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Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

himthe.dev

421–430 of 1001 posts

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#421
post #382

My story is simpler. Microsoft dropped the support for Windows 10 and gave me no upgrade path to Windows 11 because my CPU was 5 years too old apparently. So I installed Fedora on that machine, I learned the process, I went through the hurdles. It wasn’t seamless. But, Fedora never said “I can’t”. When it was over, it was fine. Only if Microsoft had just let me install Windows 11 and suffer whatever the perf problem…

It's a really bad time for Microsoft to force consumers to upgrade - even computer parts from 5 years ago are price hiking.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#422
post #116

> You had unsaved work? Too bad, it's gone, get bent. This has happened to me a couple of times. I put the PC to sleep and the next morning I discover it has decided to close everything to install an update. Not using Windows ever again to do any work. Say what you will about Apple but at least they don't do crap like this.

The fact that you leave unsaved work overnight is the actual crazy part.

Why though? On Mac, I have tons of unsaved work: many TextEdit windows which keep their state for many months, even through reboots. And it has been working like for at least 10 years. It's such a simple, little quality-of-life thing. And Microsoft just doesn't care.

This is what a computer should be doing: helping the user to get their work done, without the user having to worry about insignificant details about saving files. E.g. does Google Docs ever ask where to save a file before closing the browser or shutting down the computer? No you just get an untitled document that is automatically saved. If I want to rename it or save it in a different location, I am free to do so. But as long as I don't, it doesn't get in the way and just persists stuff automatically.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#423
I’ve asked before but the answer keeps changing before I get around to implementing it:

My kid wants to upgrade their PC from Windows 11 to Linux. They have a recent-ish Nvidia card. I’m very technical: I don’t mind doing whatever arcane thing needs done. They are not, yet.

I haven’t run Linux on my desktop in a decade and I’m completely out of date here. What should I steer my kid toward to run recent games?

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#424
post #419

Linux since 1996! In chronological order: Slackware, SuSE, DLD, LSF, Gentoo, Ubuntu (starting with 04.10!), eventually Debian 12, now 13. Back in the days I compiled the kernel myself! :-D Sure, occasionally I used Windows 3.11, 95, 98se, XP, Vista, 7 and 10, but never as my main system. I am a software developer, but also do gaming, video production and audio producing. I never got the discussion, Linux works for me…

Out of curiosity, back when you were compiling the kernel yourself was it because you wanted to learn it or because you wanted to add more modules to the kernel that didnt exist there by default?

The kernel compilation had a configuration UI where you could select all the drivers you wanted to literally build in. So I selected just what I needed, to save memory, recompiled, waited an hour et voila. Kernel modules came later.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#425
The two things I find unacceptable are no local accounts and non consensual reboots. The latter may need legislation. They don’t even notify you that it happened. They try to restart apps and put things back the way they were but you can still tell that your house was broken into by the missing data that wasn’t saved.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#426
post #388

I tried to make this shift, but managed to somehow brick Linux Mint, so now I'm back on Windows for now... I was already not very impressed when I attempted to okay a video file, and VLC told me I didn't have the right codec installed, and I had to run a shell command to get the codec... I have to open a shell to watch a common video file? But then while attempting to install some packages to install Steam (which I a…

No such thing as brick when you have a “live drive” available. Reinstall and be up again in a half hour.

The codec issues are caused by the companies that make them, not a free operating system. Next time download an open codec movie or install from the “store” GUI.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#427
For literally decades we've hoped that Linux will get like Windows in some crucial areas like sleep and hibernations support for laptops, supported first-party drivers, correct and reliable multi-monitor setups, games, etc. Never ever could I imagine that Linux parity, which I'd like to argue is closer than ever before, would be reached by Windows getting worse in exactly those areas we, the Linux freaks, got told to get Windows for -- sleep not working, graphics drivers bringing whole systems down, incoherent configuration etc. Only games got better and we have to thank Valve for that.

Re: Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

#430

Still reading the article, but early on it says: "Also, is it weird that I still remember the specs of my first computer, 22 years later?" My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1, 1.78 Mz Z80 with 16 KB RAM. That was 48 years ago. Is it weird that I remember that?

Amstrad 2286 PC, 4Mb RAM, 40Mb hard drive, 3.5" floppy.

40 Megabytes. I have photos that size these days.

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