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Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

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Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#411
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…

> Linux runs better on both new and older hardware . Seriously asking - Please do suggest a good, powerful laptop and distribution that works issue-free with linux, most specifically:

  1. Zero problems with sleep and resume.

  2. Zero problems with bluetooth or wireless. Please recommend what vendors work well here.

  3. Minimal issues with Slack or Teams.

  4. Error free desktop environment. 

  5. Updates do not break stuff leading to Google searches on how to solve it.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#412

"Most people use Windows on the desktop because it's the default" That's just a stereotype, and that's not true. I keep using Windows (hardened and almost isolated Parallels instance of Windows 7), because Linux has serious lack of software I need. I need fully functional MS Office, including API bindings for data import to Excel, and no, Libre Office Calc does not have even 20% of features I need. Of course, I need…

Most of your arguments are reasonable however they are trending to become weak over time. - Photoshop : your lifetime license is not really lifetime, CS2 servers got shut down recently, Adobe will shut down those servers sooner or later. While you may not find it true for you, for the non professional Gimp is generally good enough. Also the Mac version of Photoshop while having some kinks even for professional use is…

I got your point, but as a developer working on User Privacy products, I consider "software as a service" model personally unacceptable. I do not force anyone into my philosophy, but I will try to keep my offline software functional as long as possible, before maybe I find self-sufficient solution to replace it (like I did with migrating all Evernote documents into Nextcloud).

And again, I emphasized "software of that class" for a reason, because migrating "easy stuff" like productivity tools to Linux/Mac was not a hassle. I'm sure there's ton of new promising modeling solutions, but I can't stop using Enterprise Architect because of literal vendor lock. I use automation and I use code generation, which is implemented through .NET API (not .NET Core), which assumes Windows. However, I suppose, 99% of EA users don't worry it's Windows-only, for many enterprise-class solutions OS is just a wrapper for the software.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#413
post #111

I finally decided to try Linux "for real" (no dual booting) on my laptop. I have used it in the past, but for the first time it truly can be said: The Linux (Gnome) UX is miles ahead of Windows. I genuinely wish I could have Gnome on Windows.

>The Linux (Gnome) UX is miles ahead of Windows. Does it have filepicker thumbnails yet? https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/233

Grid view in the file chooser? In my Ubuntu 20.04 system, it only supports standard list view with preview pane on the right side of the dialog.

Gnome throws a huge chunk of functionalities away in favor of UX on version 3, which alienates most of their power users but make it easier for new users to jump in with their mac-like ui.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#414

"Most people use Windows on the desktop because it's the default" That's just a stereotype, and that's not true. I keep using Windows (hardened and almost isolated Parallels instance of Windows 7), because Linux has serious lack of software I need. I need fully functional MS Office, including API bindings for data import to Excel, and no, Libre Office Calc does not have even 20% of features I need. Of course, I need…

Agree 100%. Lack of industry standards was the problem for Desktop Linux 20 years ago, and still is today. Come to think of it, the biggest alternatives like GIMP and Libre Office (Star Office) were already present in the 90s.

Plug for gnumeric, which was better than libreoffice/openofice/staroffice calc in the 90s and still is today. ssconvert is a nice thing too.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#415
post #325

Linux on desktop used to be great, but does anyone get the sense that it is going downhill? I don't even touch proprietary Nvidia drivers, all my machines are Radeon or Intel GPU and they used to work fine. But currently on Radeon I have to revert back to kernel 4.19 to get sleep to work. On Intel anything newer than 5.6 won't even boot. I don't get it. Maybe kernel devs mostly care about servers and VMs and are lett…

Which distro? That's very weird because most of my drivers problems are usually solved by updating the Kernel.

I’ve tried several distros and every updated kernel up to 5.9. No distro works if it has a kernel newer than 5.6.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#416

Linux on desktop used to be great, but does anyone get the sense that it is going downhill? I don't even touch proprietary Nvidia drivers, all my machines are Radeon or Intel GPU and they used to work fine. But currently on Radeon I have to revert back to kernel 4.19 to get sleep to work. On Intel anything newer than 5.6 won't even boot. I don't get it. Maybe kernel devs mostly care about servers and VMs and are lett…

I have 5.9 kernels running fine on two laptops with intel graphics. Have you investigated what exactly stopped your systems from booting?

It hangs when trying to load the i915 module. CPU goes up to 100% and display goes black. Obviously it works with some, probably most intel GPUs but seems they aren’t bothering to test it with the older ones anymore. There’s a bunch of bug reports about it, so it’s not just me. usually they get closed with some list of voodoo kernel parameters that supposedly fix the problem but none of them fix it for me.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#417
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find myself using my Android phone a lot more when on Linux... just because I have to practically work around some things, because I don't have all day to debug non-essential tasks. For instance, I upgraded Fedora from 32 to 33, and Spotify stopped working. Can this be fixed? I'm absolutely sure it can be fixed. Do I have time? No. I have watched way too many coworkers bomb meetings because of trying to use bluetoo…

I've actually quit using Bluetooth for Zoom meetings on Windows because it has been too unreliable.

Bluetooth and zoom is very unreliable on my work mac laptop as well.

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#418
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Windows has virtual desktops with Win + Alt + Tab to show the options and then you can switch with Win + Alt + Left/Right arrow. Also you can tile your apps in every corner/side you want or size? I use a 43" Dell 4k monitor and it even comes with software (Dell Display Manager) to manage all these options.

Microsoft has revived the good old PowerToys as well. It now includes a FancyZones utility that allows to define zones that windows can automatically snap into while dragging them (while holding a key). It also has a setting to overwrite the Win+Arrow key functionality to move windows between these "fancy zones" instead.

Maybe this is interesting for you?

https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proton makes almost everything playable on linux. Sometimes with worse performance, sometimes with a lot better performance so it balances out.

Just for balance, I use KDE Plasma with an AMD graphics card but almost no games work, even those with a "gold" rating on ProtonDB. I haven't had time to Google how to debug the problem, but only about 1 in 10 games "just work" Update: OK, instead of surfing HN I googled the problem. I think it may be that my games are installed on an NTFS drive. I will try moving the installs to a new drive and see if I have more su…

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-di...

Re: Reasons to prefer Linux over Windows (2014)

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Linux it's a mystery. I like my computer to behave in a predictable manner. You're not really talking about Linux. You're talking about mime types and xdg-open, the de-facto default way Linux desktop environments (not to be confused with distros) handle default applications. You mentioned double clicking so I'm going to assume you were talking about it in the context of a GUI DE opening files from a file manager…

>You're not really talking about Linux. You're talking about mime types and xdg-open, the de-facto default way Linux desktop environments (not to be confused with distros) handle default applications. Yes, but the github page this post is about is making that same mistake. > Meanwhile in Windows the default behavior is to hide file extensions which I think is actually the worst of both worlds. Oh yes, terrible, I can…

Yeah, not blaming you at all for the common misconception. I'm just glad you got something out of my wall of text.

If you ever make the switch, definitely check out the Arch Linux wiki even if you never use Arch: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Default_applications

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