Here's what it's like to live with Linux as my desktop OS.

There are more than a billion PCs in use and, according to StatCounter, only 71 percent of them run Windows. Among the rest, about 4 percent run Linux. That’s tens of millions of people with Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, etc as their desktop operating system. I envy them.

Windows 11 has become more annoying lately as it shoves ads for XBox Game Pass in my face, pushes AI features no one asked for and demands that I reconsider the choices I made during installation on a regular basis. Plus, it just isn’t that attractive.

I’m ready to try joining that industrious four percent and installing Linux on my computers to use as my main OS, at least for a week. I’ll blog about the experience here.

It’s hard to give up Windows forever because so many applications only run in Microsoft’s OS. For example, the peripheral software that runs with many keyboards and mice isn’t available for Linux. Lots of games will not run under Linux. So I think it’s likely I’ll be using Windows again, at least some of the time, after this week is through.

However, for now, I’m going to give Linux a very serious audition and document the experience.

  • glitching@lemmy.ml
    342·
    2 days ago

    buncha clowns ITT laughing at a dude trying to swim for the first time. OMG how does he not know how to X and Y lolz why don’t you flatpak bust a cap in they ass…

    this was an exceptionally excellent writeup especially with the “day 7: can’t do thing. day 10: here’s how to do thing” from the perspective of someone who used windows for ever and invariably looks at the thing from that point of view. dude pulled of transitioning a laptop with a buncha esoteric peripherals and an nvidia desktop and made almost everything work!

    also, major ups for using the single most excellent solution for beginners, Ubuntu, and not getting lost in “no true scotsman” garudas and arches and atomic thisandthats.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      63·
      2 days ago

      The highest bar to getting into Linux isn’t the technical, the setup, the hardware or anything. It’s the people the ego. Those have always been the largest barrier.

  • dreugeworst@lemmy.ml
    61·
    2 days ago

    most of his comments I completely understand, but saying process manager ‘looks a bit low-rent’ tells me absolutely nothing other than that you personally don’t like the look.

    also, complaining about not having a consistent way to install apps is a bit rich wheh coming from a desktop where the best way is still to just find the app website, download the installer and click through an inconsistent installer that might be trying to add ad- or spyware alojg with yue app you wany

  • Mwa@thelemmy.clubEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    I wonder if anyone dumped windows for “Being Sluggish” being one of the reasons

    • themurphy@lemmy.ml
      11·
      2 days ago

      I did. Saved an old PC with Ubuntu. Could probably optimise it even more with another distribution of Linux.

  • TCB13@lemmy.worldEnglish
    25·
    2 days ago

    I don’t really get this type of “media” bullshit articles. Yes, Windows is becoming progressively worse with more annoyances but you also have more simple to use tools than ever to disable those annoyances in bulk.

    For the average user is far simpler to just run W10 Privacy, CTT or some other tool to disable all the annoying Windows features than it is to move to Linux and face all the major pain points people usually have around software compatibility and missing xyz very specific that isn’t really the same thing under Linux.

    There you go, fixed the Windows problem for you in a few clicks, no need to download an entire new OS and complain afterwards.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    710·
    2 days ago

    Boom. Chrome installed. However, why can’t it be in the App Center where it would be available with only one click?

    Hey check it out, this guy doesn’t understand that closed source apps aren’t distributed this way! Chromium and Firefox are available, ya dingus!

    Control my phone from the desktop – this appears to be doable in KDE desktop but not easily in Gnome desktop environment

    scrcpy, man this guy needs someone walking him through better solutions. He’s even trying to use Notepad++ instead of things like Kate.

    Hardware support is the Achilles Heel of Linux

    Only if you have fancy shit, it seems like. I am a low-end end nerd and I rarely have hardware issues.

    Anyway, yeah, people need help from the community first time around or they’re gonna be figuring out what works by piecemeal instead of having quality suggestions.

    • cabbage@piefed.socialEnglish
      73·
      2 days ago

      Notepad++, fucking what hahaha.

      And yeah, it really does not take much research online to learn about gsconnect.

      I don’t understand the hardware support part, but I also don’t understand “peripheral software that runs with many keyboards and mice”. If I had to install software to use my keyboard I would riot. Maybe I’m just too primitive.

      • lost_faith@lemmy.ca
        1·
        2 days ago

        This is an issue for me. I have a G13 and cannot find drivers to get it to work, I’m talking to program the buttons so they do something as right now it does nothing but display G13 on the screen. Of the 2 options I have found/been told about g13d and g13gui neither will compile to work on my system

    • Murvel@lemm.ee
      1·
      2 days ago

      Hardware support is the Achilles Heel of Linux

      Dude, using an Nvidia RTX 3080 card has been a bust for me. I lost count how many times Gnome crashed. Now I’m running KDE Plasma, and I can just hope it works.

      • lost_faith@lemmy.ca
        1·
        2 days ago

        I’m using the “official” Nvidia driver and Kubuntu, due to VR, and have not had any issues with video. Still wish I’d gone AMD though