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Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

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Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#231

Post by bayesian_horse »

baroffoos wrote: post #62
0xb100db1ade wrote: post #10

What I get out of this is that while each of these issues may be individually dismissed, they together make for a very "non-premium" experience. I use linux myself, but when people I know try it out, they immediately leave after encountering problems with audio, dpi scaling, etc

I have found its super dependent on what hardware you get, Especially on laptops. I always pick hardware that works perfectly with linux and I am left with a very premium experience but when using linux on bad hardware like macbooks and broadcom wifi everything just doesn't work right.

I can remember plenty of "premium" experiences with Windows, too.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#232

Post by bayesian_horse »

Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #90

I wish that there would be one unified API for creating desktop programs on Linux. Right now it's somewhat coalesced on GTK/GNOME and Qt/KDE, though there are a number of others out there. I use Linux in a VM for very hobbyist level embedded development (think Arduino and the like). Driver problems are non-existent, all of the technical problems are non-issues in this environment. The problems that I see are all to d…

Windows doesn't have that kind of unique standard either.

Both KDE and GNOME have user interface guidelines. If Software doesn't follow it, well...

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#233

Post by AsyncAwait »

pitaj wrote: post #171
cossovich wrote: post #32

I've been using Ubuntu LTS versions since 12.04 on Thinkpad T and X series laptops and I'm a very happy camper - out of the box Ubuntu doesn't suck for me, it "just works". I moved from OS X on latest Apple laptops to make my daily job (interaction design + web development) more productive (e.g. workstation running the same OS as servers, tooling etc) but now it's my preferred OS + hardware combo from a end-user pers…

What file explorer do you use? Nautilus pisses me off. I'm 100x more productive with Explorer on Windows. Some features I'd like: - Being able to open the context menu for the current folder, even if there are enough files to fill the view, without going up a level - Being able to jump to files/folders in the current directory by name without opening search results - Being able to add functionality to the context men…

Try Dolphin.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#234

Post by cuillevel3 »

I find the 'how to fix Linux' chapter hilarious.

Anyhow, the article touches a lot of the problem zones and it would be great if companies profiting from Linux would start investing in the desktop.

Regarding security Linux has some advantages, like being open source and not being an attractive target for malware.

I remember there was a Blackhat talk a few years back, detailing the security features of windows. I'd love to see a comparision with Ubuntu or Fedora.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#235

Post by mijoharas »

One surprise for me is that there is no mention on bluetooth. I have a reliable way of connecting a bluetooth headset; trying to connect between 2 and 10 times until it works. There are constant transient failures which is not what I expect from software in 2019.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#236

Post by coldtea »

ilovecaching wrote: post #107
baroffoos wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have found its super dependent on what hardware you get, Especially on laptops. I always pick hardware that works perfectly with linux and I am left with a very premium experience but when using linux on bad hardware like macbooks and broadcom wifi everything just doesn't work right.

Yep. Exactly this. If you get a laptop that a GNOME developer uses, chances are you’ll run into maybe two issues a year. But try to get GNOME to run on two 4K displays and an RTX. But here’s the thing. Linux has won. Desktop is a dying market. Linux is literally the most used operating system on phone and in the data center, which is where it counts. The DE has gotten much better transitively from all the work that’s…

>But here’s the thing. Linux has won. Desktop is a dying market. Linux is literally the most used operating system on phone and in the data center, which is where it counts.

It "counts" for whom? It sure doesn't count for me as an end user who wants to run some bloody programs on my laptop.

Also whether it's Linux or anything else on the phone it's totally irrelevant to the end users. The actual layers the users see are the Google stuff and the Google Java etc APIs. By porting these they could -- and will -- move Android to Fuchsia tomorrow and nobody will even notice.

When we wanted Linux to "win" in the 90s it was the whole desktop Linux (or, if that was there at the time, a mobile phone Linux), complete with desktop environment, userland, etc.

Not as a backend that might or might not be Linux for all the user's care.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#237

Post by smichel17 »

godelski wrote: post #133
philliphaydon wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you really want to see Linux on the DE, boycott NVIDIA, or write them a letter. I was watching a video on youtube (can't find it now) about gaming on Linux, and it suggested to update the PPA and install the latest drivers. (this was after I refreshed my desktop to be Ubuntu Budgie) So I did that, installed latest NVidia Drivers. Tried out some steam games, and went to bed. Next day I couldn't boot into the desk…

This is literally my only (big) complaint about Linux. Video drivers just SUCK . I have NEVER had a plug and play solution for display from my laptop. I do expect to be able to plug in an HDMI cable and be able to give a presentation. And I expect to be able to do this with an nvidia card. But they have always failed me and I don't understand why this problem still exists (I would actually be interested if someone kn…

About a month ago, I bought an RX 580 [1] and it worked plug-and-play (zero setup) on Fedora and NixOS. On the Windows side of things, I needed to go to the AMD website and download drivers in order to get out of reduced resolution.

[1] This one: https://newegg.com/products/N82E16814150794

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#238

Post by ensiferum »

The problem is that a lot of these issues would require co-operation and agreement from multiple different teams to have a solution that would cover the whole system. But in the Linux world nobody really has the authority to make things work and play nice nice and to manage and design the whole system architecture. Distros do what they can of course, but they don't want to deviate too much with custom patching from upstream. So their work doesn't solve all of these problems.

The year of the Linux on desktop is always 10 years from now ;-)

Ps.

I'm a Linux user and I quite like it on a desktop, wouldn't bother on a Laptop anymore, getting things like suspend to RAM or hibernate, bluetooth, wifi to work reliablly is just too much effort.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#239

Post by shaan7 »

atemerev wrote: post #225
peller wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like your expansion upon it :) I definitely do agree that "onboarding" could be improved. How I dunno. To me at least, it seems like I hear a lot of success stories from the tails of the spectrum - power users and developers on one side / the complete opposite on the other. And then for everybody in the middle, there's no other way to put it than it's almost a shit show: On the software side there a million and a h…

> stick with a non-high-DPI resolution screen Sorry, this is impossible to do once you tried HiDPI. The difference is overwhelming; I consider non-HiDPI screens an obsolete technology like CRTs. I do use Linux desktops; thankfully, the HiDPI support is much better these days than it was even 2 years ago. Both Gnome and KDE work relatively fine.

As long as you don't connect a 1080p monitor to your laptop ;)

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#240

Post by shaan7 »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #233
pitaj wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What file explorer do you use? Nautilus pisses me off. I'm 100x more productive with Explorer on Windows. Some features I'd like: - Being able to open the context menu for the current folder, even if there are enough files to fill the view, without going up a level - Being able to jump to files/folders in the current directory by name without opening search results - Being able to add functionality to the context men…

Try Dolphin.

Yep ^
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