and it was incredibly slow. I looked online and found some claim that 24.04 has some incompatability with nvidia, tried installing a bunch of different driver versions and nothing helped, tried turning everything off in gnome tweaks and still slow, tried installing 26.04 and 22.04 but the installer hangs forever in both, tried linux mint 24.04 still slow, gave up and installed windows with WSL :/

fsflover 5mo ago
If you wanted to run Ubuntu from the beginning, it would be better to search for a computer designed for it, not for Windows.
- alkonaut 5mo ago
  This is the one thing I want from an OS: I want it to work for the hardware I have, and the hardware I get tomorrow. Without having to google whether it will, or what hardware to buy. Without having to google some workaround or configure anything to get the most of it.
  - fsflover 5mo ago
    Your expectations are not reasonable. Imagine complaining about MacOS not working on a Windows laptop or vice versa. You should buy preinstalled the OS you want instead.
    - alkonaut 5mo ago
      Mac chose another path. You buy a pc and OS and the same vendor makes both. You can’t choose but at least you also never need to wonder whether your laptop and OS work together. Microsoft took a more difficult path. They have close contact with OEMs, run certification programs etc. A massive apparatus to make it somewhat likely that hardware will ”just work”. Both of these are valid models. I’d be happy to use either. I’m not very keen on doing this work myself though. I can buy a PC with Ubuntu but then it’s still hit and miss if I buy something new for it. There is no canonical store selling canonical gear like the Apple Store

deleted 5mo ago

[deleted]

twilo 5mo ago

No thanks

FridayoLeary 5mo ago

Came here to say that. I've recently tried linux mint and it just works. You don't have to use the terminal if you don't want to, but i do enjoy using it. It's a breath of fresh air after windows. I'm now waiting for the year of the linux desktop. Though i'm not holding my breath. The average person will carry on using their system until it grinds to a halt under all the crap they've installed on it, and then complain their computer is too old.

internet2000 5mo ago

Switch to Mac OS on the MacBook Neo, actually. Much better.

vor_ 5mo ago

Unfortunately, Linux is nowhere near ready for the desktop outside of the techies/programmers who read Hacker News.

kushagrajunior 5mo ago

nah, i tried gaming on linux. cool but cant play pubg on it.