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I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

shalithasuranga.medium.com

21–30 of 114 posts

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#21
post #8

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine a few years ago. This is my second attempt. There are still some annoyances I run into, the biggest being that the dock regularly disappears after sleep. How would I ever set my parents up on something where even the most basic features require fixes like this https://leimao.github.io/blog/Ubuntu-Dock-Disappear/ ?

yeah the first period after switching to Linux is almost always ok-ish, sometimes even pleasant, depending on one's specific use case.

then you live trough your first pulse audio upgrade. or maybe you have to bring a laptop in two wireless location with slightly different network configs. or it's just a distro upgrade where the default filesystem changed and they dropped the older fs kernel module. or you have a second monitor, or a multitouch pad, and at every update there's a chance for some package change breaking their config.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#22
post #5

maybe the author is one of the last people to switch from Windows to Linux as Microsoft embraces Linux

apparently microsoft isn't actually switching to linux

WSL 2 is making windows one of the best operating systems to run linux applications on.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#23
post #8

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine a few years ago. This is my second attempt. There are still some annoyances I run into, the biggest being that the dock regularly disappears after sleep. How would I ever set my parents up on something where even the most basic features require fixes like this https://leimao.github.io/blog/Ubuntu-Dock-Disappear/ ?

Problem is Ubuntu’s desktop. Try with a recent Fedora with Gnome, will prob work fine no tweak required.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#24
post #8

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine a few years ago. This is my second attempt. There are still some annoyances I run into, the biggest being that the dock regularly disappears after sleep. How would I ever set my parents up on something where even the most basic features require fixes like this https://leimao.github.io/blog/Ubuntu-Dock-Disappear/ ?

I don't want to start a distro ware here but... Ubuntu is really opinionated about the UX and if you want to change or fix anything you have to get kind of hacky. Sometimes when I woke my computer of from sleep it would ignore the keyboard and you had to use the mouse to click and slide the screen upward as if it were a tablet. Multiple workspaces only worked on the main monitor, side monitors would only show Workspace 1. There was a workaround for this, but it was a little bit buggy. When I want to drag a window, exit a window, or minimize, I usually just slam my cursor into the top of the screen. On Ubuntu there's a thin black status bar at the top of the screen, so you have to aim your cursor carefully instead of gesturing your mouse upwards, and it was a huge pain to try to remove that.

I started a new job and my boss installed Linux Mint on my work laptop because that's what he was using; after a month I installed Mint on my home desktop. The defaults are sensible, there's tons of customization options, and I don't have to hack my way into really simple and obvious changes.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#25

>>Windows 10 needs at least 8GB physical memory to run the operating system properly Define "properly" - I'm running Win 10 2004 on 1GB of ram and it's absolutely fine. Maybe the author is confusing "need" with "will use all available ram to prefetch".

>I'm running Win 10 2004 on 1GB of ram and it's absolutely fine.

Maybe if all you do is stare at the desktop all day (or use your computer as a dumb terminal).

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#26
post #16

Lots of inaccurate info in here but also some valid points. UWP sucks really bad and it does reduce the reliability of the system, especially when UWP-type things end up in the shell (e.g. start menu and action center). I will point out that File Explorer includes a shortcut for opening PowerShell at the current directory, which can be triggered through the File menu or alt-f-r. Its worth highlighting that Linux isn'…

Anecdotal, but I never had a single issue with kernel update and I manage many ubuntu machines. Got a link/proof/more info on that?

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#28
post #6

_My first computer was a Pentium II one and it had Windows 98 installed when I purchased it in 2008_ I think this must be a typo. 2008 seems quite a late time to buy a Pentium II, I had my Pentium II in 1998ish.

It's about right if you grew up poor in that time period, and bought something secondhand. I was part of a small club out in the (impoverished) country where we were learning on DOS computers using Qbasic in like the early-mid 00s.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#29
post #16

Lots of inaccurate info in here but also some valid points. UWP sucks really bad and it does reduce the reliability of the system, especially when UWP-type things end up in the shell (e.g. start menu and action center). I will point out that File Explorer includes a shortcut for opening PowerShell at the current directory, which can be triggered through the File menu or alt-f-r. Its worth highlighting that Linux isn'…

>Unfortunately, Ubuntu at least cannot handle using Intel graphics with Nvidia graphics in a mixed-DPI setup (one monitor 1080P, one monitor 4K)

Yes, this is unfortunate and means I don't run Linux at home much. IIRC it's an Xorg issue though, and Wayland supports it. I got it working on Wayland, but then there was a different issue with Wayland that I don't remember so I went back to Windows :\

It's unfortunate because even my usual reason to use Windows (games) doesn't matter at the moment, Overwatch runs perfectly on Linux with Wine.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#30
post #8

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine a few years ago. This is my second attempt. There are still some annoyances I run into, the biggest being that the dock regularly disappears after sleep. How would I ever set my parents up on something where even the most basic features require fixes like this https://leimao.github.io/blog/Ubuntu-Dock-Disappear/ ?

I suggest Linux Mint. Stable Ubuntu derivative with a sane, "just-works" desktop environment (Cinnamon).
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