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Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

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Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#331

Post by 3np »

alphachloride wrote: post #132

I am a sample size of 1. For me, the inconveniences of using linux are far greater than the inconveniences of using windows. This article is targeted at the developer community mostly. As a programmer, I cannot recall being hindered by file name conventions, un-resizeable dialog boxes, bug trackers etc., as much I have been inconvenienced on linux by poor driver support, and regularly dropping to command line for con…

When was the last time you gave it a serious try? I've been Linux only for several years now and things have stabilized a lot in past years.

Ubuntu's kind of lost its way recently though (snaps/apt mess, went a tad bit early with pushing Wayland as default). The derivatives like Mint, Manjaro, PopOS and Zorin seem to be the way to go for the average user.

The one thing that might trip you up is (these days rare) hardware incompatibilities. Dell and Lenovo (the only personal experience I have) are great when it comes to laptops. For integrated GPU, Intel Just Works; nVidia and AMD can occasionally require a bit of hassle depending on chipset and kernel. Discrete GPUs I don't have any recent experience but the word on the street seems to be that if you're fine with proprietary drivers both nVidia and AMD/ATI works flawlessly while FOSS drivers can be hit or miss.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#332

Post by mnahkies »

hanklazard wrote: post #261
forgingahead wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 to this -- invested in a desktop earlier this year to tinker more with ML projects, and dual-booted Windows and Linux (Ubuntu 18 LTS) on separate SSDs with separate HDs for data storage for each system. I have spent 95% of my time in Linux, and only get into Windows for a game or two that I haven't bothered to figure out a Windows VM setup for. Definitely recommend Linux for those looking for dev machine alternati…

re: linux laptops, I'm writing this from one of the new Lenovo Carbon X1 models that comes pre-installed with Ubuntu. I prefer pop!_os (except for the name) so I installed that when I first got the machine, and it's worked with no issues. I've had it for a few weeks and zero complaints. The fingerprint reader even works with linux, which wasn't the case on my previous gen CX1 laptops. Let me also just say that I am b…

I setup Debian on an old desktop for my mum a few years back, and she was able to use it happily with no issues or support from me - for the average person that just wants a web browser and some word processing it works great!

When it comes to development I find it immensely better, and found that it has also made me much more confident when I poke around on servers - no context switching between my local environment and remote.

The only thing I miss is Adobe lightroom, but I don't do so much photography these days so it's not a deal breaker

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#333

Post by RMPR »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #235
sysrpl wrote: post #44

Linux runs better on both new and older hardware. Better as in programs open faster, the file manager opens faster, the task manager opens faster. Everything uses less memory and less CPU cycles. Everything is snappier. Linux users don't have to worry nearly as much about malware, trojans, viruses, exploits. It's more secure. Linux distros generally don't annoy users with stealthy automatic forced updates. Linux dist…

Dell XPS 17 from 2020. Sound doesn’t work. Thee we drivers exist. For the first time in over a decade I had to install drivers manually. And don’t even start with hibernate or even just waking up. I’ve never rebooted a laptop so many times. And what’s the deal with flatpak? A screen shot app is not 700mb? WTF?

It really surprises me since there's a developer edition coming natively with Ubuntu (it only exists for the XPS 13 though). Is the underlying hardware that different?

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#334

Post by IceWreck »

Thorrez wrote: post #301
pmontra wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mv image.png program.exe mv program.exe sound.mp3 mv sound.mp3 text.pdf Same file, always a PNG despite the extensions I can attach to it.

Sure. But I think of the file extension as a way to tell the OS which program I want a file to open with. In Windows when I see a .mp3 file I know which program will open when I double click on it. In Linux it's a mystery. I like my computer to behave in a predictable manner. In Windows extensions have a meaning. In Linux, why even bother having extensions? In neither OS does the extension tell you about the content…

> In Linux, why even bother having extensions

While the file extension can be lying maliciously or can be just plain incorrect in 1% cases, its informative for the user in the other 99% cases

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#335

Post by 3np »

vel0city wrote: post #258
hossbeast wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't buy/use an OEM license for windows on a box you build yourself can you? The last windows machine I put together, I paid > $100 for Windows itself.

You can use OEM licenses on Windows boxes you build yourself. The main difference with an OEM license and a retail license is that OEM licenses do not come with as much support. The idea is the system builder is supposed to provide the first level of support, while retail licenses are supported by Microsoft directly.

Except that's a breach of the EULA and therefore comparable to piracy.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#336

Post by g_p »

3np wrote: post #331
alphachloride wrote: post #132

I am a sample size of 1. For me, the inconveniences of using linux are far greater than the inconveniences of using windows. This article is targeted at the developer community mostly. As a programmer, I cannot recall being hindered by file name conventions, un-resizeable dialog boxes, bug trackers etc., as much I have been inconvenienced on linux by poor driver support, and regularly dropping to command line for con…

When was the last time you gave it a serious try? I've been Linux only for several years now and things have stabilized a lot in past years. Ubuntu's kind of lost its way recently though (snaps/apt mess, went a tad bit early with pushing Wayland as default). The derivatives like Mint, Manjaro, PopOS and Zorin seem to be the way to go for the average user. The one thing that might trip you up is (these days rare) hard…

On the discrete GPU front, most AMD users will be using FOSS drivers that are built into the kernel, plus the standard open source Mesa.

In fact, AMD actively recommend you use the open source ones. I think the community radv vulkan driver also outperforms anything proprietary they offer.

Nvidia still requires proprietary out-of-tree drivers and causes breakage every so often, but AMD is just like Intel integrated graphics now. Never tried it with an AMD APU, but I would hope it would be the same with the open source amdgpu driver.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#337

Post by 3np »

g_p wrote: post #336
3np wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was the last time you gave it a serious try? I've been Linux only for several years now and things have stabilized a lot in past years. Ubuntu's kind of lost its way recently though (snaps/apt mess, went a tad bit early with pushing Wayland as default). The derivatives like Mint, Manjaro, PopOS and Zorin seem to be the way to go for the average user. The one thing that might trip you up is (these days rare) hard…

On the discrete GPU front, most AMD users will be using FOSS drivers that are built into the kernel, plus the standard open source Mesa. In fact, AMD actively recommend you use the open source ones. I think the community radv vulkan driver also outperforms anything proprietary they offer. Nvidia still requires proprietary out-of-tree drivers and causes breakage every so often, but AMD is just like Intel integrated gr…

I did have some issues with getting proper utilization of a 3000-series APU on Debian stable. Eventually got it working but it did requires mesa > 20.1 and some specific version/params in kernel (can't recall exactly what did it).

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#338

Post by RMPR »

scarygliders wrote: post #228
Anon4Now wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because then you have to use C++. That alone is a big turnoff to a lot of developers.

Nope, you can also use Python, like I do with my 3rd party Elite: Dangerous application: https://captainslog.scarygliders.net/captains-log-2/ All written in Python, recently moved to Qt5 and PySide2, runs on Windows and when I figure out packaging for Linux (probably AppImage) will release it for Linux as well. I believe there are Qt bindings for other languages too. So you're not stuck with C++ :)

I like that UI! Out of curiosity, do you use a kind of wysiwyg (a la qt designer) to make your interfaces, or do you write Python code directly? Coming from JavaFX using scenebuilder to design UIs, l tried Pyside2 some years ago, never managed to find a way to make it work with a wysiwyg the way I am used to with JavaFX. Writing and styling widgets by hand is painfully slow.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#339

Post by aliceryhl »

TylerE wrote: post #230
sergeykish wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Linux user the article does not resonate with me. The actual points are discarded points # Linux is more stable and reliable. I've reinstalled Windows so many times, never reinstalled Linux. System is separate from the user, I can remove all user configurations and it would work like new. # Linux is more secure and private. I have so many packages, they are free and safe. I've tried Windows recently, have to insta…

I have literally not needed to reinstall Windows in close to a decade. You couldn't pay me to put up with the massively inferior environment of any of the Linux DEs at this point. They are all, in varying ways, completely miserable to use. Windows 10 is actually a really solid OS, and virtualization makes it so easy to spin up a Linux VM if I really need it.

My Linux computer uses a tiling-based window manager, and damn, I could never go back. The workspaces concept they use is infinitely superior to alt-tab.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#340

Post by danmur »

heavyset_go wrote: post #238
rubyn00bie wrote: post #214

I just moved to Linux as my primary OS; been fucking great. 11/10 Overall, everything seems to "just work" at least as well as on MacOS and is not quite (for me) as endlessly frustrating as Windows. Gaming has also been effortless and honestly just the most delightful surprise about the whole thing. I can write code AND play games... on the same machine... and it's running Linux?! I would've lost that bet ten years a…

> Really, most modern Linux distros are pretty god damn nice. I agree, and what really sold me was Plasma Desktop, as someone that couldn't stand KDE 3 & 4. It used to be that GNOME was the desktop environment you could turn into a Windows or macOS clone, but it looks like that switched with GNOME 3 and KDE 5. I have Plasma Desktop set up[1] to take advantage of my macOS muscle memory when it comes to the GUI and key…

I'll have to try KDE again, I always found it really messy and disorganised (but that was many years ago).

It's really hard not to have some bias, but I used OSX for work for about five years, currently been using Windows at work for about two years, and I still find Gnome to be the most usable and aesthetically pleasing desktop by far.

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