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I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

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Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#231

Post by SecretDreams »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #228

Frankly I'd love to switch from Windows to Linux. But it's the applications. My last attempt to switch got hung up on a few things (in order if importance, probably): - Quicken. I have 30 years of personal financial data in quicken. I'm not completely opposed to migrating to something else, but I haven't seen a good substitute. I'd probably have to learn double entry bookkeeping, and I'm unsure if other software coul…

> - Quicken. I have 30 years of personal financial data in quicken. I'm not completely opposed to migrating to something else,

Genuinely curious - outside of personal satisfaction/scratching the itch to store data, does personal financial data dating 30 years ago serve any practical purpose?

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#232

Post by WD-42 »

free652 wrote: post #194

I switched to Debian/Cinnamon few weeks ago. I am fairly good with the server sides of things, but the desktop a little painful. Screens dont wake up properly, sometimes only one screens wakes up, sometimes one screen wakes up with a wrong resolution. The usual linux desktop problems where nothing really works and finding a solution is very hard to many different permutations of hardware / os / kernel / drivers / win…

You are using a distro that is generally very behind on software versions and doesn’t bundle non free software (Debian) on a laptop with brand new hardware. Additionally, you are running a DE (cinnamon) which is really designed for a specific distro (Mint) which you are not using.

If you want stuff to just work you might want to try using a more up to date distro with a mainstream desktop. Stock Ubuntu or Fedora would probably work fine for you.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#233

Post by odie5533 »

zkmon wrote: post #219

I never understood the Linux guys. All that matters to a common user is the user interface and whether their apps and games run or not. They don't care about telemetry, architecture etc. The damn thing should just work and it should allow familiar interactions. I have tried switching to Linux several times over the decades. It required many compromises on the interface and compatibilities. Why is it so difficult to s…

This is why I recommend macOS to everyone. It's the only OS that is truly polished and where you don't have to worry about viruses and everything just works. mac could be better, but it's still leading the pack. People don't want the OS to become their hobby.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#234

Post by quaffapint »

free652 wrote: post #194

I switched to Debian/Cinnamon few weeks ago. I am fairly good with the server sides of things, but the desktop a little painful. Screens dont wake up properly, sometimes only one screens wakes up, sometimes one screen wakes up with a wrong resolution. The usual linux desktop problems where nothing really works and finding a solution is very hard to many different permutations of hardware / os / kernel / drivers / win…

This has been my issue as well - screens waking or not waking up. On latest Linux Mint and everything is great except when switching back and forth inputs between my personal and work laptop (running Windows), I have to do it twice going to my personal laptop or else the external monitor won't show.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#235

Post by zelphirkalt »

samiv wrote: post #189

As a long time Linux user I started with Red Hat 7.2. Then moved on to Slackware from there to Ububtu and finally to ArchLinux. While Linux and the user space ecosystem has come a long way there are still plenty of sharp edges and anyone planning to use Linux long term must be able to figure some issues that will inevitably happen sooner or later when some update/system upgrade happens. Even though I consider myself…

I don't think I have ever had a system upgrade break my system on any Debian derived or Fedora I used. Also upgrades are not forced upon you like they are in Windows, with its dark patterns nudging you to upgrade.

I am also using GNU/Linux on laptops just fine, and the only issue is with battery life.

I think hardware-wise one needs to do some reading before buying, to check what is supported and what is not well supported. Other than that, I don't have issues. But then again I am also a strict on or off guy, who does not use things like hibernation or standby or whatever at all, so maybe I am dodging many bullets there.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#236

Post by odie5533 »

flexagoon wrote: post #227
iinnPP wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As another anecdote in favor of Universal Blue's approach. My mother (who can't use a computer but to check email or regular websites) has been swapped to Aurora and has nothing but positive feedback. Been 90 days with zero issues.

To be fair, the people who barely use the computer are the easiest to move to Linux. As Mental Outlaw said, "to a normie, an OS is just a bootloader for Google Chrome". If all you do is check emails, it doesn't really matter what OS you have installed. Switching to Linux hasn't been an issue for those users for a long time - it's usually gamers, users of professional software, or IT people with deeply established wor…

Laptop battery life suffers greatly on Linux. When their Google Chrome bootloader is out of battery all day, it matters which OS they installed.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#237

Post by cosmic_cheese »

anta40 wrote: post #96
everdrive wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone will build as nice hardware as Apple anytime soon, so I think if that's your primary requirement then any other choice will be a compromise. I don't really like Apple, but it must must acknowledged that even a few basic things (the monitor turning on immediately as I open the screen, the touchpad quality, etc.) seem totally elusive to other manufacturers. Apple's pretty imperfect, and it's sad to…

I'm pretty sure Apple is unavoidable if you work as a mobile app developer. I mean, no iOS SDK for Windows/Linux. If your work area is anything other than it, perhaps the Mac isn't necessary.

While not strictly required, for me macOS has been less cantankerous for running Android Studio on compared to Windows/Linux too.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#238

Post by Aurornis »

adontz wrote: post #86

These articles... I'm not sure who are the target audience, because I am definitely not and I don't know anyone who is. Specific OS is not the important, anything with modern KDE is good enough to replace Windows 10/11. But do I (and all my colleagues) need Microsoft Office (Word, Excel at least) and/or Drawing software (Adobe or something) and/or god forbid Visual Studio 2026, and some other corporate software to ma…

I have a Mac laptop, a Linux workstation, and a Windows workstation for different purposes and I use them all. I agree. Every time someone says they switched OSes and they don’t miss anything, it’s revealed that 90-100% of their work was in generic outlets like the web browser, terminal, e-mail, and Slack.

To be fair, that could cover a lot of people.

In my experience watching people make the switch in the real world, the failure point is either the last 10% of software that they actually need, or the first time they encounter some Linux quirk that they didn’t expect. Then it reaches a point where there isn’t really any upside for people who aren’t ideologically motivated and who don’t get triggered by Windows 11 design choices or occasional pop-ups.

I have some specific engineering software that must run on Windows, period. I’ve gotten flak from the software engineers at every company whenever it’s discovered that my second machine is Windows, but outside of software devs nobody else questions it. Using Windows for work is perfectly understood by most other disciplines

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#239

Post by tmtvl »

In 2012 I borked my Windows 7 install by messing with the registry. I then used an Ubuntu live disk to back up my data. Then I reinstalled Windows 7, but when I couldn't access the internet because I hadn't installed the ethernet driver I had a thought: 'that Ubuntu thing didn't need me to install an ethernet driver to access the internet'. So I decided to install Ubuntu instead and I've been using GNU/Linux exclusively since then. I switched away from Ubuntu when the Amazon lens controversy happened and eventually wound up bouncing between Arch and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

Re: I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too

#240

Post by rdm_blackhole »

Eupolemos wrote: post #203
adontz wrote: post #86

These articles... I'm not sure who are the target audience, because I am definitely not and I don't know anyone who is. Specific OS is not the important, anything with modern KDE is good enough to replace Windows 10/11. But do I (and all my colleagues) need Microsoft Office (Word, Excel at least) and/or Drawing software (Adobe or something) and/or god forbid Visual Studio 2026, and some other corporate software to ma…

Target audience is probably especially anyone not in the US? It is beginning to look a lot like war is brewing between Europe and the US over Greenland. US media working super hard to make an "acquisition" sound reasonable and "FreedomTM".

I don't believe a "war" is brewing.

If and that is a big if, Trump were to get Greenland, there is not much that Europe can do in any case. Maybe a few politicians will go on X/twitter and complain but every country in the EU knows that they are no match for the US military and I am saying that as someone who lives in the EU.

I suppose the EU could go after big US tech companies but since most of Europe's needs are covered by the very same companies, I don't think this would be viable solution either and let's be honest the EU people are not just going to switch to Ubuntu tomorrow morning.

It's unfortunate but it's the reality.

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