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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

#681

Post by rw_grim »

immibis wrote: post #605
palata wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that the proprietary office suites are needed. The alternatives are good enough for what people do, aren't they? The problem is that people don't want to change, because it takes some effort. Why would people use WhatsApp instead of Signal otherwise?

There used to be programs that would connect to multiple proprietary systems, like Pidgin. If we had this today we'd have one free-software app for WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram (and some used in other countries, like IIRC Zangi?). However, the social and regulatory environment changed - now whoever made that app could expect to be charged with a crime.

Pidgin is still here and does work (to some level) with all of those protocols. https://pidgin.im/plugins/?publisher=all&query=&type=Protoco...

We've been working on our next major release for a long time now to better support modern protocols. But as an unfunded Open Source project it's hard to get things done quickly when it's a "free time" only project.

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

#682

Post by rw_grim »

noisem4ker wrote: post #615
immibis wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There used to be programs that would connect to multiple proprietary systems, like Pidgin. If we had this today we'd have one free-software app for WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram (and some used in other countries, like IIRC Zangi?). However, the social and regulatory environment changed - now whoever made that app could expect to be charged with a crime.

The European Commission has recently put WhatsApp under scrutiny in terms of the Digital Services Act, and forced them to open up allowing interoperability with other messaging applications. Perhaps we'll see a return of apps like Pidgin soon.

We've never left. https://pidgin.im/

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

#683

Post by __turbobrew__ »

topocite wrote: post #596
grogenaut wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. AMD just works for me on linux. My problem is that I am addicted to 6+ monitors and top end gpus... nvidia just seems to hate linux for top end setups. Which is sad, windows just handles my dumb 5060+5090 setup easily. Gaming on linux has gotten way better, but I still can't gigure out how to get some games working. So I'm stuck between using linux + sway / i3 which I looooove... and not being able to get the…

Linux Mint works great with nvidia cards. It has a great driver manager. It is the only distro I found after getting a laptop with a RTX card that just works. It has worked flawlessly too after 8 months of use.

I personally like mint too for the past 10 years. They also decided to go against the grain of Ubuntu and not ship things like firefox in a snap, which I prefer.

People tease mint as being a distro for normies and grandmas, but it has worked flawlessly for me and really all I want is an environment which just works.

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

#684

Post by sagarm »

IshKebab wrote: post #254
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 agree. Yet another "Linux is great! The only issues I had were A, B, C, D, E...". I also use every OS and Windows 11 is still the most hassle free and reliable (at least if you install the IoT version using Rufus). I still have to use X because Wayland has a couple of remaining issues. Also most distros inexplicably use Gnome despite KDE being significantly better. Why?

I prefer Gnome. There's hardly any visual clutter, and it can be controlled primarily by keyboard (which I prefer). Every other environment, even MacOS, just has so much noise.

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

#685

Post by foobarchu »

TheDong wrote: post #614
shinycode wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way does MacOS feels like garbage ? I use it everyday on a +5y MacBook and it’s an absolute blast. Powered on for weeks without reboot, 3x4K 32inch screens, hundred of chrome pages and apps opened and it’s all smooth. Ofc I don’t even hear a fan but the software is amazing for me. It all works, all the time.

I'm someone else, but I also feel like macOS is rubbish. On linux, if I get a kernel panic, I can dig into the kernel, add debug logs, understand what's going on, and potentially fix it. If I want to swap to a scrolling window manager like niri, I can. On macOS, it's a black box and any radar I file with apple vanishes in a black hole never to be seen again. There's hardly any customization, and the default UX is hor…

Lack of customization doesn't make it garbage, that makes it not your cup of tea. That's fine, but it's a far cry from garbage qualities.

Windows 11, and to a lesser extent 10, is indefensible garbage.

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

#686

Post by Salgat »

tombert wrote: post #420
Salgat wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience, as a software developer, is that both Windows and Linux desktop are great. The biggest advantage Windows has is better support for desktop applications that are used by a lot of people, which is just the nature of Windows being more popular for desktop users, and is why I use it. With Linux, it's more likely you'll have to be a bit more savvy with occasional issues. To note, with official Linux support…

> To note, with official Linux support on Windows, it's trivial for me to get everything I want as a developer on Windows, so that's never been a hard blocker for me. Maybe not as a developer, but as a user I still think WSL is only kind of superficially a solution. You still are stuck with an update process that happens automatically and can brick your computer and recovery tools that, as far as I can tell, have nev…

I dunno, for local development, I've never ran into any issues with this. And for stuff that really matters, I'm running it in a container anyways which makes it irrelevant which OS my computer is.

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

#687

Post by Kye »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #671
Kye wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference was the device came with a disk containing the driver for DOS and Windows.

Not for a very long time.

I don't buy a lot of hardware, but the last thing I bought (Vocaster One) came with the driver installer on a small USB mass storage volume when the device plugged in.

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

#688

Post by foobarchu »

palata wrote: post #424
shevy-java wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. The TechBros changed things globally. I can not support their Evilness, so I also need to get people to commit to having viable alternatives, e. g. improving LibreOffice to the point where the proprietary office suites from US corporations are no longer needed.

I don't think that the proprietary office suites are needed. The alternatives are good enough for what people do, aren't they? The problem is that people don't want to change, because it takes some effort. Why would people use WhatsApp instead of Signal otherwise?

To the average person, no. If you ask a regular user, you'll find that there is no alternative what Excel can do, the PowerPoint alternatives are missing loads of features, etc. Additionally, files created in MS Office still cannot reliably be used in the open source alternatives without something breaking. Until a non-technical user can open my PowerPoint presentation in LibreOffice and not have to apologize for the formatting, they aren't equivalent.

A huge part of this is fonts. Users prefer proprietary fonts, and when you open files using them in the alternatives it tends to look like terrible. You will not convince users that this is on them to fix, and to be honest they're right, it's not their problem.

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

#689

Post by redeeman »

leptons wrote: post #657
redeeman wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no, you are wrong. Windows is able to install many drivers by downloading it for you, but we talked about bundled IN windows.

No, just no. Across dozens of machines with different hardware configurations, I've never had Windows download a driver. It just doesn't happen. But neither of us can provide any proof, so this comment thread isn't going to go anywhere.

and what hardware exactly do you plug in? obviously its not gonna do it even if you plug in 1000 different USB hid mice, other than that, drivers are totally needed for many things, and windows just doesnt come with drivers for remotely all hardware, which is a very very easily provable fact.

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

#690

Post by redeeman »

leptons wrote: post #657
redeeman wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no, you are wrong. Windows is able to install many drivers by downloading it for you, but we talked about bundled IN windows.

No, just no. Across dozens of machines with different hardware configurations, I've never had Windows download a driver. It just doesn't happen. But neither of us can provide any proof, so this comment thread isn't going to go anywhere.

but lets make it simple then, I obtain a retail copy of windows 11, go and buy the latest nvidia gpu, released AFTER win11 was released, and it has a proper driver without downloading?

edit: or another scenario, i go out and buy a new lenovo or dell or whatever laptop, format the disk, install retail windows, and now windows just has the drivers for all this?

or another scenario, I go and buy motherboard, ram, cpu, gpu, install windows, and it just magically has drivers for all the hardware?

the answer is: it does not, absolutely not.

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