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2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

justingarrison.com

171–180 of 351 posts

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should have been clearer: mousewheel scroll speed, which there's no way to control from the GUI.

Is there such a setting in Windows/macOS? (genuine question, haven't used either much in years)

Yes. It's in the GUI in both cases.

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#173

Is there any Linux distribution with MacOS levels of reliability, simplicity, and productivity, that can reliably be updated without the boot partition getting full, random things like thunderbolt docks not working, or sleep states being faulty (or the machine not working properly after waking from sleep), or external monitor resolutions being wrong, and monitor scaling working properly when you have two monitors wit…

My M1 Macbook pro is connected to a Dell thunderbolt desktop docking station. This had caused me so much grief with the screen, that I directly connected the 43 inch monitor to the M1 rather than go through the dock. Moreover, the ethernet on the dock is wonky, often dropping out. This makes the work VPN sometimes ... challenging.

Was just as wonky when I had the windows laptop that the mac replaced. BSODs were common with it, and its crashed the MacOS machine multiple times.

Linux OTOH, doesn't seem to have a problem with the other dock I have it connected to. Haven't had a crash.

But hey, doesn't fit the "linux sux" narrative, so YMMV.

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I am using Linux on PC hardware and I miss Mac OS X. I have a lot tweaks and hacks that just don’t cut it. For example, the PC Home and End keys for text boxes are hard coded into X.

Funny you should mention that because I always have to fix Home and End on Mac with Karabiner-Elements so they don't go the beginning and end of the entire document which is totally useless. That said, I agree with you.

I still haven't fixed that on my Macbook, as iterm2's changes mess with Karabiner's changes. It is a pain in the ass.

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#175
post #162
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, but this is something unique to Linux, since everyone runs a different distro on different, never 100%-supported, hardware. So, they likely have never run into sleep problems- my desktop linux box doesn't have any at the moment. Sometimes these difficulties have a silver lining, though, after they force you to learn more about the systems you're using. I thinks it's less of a trial-by-fire than it was even four…

I’m sort-of fine with the issues. I’m not fine with the increasingly hostile attitude you meet from most of the Linux world if you in the public eye dare ding their precious baby.

How dare you, though?

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've pulled these insults out of thin air. I have no animosity towards Windows or Mac users, nor for those that might hypothetically like Linux but understandably have better things to do with their time than learn the ins and outs of it.

Apologies if that seemed directed at you personally, which wasn't my intent. Attribute it to HN trigger-finger. It is a general and widespread phenomenon though that anyone who has been less than positive towards Linux on HN or anywhere will recognise. I don't think it reflects animosity towards users of mainstream OS's so much as defensiveness, particularly from strongly self-identified Linux advocates. Which is all…

Sure, as I say in my first comment, there is a lot of software for linux that just isn't very good, and there is a lot of bad advice and bad defaults floating around. Separating the wheat from the chaff is a daunting task to any new user, and I think most will fail and feel dejected unless they have a strong personal motive to stick with it and learn through experience. It's definitely not for everybody and I don't expect it ever will be.

But if somebody does stick with it and gain that experience, it's often possible for them to find a combination of software and settings that earnestly work well for them personally. It's not as though linux users are all masochists, the reason I continue using Linux is because for me, it's lower stress and hassle than anything else. I learned to use it when I was younger and thought that tinkering with such software was fun. That allure wore off years ago and my present self wouldn't have the patience to learn it all over again, but Linux remains the best choice for me given the experience I already have with it.

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#177

Is there any Linux distribution with MacOS levels of reliability, simplicity, and productivity, that can reliably be updated without the boot partition getting full, random things like thunderbolt docks not working, or sleep states being faulty (or the machine not working properly after waking from sleep), or external monitor resolutions being wrong, and monitor scaling working properly when you have two monitors wit…

It's not exactly a desktop device (though it can be booted into a desktop), but Steam Deck is by far the best Linux experience I've had. It seems what you really need is a company with an incentive to make a good hardware+software package.

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#178
post #160
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been running desktop Linux since the 90s, and it’s been my primary desktop since XP was first released (XP was what drove my to Linux) and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve needed to write a shell script to fix basic functionality. I’m not taking anything away from your experiences though. Just offering another data point. I do get the appeal of macOS. I use it for work but I honestly find it more…

I get about 4 hours productive use out of my work Macbook M1 pro (32 GB RAM, 1TB NVMe) on battery. I get about 3.5 hours productive use out of my Zen2 HP Omen laptop (64 GB RAM, 3TB NVME). Though I have to reduce the brightness of the Zen to get better lifetime. I am a bit of a power user, running large builds, analytics, and other things, so its not surprising to me that I get less than others. I would like to see a…

For high load activities like builds and analytics, I use a server, either on the LAN or in the cloud. It gives me a better local performance experience and makes my jobs more reproducible for others to run. It for sure includes the added complexity of aws-cli scripts and ssh stuff though so YMMV.

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#179

No it wasn't. Nor was it needed. Linux is unstoppable. The monotonic accumulation of all that open source goodness is like a giant capacitor taking forever to charge. The result takes a while compared to a well funded commercial enterprise, but it slowly morphs into a super desktop that is basically impossible to compete against. Free, super capable, private by design. You cannot beat that with bells and whistles. Th…

> Make no mistake. Life is not linear. Nothing much happens, it becomes a running joke and then, boom and its not a joke anymore, its the new reality.

A data point: today I was talking with a friend who works in a company making a 3D software. Apparently since last year they lost most of their clients to Blender, which used to be the butt of so many 3D software jokes.

Re: 2022 was the year of Linux on the Desktop?

#180

If I'm honest, Linux is...exhausting. I'm technically proficient, but even the "user-friendly" Ubuntu is a pain to work with. Something as simple as changing the mouse scroll speed requires creating a bash script. Software updates rarely work. There are random crashes that take hours to fix. I'm about to give in the towel and get a Mac. I can get it to work because the terminal doesn't scare me, but there's no way I…

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