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Have you had recent experiences? I thought the same until I tried it out, on decision stable no less. The driver support nowadays is incredibly good on Linux (m

Have you had recent experiences? I thought the same until I tried it out, on decision stable no less. The driver support nowadays is incredibly good on Linux (my desktop Bluetooth didn't work under Windows with official drivers; just works without any tinkering under Linux).

kenhwang 12d ago
One of my machines is always Linux desktop; I've been using it to see if it's ready enough for my main desktop to switch over and so far my verdict has been it's not. Last weekend I tried updating to Linux 7.2, and WiFi drivers failed to compile, so it's been fun.
- a-priori 12d ago
  If you're talking about compiling WiFi drivers, then you're not using Linux the way most people do.
  - dcrazy 12d ago
    Ah yes, they’re just holding it wrong.
    - a-priori 12d ago
      All I’m saying is that if your idea of driving a car is to sit on the engine compartment and pull levers and cables from there, you might have a different experience than most drivers.
      - dcrazy 12d ago
        I’m saying that compiling Wi-Fi drivers from source is still representative of trying to run Linux on consumer hardware. Desktop Linux is like a kit plane. You can pay to have someone assemble it for you, but you still need to know how to get in there and fix it.
        ahartmetz 12d ago
        It's compile drivers or research your hardware before you buy it. The latter is highly recommended. If you go against the common advice, it's kinda your problem. If you bought the hardware before installing Linux or it was given to you, well, that sucks. That said, driver problems, especially important ones, aren't that common anymore.
        kenhwang 11d ago
        Nailed it. My Linux machine was built from the retired parts from my main desktop, so it very much is stuff that served me well for several years under Windows. But the advice is still very much to research the hardware or buy a prebuilt with vendor support. Compared to a decade ago, more stuff just works; especially noticeable with graphics drivers. But when things hiccup, which they still do, it still requires quite a lot of tech savviness to solve.
        josephg 12d ago
        Is it? I use Linux mint on my desktop. Wifi just works. I’m using some X870 motherboard. I got the motherboard when it was really new, and I think it took a few months before wifi worked properly in mint out of the box. (I use Ethernet anyway so it wasn’t too upsetting). But after a few months, they had it all sorted. I have never manually compiled a kernel or wifi drivers or anything on this machine. I suspect most Linux users don’t do stuff like that any more. Not to say it’s a trouble free experience. I’ve had problems with the nvidia drivers a few times recently. In the transition to nvidia’s new driver model, I’ve somehow ended up with incompatible nvidia packages on my system and the graphical environment broke. The most recent time I asked Claude code to take a look at my system and tell me what commands I should run to fix the nvidia packages. It did a great job. It doesn’t feel like a kit plane any more. It’s a bit temperamental from time to time, but for the most part Linux just works.
        coderenegade 11d ago
        I can honestly say that I've never had to compile wifi drivers from source in more than a decade of using Linux as my main OS, even through my distrohopping phase. And I'm not researching my hardware ahead of time, either. I don't even know what you'd need to be running in order to have to do that? Maybe void or something similar? I don't think that my experience is particularly unique. The sharp edges are usually pointing the package manager at a repo (generally an official expansion) that lets you install the necessary binary.
      - kenhwang 11d ago
        More that my motherboard came with a Broadcom WiFi chip instead of MediaTek which everyone recommends for Linux, and the shipped Linux drivers can only use 1 of the 4 antenna and won't connect to any 5ghz networks. It "works" with 2.4 with 1 antenna, but the speed is then capped at 150Mbps instead 600Mbps/1300Mbps the hardware is capable of. So it's like buying an AWD car, but realizing only one wheel gets power. Still technically drivable, but hardly working well. Maybe most people wouldn't even notice at all, but I figured I was technical enough to get in the weeds and fix it. Not all cars end up being Toyotas, sometimes you get a Jaguar.
- sph 11d ago
  I bet €5 you’re using a mickey mouse linux distro.

kenhwang 12d ago

One of my machines is always Linux desktop; I've been using it to see if it's ready enough for my main desktop to switch over and so far my verdict has been it's not. Last weekend I tried updating to Linux 7.2, and WiFi drivers failed to compile, so it's been fun.

a-priori 12d ago
If you're talking about compiling WiFi drivers, then you're not using Linux the way most people do.
- dcrazy 12d ago
  Ah yes, they’re just holding it wrong.
  - a-priori 12d ago
    All I’m saying is that if your idea of driving a car is to sit on the engine compartment and pull levers and cables from there, you might have a different experience than most drivers.
    - dcrazy 12d ago
      I’m saying that compiling Wi-Fi drivers from source is still representative of trying to run Linux on consumer hardware. Desktop Linux is like a kit plane. You can pay to have someone assemble it for you, but you still need to know how to get in there and fix it.
      - ahartmetz 12d ago
        It's compile drivers or research your hardware before you buy it. The latter is highly recommended. If you go against the common advice, it's kinda your problem. If you bought the hardware before installing Linux or it was given to you, well, that sucks. That said, driver problems, especially important ones, aren't that common anymore.
        kenhwang 11d ago
        Nailed it. My Linux machine was built from the retired parts from my main desktop, so it very much is stuff that served me well for several years under Windows. But the advice is still very much to research the hardware or buy a prebuilt with vendor support. Compared to a decade ago, more stuff just works; especially noticeable with graphics drivers. But when things hiccup, which they still do, it still requires quite a lot of tech savviness to solve.
      - josephg 12d ago
        Is it? I use Linux mint on my desktop. Wifi just works. I’m using some X870 motherboard. I got the motherboard when it was really new, and I think it took a few months before wifi worked properly in mint out of the box. (I use Ethernet anyway so it wasn’t too upsetting). But after a few months, they had it all sorted. I have never manually compiled a kernel or wifi drivers or anything on this machine. I suspect most Linux users don’t do stuff like that any more. Not to say it’s a trouble free experience. I’ve had problems with the nvidia drivers a few times recently. In the transition to nvidia’s new driver model, I’ve somehow ended up with incompatible nvidia packages on my system and the graphical environment broke. The most recent time I asked Claude code to take a look at my system and tell me what commands I should run to fix the nvidia packages. It did a great job. It doesn’t feel like a kit plane any more. It’s a bit temperamental from time to time, but for the most part Linux just works.
      - coderenegade 11d ago
        I can honestly say that I've never had to compile wifi drivers from source in more than a decade of using Linux as my main OS, even through my distrohopping phase. And I'm not researching my hardware ahead of time, either. I don't even know what you'd need to be running in order to have to do that? Maybe void or something similar? I don't think that my experience is particularly unique. The sharp edges are usually pointing the package manager at a repo (generally an official expansion) that lets you install the necessary binary.
    - kenhwang 11d ago
      More that my motherboard came with a Broadcom WiFi chip instead of MediaTek which everyone recommends for Linux, and the shipped Linux drivers can only use 1 of the 4 antenna and won't connect to any 5ghz networks. It "works" with 2.4 with 1 antenna, but the speed is then capped at 150Mbps instead 600Mbps/1300Mbps the hardware is capable of. So it's like buying an AWD car, but realizing only one wheel gets power. Still technically drivable, but hardly working well. Maybe most people wouldn't even notice at all, but I figured I was technical enough to get in the weeds and fix it. Not all cars end up being Toyotas, sometimes you get a Jaguar.
sph 11d ago
I bet €5 you’re using a mickey mouse linux distro.