If you’re already with Linux, this is not for you. This is for people who’re indecisive or been contemplating for long about whether to make that jump.
For me, it’s a matter of a few things. I’m on a Windows 10 version that guarantees me until 2032 of support. That means I would effectively skip Windows 11, like I already mostly have and potentially skip Windows 12 if that turns out to be a shitty choice. I’d be coming in right in time for whatever Microslop shits out for Win13.
Should Windows 13 suck, I think that’s a consideration. Another consideration is when Valve keeps dropping support for certain Windows versions of Steam. Because I know for a fact they will drop Windows 10 support entirely one day and then Windows 11. I believe it is really stupid that they do this.
By the time my Windows 10 version expires, I’d be getting older, which means I’ll probably care less and less about computer-related things. Going to Linux wouldn’t be a problem since I’d be doing barebones things like browsing and checking e-mail.
And I’d also hope that by 2032, Linux would have better development like easier access to proprietary drivers and software among other things.
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I’m a whole lot less computer literate than I was when I attempted it in my 20s, I also really only play some games nowadays and binge watch stupid on YouTube… the computer has become less of my life in my 40s so learning a new system sounds like… work.
Look, to be perfectly honest, I’ve had to do far less “computery” bullshit on Linux. After about six months of everything just working fast and flawless, I realised Windows is the OS that requires a pretty high level of computer literacy. Even installing Linux is a simple and quick breeze compared to Windows.
All it took was a final, “Oh, for fuck’s sake! That’s it! I’m fucking done!” moment. I just didn’t want to do it anymore. Never had one since. Using a computer is a nice thing again.
I 100% recommend Linux for grandparents!
This is exactly my experience too, after 6months things just worked. Only Pop_OS’s new major update broke that a little bit, but is now for the most part back to just working like they used to or has been improved.
Windows that I have on a laptop keeps being annoying with its sudden updates that slows down everything, and not taking no for an answer when I press not fucking now or ever.
It’s fast and easy and no big deal until you want to do something radical like create a shortcut and pin it to your taskbar, or share a folder on a home network. Or share your screen with a TV… there have been too many damn times where I’ve wanted to do something that should be simple and the matter of a couple clicks but it sends me down a rabbit hole chasing dependencies and searching terminal commands and spending hours doing something that takes less than a minute on mainstream operating systems. My user experience has drastically improved since I swapped to Plasma but don’t pretend everything works perfectly and intuitively immediately for everyone unless the expected use case is literally turning it on and opening a browser.
I empathize with this even as a highly computer literate person who works in tech. I turn 40 this year, and when I’m off the clock, I need to read books, touch grass, and live my life as if I don’t know how computers work.
I think this is a very valid reason. I used to reinstall Windows every 6 months or so for various reasons, switching to Linux wasn’t any more work. But if you don’t enjoy researching, installing OSs, etc then it’s only ever going to feel like a chore.
For me it’s not about whether it is more work or not. It is more along the lines of, tolerating microsoft’s bullshit for any longer. Windows 10 in more ways than one, has teetered me towards the edge of switching. Because I hate stupid mandatory updates, I hate how insultingly stupid it is to use a Windows system these days and every dumb decision Microsoft has made that has turned Windows into what it is and what it will be in the future.
I won’t mind a little work to use my machine, long as it frees me from all of that bullshit.
If the current situation hasn’t gotten you to switch then you’re not gonna switch in 2032. You’ll probably just have some other excuses.
Bazzite seems like it would fit perfectly with you then
I’ve used old computers for phasing out certain social networks - e.g. I’d block Facebook on my main computers, and only access it on my old laptop. That’s been quite effective. You could do that, and just use Linux Mint or Xubuntu on that old laptop. Very real learning necessary, and you do manage to break it somehow, it’s not a big deal.
I would need games to be supported, as well as engineering programs I need like solidworks, ansys, etc
I already use Linux, on and off, but the lack of support for a (proper) CAD program is the biggest issue for me.
I’ve been happy with FreeCAD for my CAD needs, but the stuff I do is pretty simple.
I need games to be supported
SteamOS and steam consoles will be really helpful for this I think
Edit: typo
every distro can run games now
I assume you mean games? If so, yeah I’d love to get into steamos stuff if that’s an option for my pc but it’d have to be like a real os not just geared for gaming. Do you have any info on that
Edit: but tbh I probably can’t because like I said I need my work programs
Steam is amazing on any Intel version of Linux. 95% of games work. It’s not true that you have to use Bazzite or SteamOS to play games, I ran a bunch of No Man’s Sky on Manjaro Linux.
I have a steam deck, which is in console mode most of the time, but seems fully capable of acting as a desktop. The only issue is the fact that it’s console shaped, but that’s no fault of the os.
Most games are, but there’s a few asterisks mostly not because Linux is incapable of running it but because there’s super invasive anti-cheat that doesn’t allow it.
For me, as someone who’s not into esports-games, I just expect games to work on Linux now, and they nearly always do. The exception has been a couple of old or obscure titles that run fine in a virtual machine. I’m not running any fancy version of Linux, just Mint, and the only thing I do to get them to work, is install them on Steam. Proton is amazing.
If you are into esports-games, though, there’s a risk that they’ll require kernel-level anticheat, and Linux does not do that.
What games aren’t supported that you play?
Most games have worked for years now
I get that there are different Distros and that having options is great, but it’s a double edged sword. It also means that things get more complicated and some get more support than others.
If I commit to Linux then my whole house will switch to that Distro because I don’t have time to figure and support >4 PCs with similar but different OSs.
Autocad - for work
Photoshop - for work
Getting more software companies to support.
Make the terminal easier to use. I don’t use it often but when I do I waste an average of 15min just trying to find a guide or wiki. A help file or built in guide would be nice
Everyone that uses Linux, expects you to be a Linux expert
Steam is great but a native GOG app would be nice. Instead of Herolauncher
Anti cheat support from games
Hardware support. Just finding drivers for peripherals is sometimes more trouble than it’s worth
Generally make it more inviting to new users
More support for WINE and Proton
Someone answered about their wife so I will to. My wife hasn’t switched because her husband doesn’t encourage it because it’s the only computer (of many) left in the house with Windows on it, and occasionally there’s some Window’s only program you have to download to update the maps in your car or something like that, and it’s nice to still have one machine that can do it (rather than paying the dealer…).
I have many comments about your assumptions about Linux but I’ll hold my tongue.
I haven’t used Windows in over 20 years. I’m not sure what random things you’d need it for. In fact when I fix people’s Windows machines I oftentimes have to use Linux to do it.
This is the specific example I was talking about: https://apps.nissan.navshop.com/en_gb/
I’m sure it could run in wine if I was snarter or kept at it, but I tried it, it didn’t work straight away, so I used the windows laptop because I wasn’t in the mood to spend hours troubleshooting when I had the choice.
I would be curious if it works for you and what your steps are as I do need to run it every 6 months or so to update maps. I use Nobara but also have Bazzite and Mint computers available if there’s some distro oddity.
Also if you know how to tell tomtom that my house in a quiet street that people crawl along isn’t an 80kph zone that would be great 😆
Have you just tried a VM? Or WinBoat (which is just a VM). You don’t have to use wine for everything windows related. Sometimes you can just use a VM.
But there’s a windows laptop right there 😆
I’m asking as a learning exercise rather than because I desperately need to get it working on my machine.
Yeah I understand that. I just recently switched and just never even started my windows partition since. Makes it real easy to tell what’s important in my life.
I’ve used Linux for years at this point, but I never really learnt much about running Windows programs except games, and they make that too easy.
Having the time to dick around and get a linux distro up to my current speed with windows. Or someone else making a distro that mirrors windows 10 capabilities, and utilities (even mundane things like control panel and it’s branches to other settings) and verbose explanations of functionality in the onboard help docs or subtext of options. Or an onboard llm asshole like clippy that can be conversed with om how to accomplish something the linux way.
I think what the linux community misses or forgets is that windows became popular partly because it held people’s hands so much. If linux users want to see the year of linux come to fruition they need to make the distros walk people through a task instead of pointing at the wall and saying “up”.
Conversely I think the linux world says they want everyone to use it but I wonder if they actually want that: everyone using linux means the computing and advertising world pivots and makes linux equivalents of everything, including all the gate keeping, scummy business, malware/adware/tracking…
Your last paragraph nails it. I’m not trying to get the whole world to switch, but I’d be happy to get the like minded peopleout who haven’t switched.
When it stops being a tool that works for me and starts working for corpos, well, then I will be in the minority again.
This topic used to come up all the time on Reddit subs, but this is the first time I can remember seeing it on Lemmy.
For various reasons, my family is tied to a small number of programs that don’t have 1:1 equivalents on Linux. So far nobody is willing to deal with the inconvenience of switching to alternatives. I’m trying my best to convert them, though.
If GIMP and Inkscape looked and felt closer to Photoshop and Illustrator, that would help greatly. Also, if I could find a good alternative to InDesign that wasn’t tied to a cloud service or a subscription license.
Funny, I could never afford photoshop so I find GIMP much easier to get around in 😆. There used to be a GIMP plugin that changed everything to be like Photoshop, not sure if it still exists. But GIMP doesn’t have feature parity with Photoshop, one of these days we’ll be able to draw shapes.
Is InDesign not already a subscription service?
There used to be a GIMP plugin that changed everything to be like Photoshop, not sure if it still exists.
PhotoGIMP, and yeah it’s still around.
Personally I tend to just use Krita for most photo-shoppy things since I find the interface nicer to use, but I have to admit gimp has been making some solid improvements lately.
InDesign is on subscription licenses like the rest of Adobe’s products, unfortunately.
My wife does book layouts and miscellaneous graphic design work, and she’s been using Adobe tools for so long it’s like muscle memory. Using anything else that’s slightly different is akin to someone rearrange your kitchen while you are away. The tools you need are still there, but now you have to go hunting for every little thing.
Have you tried Krita as a photoshop replacement?
Adobe products can run on wine now. As of a few weeks ago. I still need to test it more in depth, but they started at least!
nobody should be using adobe, not even on windows. made thebswitch tonaffinity and never looked back
What about Photopea? https://www.photopea.com/
It needs to actually work.
No display issues with Nvidia. Working HDR out of the box. The OS and games most pick up the correct resolution both on desktop and running in proton. I need to be able to turn my monitor off and on without having to remove and insert the HDMI.
Same with audio. I need it to correctly detect my HDMI pass through and not need a script to run on boot to pull and grep a changing device id on every fucking update.
Finally I need Bluetooth to not be a total piece of shit and correctly support a controller without latency.
Now, where is the nerd to come screech at me, tell me my issues were fixed a decade ago and that Linux just works perfectly on random hardware and that Linux is so easy an idiot could do it? All the while I spend 40 hours a week on the cli and ide.
Even steam deck has a bunch of issues that nerds will hand wave away.
Sounds like most of your problem is NVIDIA. I don’t have any of that on AMD. But if that’s what you have that’s what you have. I’m not blaming you. Unfortunately NVIDIA (the company) is just not as good about making their stuff work with Linux.
Bluetooth works great for me. At least since I switched from a shitty old Broadcom wireless card to a modern Intel wireless one.
Checks clock. 40m.
So you’re just going to have wave away the other 2/3rd? I get it Nvidia made it a pain in the ass. What excuse for BT, HDMI, and Wi-Fi?
Normal people aren’t going to buy hardware just to use Linux.
Like I said I’m not blaming you. If that’s the reality for you I’m not here to prosthelytize. Maybe you can try again on your next PC if you’re still trying to get away from Windows.
BT
Commented on
HDMI
NVIDIA, along with HDMI audio.
WiFi
Not something you mentioned but honestly not something I’ve had a problem with in 5+ years across a lot of hardware. Except this one old Broadcom card that was pulled from a Mac because I wanted to try Hackintoshing (running macOS on a normal PC).
Your HDMI problems are Nvidia’s fault. WIFI I’ve never had problems unless it’s a shitty WIFI card, BT also works, even with my shitty adapter. No noticable latency on a DualSense controller.
Perfection. No notes.
Hoestly same.
If linux meets your needs, cool. I’m even a little jealous, but please, linux guys, understand that not everyone has the same needs as you.
I need my personal computer to get out of the way and let me do other stuff, not be a project in itself. If you’re a developer, desktop Linux is pretty good at that. Lots of nice compilers and versioning systems and IDEs and runtime environments to play around with. If you’re literally anyone else it just doesn’t cut it.
I have been trying to use Linux since 2009. I keep trying, but it never gets any better for my needs. In fact it has gotten worse.
A time machine: I already switched 6 or 7 years ago, after 40+ years using Apple ;)
Do I miss stuff? Yep. Is it ok to miss them? For me, yep too.
I would want Ableton to work well and without complicated funky bridging virtual bullshit. Yeah yeah I know about bitwig. I want Ableton
What I would give to be able to comfortably give up MacOS. I don’t even hate it, but Ableton is about the only software that I need it for.
Ableton, recordbox, and traktor are really the only things keeping me from moving full time.
This. 100% smooth flawless reliable audio and midi support from Ableton and plugin makers.
I didn’t want to go back to Windows so bad, I actually taught myself Reaper lol. It’s by far the best DAW I’ve used (former FL and Abelton user,).
Not gonna like, though, it was a pretty rough ride and steep initial learning curve like all creative programs be. I could like it to playing the guitar for ten years and suddenly you have to play left-handed. Like, you can so do it, but fuuuuuuuu
Yeah I’ve used Reaper too and I prefer it for certain types of work, especially orchestral composition, because of the more powerful midi editing. But for digital sound design Ableton seems much more powerful still - do you agree, or maybe I need to look into reaper’s effects more?
Yeah, I do a lot of midi and mic stuff these days as it’s ended up being faster in production to play than to UI tweak. I’ve found Reaper’s “on the fly” for recording so much better (once learned and the brain clicks) and it’s phenomenal score mapping/creation out of the box 😙👌
Just little things like being able to build macros for single key presses with a wireless keyboard behind the e-drums orplugged up guitar, it’s so streamlined and fast.
But as far as effects go, if they’re not coming from my hardware, I can load in whatever plugins I need. I’ve heard some older systems can struggle with VSTs in Linux, but never had an issue. Plus it only takes a single line and a minute to load in a low latency kernal, specifically for real-time processing of live controllers. No more fucking around with ASIO4ALL setups lol
But, yes, Abelton out of the box, much like FL, comes with better native stuff. However, I rarely use native these days as some brilliant nerd or production company out there has made better stuff I can just load in. The emphasis on the W in DAW is very proniunced with Reaper.
I theory you can do the same stuff, just a different workflow. Stock reaper fX are…ok. But vsts perform the same. But…not so much on Linux. Some do, but others like native instruments don’t nativly. And that’s what’s holding me back from Linux. Too deep into eco systems that aren’t supported. NI, addict it’d ive keys, addictive drums, izotope. If I moved to linux it’d change my sound.
My wife wants to switch eventually but might not be before windows 12
She does 99% of her computer stuff in a browser anyway, and the last 1% is in the ms office suite, which is why she hasnt moved yet
She would like to switch to libreoffice but she is not interested in learning that yet
Could use the browser versions of the office tools as an intermediary.
Or just select Windows when booting up. I do that simply for 365 when remote working. Clean Windows install on its own drive and somehow it still gives me grief 🤣
Today Outlook and Power BI didn’t open. Spent about twenty minutes updating, reinstalling, rebooting, and nothing. Had a meeting, reboot, all works again. Silly me never completed the random ritual in order.
You can also run all the office stuff in WinBoat. Only Office is pretty close to ms office as well, but is missing some really important stuff that really pissed my wife off.
I recommend trying out OnlyOffice. It’s free and it’s scarily similar to MS Office, to the point where there’s no learning curve and it’s impressive how they haven’t gotten sued yet. Plus, it’s got a Windows version so you can try it out without committing to Linux
I’m not a fan of LibreOffice, even with the GUI tweaks to make it look like MS Office, so I’ve been actively finding Office alternatives for a long time now. OnlyOffice is by far the best one I’ve found
Steam and Xbox games fully playable and functional. So I want to be signed in and able to play with friends, etc.
there is about 10 games that do not work on Linux amd they are require a kernel level anticheat
*spyware
I’m not a huge gamer myself but so far every single game I have tried has worked on Linux with little to no tweaks.
Well the first is already true and the second is never gonna happen.
My copy of win10 to stop working, probably. Not planning on switching to win11, so Linux it will be.
The big thing for me would be official driver & software support from peripheral manufacturers. A few off the top of my head for things I actually use…
Razer mouse software that supports the full range of configuration options available on Windows plus automatic profile switching based on active app.
Configuration software for Yamaha mixers (I do all my audio through an AG08).
StreamDeck software (the open source tooling for StreamDeck is pretty good, so that one’s less of an issue, but would still be nice to have parity with windows/mac).
Something like Windows Hello to do face unlock through my Logitech camera when I sit down at the machine.
Razer mouse software that supports the full range of configuration options available on Windows plus automatic profile switching based on active app.
This has been a big sticking point for me. I’m using a Razer Naga (thats the one with the numpad on the side) and like to make use of those extra buttons - esspecially since I play a lot of more complex and/or more competitve games, but even for day-to-day use. Since it doesn’t have on board memory, its useless on Linux, and that undoes about a decade of muscle memory (and requires me to buy a new mouse).
I’m on the Naga V2 hyperspeed. Best I’ve been able to do is set all the buttons to various keyboard keys in windows, then remap those in Linux. It covers basic functionality, but is not very customizable, and no automatic profile switching that I’ve found.
many games and apps dont work well even with lutris & wine :(
A mass migration of business class software to Linux and a majority of businesses switching.
Basically the only time I have to use Windows is for work, and good luck getting the Kafkaesque nightmare of corporate bureaucracy to ever make a change for any reason, let alone something as complex as this
