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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

#251

Post by rpdillon »

decide1000 wrote: post #61

I am on Linux for 26 years. Last 5 years I run PopOs! on my desktop. User friendly and stable, Ubuntu based.

Similarly, I picked up Linux in 1997 and have used it as my primary since 1999. I've distro hopped through probably a dozen or so distros, but ultimately landed on PopOS for most of my machines, similarly to you. These threads are always somewhat disheartening, hearing everybody say they tried to switch but couldn't because of one issue or another. I guess I've just learned to work through it.

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

#252

Post by layer8 »

hnlmorg wrote: post #46
INTPenis wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No libre office suite will ever be on par with Microsoft proprietary options. It's a constant race of keeping up with features, using mostly unpaid volunteer developers. I've used Linux for 25+ years and my reaction is always to do my best with the options I have, but in those cases when it's not enough I just say "I'm sorry but I can't edit this document" or "sorry but some of the formatting was lost when I saved th…

> It's a constant race of keeping up with features, using mostly unpaid volunteer developers. What new features are Microsoft bringing out that are that critical for LibreOffice et al to catch up with? I can’t think of much which I use that wasn’t already available in Office 95 which was released 30 years ago. Aside from OOXML (which isn’t nearly as open as the name suggests) and the ribbon bar (which i personally ha…

Excel had tons of new and useful features over the past years.

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

#253

Post by anthk »

rdm_blackhole wrote: post #240
Eupolemos wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

>No match

The EU can just kick out the US bases and forbid Mastercard and Visa working here. ASML? Good luck for Intel; I'm sure AMD would have its asses already covered and found some alternative in Asia.

Watch the Dow Jones collape in minutes.

On GAFAM, there are alternatives, and libre software it's libre for the whole world, not just the US.

Software it's easily replaceable except for die hard industrial DOS (where FreeDOS experts would cover) and some special XP/w9x era machinery. European hardware, the industrial one... there's no alternative in the US. No one.

If the US army steps on Greenland in order to seize it, it's the end of the American economy.

China and Russia? These two should watch the Bering currents and South Asian quakes first; the upcoming ones will be a nightmare due to ice meltings.

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

#254

Post by fuzzy2 »

odie5533 wrote: post #236
flexagoon wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Doesn't matter though. Every single one of these "casual" users I know has a terribly outdated device with a broken battery that doesn't even charge anymore.

And I agree: if it works, why replace it?

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

#255

Post by STKFLT »

keyshapegeo99 wrote: post #134

For both ideological and practical reasons, I'd love to switch. If I were a desktop computing person, I'd already have done so years ago. Alas, I exclusively use laptops - as I work a great deal while travelling. I do not wish to have to carry around a mouse with me wherever I go with my portable computer. If any Linux distro manages to replicate even 80% of the smoothness and functionality of a Mac trackpad experien…

> If any Linux distro manages to replicate even 80% of the smoothness and functionality of a Mac trackpad experience, I'll switch

I find Niri to be a great WM for trackpad use if you are amenable to a scrollable-tiling workflow. All gestures are inertial like MacOS and to my fingers they often feel snappier and more natural than their macOS equivalents. Scrolling is consistent and natural, though which apps have inertial scrolling is definitely hit-or-miss. It perfectly recognizes three and four finger gestures. PikaOS (debian-based) and CachyOS (arch-based) both offer Niri as an option if you want to give it a try.

For context, my experience is on a 4 year old thinkpad which admittedly is probably best case for driver support but is definitely not the best touchpad hardware on the market.

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

#256

Post by [deleted] »

oamaok wrote: post #183
reactordev wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reaper is just as good as FL Studio or Logic Pro. VSTs are really your biggest hurdle. Depending on how they are compiled, they may rely on platform specific code. Most big plugin makers have VSTs for all platforms though and your license works on all. The pathway is there should you choose, one day. Linux is quite good now. That being said, I know a lot of niche plugins that some guy wrote that only works on windows…

> VSTs are really your biggest hurdle. And that is unfortunately the place where I spent my big bucks. I do however use Linux for my work, and have for more than a decade. If all the plugins (plus FL Studio, I've tried Reaper but it might be not for me) worked, I'd switch my personal desktop in a heartbeat. It's honestly the only thing locking me to Win10. Maybe I'll try a Mac through work (we get to keep the machine…

[deleted]

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

#257

Post by ordu »

> After a Windows update (that I didn't choose to do) wiped that partition and, consequently, the Linux installation

WHAT? How people could tolerate a software that wipes partitions without asking? I mean, I can see that it can be handy if OS managed partitions by itself without asking a user what to do, but if it leads to removing user created partitions, it is a no go.

A long time ago I tried to install Mandrake Linux. In the installation process I started to change partition table and wiped it all, due to a fact that Mandrake Linux used its own custom made partition managed written in Perl that applied changes to a partition table as they arrive. I was used to fdisk, that accumulate changes and allows to review them before applying, the behavior of Mandrake's partition manages was completely alien for me. It was the first and the last time I touched Mandrake or its successor Mandriva or anything with "Mand" in front, even despite the fact that it was my mistake, I should've learned more about the partition manager before using it. It was hard (or maybe impossible) to do in an installer, but it is not an excuse. It was the last time I used installers to install Linux, I don't trust them anymore.

But people are tolerating windows that can wipe a partition when you even do not touch them. I can empathize the author ditching Windows.

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

#258

Post by Eupolemos »

rdm_blackhole wrote: post #240
Eupolemos wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

No, we know it would be the breaking-point for not acting. It will be a shooting war if the US tries it.

We don't need to annihilate the US forces, just make the US bleed enough to rethink this stupid shit.

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

#259

Post by free652 »

WD-42 wrote: post #232
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 woul…

debian 13 is using kernel 6.12 vs ubuntu 24 6.14. I don't think it's a kernel issue, and more that amd drivers aren't there yet for the new hardware.

running the latest also is problematic, i.e. a new kernel upgrade that blows thing up.

and that's the main difference between linux and windows, windows just works, osx just works, linux is a minefield of different quirks.

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

#260

Post by the__alchemist »

The_President wrote: post #152
cubano wrote: post #137

I just turned 60. My first computer was a 4.77MHz IBM PC with an 8088 processor, two floppy drives, and that magnificent mechanical keyboard IBM shipped in those days. My father, clearly receiving excellent financial advice at the time, picked up a 300bps Hayes modem for the princely sum of $599. CompuServe, here I come! For context, this was early 1982. That 599 would cost 1,900 today — still a lot for a modem, but…

> Six months ago, I decided it was time. "This is the year of the Linux desktop on my machine," I declared, and I meant it. I installed over 20 of the most popular distributions from DistroWatch and used each one for at least two weeks. I was on a mission to rediscover the joy of computing. Twenty distributions in six months, using each one for at least two weeks. Aside from the overlap, the post claims experience wi…

> but a lot of the blame here is placed on Linux without specifics of hardware of actual distributions used.

I don't read blame in this; it's a description of his or her experience.

> Reads formulated like the typical narrative meant to deride Linux with surface level anecdotes.

I don't see this. It is possible for others to have different experiences and preferences without theirs being derision.

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