this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I try using Linux on my desktop PC from time to time. Whenever I buy a new rig, I try Linux, as I want to reinstall the system anyway. It never worked. I always tried with brand new hardware -> something is not properly supported -> install current windows. Rinse and repeat every 4 or 5 years whenever I get my hand on a new desktop or laptop. That never changed for the last 20 years.
I mean it's not surprising if theyre not actively trying to troubleshoot their problems. I run Linux on both my desktop and laptop and I never had a perfect experience with either. On my laptop a few years ago I tried installing Ubuntu but my trackpad sensitivity on linux was way too high with no easy way to change it. I also needed fractional scaling and at the time Ubuntu used X11, I found some command on the Ubuntu forums to enable scaling in the settings and it gave me screen tearing. After a few hours of playing around with different commands I gave up and weny back to Windows.
On my desktop I use Nvidia and have two monitors with different refresh rates. That causes a lot of issues and I just have to put up with it.
Edit: I use Arch on both of them now and have found solutions to my problems but especially my laptop issues were very annoying.
Most likely. There are distros that just works namely Mint. Follow the official guide and the computer is ready for use in less than an hour. And 'for the last twenty years'? I just don't believe it.
I struggle to believe it, too. I can think of four laptops I've installed Linux on - one Macbook, two Dells, and one Lenovo, and all four of them worked perfectly without additional tinkering. Even the touchscreens on two of them worked without intervention. I'd talk about my desktop and server, but I haven't upgraded the hardware in them in ...a long time. 8 years would be my guess. I'll have to look it up.
Desktop linux was my daily driver from about 2006 to 2016, then I was dual booting from 2019 to 2021 or so before it became my daily driver again. Choosing Linux-friendly laptop hardware is a compromise.
From 2006-2009, I had a few issues with a shitty wifi driver. Then I bought a "built for Linux" laptop that worked well enough for my purposes, but still had a few minor limitations: shittier battery life, no Bluetooth, and a video card that NVIDIA eventually dropped support for. Even when using the proprietary driver, I couldn't use Wayland or KMS. During that era, it took a while for font rendering to look as good as Windows, and it never quite caught up with font rendering on Macs.
Then I bought another laptop and had to deal with trying to get the user experience with High DPI screens not to suck (it's OK now, but took a while to get here). I don't have a Wifi 6E access point yet but I've seen from the forums that it's sometimes buggy with the 6E channels.
Basically, Linux support for laptop hardware and experience seems to lag behind, and actively selecting for best Linux compatibility is also a seriously limiting filter when buying hardware.
You are doning it wrong. Whenever I buy new hardware, I read up on linux support before. Formated my last windows partition at home 5 years ago.
This. No one would buy an arbitrary computer and expect MacOS to run on it, for example. Buy a computer with known Linux support. Ask the vendor.
Nah. The OS is not important enough to me. I buy according to specs and price/performance-ratio. If Linux won't easily run, I will just run windows on it. It's only the OS after all.
when you say "something is not properly supported" what do you mean? like nvidia/amd haven't released graphics drivers yet for linux? or some peripheral isn't recognized?
basically, by buying new hardware just after it launches, you're effectively one of the very first people to boot that hardware with linux. you can usually make it work but most hardware manufacturers don't work with the linux devs to make sure support is in place. so devs have to get ahold of the hardware retail and then fix whatever is broken. the exception to this is AMD and Intel - both companies have people working on linux so they will merge support for new hardware into the kernel before that new hardware is even announced to the public. so if you stick to cpus and video cards from those two manufacturers, you'll make your linux life easier.
even then, though, the support might exist in the latest version of the kernel, but the last Ubuntu or Mint release is still several versions behind. so you're effectively forced to use a distro that releases updates much faster (ie rolling release), or be willing to make modifications to the system post-install to get it to work.
tl;dr: you've got a constellation of requirements that can't all be met at the same time. either give it 3 to 6 months after release of new hardware or be willing to learn how to make it work. expecting software to work with hardware it hasn't yet been designed to work with is always going to be a recipe for failure.
No thanks. I can't be bothered with that. I'll just run windows.
One thing to note is that there are different distributions some of wich use older software an focus on stability (debian for example) and some use bleeding edge software (arch for example)
Linux is open source and often only donation financed. They can't always support brand new hardware. If you want support for your hardware you have to pay a company to do it for you (or do it your self if possible)
I did the same thing starting probably around the same time as you except that did it start working for me 5 years ago and I haven't gone back to windows.
I actually switched my desktop from Windows 3.11 to Linux. It's always worked fine to me (even if it was a bit hand on at the start) on vast numbers of hardware configurations. I've never used Windows for actual data since, only for games (not really an issue nowadays).