I’m curious as to what everyone’s reasons are! The Linux desktop has came quite a far ways in the last few years and is improving every day. I’d say for most people, Linux could easily replace Windows as their daily driver nowadays.
Ive been using linux as my sole OS for the last 20+ years. Nothing windows based, anymore. That said, i find questions like this a bit disingenuous. There are a LOT of reasons why it aint the year of the linux desktop, and if youve been using Linux for any amount of time, you likely know this too. That one or two cruicial apps, games, compatibilty between office suites, ease of use for those who aren’t technologically inclined, forward momentum, hardware incompatibility (broadcom, realtek come to mind specifically, im sure theres others)
I’ve got Linux installed around the house. I also have a Mac and a couple of Windows machines.
My most recent journey into dual booting my daily driver was a mess. Theoretically everything on the laptop was well supported. But I had to fix a dozen problems and by the end I just couldn’t care anymore.
I have had a job in IT or a related field for nearly two decades and have been an enthusiast since before that. But it’s not my life and I don’t want to spend all my time futzing with config files. I want to play games, make things out of wood, play music, ride motorcycles, hang out with people I like, and generally just live my life. Trying to get an OS running is so far down the list that I can’t be bothered to care.
I still use it for a lot of programming and automation tasks as well as steam remote play devices I have set up like consoles. I use my Mac for music production because I already own the software there and I like my workflow. Windows is my “daily driver”, but most of what I use it for is Internet and Office (which would be Linux if I hadn’t had to fuck with it so much). Honestly, I use my phone more often than anything else so I guess vanilla Android is my daily driver because I haven’t booted a computer in two days.
I understand the many issues currently standing and that they are probably a long way from solving, I was genuinely just curious as to what people’s reasons are and that I could maybe answer some questions people had, not trying to be disingenuous or anything. Although, I do believe for many people (the people who simply use their computer as a boot loader for Google Chrome to watch Netflix and check their e-mail) that Linux could replace Windows for them, but hey, if Windows works for you, or you have some piece of software that only works on Windows, use Windows!
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i’m too tired
It really do be video games. It’s not often I run something that absolutely wouldn’t work in Linux but it happens enough that I can’t be bothered to set up dual-booting.
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You should give something like Bottles a try, it manages all that stuff for you so you don’t have to deal with it. Makes life a ton easier.
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I have decisional anxiety and every time I go to try and pick a version to install I get recommend like 5 different builds, get intimidated, and fall back to my safe space
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Just wanted to let you know that I’m sending this to you from Linux Mint :)
Really appreciate the push and recommendation!
I use Linux on my laptop, but also have a Windows machine that I only use for gaming and those few random applications that don’t want to perform well in wine.
Vidia gaems
And I’m scared of learning a new operating system.
I’d say a large majority of games run on Linux either natively (quite a lot of games have been ported because of the Steam Deck, which runs Linux!) or under Proton just fine, at least in my experience. The only troubles you will have are games with DRM (things like Denuvo) or anti-cheats (things like BattlEye or Easy Anti-Cheat, which both have Linux support, but the developers have to opt-in to it and not many do). There’s actually a website called ProtonDB that has an extensive catalogue of games and the status of their Linux support, maybe all the games you play already run!
these days, if a game doesn’t run on linux, I don’t bother buying it lol
There’s definitely a case to try gaming on Linux if you already have a reason to use it but when high end gaming is your top priority it’s come a long way but it’s still worse than windows. HDR and directstorage support are just now becoming a thing for example. And then there’s all the drivers for various peripherals that may or may not have an inferior third party solution. It’s very cool that it’s come as far as it has, and a lot of that is thanks to valve but unless you already want to use linux it’s still second best.
Hopefully HDR & color management are coming sooner than later thanks to the new Steam Deck OLED release, they’ve been working on it for a while and it seems to be coming along nicely from what I’ve seen so far.
Yeah watching the progress valve has made has been unreal both directly and through creating linux market share which makes other developers give a shit.
I too am a videa gaem enjoyer and I have been running Linux as my main driver for more than a year with a dual boot setup specifically for games. The only times I have to boot into Windows are:
- Multiplayer games with anti-cheat that do not support Linux. Note that not all games with anti-cheat are Linux averse. For example I am able to run BattleBit Remastered just fine on Linux.
- Wabbajack modlists
For anything else, I just install the game on Steam, press play and let Proton do its thing. Sometimes I have to go to ProtonDB, check the comments for that particular game and copy-paste some launch settings, but that’s about it. As someone who kept delaying making Linux my daily driver due to games, I have been really pleasantly surprised by the current state of Proton.
I do not mean to evangelize. While modern distros make the OS much more approachable than in the past, once in a while, things will break and need tinkering and this is something everyone who is interested in running a Linux machine should be aware of. Personally, I mind spending the occasional hour debugging myself out of some issue much less than I abhor Windows’ intrusive features and lack of control over the OS. I have delayed switching for quite a while solely due to worrying about running my games, and I am sharing my experience for those who find themselves in the same boat.
Please keep evangelising! Microsoft and Apple suck so I do need to get off my lazy ass and consider Linux sometime. I wonder how it handles pirated PC games?
Hell, maybe I will look into Linux for my next laptop after all.
Of course avian comrade, death to Microsoft and Apple. I always advocate for Linux but I want people to be aware of what they are getting into and that a certain level of it just works will have to be sacrificed. Sadly, I don’t have any personal experience with pirated games so I cannot help you on that one.
Counterpoint: Linux’s mascot is a cute penguin
We also have Xenia the awesome fox!
Oh neat that’s even better
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steam has wine built in, for most games you don’t even need to futz with the settings
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It’s not always true that steam proton is a downgrade. There are quite a few games, especially old ones, that actually run better with proton than natively on windows. Which is wild, but true.
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except the games released during the 98/XP/Vista/7 period, those still have compatibility shenanigans with windows 10.
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Intermediate level configuration tasks which you can do with one dialog in Windows require editing shell scripts and decoding APIs designed by mathematicians in the 70’s on Linux.
Full disclosure, I’ve used linux since high school, to the point where I am lost as shit on windows. What I’m trying to get at is that the question I’m about to ask is not supposed to be judgemental or disbelieving or anything, I’m just genuinely curious: can you please give me an example of an intermediate config task that’s significantly easier on windows than linux? I have a hard time believing such a thing exists, but that’s likely because I haven’t used windows since like the vista days
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Gotcha. Yeah, that does sound like it’s a bit easier in windows, fair enough. Still, I’ll take a plaintext config file over searching through gui menus any day of the week. But that’s just preference and what I’m used to.
can you please give me an example of an intermediate config task that’s significantly easier on windows than linux?
I feel like it’s the kind of thing that use to be true. I think it’s easier to edit a a text file in linux and run the restart service command in terminal than it is to wander through window’s new maximum white-space electron GUIs and hope what you’re looking for isn’t removed in windows 10 or doesn’t get reset back to default on next update.
I absolutely agree. I’ve been very happy with linux for years. I love a well-documented plaintext config file!
i’m really stupid and it seems excessively difficult
Same
too sleepy
Most people have a valid excuse, like their one really important software or favorite hentai game doesn’t work under wine. For example, I wanted to buy a specific android tablet, but a small number of cool exclusive features are windows only, which is annoying af. Do I subject myself to full-time popups, nagware, random restarts, fake restarts, etc. of windows, do I dual-boot and have to restart my computer for weird context switching, do I own 2 computers, or shall I forgo that one one cool software/feature?
If you’re thinking you’d really like a minimalist, classic desktop experience, like say a windows 98 vibe but also frugal on your GPU/RAM/CPU stuff, I heavily recommend the MATE with brisk-menu installed.
The most beginner friendly version of think is the official https://ubuntu-mate.org/ ISO.
Personally, I prefer debian for servers, and Garuda (arch) for desktops/laptops. Garuda has a lot of desktop environment options, I use the Garuda MATE ISO. Garuda does a lot of hand-holding for you in general, but also has a lot of gamer specific things.
Another thing, I like using my computer to actually do things. I don’t think dicking around for hours/days because some random thing (your OS, or drivers, to be specific) doesn’t work by default is fun or interesting. It’s something most linux evangelists seem to not understand about normal people, and when normal people use windows, the network effect usually forces windows on me somehow. Ubuntu MATE and Garuda MATE have been pretty good about “just working”. Your luck on brand new/obscure hardware laptops is going to be tested.
I agree with this, although it’s gotten a lot better in recent years but there is still a ways to go before I can install Linux on my grandma’s laptop and just hand it back to her without worrying that it will break 6 months down the line. Although, I guess that’s what things like Debian are for.
I don’t think dicking around for hours/days because some random thing (your OS, or drivers, to be specific) doesn’t work by default is fun or interesting. It’s something most linux evangelists seem to not understand about normal people
The Windows version of this is forcing updates on you when you want Windows to fuck off. And it has been this way since at least XP. So many people went to sleep with a Win 10 PC and woke up with a Win 11 PC.
I can barely manage to do the dishes most of the time and you expect me to learn a new OS?
I am afraid of the terminal
This. I have to use the terminal sometimes in Windows and it just pisses me off. I can’t imagine using it for everything.
Gaming and troubleshooting knowledge. I make my living using my computers, and if something goes wrong and I can’t fix it on the spot, i’m screwed.
Last time I tried a dual boot, my rig had a wifi dongle that took me about a month to get working. It was great for a time, then all of the sudden it stopped and I couldn’t get it back. Terminal entry stuff should be a rarity too, I’m not afraid to go into it or Windows power shell but it has its own language and I don’t have time to teach myself. It seemed like every time I tried to do something, it NEVER produced the result other people were getting, and then I couldn’t find the error that I was getting.
I want to switch quite badlly tbh, but I really do need it to be as simple and reliable as Android. Once my home server is built, I’m loading a Linux distro on it to start, then I’ll add a dual boot to my main rig.
install termux on your phone if you wanna just mess around.
