I was using Windows for a long time, from 95, XP, 7 and 10. Games just worked out fine, software that I needed I pirated. But I was annoyed from updates, (cannot turn off MY pc, just update and turn off option) bing, fokin bing and oh the best - F1 binded to it.
On parent’s pc is 7 still installed lol, not gonna change soon, anyway, my old laptop(server since 2017) wasn’t working properly with win, so only option to save it was Linux. Ubuntu was my choice in few years back, That was the moment I discovered open source software (head exploding image).
Recently i switched my main computer into PopOs, since I worked on it I was ,scared, to do it, because of some windows specific software. (I’m still able to boot into win, I kept it for some programs that I need once per year).
But I will never go back to windows as a main. First month was little bit stressful, configuring things and getting used to new workflows, but it is just a pleasure to use. No annoying popups, no preinstalled spyware, no stress related to running unknown .exe files, no bing. I just went from small dark closed box to a nice huge green open(source) forest…
Everything just works. If not, I still can fix it (mostly). I’ve got better with security, I understand more how things works generally. I found my peace in getting to know more how things works, not just guessing what it can do and never actually find out.
So if there is some one that is disgusted with how windows pc works, and is still using it, just switch it for Linux. Just do it, it will bring joy into using your machine as you need to and want to.
Just wanted to say this…
…and share the software, you’ll be free… https://youtu.be/9sJUDx7iEJw
I’m on the yearly trip to linux land. The one thing that bothers me is hardware support, specifically configuration of hardware devices. My external audio device (Focusrite 2i2) works fine but there is no easy to change the bit rate etc without messing with core config files. This is the sort of thing that should be in the GUI already. My PS5 controller works as well but I can’t make it automatically go to sleep after 5 mins. Also HDR support is still missing.
That said, so far I’m finding ways to do what I need, but it is clear Linux still has much to improve if it hopes to attract more windows users.
Thats been my enduring gripe about linux.
95% of the time, it works flawlessly and to an astonishing degree considering, in my case, most of what i’m doing is running windows games at reasonable high detail. Something that I didnt think was feasible like 5ish years ago, which makes it triply amazing.
but its that last 5% thats just a miserable fucking slog. Tiny little things like that, that should be so easy, and seem so obvious, yet to do them is next to impossible or convoluted to hell. Like not being able make middle mouse buttom autoscroll instead of paste, or having to edit some obscure file directly to do the thing you need, or being obscure as fuck and difficult to, say, install a second program into a proton prefix for when you want to use a save editor or something for a game you’ve played a thousand times.
These are the kinds of comments that never seem to come up when I’m looking for info about making the switch myself, they make it seem like everything is perfect now and there’s no issues, but these are the exact kind of small problems that end up making me switch back, because I don;t have the patience to sort it out while trying to get shit done. Like, cool, I can play my games just fine, but all of my peripherals have quirks and issues because the software that sets them up has no linux version.
Yeah. There has been more than one moment in recent history alone, much less across my years of linux history, where I genuinely was about 30 seconds from taking the tower off the desk and throwing it out the window because it was getting so. stupidly. frustrating. to do something that would be so brainlessly easy on another platform.
but, that was all extra stuff to gaming. Like, installing a mod into cyberpunk 2077. One mod just (a core/foundation mod, of course, that everything else relies on). refused. to work, despite following the linux/proton guide for it, installing all the extra bits via protontricks,etc etc. Or installing a second program into the same prefix so I could fool around and do some cheaty hacky shit (single player games i’ve beaten a half dozen time, folks, before the pitchforks come out.)
The straight, core gaming? and controllers? Pretty much a non issue, in my personal experience. Only extra step is to check proton DB to see if it works, and what proton version to use… and unless its multiplayer with nasty invasive anticheat, its fairly certain to work.
There was a saying years ago that still hold true to today - “Unix is user friendly, it’s just selective who it’s friends are”.
Years ago, I setup an SGI IRIX box for my parents to use, back when Netscape was browser king. I had it so customized for my parents that they still talk about how easy it was to use; problem for me was it took me months to figure out all the config tricks and X customizations to pull it off… Your post made me think of that lol
It’s interesting how far Linux desktop has progressed recently… I don’t hate Windows, in fact I think it’s a great OS for most purposes. But I happened to try Linux Mint a few years ago in a fit of pique about being excluded from the Win11 upgrade for spurious reasons… and it just kind of stuck.
Two years later and I am full on Linux now. Don’t even have a Windows partition (though I do keep a VM). And I’m about to buy a new laptop that I intend to buy without an OS, it will never be touched by Windows, there’s just no need.
For my purposes, Linux does everything now. OS, software, the games I want to play… I never even think about it. Also, everywhere I look, I see Linux - my Steamdeck, my MiSTer, my Pis, my Miyoo Mini. It’s everywhere…
Your not missing much with window 11. It’s like moving from a toxic relationship to an abusive one. Your constantly second guessing yourself on what your still allowed to do on it while you question if you actually own the os you spent $200 on.
I use it for work. Other than having to think for a second to find weirdly hidden menu items, it’s fine. At least for my purposes, as a .NET dev. One thing I love about it is Windows Sandbox… really wish Linux would could up something similar.
As far as I’m aware WS is pretty close to what you get by just using virtalbox (with an easier setup) so you could do that on Linux. With Linux you also have more advanced solutions though like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qubes_OS
really wish Linux would could up something similar.
I mean, it kinda already exists. Just run it in a Docker container and remap the users in the container to non-existent uids/gids on the host.
I get it for personal or even business use on a small scale is great. I use Linux daily, I’m a sysadmin and manage windows and Linux servers. My main desktop is windows. I’m considering switching my home pc over to Linux again since generally (from what I hear) gaming works mostly and that was what used to always bring me back to windows. Now I don’t really game that much anymore anyway so it may not even really matter that much for me.
But for a business that has hundreds or thousands of user devices that they need to secure, configure, meet compliance, etc, how would they do that with a Linux distribution? Microsoft has active directory and group policy to manage this kind of thing (and now moving toward AAD and intune to manage device configuration) but I have yet to see any kind of Linux desktop distribution that has a central configuration management, patch management and security management. Sure you can configure it to auto update and send it out hoping for the best, but what happens when a device stops checking in, or the VPN client breaks, or there is some software we need to push out to all our users immediately? What choice do we have?
I just went from small dark closed box to a nice huge green open(source) forest…
best. sentence. ever.
enjoy your new found freedom to explore and learn, friend.
The only thing currently stopping me from using *nix as my main OS is the fact that my wireless card does not work with linux distros, and the graphics driver sometimes decides to commit Seppuku.
What wireless card?
It’s a Realtek, don’t remember the exact model, but every time I tried to make it work, it simply didn’t. Manually installing the driver didn’t get me much further either.
Yeah Realtek is a pain. I was thinking broadcom
Great to hear!
Now that you have a couple of days since the switch what are you missing or not missing aside from what you pointed out? Any little things that stick out?
Missing? Nothing. Few things were easier to run on win, some wizards helped me along the way but otherwise, I don’t think I was happier to use a computer. It’s 3-4 months since I switched main and only one time booted into win for my bookmarks and passwords
If your parents don’t have any Windows specific software, you can quietly switch their PC to Linux.
Use Linux Mint Cinnamon, as it is really close to Win 7 interface, and they got one of the best out-of-box experience as well as hardware support (especially for aging devices).
You can either tell them you installed a new theme, or you can have a theme that mimics Windows 7. In my case, I opted for the latter, fooling a friend who needed to use it in the process.
I remember that exakt feeling a long time ago and I also never went back. It’s just too good. :)
