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I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

shalithasuranga.medium.com

31–40 of 114 posts

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#31
post #8

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine a few years ago. This is my second attempt. There are still some annoyances I run into, the biggest being that the dock regularly disappears after sleep. How would I ever set my parents up on something where even the most basic features require fixes like this https://leimao.github.io/blog/Ubuntu-Dock-Disappear/ ?

Lets not pretend that your parents will be able to fix any obscure Windows issues either.

I put my dad on Ubuntu about 10 years ago and never looked back. I do 100x less support than I had to do when he was on Windows. Windows was a malware shit show back then, but I have no interest in trying to switch him back to Windows again.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#32

>>Windows 10 needs at least 8GB physical memory to run the operating system properly Define "properly" - I'm running Win 10 2004 on 1GB of ram and it's absolutely fine. Maybe the author is confusing "need" with "will use all available ram to prefetch".

You are either modifying Windows 10, using nothing inside of it post boot, or you are missing a zero after the one.

No, regular x86 Windows 10. 32 bit version minimum requirement is exactly 1GB of ram and all functionality is there. It only uses about 700MB when running, leaving enough memory to use it like a normal computer.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#33
Quote1: "For example, just compare the file manager application on both Ubuntu and Windows."

Both defaults are crap. I use Total Commander / Double Commander on Win/Lin.

Quote2: "Linux still has a few (~2%) market share in the general-purpose users' segment compared to Windows. Therefore, there are not so many malicious programs that target Linux users"

Ah yeah, the famous security through obscurity. I think I prefer a battle hardened OS instead of one kept in an ivory tower. But that's not actually true. As a freelancer I use them all, and I know Linux is actually more battle hardened due to majority of cloud infrastructure running it. Which means Linux nowadays is way more under attack than Windows. Except the article's author is looking with horse blinders at the situation.

Conclusion - crappy article, not worth of a place atop of HN.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#34

>>Windows 10 needs at least 8GB physical memory to run the operating system properly Define "properly" - I'm running Win 10 2004 on 1GB of ram and it's absolutely fine. Maybe the author is confusing "need" with "will use all available ram to prefetch".

Windows 10 in 1 GB? Can you tell me your experience on browsing the web on that?

Yeah, of course - it works fine in Edge as long as you keep to 1-2 tabs max. Running in idle uses about 700MB ram so 300MB is enough to work with. The other things I do with this are running the Netflix app to watch movies and run the Windows 10 Minecraft client - both run smoothly.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#35
post #8

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine a few years ago. This is my second attempt. There are still some annoyances I run into, the biggest being that the dock regularly disappears after sleep. How would I ever set my parents up on something where even the most basic features require fixes like this https://leimao.github.io/blog/Ubuntu-Dock-Disappear/ ?

I've been using Ubuntu 20.04 since it's release now (a few months?) and my biggest gripe has been bluetooth connectivity and fixing updating issues (gpg keys, no releases, etc.)

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#36
post #19

Slight opposite take on the state of linux vs windows is here - https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linux-year-of-dissatisfa... . I unfortunately agree with a lot of what he says (this after using linux either a primary or secondary desktop OS for over 23 years) have kind of the same fatigue. It really saddens, this current state of the linux desktop.

The problem that I see with this review is he keeps jumping distros (and sticking to ubuntu based distros). Instead of sticking to one and documenting his issues/fixes. It seems like he would be better served by having more spartan install and customizing it from there.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#38
post #11

>>Windows 10 needs at least 8GB physical memory to run the operating system properly Define "properly" - I'm running Win 10 2004 on 1GB of ram and it's absolutely fine. Maybe the author is confusing "need" with "will use all available ram to prefetch".

What's the catch? have you disabled everything? There is no way a few apps run on Windows 10 with 1 GB of ram.

No, just stock normal 32bit windows 10. Can browse web using edge, watch movies, play some games. Yeah you're not going to run visual studio on that but I've got a different machine for work.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#39
post #24
post #8

I switched to Ubuntu on my main machine a few years ago. This is my second attempt. There are still some annoyances I run into, the biggest being that the dock regularly disappears after sleep. How would I ever set my parents up on something where even the most basic features require fixes like this https://leimao.github.io/blog/Ubuntu-Dock-Disappear/ ?

I don't want to start a distro ware here but... Ubuntu is really opinionated about the UX and if you want to change or fix anything you have to get kind of hacky. Sometimes when I woke my computer of from sleep it would ignore the keyboard and you had to use the mouse to click and slide the screen upward as if it were a tablet. Multiple workspaces only worked on the main monitor, side monitors would only show Workspa…

I second Mint. Have used it for a decade on my main dev machine. Only now have I turned to Win 10 and WSL for my main work and I've got to say: it's not bad. And it pretty much just works.

Re: I switched to Linux after using Windows for 10 years

#40
I love Linux, but it's still got a long ways to go before becoming an reliable desktop OS. For most people they could easily use it. However the moment they gotta hop in terminal kills it for them. Linux is great if you know how to fix your problem or look in the right direction.

My main beef with it is driver support. It's far better than it was 10 years ago but nobody wants to be dealing with that. It's annoying. I can deal with program crashes or some minor feature not working right. I can't deal with being hindered due to no drivers.

Linux will always just be a tool to me and nothing more. It's a great fleshed out fully customizable tool. But it is hardly what it needs to be before widespread adoption will occur.

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