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I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

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Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubuntu also tried this with Unity. They were hoping that Ubuntu would become more popular on tablets if they had a more tablet-friendly UI... They imposed this on desktop users even though nobody asked for it and basically nobody used Linux on a tablet. It was kind of a disaster. Ubuntu is a commercial entity though, so yeah, prone to the same kind of bad management decisions. as Microsoft and Apple. At least with Li…

Wait, what sleep mode issues are you talking about? I've been able to wake my ubuntu machine up using my keyboard and mouse. I haven't gotten around to testing steam link wake on lan though, I'd be disappointed if that didn't work.

Wonder about power usage.

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found it was horrible. It is similar to GNOME here - a design for tablets and smartphones. It simply does not work on the desktop computer.

I disagree with this characterization. I don't run Gnome now (since I have more fun hacking on Sway), but I really don't think that the characterization of it being a "tablet desktop" is actually very fair. I found Gnome to be very productive, and actually extremely keyboard focused. Outside of a tiling window manager like Sway or i3, I actually have found it more keyboard-centric than any other desktop I've used. Th…

Thanks for formulating this, as I’m too lazy to even start the conversation with the folks who’d like to have a lot of everything on their screens, with myriads of distractions and just ugly little everything. Otherwise ‘that’s tablet,’ and it’s ‘the Gnome team pushing their nonsense,’ not the particular user being used to something completely wrong from the UI/UX perspective. I’m having no issues with teaching Gnome anyone. It’s simple. Yet powerful, I can use it no issues, and it’s my second favourite after Sway. I feel those of us who actually appreciate Gnome should be more vocal about it, otherwise these weirdos with 2 mins of Gnome experience yelling too loud.

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#543
> The biggest issue I’ve had so far is Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. For some reason, Microsoft hasn’t prioritized making a Linux version of Bedrock. Java Edition works fine in Linux, but I play Minecraft with my kids, and they’re on Bedrock Edition on their iPads. There’s supposed to be a way to run the Android app with MCPE Launcher, but I couldn’t get it to work.

The launcher was somewhat pretty stable all along, until Microsoft enabled Google's Integrity Protection "DRM" into it. [0]

Fortunately, they have found a way to run it even with that added in after a couple of weeks later since they added that at Q3/4 last year.

> but I couldn’t get it to work.

From what I've seen, the game will crash when vibrant visuals (a built-in alternative rendering option with shaders-like experience in Minecraft Bedrock) volumetric fog is enabled. [1]

[0]: https://github.com/minecraft-linux/mcpelauncher-manifest/iss... [1]: https://github.com/minecraft-linux/mcpelauncher-manifest/iss...

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#545

Why Bedrock? Get the kids a Steam Deck, Prism Launcher, open a local server and boom :) It‘s not iOS convenience but they‘ll sure love to tinker with all the mods you can install.

Alternatively one could spin up a local Java Edition server and install GeyserMC translation layer plugin[0] into it. That way, both iOS and Linux PC could cross-play to each other without the need of another new device.

[0]: https://geysermc.org/

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#546
The big challenge in linux (at least for me) is to connect and work with devices like printers or scanners. It is weird but when I connected my (now old) printer a decade ago its setup was easier and more stable. After several years and ubuntu upgrades at some point I wasn't managed to make it work at all.. And I had no luck with my scanner at all.. Luckily I don't need to use neither printer neither scanner these days but I still keep a laptop (also old) with win7 and all original drivers for such devices.

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been running Linux Mint on this ThinkPad A485 for 1.5 yrs, problem-free. There is no feature that doesn't work. Even the media keys and stuff like the wifi-toggle function key work. Still, yeah, there are some things that are perennial problems for open source OSes, particularly wifi. Nice presentation on the topic: "All types of wireless in Linux are terrible and why the vendors should feel bad" @ https://www.youtub…

May I ask how long the battery lasts under lid suspension? And how quickly does wifi connect after wake? These two issues alone drove me begrudgingly to macOS.

Ooh, actually it's almost always plugged in so I couldn't tell you how long it will last asleep with the lid closed :\ Wifi reconnecting after wake is indiscernible to me because by the time I type in my password to unlock the machine, I'm online. I'm totally guessing but I imagine a big factor is simply the wifi card itself and its respective level of support in Linux. I would also say that wifi management has improved a lot in the past handful of years. I often forget I'm even using Linux because it's so easy to use and problem-free for me -- but again there's always that caveat that some machines have better-supported components than others lol

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#548
post #391

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I agree that logic is sound, but it is also not discoverable to the user: They might open the list (with the cursor resting on one of the items, or use the keyboard to navigate out of comfort or for accessibility reasons), then notice "oh wait, I haven't actually enabled my phone's Wifi hotspot yet", enable that, and wait forever for it to appear. That's why I'm thinking something should visually (and non-visually) c…

Make it so the list refreshes (shows new entires) every N seconds when it is focused. Easy.

Yeah I think this is what OS X does (or used to do), you open the menu and it does its initial refresh, and only after quite some delay of the menu being open, it refreshes again. Easy enough to choose your network in that large amount of time. I may be missing some subtle details of it though, since I haven't used it in a while >_>

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#549
post #372

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Yep, I'm in this boat. After years of macs my next will be a FreeBSD Desktop. edit: Although phone is much harder. I guess I'll just turn all the 'stuff' like icloud off, use only signal and my banking/etc apps, and get a separate camera.. Anyone found a less painful way to live without an iPhone/Android?

Fairphone with Graphene

I really like my Fairphone. I would but their next model if it grapheneos was available.

Re: I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great

#550
post #485

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Last time I tried Linux I was so done with Windows I installed Arch. Couldn't connect to Wifi. I figured it was Arch, so I installed Ubuntu. Literally the same problem. So I got a new USB wifi adaptor that said it supported Linux...same problem. I gave up and have been using a MacBook ever since lol.

Last summer Manjaro released usual heavy update and suddenly wifi on my old spare mbp was gone. Luckily digging around I found that a firmware was available in aur so I had to just plug ethernet in, install the package and reboot the system. But then another smaller update out of blue made system unbootable so instead of doing "forensics" I went by the easiest way of reinstalling the system and wifi again was working…

Yeowch, for my old MBPs (Core 2 duo I want to say) I run Mint and have had no problems. Maybe just luck of the draw but I've been really impressed
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