Linux is good now • Hacker News Board

Re: Linux is good now

#41

Post by azangru » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

Fronzie wrote: post #14

savolai wrote: post #5

Linux desktops have felt flaky for me for a few years now. I’m trying to figure out how much of that is bad choices vs real problems. Ubuntu’s default desktop felt unstable in a macOS VM. Dual-booting on a couple of HP laptops slowed to a crawl after installing a few desktop apps, apparently because they pulled in background services. What surprised me was how quickly the system became unpleasant to use without any o…

With debian and KDE (both personal preference), but no snap or flatpak, it works wonderfully. Power/sleep-management has become better than a default windows install. All hardware, including the fingerprint sensor, just works.

Could you share the model of your laptop?

Re: Linux is good now

#42

Post by desireco42 » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

I get people are tired of Year of Linux on Desktop, but I feel like last year it actually started happening for real. Mostly due to Arch which is not what I ever expected.

On one hand we have Steam that will make 1000s of games become available on easy to use platform based on Arch.

For developers, we have Omarchy, which makes experience much more streamlined and very pleasant and productive. I moved both my desktop and laptop to Omarchy and have one Mac laptop, this is really good experience, not everything is perfect, but when I switch to Mac after Omarchy, I often discover how not easy is to use Mac, how many clicks it takes to do something simple.

I think both Microsoft and Apple need some serious competition and again, came from Arch who turned out to be more stable and serious then Ubuntu.

Re: Linux is good now

#43

Post by GnarfGnarf » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

I'm a Windows/macOS developer, but I strongly feel that all national governments need to convert to Linux, for strategic sovereignty.

(My customer demographic is seniors & casual users).

Re: Linux is good now

#44

Post by WillAdams » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

baby wrote: post #34

What pc would someone recommend as someone who just wants to toy around and dont necessarily need the power?

Grab one of the old Windows 10 machines which are showing up from corporations upgrading to Windows 11.

Re: Linux is good now

#45

Post by sporkxrocket » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

ofalkaed wrote: post #24

lorenzohess wrote: post #4

2026 YOTLD?

The personal desktop has fallen in relevance enough for that to be possible. The goalposts moved, now linux needs to have phone, tablet, and laptop with smooth effortless integration between them all. I recently switched to using a thumb drive to transfer files to and from my phone/tablet, I became demoralized when faced with getting it all setup.

Android is Linux, so it does have a phone, tablet and many other form factors like television.

Re: Linux is good now

#46

Post by pamcake » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

savolai wrote: post #5

Linux desktops have felt flaky for me for a few years now. I’m trying to figure out how much of that is bad choices vs real problems. Ubuntu’s default desktop felt unstable in a macOS VM. Dual-booting on a couple of HP laptops slowed to a crawl after installing a few desktop apps, apparently because they pulled in background services. What surprised me was how quickly the system became unpleasant to use without any o…

[dead]

Re: Linux is good now

#47

Post by system2 » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

Linux is not suitable for the average user. I use Xubuntu on all my old computers, but I am 100% sure a normie would not tolerate the tedium of it. People want shiny icons with animations and a bunch of garbage on their computers to make them feel they are doing something. Linux is too static for that.

If I have an issue with an application or if I want an application, I must use the terminal. I can't imagine a Mac user bothering to learn it. Linux is for people who want to maximize the use of their computer without being spied on and without weird background processes. Linux won't die, but it won't catch Windows or Mac in the next 5 decades. People are too lazy for it. Forget about learning. I bet you $100, 99% of the people in the street didn't even see Linux in their lives, nor even heard of it. It is not because of marketing, it is because people who tried it returned to Windows or Mac after deciding it is too hard to learn for them to install a driver or an application.

Re: Linux is good now

#48

Post by Paracompact » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

MostlyStable wrote: post #9

It is good, and for 99+% of use cases for 90+% of users (who mostly use nothing but the browser), they will hardly even notice a difference, besides the lack of obnoxious, instrusive MS behavior. However, despite really, really wanting to switch (and having it installed on my laptop), I keep finding things that don't quite work right that are preventing me from switching some of my machines. My living room PC, which…

I just switched to Linux. It's a great gig, and I'm actively encouraging everyone I know still infected with the malware known as Windows 11 to switch.

But some of the drawbacks really aren't edge cases. Apparently there is still no way for me to have access to most creative apps (e.g. Adobe, Affinity) with GPU acceleration. It's irritating that so few Linux install processes are turnkey the way they are for Windows/Mac, with errors and caveats that cost less-than-expert users hours of experimenting and mucking with documentation.

I could go on, but it really feels like a bad time to be a casual PC user these days, because Windows is an inhospitable swamp, and Linux still has some sharp edges.

Re: Linux is good now

#49

Post by aborsy » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:25 PM UTC

Linux desktop is amazing. Coming from Debian, I installed Windows and had to quickly purge it from my hardware! Super bloated, slow, constantly phoned some CC center, automatically connected to OneDrive, …

Debian is a breath of fresh air in comparison. Totally quiet and snappy.

Re: Linux is good now

#50

Post by nodesocket » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 9:25 PM UTC

I have a Windows 11 PC strictly for gaming. Nearly every-time I interact with Windows it infuriates me with garbage code, Microsoft business BS and anti-privacy. I’d love to switch but has Linux gaming solved the anti-cheat requirement issue? Do Epic and EA games work on Linux?

I also play a decent amount of Flight Simulator 2024 and losing that is almost a non-starter for switching.