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Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

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Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#31

Post by hartator »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #22

I've been using a Google Pixelbook (their flagship Chromebook product) as my main development machine for the past couple months, and I love it. The ChromeOS "Crostini" project allows you to run a full Debian instance in a container, but with the other benefits of a Chromebook and ChromeOS. Each new release of ChromeOS brings better enhancements to Crostini, e.g. right now backups are manual but a native "one click"…

Oh cool. My 2017 MacBook Pro is just getting the stuck key issue. Is performance wise the chrome browser faster than the Windows one?

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#32

Post by cossovich »

I've been using Ubuntu LTS versions since 12.04 on Thinkpad T and X series laptops and I'm a very happy camper - out of the box Ubuntu doesn't suck for me, it "just works". I moved from OS X on latest Apple laptops to make my daily job (interaction design + web development) more productive (e.g. workstation running the same OS as servers, tooling etc) but now it's my preferred OS + hardware combo from a end-user perspective. I have to switch back to an Apple machine for testing and pairing with co-workers at least once a week and between the new Apple laptop keyboard, the random reboots (awaking from sleep), shitty web font rendering and intermittent errors relating to Apple ID, I don't miss it. I really loved OS X quite a few years ago but between the latest hardware (don't get me started about cords/dongles needed for a 2018 Macbook Air) and growing list of OS X quirks I'm always happy to return to Ubuntu 18.04 on my Thinkpad T450s.

I think many of the points raised in the article affect people making desktop software for Linux rather than end-users of desktop Linux. It seems like a global list of issues for the entire desktop Linux ecosystem - which is totally valid but I think a more accurate title of the article might be "Why developing desktop software on Linux sucks" or "Why creating a desktop Linux distribution sucks" because I think my desktop Linux setup rocks!

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#34

Post by michaelmrose »

keithnoizu wrote: post #14
smlacy wrote: post #9

How about a list of all the things that really work great? I've been using Linux on the desktop for nearly 20 years and I'll have to say it's fantastic, despite the occasional headache, which seems to be at a far less frequency than other major desktop operating systems.

hard to enjoy the parts that work great when you have a corrupted grub boot loader, nonfunctional networking and graphic driver issues.

Corrupted grub sounds like a hard drive failure. Regarding nic and graphics drivers it is possible to find hardware with good hardware support it is probably impossible for volunteers to fix all possible issues with closed source or proprietary software/hardware. Consider choosing accordingly.

If you want someone to select the hardware for linux compatibility consider buying hardware that comes with linux.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#35

Post by magicalhippo »

I've been running KDE Neon on NUC for a while, and Kubuntu before that since KDE 3.5 days. But still it's not ready to become my primary desktop.

The main issue for me is RDP-like (not VNC-like) remote desktop experience. Without that I'm not even gonna try.

I mean the kind where I check my desktop before I leave for work, resume the session remotely from work (when compiling or whatever), and pick up when I get home. With performance which makes one forget it's a remote session, and bidir clipboard sharing.

So until then, Windows on the desktop it is. I can always run Linux on the NUC or in a VM.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#36

Post by mixedCase »

hartator wrote: post #21

The only thing about Linux I never really like is the package system. Like if you want to install a new software, you usually don’t get .exe or .dmg. If you are lucky, the developer or some fans took the time to package it. Then you can do ‘apt-get’ ‘yum’ or ‘pacman’. However, packages got stalled and sometimes don’t match the original author intent. You can also build from sources, but it takes time and you have to…

Between Flatpak and AppImages we have good solutions for both people who prefer package managers as well as people who prefer a single file that can be run on double click.

As far as solutions goes, this problem is solved. They just need to be better known by software distributors.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#38

Post by Octoth0rpe »

> Android is not Linux

I really, _really_ hate this statement. Android meets the only definition of 'linux' that matters IMO: it runs on a linux kernel. That's linux, full stop.

That said, I do find myself agreeing with most of the points listed there. I just not sure I'd call them 'linux on the desktop' issues per se. They're wayland/xorg issues, deb/rpm/flatpack/snap issues, pulseaudio/alsa issues, gtk/qt issues, etc. None of which are tied to the linux kernel. The fact that all of those technologies can and do run on bsd kernels (er, maybe not alsa).

Android is linux. Chromeos is linux. The issues above are really issues with the free/libre desktop distributions, mostly not linux per se.

....maybe I'm just a pedant on this issue.

Re: Linux Problems on the Desktop (2018)

#39

Post by hackits »

0xb100db1ade wrote: post #10

What I get out of this is that while each of these issues may be individually dismissed, they together make for a very "non-premium" experience. I use linux myself, but when people I know try it out, they immediately leave after encountering problems with audio, dpi scaling, etc

It's open source you could spend your time fixing the issues and collaborating with other source project's to bring a better unified experience for users for Linux.

Yeah..... you've got `more` important things to do.

Linux have all-ways been a hobbiest project. It your mindset when going into it.

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