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Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

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Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#201

Post by mr_toad »

jjoonathan wrote: post #78
Wehrdo wrote: post #70

Glad that Ubuntu works well for the author, but I've used Ubuntu on and off for a good 5+ years, and could fill a book with small things that just don't work quite right, and cumulatively makes it feel like I'm fighting the computer instead of working with it. As a brief taste: * No trackpad swipe gestures (plus many more subtle trackpad issues) * Pre-Wayland the only way to attach a second screen at a different DPI…

On my Dell Precision 6800: * "Supported" ubuntu was so old that neither Chrome nor Firefox would update * Latest ubuntu constantly toggled the backlight at 30fps (yes, really). * They didn't provide a driver package, instead they provided a utility to bake drivers into install media. Naturally, it didn't work, the documentation described a significantly different version. * All these problems were well-represented in…

I’d take any notion of ‘supported’ versions of Linux with a grain of salt. It usually just means that those are the only versions that they’ve tested.

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#202

Post by monocasa »

monocasa wrote: post #191
pjmlp wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because their focus is clearly PlayStation, Xbox and PC, not even Nintendo hardware. There are plenty of other AAA studios using Unreal, Unity, CryEngine. Maybe you should check again the names of some studios using Unity, ever heard of Nintendo and Microsoft?

> Because their focus is clearly PlayStation, Xbox and PC, not even Nintendo hardware. > There are plenty of other AAA studios using Unreal, Unity, CryEngine. Blizzard's focus had been on Mac in addition to Windows. With the switch to Metal, they're probably abandoning it. FrostBite means that EA AAA games probably won't either. Ubisoft didn't release Assassin's Creed Odessey on Mac. And even looking at Unreal Engine…

Responding because I can't edit:

It was about three years ago, that through pseudo public channels, that Apple started messaging that OpenGL was on it's way out. Oh, look what Blizzard game came out (Overwatch) which has pretty flagrantly disregarded the idea of Mac support, even entertaining the idea of possible switch support.

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#203

Post by pjmlp »

monocasa wrote: post #191
pjmlp wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because their focus is clearly PlayStation, Xbox and PC, not even Nintendo hardware. There are plenty of other AAA studios using Unreal, Unity, CryEngine. Maybe you should check again the names of some studios using Unity, ever heard of Nintendo and Microsoft?

> Because their focus is clearly PlayStation, Xbox and PC, not even Nintendo hardware. > There are plenty of other AAA studios using Unreal, Unity, CryEngine. Blizzard's focus had been on Mac in addition to Windows. With the switch to Metal, they're probably abandoning it. FrostBite means that EA AAA games probably won't either. Ubisoft didn't release Assassin's Creed Odessey on Mac. And even looking at Unreal Engine…

Yet OpenGL doesn't make them support Linux any better.

So support or not for Metal is not the real reason why they don't want to focus on the Mac.

As for games, Nascar Heat 3, for example.

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#204

Post by bryars »

dazzawazza wrote: post #45
Zhyl wrote: post #18

There was an interesting thread on Reddit [1] the other day which did a breakdown of the state of gaming in terms of native games and games that can be run easily via Steam Play (aka 'Proton', Valve's in-built WINE+DXVK layer). The results were quite interesting and, as one of the replies pointed out in another breakdown, Linux now competes with (and in some ways beats) gaming on macOS in terms of size of catalogue.…

As someone who has just released[1] a first access game across Windows, macOS and Linux: 10 years ago developing on linux as a game developer was way worse than windows and MacOS, now there is no real difference at all. I speak as a long time UNIX user, Linux was terrible for C++ devleopment, debugging and asset creation/viewing (compared to the others) making gamedev tougher than it needed to be. 10 years ago linux'…

"Mutli-monitor is doable (not as good as macOS but as good as windows), "

What's the gap between Linux/Windows and Mac OS ?

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#205

Post by pmercatoris »

ConcreteRooster wrote: post #161

Anyone use Linux on the desktop with a document scanner? A big component of my at-home PC use is scanning documents (I'm a self-admitted digital hoarder). I have a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500, which is "supported" by Linux/SANE. I have tried to use this scanner under Linux, and while it does work, the problem is that the Windows-only Fujitsu software (ScanSnap Manager) does a lot of useful things to the scan data: straigh…

"I haven't found the sweet spot that gives an Ubuntu-like experience out of the box, but has a very technical Arch-like community."

For me, that sweet spot is Manjaro. I have been using it daily on a laptop (T470) at work for nearly 2 years, with barely any problem at all. Moreover, it gives you many very polished DE options (official and community editions).

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#206

Post by Leace »

koyote wrote: post #194
kurtisc wrote: post #7

The author praises the package manager as a positive, not a negative as I usually see from people used to downloading *.exe installers. He's used other distros, plus a Mac, in the past, but I wonder if phone app stores (plus Windows' own software store) have made this become a more natural method of installing software for the average user?

I've been using Linux for nearly two decades and the package manager is probably one of the most attractive features it has over other operating systems. Keeping your software up-to-date on Windows is a massive pain and requires tons of manual work. I guess people are more used to the package manager's way of working today due their exposure to app stores; but I'd be surprised if anyone wasn't impressed by how easy a…

> package manager is probably one of the most attractive features it has over other operating systems.

I agree with this and I'm using Linux only for several months, the update experience + software discovery is really something mindblowing (nope, Chocolatey and brew are not really comparable).

I still don't like the model completely (additional work for package managers that sometimes screw things up, see e.g. Debian Weak Keys) but overall this is a very pleasant experience.

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#207

Post by Leace »

contingencies wrote: post #174

My laptop (~99% work only) setup is ZFS root + Gentoo on XPS15: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Dell_XPS_15_9560 ... but switched from Mac (vs. Windows) after yet another stupid hardware error and Apple quoting more than the price of the thing to fix it. Haven't used Windows personally in over a decade. Manage to game a bit, but in general don't have time anymore. However, just specced a couple of Ryzen workstations at…

Why ZFS instead of btrfs (asking out of curiosity as I'm pondering the issue myself)?

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#208

Post by Leace »

I've installed Arch on XPS 13 9350 and was also surprised by the amount of things that worked out of the box: touchpad, HiDPI scaling, different scales for different monitors, no issues with the Thunderbolt dock. Actually Windows had more issues for me on this laptop.

Or course one can still screw something up but with a little effort it's easy to learn how to get out of trouble. Additionally Linux is like Lego - one can create their own setup, e.g. currently I'm using Yubikey's OpenPGP card to unlock full-disk encrypted disk. Bitlocker cannot use smartcards (but can use TPM).

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#209

Post by contingencies »

Leace wrote: post #207
contingencies wrote: post #174

My laptop (~99% work only) setup is ZFS root + Gentoo on XPS15: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Dell_XPS_15_9560 ... but switched from Mac (vs. Windows) after yet another stupid hardware error and Apple quoting more than the price of the thing to fix it. Haven't used Windows personally in over a decade. Manage to game a bit, but in general don't have time anymore. However, just specced a couple of Ryzen workstations at…

Why ZFS instead of btrfs (asking out of curiosity as I'm pondering the issue myself)?

More familiar personally. I think its been stable longer and has more features, but btrfs may have caught up these days.

Re: Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on the Dell XPS 13

#210

Post by pzone »

bryars wrote: post #204
dazzawazza wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has just released[1] a first access game across Windows, macOS and Linux: 10 years ago developing on linux as a game developer was way worse than windows and MacOS, now there is no real difference at all. I speak as a long time UNIX user, Linux was terrible for C++ devleopment, debugging and asset creation/viewing (compared to the others) making gamedev tougher than it needed to be. 10 years ago linux'…

"Mutli-monitor is doable (not as good as macOS but as good as windows), " What's the gap between Linux/Windows and Mac OS ?

MacOS has had perfect crisp multi-monitor support including fractional scaling and mixed DPI with per-windiow/per-monitor application DPI awareness for years.

Windows is finally introducing a diagnostic in the task manager to show which applications have high DPI support. The modern option, per-monitor awareness, isn't even possible on Linux with the X display server - it requires Wayland.

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