I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great • Hacker News Board

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

#661

Post by mft_ » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 5:57 PM UTC

conz wrote: post #535

mft_ wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe the operating system should just work reliably for (at least) the basics? Or if it can’t, at least give an indication why? Blaming a new user like this is one of the cultural reasons why the ‘year of the Linux desktop’ has always been n+1.

Re: "Or maybe the operating system should just work reliably for (at least) the basics?" So, out of curiosity, if I tried installing MacOS on any of the 15+ computers I have at home, what are the likely chances that this "operating system should just work reliably for (at least) the basics?" I can tell you that my success rate with Linux is 100%.

I’m not especially speaking for MacOS, but to your question, I suspect if you tried to install an appropriate version of MacOS on Mac hardware, you’d have very close to a 100% success rate. That’s certainly my past experience with Mac and, FWIW, Windows too.

Anyway, my point wasn’t that Linux should be perfect; but that if it can’t be, maybe give some help why, and more experienced users shouldn’t just jump to blaming the struggling newbie.

The key is this: if you want Linux to win with non-experts, it needs to target being a better experience for non-experts than the alternatives, to justify the effort of changing.

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

#662

Post by throw-the-towel » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:03 PM UTC

wltr wrote: post #542

tombert wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

As one of these folks who want a lot of everything on my screen, I'm baffled by your declarations that my workflow is somehow objectively "wrong". Go convince Airbus that the cockpit can only have two gauges, and needs a lot of blank space.

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

#663

Post by malshe » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

arcfour wrote: post #70

freedomben wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes exactly. When I had a Mac for work, I had to tinker with that thing just as much if not more so than I do Linux. To windows credit, it was the best of the three when it came to not having to tinker to get what I want, but the lack of ability to configure it in a way that was comfortable and preferable was more limited and difficult, so there were annoyances I had to just live with. The point at which they started…

Oh god, I had a Mac for work recently and had to spend 3 weeks becoming an expert in Mac External Displays And Thunderbolt just to get my HP Thunderbolt 4 dock (officially compatible with Macs!) to use a dual monitor setup with it. Finally I got it working, but every configuration I tried Just Worked(tm) on Linux. Jeez...

This sounds more like problem of HP’s dock than a Mac. Just because they said it is officially compatible with Mac doesn’t mean it is. Also, compatible with which Mac- Intel or M series? I use three different docks on two Mac Mini (M4 Pro) and they all worked out of the box. I did my research before buying them by watching YouTube reviews.

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

#664

Post by directevolve » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

DetectDefect wrote: post #177

On the desktop. Laptop/mobile devices still significantly suffer under Linux compared to proprietary operating systems. The author even admits: "Tried getting Linux on my laptop over Christmas. Didn’t work." We have a lot more work remaining to claim any sort of victory.

I had no trouble running Ubuntu on my ASUS Vivobook 4 years ago.

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

#665

Post by anon291 » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:16 PM UTC

LeFantome wrote: post #601

anon291 wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux is also realistically American since the largest contributors are American corporations and the dictator for life lives on Portland oregon. America has a monopoly on software essentially.

> Linux is also realistically American I think this is objectively true. The Linux Foundation is also US based. We saw this when Russsian contributors were banned from the kernel to comply with US sanctions. The big difference of course is that relying on Linux does not have to mean realying on US corporations. At the level of a nation-state, and certainly at the level of a larger political collective like the EU, co…

Distros cannot realistically work without hardware support. Hardware is designed in America. The licensing for the software to use the hardware is controlled by the United States

I mean I can write a kernel right now with all the computer systems theory implemented, but without the architecture specs, the firmware, etc, this is completely useless.

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

#666

Post by anon291 » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:16 PM UTC

stavros wrote: post #441

anon291 wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on if it's a hardware bug or not

You can fix bugs on open source hardware too.

What percent of hw is open source

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

#667

Post by jama211 » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:48 PM UTC

amatecha wrote: post #521

jama211 wrote: post #146

“Linux is so easy and great, my mouse didn’t even work and I have it unplugged to this day, and I can’t even play minecraft!” - I use every OS and have arch on my gaming pc (dual booted I’ll admit), but this is both one of the worst articles advocating for desktop Linux and one of the best at the same time, because it shows the harsh truth a lot of people experience and us Linux users don’t even want to admit exists.

I used to concede that yeah, Linux is more hassle than the average person is going to feel like dealing with, but at this point, Windows is so damn bad that you could grab literally any Linux distro and have an easier time with it, and even better, it won't delete all your stuff in the middle of the night due to a forced update either.

I actually don’t agree with that. If you don’t want to fully commit (which would help users transition) good effing luck getting an average user through the dual boot process, no distributed ever made that smooth or understandable. Even I have bricked my windows boot record by mistake and I’ve done it 100 times. But for the sake of argument let’s say they go full beans, my most recent install of Linux involved a manual ini file fix because sleep was totally broken, and learning to backport the graphics driver to an older version because the recommended pascal driver forces the wrong resolution on my main screen. This is just stuff that doesn’t happen with windows, which I installed without a hitch the same hardware.

In my opinion, in the best case scenario Linux is equal to windows in usability, but in every other scenario it just isn’t. Yes, windows is shit these days. But the average person would rather be annoyed at copilot than deal with driver issues.

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

#668

Post by jama211 » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:52 PM UTC

barbs wrote: post #354

antennafirepla wrote: post #18

For not much prior research, he sure has done a lot of prior research to even know about desktop environments or bootloaders compared to your average windows user. This article read like every other promising Linux is user friendly and easy, then proceeding with the author fixing issues the average user wouldn’t be able to even diagnose. I think anyone technically savvy enough to follow the article is already aware L…

My Dad managed to install linux (Q4OS) on his computer in a dual-boot setup, having never even touched Linux before. He hasn't asked me for help once, whereas historically I've been his tech support when he was running Windows. He's loving the linux experience. I believe if my Dad is able to install, use and benefit from Linux, anyone can.

On the other hand I recently did another dual boot system and despite having done it 100 times I accidentally destroyed the windows install by assuming it was efi when it wasn’t and overwriting the windows boot record which was at the end of the hard drive when making space for Linux, and it became permanently unbootable and ultimately had to be reinstalled. If an experienced user can make a terrible mistake so easily during the standard setup wizard that did it with a smile, than anyone can.

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

#669

Post by jama211 » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:54 PM UTC

simion314 wrote: post #225

jama211 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would never use the cd lol, it would auto install - and if it didn’t you’d download the drivers online though if it’s such a piece of junk as to need that then it’s a junk piece of hardware anyway.

>You would never use the cd lol, it would auto install - and if it didn’t you’d download the drivers online though if it’s such a piece of junk as to need that then it’s a junk piece of hardware anyway. Sure, sure , so all hardware that does not autoinstall on Windows directly without a driver or internet is junk. AFAIK Windows can't install the correct nvidia or AMD drivers and you need to use special steps to prepa…

Your knowledge needs to be updated then. The latest reinstall of windows I did detected my nvidia card and installed the proper nvidia drivers without me doing anything. I was surprised actually to see that but there you go.

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

#670

Post by jama211 » Sun, Jan 11, 2026, 6:56 PM UTC

simion314 wrote: post #551

leptons wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are hilariously wrong. Seriously, what century are you living in? It's been a very long time since I had to install a specific driver for any piece of hardware on Windows, and I go through a lot of hardware . Every piece of hardware I had is automatically installed and configured without any hassle whatsoever.

not OC, as i mentioned in parallel thread, an USB witreless antena. The brand of the antena is not important, what is important is the chip used in it, since same chip is used by many brands , some chap no name brands or some well known brands use same chip and package it in a more expensive looking package. In Windows it does not recognize it, so I pluged it in Linux and just worked directly, no need to scan for dri…

You realise printers are NOTORIOUS for having horrifically bad Linux support, right? Linux would lose that battle 10 times out of 10. Manufacturers have a massive incentive for devices to plug and play on windows and they all basically do.