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Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

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Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#221

Post by garbagecoder »

fsflover wrote: post #188
reacharavindh wrote: post #77

Three reasons. 1. Cohesiveness - there are many things Linux does excellently if done independently. But, when you want a cohesive experience to achieve a good user experience, it falls flat in its face. Examples: Have an excellent file system? Check. ZFS, ext4 and plenty more. May I expect a simple equivalent of a GUI file explorer in the class of Windows Explorer or Finder? Nope. There is not even thumbnail preview…

> 3. Reliability around on/off/on/off/suspend operations like that of a laptop. This is definitely caused by unsupported hardware. I'm using Linux for many years, suspend works 100% of the time on my Librem 15 and Lenovo.

So?

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#222

Post by garbagecoder »

xtracto wrote: post #84

The one user desktop thing that I find funny Linux does out of the box but Osx and windows dont have is the ability to pin a window to be "always on top" there was a separate unofficial app on Mac that did that (afloat) but Apple managed to make it not work with their updates. Its 2021 and I cant pin a window always on top? Crazy

Is this some sort of “no u” about thumbnails in the file picker?

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#223

Post by garbagecoder »

caeril wrote: post #193

I'm not a Mac user (anymore) but I often ask myself this, as well. MacOS is buggy as hell, the UI sucks, and a stock Ubuntu or Fedora installation is much, much, much more usable, particularly for development tasks. From what I've been able to gather, there are two reasons: 1. Vidya (this is somewhat valid) 2. Status signaling (but you'll never get them to admit it) That's it, full stop. You either need to play Fortn…

As if Linux users don’t care about their image.

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#224

Post by filchermcurr »

It's been decades and I still can't easily adjust the scrolling speed of my mouse. I just did a quick search and everything still says 'oh just use the imwheel package :)' That requires installing the package, figuring out how the configuration file should be set up, figuring out the correct multiplier, and then figuring out how to get imwheel to start when you turn on your computer.

Windows and macOS provide convenient GUI options for these seemingly simple things.

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#225

Post by filchermcurr »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #63

1. I hate the application distribution model. Repos are basically the same as walled gardens, only maintained largely by unpaid volunteers who occasionally introduce their own bugs. You can't have two versions of the same application unless the packages have been specifically set up to allow it (Python 2 vs 3), you can't install applications to alternate disks, and there's no such thing as a portable application. The…

I've seen a lot of #2 in this thread, even. A lot of really snippy remarks about it being 'your fault for using unsupported hardware'. Which is a weird statement to make, I think. If the OS allows the installation and claims to have drivers available, it seems like that hardware is supported...

I would certainly not blame the user when it doesn't work correctly.

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#226

Post by yen223 »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #101
watermelon0 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What magical software and hardware combination are you using, where there are less issues on Linux than on Windows?

A lot of times when people say they've had no issues whatsoever what's really happened is that they've become so used to all the issues that crop up and have so much practice dealing with them that they aren't even conscious of them anymore. Same thing happens to Windows and Mac users. It's a bit like how people who browse without an adblocker aren't even consciously aware of them anymore, but you use their computer…

This is so very true. I've learned to take statements like "xxx works flawlessly" with a massive grain of salt

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#227

Post by hammyhavoc »

garbagecoder wrote: post #144
qorrect wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> make Linux a no-go unless they just want to browse Facebook and read webmail. This a joke my man ? Are you seriously saying Linux is only good for browsing the internet ? >(I work at Microsoft) There it is.

Nice ad hominem. In reality there is all kinds of productive work that you simply cannot do on Linux or at least not outside of some joke programs like Gimp. Developing on Linux is nice

If you can't produce great work with tools like Krita and GIMP then the problem isn't the tools.

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#228

Post by hammyhavoc »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #38

Switching OS incurs costs. The benefits must outweigh the costs. I'm a great fan of the principles and philosophies of Linux, but if I'm to use it as my daily driver, it has to be above all else a practical solution. There's so much weird shit involved with Linux that the costs outweigh the benefits. Weird shit like, Linux refusing to let me copy files on an external hard drive because "I'm not the owner" of those fi…

Reaper might be the best DAW ("audio editor" in your own words), period. Been used for all sorts, including a Call of Duty score.

You don't need to study distros for years. Linux is Linux. Manjaro, Mint, Pop, Ubuntu, pick one, and get on with your work.

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#229

Post by hammyhavoc »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #151
dschuessler wrote: post #8

The trackpad experience on MacBooks is unbeatable. Another comment here on HN described it as the trackpad completely disappearing from your mind. You don't have to fight it at all. You don't even think about it anymore. The cursor just becomes a natural extension of your hand. Also, as a person working with PDF documents on a regular basis, I don't know of any application that can beat the feature set and UX of Prev…

It's kind of crazy how long Preview.app has been one the best at what it does. I remember it being a minor revolution back in the early 2000s, running like butter compared to the clunky-even-then Adobe Reader and handily sweeping up a few different format viewers into one app. It's been 20 years and still no other desktop environment ships with a true equivalent.

GNOME Sushi is very impressive.

Re: Ask HN: Why don’t you use Linux as your daily driver OS?

#230

Post by hammyhavoc »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #103
runjake wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can just pick a distro and stick with it. You don’t need to learn about all the package managers and all the desktop environments. I don’t really know anything about Arch’s package manager or Fedora’s dnf.

Until you ask for help and the very first response is something like "Ubuntu is a very bad example of a linux distro."[0], or "I've never had these problems with Arch", or any other variation of "try a different distro", which is incredibly common advice in the Linux Desktop community. Not to mention that if you're googling for help on a problem, there's a good chance you'll run into posts about dozens of other distr…

Forums full of casuals with nothing to offer but opinions and zero solutions are not the place to seek help.
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