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

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

#741

Post by rpigab » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 10:42 AM UTC

secondcoming wrote: post #131

It's kind of concerning to me that Ubuntu has started paywalling some package updates behind Ubuntu Pro. Thinking of switching to Debian.

Ubuntu pro and snap sure are obnoxious.

On servers I prefer Debian, but my experience on Debian hasn't been as smooth as Ubuntu for gaming, even when activating Debian nonfree repositories with proprietary NVIDIA drivers. I've had some trouble with the Wayland transition, but now everything works fine.

Also, the Steam client is officially supported only on Ubuntu. Probably SteamOS too, implicitly.

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

#742

Post by joseda-hg » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 11:54 AM UTC

s0a wrote: post #314

can we just boot to a browser sandbox and call it a day? ditch all the old bloatware. we do not need native apps.

That's just ChromeOS

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

#743

Post by netfortius » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 1:24 PM UTC

trueno wrote: post #442

pedalpete wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mac feels like it is constantly trying to sell you on their cloud services. A few times a day it will tell me that I haven't backed up to the cloud. Windows is strangely less direct, but will regularly automatically try to save something to onedrive and force a subscription. Plus, it is just full of ads and nonsense.

as a dude who uses all three heavily for work & personal (windows/linux/macos) macos doesnt even come close to windows in the "trying to sell me on the cloud services" front. microsoft ddos's my brain with sign in with an o365 account at every corner of computing now. microsoft products are actually insane now. i have quite a few mac vms for development things and ive had no issue just disabling all the icloud pieces…

I'm in violent agreement with you! Don't even know what I would have done without OCLP on my older systems, still running circles (in reliability) around other non Apple similar devices. And - for the record - I hate iPhones, as well as what Apple is doing with its OS lately.

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

#744

Post by 1over137 » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 2:44 PM UTC

anon291 wrote: post #425

1over137 wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't much matter that Americans are the largest contributors, because you can still take it and change it however you want.

You can but the firmware that is needed to run it is American, because the hardware is American. Even if the company wants to open source it, the US government can block it in whatever country.

>...because the hardware is American

No it's not, it's all made in China. Maybe you mean the IP is American, but the IP can just be ignored. If the USA can ignore trade agreements, and defence pacts, then its newfound adversaries can ignore American IP laws too.

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

#745

Post by icedchai » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

icedchai wrote: post #643

moritz wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple already flipped the switch in December with 18.7.3, if your phone is capable running 26, you will not get offered 18.x updates anymore

Oh, I didn't realize this. I guess I'm screwed!! I'm stuck on 18.7.2...

As an update, I gave in and installed 26.2. I've turned on "reduce transparency" and it's not that bad so far.

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

#746

Post by iAMkenough » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:36 PM UTC

palata wrote: post #606

iAMkenough wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the context of this thread, WhatsApp and Signal are both American. Just look to the federal United States government using it for communicating military strikes, and including journalists.

For the context of this thread, it's infinitely better to depend on Signal than to depend on WhatsApp.

The context of the thread was "deAmericanizing." Not "what's good or bad."

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

#747

Post by palata » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

iAMkenough wrote: post #746

palata wrote: post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the context of this thread, it's infinitely better to depend on Signal than to depend on WhatsApp.

The context of the thread was "deAmericanizing." Not "what's good or bad."

You must be joking :-).

I was saying that non-US office suites are good enough in terms of features, but people don't like to adapt to new things. WhatsApp vs Signal was an example where people don't want to use the better alternative, for no other reason than they can't be bothered to try it.

But even when talking about not depending on US tech, it is relevant: depending on open source US tech is a step towards not depending on US tech. The goal is not racism ("it's made by US people so I don't want it"). The goal is sovereignty ("if I depend on this, the US government can screw me").

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

#748

Post by anon291 » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 4:50 AM UTC

LeFantome wrote: post #602

anon291 wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can but the firmware that is needed to run it is American, because the hardware is American. Even if the company wants to open source it, the US government can block it in whatever country.

> You can but the firmware that is needed to run it is America This thinking is part of the reason for the momentum behind RISC-V and LoongArch. RISC-V is a lot like Linux in that it benefits from International cooperation and innovation while offereing the ability to seize control if needed. But you are correct that even an open ISA does not protect you from a proprietary hardware implementation at the chip or firmw…

The Intel isa is open for all intents and purposes. Doesn't make it useful really

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

#749

Post by morshu9001 » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 9:52 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #581

morshu9001 wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android is Linux. There could easily be a secure-boot desktop Linux too if companies cared to target that platform with things like banking apps.

Not really, it makes use of Linux kernel, cages it on pseudo-microkernel architecture since Treble and Mainline refactorings, uses a Java userspace, and the NDK has a quite clear list of what APIs are allowed to be called.

That's still on the Linux kernel. The userspace differences aren't what make it possible to lock down. Someone could just as easily make a locked down desktop Linux, which maybe ChromeOS is already.

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

#750

Post by philistine » Fri, Jan 16, 2026, 4:58 AM UTC

bee_rider wrote: post #106

philistine wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Printers. It always haunts us. I have exclusively bought Brother for home and work for close to two decades at this point because they follow CUPS standards requiring no fidgeting, and their modern offerings all have AirPrint, which eliminates the need for drivers. It's 2026, and the normies still think you cannot print from your phone because printers suck so much.

Hey, we should be thankful that printers suck. Wasn’t this whole journey kicked off by Stallman getting frustrated with printer drivers?

We have GNU already. We can fix printers!