There. That’s out of the way. I recently installed Linux on my main desktop computer and work laptop, overwriting the Windows partition completely. Essentially, I deleted the primary operating system from the two computers I use the most, day in and day out, instead trusting all of my personal and work computing needs to the Open Source community. This has been a growing trend, and I hopped on the bandwagon, but for good reasons. Some of those reasons might pertain to you and convince you to finally make the jump as well. Here’s my experience.
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It’s no secret that Windows 11 harvests data like a pumpkin farmer in October, and there is no easy way (and sometimes no way at all) to stop it. The operating system itself acts exactly like what was called “spyware” a decade or so ago, pulling every piece of data it can about its current user. This data includes (but is far from limited to) hardware information, specific apps and software used, usage trends, and more. With the advent of AI, Microsoft made headlines with Copilot, an artificial assistant designed to help users by capturing their data with tools like Recall.
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After dealing with these issues and trying to solve them with workarounds, I dual-booted a Linux partition for a few weeks. After a Windows update (that I didn’t choose to do) wiped that partition and, consequently, the Linux installation, I decided to go whole-hog: I deleted Windows 11 and used the entire drive for Linux.
I dumped Windows 10 for Linux, ha!
I dumped Windows 98 for Linux (however, work has for various reasons forced me to keep either a windows or crappintosh 'puter around).
Yep, yep, due to legacy projects I still have a Windows VM guest where I do as less as possible
Me too, for Fedora!
#metoo kde plasma
Good lord! What did the KDE Plasma do to you?
Is it too soon to start hijacking #metoo for other relatable trends? Maybe?
in my experience one of the biggest hurdles people have when switching to Linux the first time is one of attitude. They just expect Linux to be a drop in replacement for Windows and work exactly the same. It doesn’t though. It’s a completely different operating system. So when all of the little quirks and features they’ve learned from Windows don’t quite work the same in Linux they don’t stop to try to learn HOW these things might work in Linux, they instead ask how they can make Linux work the way it does in Windows. Which of course leads them down a rabbit hole of tweaking things. Now don’t get me wrong, a lot of DEs are already really similar to windows out of the box and can usually be tweaked even further to emulate Windows quirks, but this is not a good experience for a new user. They get the impression that Linux is hard and requires all this effort to “get it right” when really they just need to learn. I think if distros spent time creating interactive new user orientation guides that went over a bunch of these things it would be helpful in that regard.
Not really, I couldn’t keep up with all the windows quirks, so it really is just learning linux quirks now.
They just expect Linux to be a drop in replacement for Windows
To be fair, this is perpetuated pretty hard by YouTubers/influencers.
“Omg I switched to $DISTRO and it BEATS Windows in gaming!” “No issues!” “Printers just work!” “OnlyOffice is compatible with MS Office!”
And then when you “switch” to Linux and you get sub-par performance and everyone’s answers on forums are:
- Giant list of random proton launch options to try with zero explanation
- “Linux does not work with X game!”
- “It works for me!”
- Suggestions to try all Proton versions including GE versions
- Suggestion to switch to an entirely different distro with different release schedules/objective
- “Why are you using X distro when you should use Nobara/Bazzite/Cachy/Debian/Mint/whatever is the latest flavor of the month clickbait?”
I just installed Cachy on my old spare gaming desktop(1700X cpu) and immediately was met with odd performance issues. Come to find out that the cpu frequency scheduler doesn’t like my CPU and was causing it go from 1.8GHz to 3.6GHz rapidly, wattage flip flopping between 15w-45w, fps in game going from 20fps to 80fps without even moving…I got most of it fixed by forcing performance mode via cpupower, but I still have lower fps than windows and the only thing I can find online is that proton overhead is too much for my CPU so I bought a 3700X for $100 on eBay. But all of my solutions I had to find myself because reddit was too busy arguing than troubleshooting.
I do feel what you’re trying to convey and I completely understand since linux is my daily driver but I always had a dual boot setup for the occasional windows thing.
But my here’s my 2 eurocents: if companies like Adobe (or Valve or whatever) had the grace to build their tools/utils/games for Linux the adoption would be far more widespread.
And the joke is, they would not invest time to build stuff for Linux because the Linux adoption is quite low compared to other platform. Linux does not have sub-par performance, it’s just the software, for example all Stadia games were native games running on a custom Debian, with amazing performance and high FPS via streaming. Unthinkable to achieve the same with a Windows or a Mac OS
yep, when somebody has literal decades of experience learning to deal with the quirks of windows (of which more and more are added over time, and until the past half decade or so were added at a somewhat less obscene rate so they were not overwhelming), it’s a hard battle.
it really does take some work to re-frame it objectively
I’d say the biggest hurdle for the technologically challenged is not that, but WHICH Linux is the “right” one. There are soooo many. And sometimes even in many different flavors. Which is better for gaming? Which caters to my windows habits? Which is most performant? Which is actively maintained? Should I go desktop? Which one? Why? Where and how?
How many would the average Joe try out extensively before just crawling back to winblows?
Besides what you said about good tutorial for getting into a distro, one would need a nice flowcharty something that first guides them to WHERE they should look for that. And if you’d ask 5 Linux geeks which is the best for XYZ, you’d get 5 answers 😁
Windows 11’s unwanted AI spyware + Trump’s administration makes for the perfect storm for Microsoft to take a big hit outside of the US.
One can only hope.
I’ve been so frustrated with windows for years now, they disrespect their users constantly and few seem to care. I’ll be a very happy panda when Windows use really starts to die, maybe this will be the year!
A few weeks I also dumped Windows 11 for Linux Mint… and what a relief and improvement! I feel in control again and can see what’s going on in my machine. My laptop is running smoother then ever without the AI rubbish in my face (and behind the screen).
I have started recommending the switch to friends as well.
Me too, dumped Windows for Linux dual boot Linux Mint and Zorin OS and no regrets. Never used Linux before.
Mind if I ask why dual boot two Linux distros? I’ve heard (and am currently trying to find the time to attempt myself) of dual boot with windows and Linux, but not often of multiple distros.
Initially with the aim of finding out which one I prefer, and to better be able to help other Linux starters like my 75yo father when they have questions. Additional benefit: if I damage one of the distro’s into some severe state of unusability (like I did yesterday per accident), I can still use the other distro😀
This sounds great, can I ask about your impression? What do you like or dislike, or anything that surprised you?
I’m thinking about going to Linux when Windows 10 dies, so am trying to learn what I can from peeps who’ve already made the change
Like: in my opinion was relatively easy to use, obviously some hurdles, but switching to a user friendly distro like Linux Mint or Zorin OS the amount for hurdles wasn’t significantly bigger than moving from let’s say windows XP to 7, or 7 to 10 or 11. Having said that, main hurdles were:
- Problems with graphic card (not compatible at all, for one laptop. Bought it refurbished, returned it for another model, worked fine).
- Didn’t get the wine/bottle shit working yet. Should make windows programs working under Linux, but didn’t get it working, although not tried enough probably. (Don’t really need it, just wanted to know how it works).
- Basically all other hurdles and problems (including crashing Mint tonight by accidentally deleting some system files), I was able to solve by asking community or (presumably earning lots of downvotes when posting this) one of the better LLM AI chargers to ask for advice.
Amazing info mate thank you
Its best to try for yourself, make a list of applications you use and find alternatives on Linux and search about them instead of the OS itself.
For me the biggest hurdle was switching from lightroom to darktable. I just kept putting it off but once I watched a few workflow videos and read some posts on Lemmy for workflows I took my time to set it all up and point dark table to my photos and its been great
Linux distros vary on how they do stuff but generally there isnt really much to do with the OS once its all installed, you open the ‘start menu’ and launch your browser or steam like anything else. If you need Bluetooth you click the Bluetooth icon on the task bar or search settings to edit you mouse or change background/theme etc.
nice, this was interesting to hear, thanks for sharing hey
Yeh. Would if I could but I can’t… DJ software doesn’t work on Linux. I’ve emailed them every year for the last ten years asking for a Linux version but they don’t give a shit.
If you only need it for one program, why not run it in a VM?
Because it is live audio mixing so I need there to be as close to zero audio and input latency as possibly which isn’t really achievable, at least not on my current hardware. It also needs to be extremely stable for performances which again adding additional layers like VMs is just poor practice and asking for a bad time.
There is Mixxx which runs on Linux which I have been watching the development of for many many years, it is getting close to being comparable now with a lot of improvements over the last few years, but still isn’t quite there for me. I’m hoping I can switch over to that full time within the next few years, the recent surge in Linux users is pushing its development faster, so it is only a matter of time until I can ditch what I use currently.
I wonder if your required software would work through bottles. What’s the software called?
Traktor DJ made by Native Instruments
There’s an install script for Traktor Pro 3 for PlayOnLinux so at least there’s some level of compatability there
Hmmm interesting, thanks for the link. I am skeptical as to how well it will work, if at all and that is a very old version but I appreciate the response and will definitely give this a try when I have some time to tinker!
I’m not sure how stable it would be but some people managed to get version 3 to run the SteamDeck. Which is impressive IMHO
I dumped Windows XP for Linux… Couldn’t do shit. Went back to Windows. Dumped Windows 7 for Linux. Linux stopped booting after an update. Went back to Windows. Dumped Windows 10 for Linux. This time I installed Linux on the USB to easily go back if something went wrong, but it worked like shit (HD videos got like 3 frames per second).
I am getting ready to dump windows for Linux again. This time correctly (with a hard drive installation). I need to buy a new hard drive to make sure my old Windows 10 will be ready if I need to go back (I am not switching to Win 11. It’s enough I need to use it for work).
Pretty much the same story for me. Linux has always been too much of a headache and I needed windows to run games anyways.
Installed Fedora on a separate ssd today.
In the first hour of setting it up I ran into about a dozen little annoying problems that surely can be fixed with hours of fiddling.
For some reason it runs like molasses as if I’m running it from a usb drive.
Then I noticed some glitches on my monitor as if the Display cable is broken and decided to just boot my perfectly working win 10 installation again sigh…
I used windows this week. I jumped through hoops to get a portable/live install on a usb drive so I could use intel eeupdate.exe acquired from an nda breaker to recalculate the firmware checksum of an intel sfp+ nic, then that computer became my router. then the same for my nas pc. 5 bucks for two cards assumed to be faulty. now back to not using windows until something like that comes up
I already pulled the plug when Win 8 was announced and looked like shit (and performed like shit aswell).
Honestly, I just wish Riot would make their shitty anti cheat linux compatible. That’s the only thing I kinda miss.
When OBS’ hotkeys work without having to focus that window (on kde), when there’s a music player with an UI like MusicBee (love the file explorer because I have my own organization) and updates don’t break for who knows why preventing future updates and forcing me to format again (looking at you Fedora and Cachy), then I will fully move to linux.
Oh and when I can install flatpaks wherever I want because I like having some things as portable (like Dolphin emulator).
What has this got to do with buying European
I suppose it’s more about learning to avoid buying operating systems from USA
What a novel idea, if only literally every other community on Lemmy discussed this too
I don’t follow literally every community so I can’t comment on that.
Every time I have tried linux it was a miserable time.
Look I understand your concerns, however I like being able to use my computer.
The only actually functional linux systems I use are my android phone, my TrueNAS scale and my steam deck. The only reason they are functional is because in each case, they go to great length to abstract the OS to a point it’s barely there and you’re just interacting with a point and click system… And even then, I still can’t get my steam deck to access network shares because linux fucking sucks.
Every time i tried Windows, it was a miserable time.
Around December, I got my first non-work non-Mac computer in recent memory and it came with Win 11 (not Enterprise) installed. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I first booted it up: a completely hostile and bloated experience, in my opinion. I’m not new to Windows, I’ve been on pretty much every version from 95 and forward– including ME and Vista – and it’s never given me the ick like Win 11 did. Installing Debian was a massive improvement – including out of the box functionality.
Your preference is fine, if you have software you need to run that is fully compatible with your system and the user experience doesn’t get in the way of your workflow – all the power to you. But I genuinely don’t believe it’s a good reflection of most people’s experience and needs. Linux these days are as plug and play as Windows, if not more.
Good you have tried switching.
The network share issue is most likely because newer versions of Windows have disabled support for older versions of SMB (1.0 and 2.0), if you enable support for those on the windows host you are trying to access from the Steam deck it could work.
Funnily enough, I managed to get the deck to read my windows shares without an issue, it’s the shares on the NAS that I can’t access. You’d think linux<->linux would be straightforward. Nope.
Sounds like a user issue. What do you do when the UI changes and you can’t find something? What do you do when your phone doesn’t connect? If you want a perfect user experience where you don’t have to use your brain at all, don’t use a computer. Or any technology.
Oh yeah, with linux, you also get this kind of people, massive turn off.
I know how to deal with computers, I’ve probably been working with them for longer than you’ve been alive.
It really sounds like you don’t know how to deal with technology, but you do you.
Thanks for your valuable input. Trust me bro, <current year> will be the year if Linux on the desktop.
It’s like you’d do anything than read some short book on Linux basics and learn these 15 new things you never knew about, so you’d actually understand at least something about the system you’re going to use all your life.
Here I mean a computer operating system. Whatever you’d use, you don’t have many options, and assuming you’d not stop using a PC, kinda makes sense to learn the basics.
I don’t know, Windows kinda sucks. It’s literally the worst, you wouldn’t find a system that is worse, would you?
If you’d at least said same things about macOS, which is polished and truly was the best polished system (at least pre macOS 26). But Windows. LOL, it’s like a North Korean someone boasting how cool their country is, the best quality of life in the world. Same vibes. Looks rather miserable.
