How Many People Here Switched to Linux?

[Jaxseven]

Huge into PC gaming, like many people here I assume, so I've been on Windows 10 for a long time. Last year after some terribly botched updates, I finally said enough is enough and plugged in a new Linux drive into my system. I've been astounded at how far gaming on Linux has come, and how much just seems to work on my Manjaro install. I still need my Windows drive for my Oculus Rift and EAC games right now, but EAC is supposedly in the process of being made compatible. I wanted to know how many people here have decided to experiment with Linux or try to make the full switch. 

[Sauron]

I've been using Linux on all my systems for almost 5 years, with the exception of my desktop. Linux game support has only recently gotten good enough to warrant a switch on that one, and at this point I'll probably wait until I upgrade it so I can run windows in a kvm environment and never worry about compatibility while still using Linux.

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, Jaxseven said:

I wanted to know how many people here have decided to experiment with Linux or try to make the full switch. 

I used Linux for years decades ago, but I actually switched back to Windows eventually on the desktop -- I still use Linux on servers. I find Linux to just not be a particularly good OS on the desktop, even to this date. Some distros are better than others, like e.g. the latest Linux Mint looks very clean and comfortable, but it's just not quite there for me.

[emosun]

ill try linux after windows 7 stops working

[LukeSavenije]

i swapped sort of

 

I my backup system is linux mint because windows 1809 is kinda buggy

[Rusted]

Mix user of Linux and Windows for at least 15 years. Now I run Linux only on my desktop, for gaming it's good enough and I do own PS4.

But my main reason for ditching Windows for now, is that I have paid full price on Windows 7 ultimate. Now its updated to Win10 and for that price, I would expect OS without adds and data mining.

[epikgamerwmp]

19 minutes ago, Jaxseven said:

I wanted to know how many people here have decided to experiment with Linux or try to make the full switch. 

I use Win 10 on my desktop but I run Ubuntu on my laptop and Server.

[Justinzonfire]

@Jaxseven I love Linux, but when it comes to PC gaming its just not worth it IMO

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

i attempted to. but nvidia drivers on linux are a pile of crap. 

[Taswell]

Ive been Using KDE for all my work stuff since I'm sick of windows reverting all my settings every time it updates, fucking the start menu, Ruining the control panel, wasting processing power on bullshit telemetry and whatever other shit they monitor without telling anyone, I could do whole post on just this.   

 

The only reason I haven't at home is because of origin and the blizzard launcher not supporting it at all, and some of my steam games still dont work right. RTX 2070 drivers are also not the best right now either. (I know you can still do it if you , but I'm lazy and if they update something it breaks stuff ill just be mad). I have also screwed a lot of linux installs by trying to install GPU drivers, AMD drivers are the worst.  

[Radium_Angel]

Gaming aside, I've experimented with it for my photography but the native tools are light years behind what is avail for Win/Mac land.

But hardware has caught up enough to where running it in a VM is feasible, so I have a few systems on Ubuntu.

23 minutes ago, emosun said:

ill try linux after windows 7 stops working

Don't forget about Windows 9. That's what I moved my main system over to, and the transition has been seamless.

 

[deezid]

2 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

i attempted to. but nvidia drivers on linux are a pile of crap. 

Working fine here - using the 1080Ti and 980M.
Switched to Linux a few months ago for video editing. Yes I just said that.

Running Davinci Resolve Studio on Manjaro Linux Gnome (with performance patches) and it's flying. Resolve Studio runs faster and more stable than on Windows 10 on my two machines. On Windows I always ran into the "Full GPU Memory" (even with 11GB of vram) issue grading on 4K timelines. This issue basically doesn't exist on Linux at all. Rendering is faster as well.

[wasab]

I had fully switched 3 years ago ever since I built a custom pc and then had to reinstalled windows 10 like three times. One time because drive error, windows just stopped recognizing my 2nd hard drive. 

 

2nd time is because some random craps just got installed on my system for no reason. I went into remove/modify programs menu and see craps like windows update helpers, Skype, random.exe, and other Microsoft garages which were installed without my knowledge or consent. Not to mention my anti virus kept marking my USB drive as a danger and prevent it from mounting for some reason.

 

3rd time is when windows OEM key failed to activate after an install which I found strange.

 

I did purchase it off G2A so I guess Microsoft might've just revoke my license. I called a Microsoft representative and showed him an image of my invoice which proved I purchased the key from G2A and surprisingly he gave me a replacement full RETAIL license. I never used it. By that time I was off to college and brought a laptop. I wiped the windows 10 off of it and installed Linux mint on it. I mean I am taking several computer classes and all of them are forcing students to use lab computers with enterprise red hat Linux. I figure I would just learn it on my own so I will be less stress about it when classes start. 

 

After one year of using my Linux laptop, I went back to my desktop and wiped windows off of it too.

[Guest]

I use Linux since I was 13 yo, still today I use it only on my school laptop when I need to do serious work, otherwise on my desktop I run Windows unless nvidia decides to fix their drivers

[deezid]

10 minutes ago, Lukyp said:

I use Linux since I was 13 yo, still today I use it only on my school laptop when I need to do serious work, otherwise on my desktop I run Windows unless nvidia decides to fix their drivers

I still don't get what's wrong with NVIDIA drivers lol
Working fine here including 2D hardware acceleration in Gnome (with v3.32 performance patches though).

Editing in Resolve Studio works faster and more reliable than on Windows 10. Editing 4K or even 8K footage isn't a problem either.

Games using Vulkan are running great in 4K resolution here, too. Will try freesync soon.

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, deezid said:

I still don't get what's wrong with NVIDIA drivers lol
Working fine here including 2D hardware acceleration in Gnome (with v3.32 performance patches though).

Editing in Resolve Studio works faster and more reliable than on Windows 10. Editing 4K or even 8K footage isn't a problem either.

Games using Vulkan are running great in 4K resolution here, too. Will try freesync soon.

Everything is wrong with nvidia linux drivers

1) Random desktop freeze lockups in various and random occasions driver bugs, (you can see them in dmesg when nvrm message appear, which occurs at least 1 time a month and lead to an unusuable and unrecoverable system even with sysrq keys)
2) no EGLstream support, so no wayland support anytime soon, and means no vsync in multiple monitor setups
3) Tons of other issues with compositors like KDE, bugs still existing since 2015, and recovering from sleep glitches the desktop only with this driver

4) it's a proprietary driver, good luck when reporting a bug finding an nvidia developer
5) nvidia-prime in ubuntu suffers from extreme tearing in optimus laptops
6) it's module needs to be recompiled every kernel update since it is using dkms, pray it doesn't break if you update the kernel

7) Some issues for some OEM video cards like no fan spinning only with the proprietary driver, where here nouveau is the only thing you can use in this case (so it's basically useless)

8 ) a minor thing, video decoding only available with vdpau and in some cases not all programs work decently with the va-api vdpau wrapper

It's a decent driver performance wise, but definitely I wouldn't consider it stable for a gaming environment, at least compared to updated mesa stack and kernel driver with AMD where bugs exists in there too but they are almost quickly solved
 

I'm stuck with nvidia just because I don't like AMD cards this period
 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Guest

[deezid]

3 minutes ago, Lukyp said:

Everything is wrong with nvidia linux drivers

1) Random desktop freeze lockups in various and random occasions driver bugs, (you can see them in dmesg when nvrm message appear, which occurs at least 1 time a month and lead to an unusuable and unrecoverable system even with sysrq keys)
2) no EGLstream support, so no wayland support anytime soon, and means no vsync in multiple monitor setups
3) Tons of other issues with compositors like KDE, bugs still existing since 2015, and recovering from sleep glitches the desktop only with this driver

4) it's a proprietary driver, good luck when reporting a bug finding an nvidia developer
5) nvidia-prime in ubuntu suffers from extreme tearing in optimus laptops
6) it's module needs to be recompiled every kernel update since it is using dkms, pray it doesn't break if you update the kernel

7) Some issues for some OEM video cards like no fan spinning only with the proprietary driver, where here nouveau is the only thing you can use in this case (so it's basically useless)

It's a decent driver performance wise, but definitely I wouldn't consider it stable for a gaming environment, at least compared to updated mesa stack and kernel driver with AMD where bugs exists in there too but they are almost quickly solved
 

I'm stuck with nvidia just because I don't like AMD cards this period
 

1) never experienced any lockup and I'm doing lots of GPU- and CPU intensive work (editing, cgi, compositing, colorgrading etc)
2) Wayland is pretty much beta still - things may change, but Xorg honestly works really well here
3) Kwin sucks - even using Intel hardware Chrome/Firefox scroll slower and with more lag than even using mutter (which I'm using a pre 3.32 version of), desktop animations seem smoother though.
No glitches after sleep either - even Resolve Studio keeps running
4) They have forums with active developers at nvidia.
5) Using Prime on my Laptop on Manjaro and it has been tearing-free so far, but again on Kwin it's a mess though sadly.
6) My distribution handles that. Have been using Manjaro for a few months and never had any issues after updating.
7) My GPUs are running fine so far (1080 Ti and 980M GT), but that would be bad for sure.

 

The AMD Vega VII looks exciting though. 16GB of insanely fast vram should speed up Davinci Resolve Studio a lot. Still waiting for Linux/Davinci Resolve Studio benchmarks though. 

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, deezid said:

1) never experienced any lockup and I'm doing lots of GPU- and CPU intensive work (editing, cgi, compositing, colorgrading etc)
2) Wayland is pretty much beta still - things may change, but Xorg honestly works really well here
3) Kwin sucks - even using Intel hardware Chrome/Firefox scroll slower and with more lag than even using mutter (which I'm using a pre 3.32 version of), desktop animations seem smoother though.
No glitches after sleep either - even Resolve Studio keeps running
4) They have forums with active developers at nvidia.
5) Using Prime on my Laptop on Manjaro and it has been tearing-free so far, but again on Kwin it's a mess though sadly.
6) My distribution handles that. Have been using Manjaro for a few months and never had any issues after updating.
7) My GPUs are running fine so far (1080 Ti and 980M GT), but that would be bad for sure.

 

The AMD Vega VII looks exciting though. 16GB of insanely fast vram should speed up Davinci Resolve Studio a lot. Still waiting for Linux/Davinci Resolve Studio benchmarks though. 

manjaro doesn't use prime for nvidia proprietary drivers, it's using bumblebee which does not support vulkan so far, and primus_vk is still in a very alpha state so for a laptop I wouldn't be using bumblebee even if imo should be supported by nvidia instead of nvidia-prime which only exist in ubuntu, that requires everytime to restart the desktop, but still has a GUI to manage and bumblebee-ui was dropped for some reason, i still have the source code though hoping someone wants to improve it

desktop lockups were a common thing for me since I started gaming only on Linux with dxvk and native games, which worked fine but randomly always locked up my screen completely, so I suppose it's a thing only when gaming, and I'm not the only one experiencing this

never experienced slower scrolling in kde than gnome though, since in a 144hz monitor the scrolling is still 60Hz thanks to browser not caring at all about variable page refresh rates so for me is still laggy anyway

 

I decided to drop linux on the desktop when I bought my second monitor because it really can't handle a 144Hz primary monitor and a secondary 60Hz one, vsync breaks, X.org limitation, already contacted the desktop developers, in this case wayland works perfectly even better than windows (I tried the nouveau driver) , and sometimes the games will run at 60Hz refresh rate in every desktop environment you try, randomly
at least if I had an amd card, I could watch tear-free videos while having some game opened
in general I do not like how linux desktops work in general after years of contacting the developers informing of those bugs especially because of a 144hz monitor, there are still some other issues as well with fullscreen games in kwin

I never received a response from nvidia developers in their forum though, they seem to care only for very very severe drivers bug

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Guest

[QXC]

I switched back when the W10 beta came out and it looked like MS was pushing 10 in a direction I didn't like. Went from using linux on a side laptop to having it on all of my main systems. I do still handle some stuff in a Qemu/KVM PCIe passthrough VM (Same tech that unraid uses, which you can use for free if you are willing to learn the setup) when I have software or drivers that linux doesn't support well enough, so I do technically still use windows. But It's over in it's corner where it can't screw anything up, or access anything I don't want it to.

Having learned linux and still using windows on a regular basis for work, I've come to vastly prefer doing things in linux. The unix "everything is a file in the filesystem, somewhere" concept just makes way more sense than the typical windows "There's a GUI somewhere, or it's a obscure registry key, or you need some obscure powershell command" thing, personally. Windows feels like you have to fight against it to get it to do what you want, whereas linux is happy to do whatever you want if you give it the right instructions. The terminal/bash is also amazing, I feel bad for people that have an unnatural aversion to command line because they are used to windows cmd.

 

Also, regarding nvidia, short of some very rare (once every few months) graphics stack crashes, which I could probably sort out without a reboot if I was arsed to SSH into my box when it happened, I've had 0 issues with my multi monitor setup using maxwell cards and the proprietary drivers. However, there's a good chance that the x.org desktop replacement will support AMD before Nvidia, and I'm going to be all over that once it's stable so I can get rid of the screen tearing. As of right now, there's no way to run tear free vsync on desktop or videos (that I'm aware of) under linux with x.org/X11/whatever you prefer to call the X desktop.

 

I also didn't have any issues with the nvidia drivers in the windows VMs, despite many reports of nvidia trying to lock down that feature to professional cards only. I've got no clue why I never had that issue... guess I'm lucky. I don't believe I had to turn off any of the "enlightenments" either.

tl;dr Linux has worked really well for me, and I just have a fancy hardware passthrough VM for things that still need windows.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, QXC said:

Also, regarding nvidia, short of some very rare (once every few months) graphics stack crashes, which I could probably sort out without a reboot if I was arsed to SSH into my box when it happened,

I already tried it, sadly when something like the nvidia kernel crashes like this


Neither SSH access can solve it, X.org won't run unless you reboot everything and the kernel module cannot be unloaded in every way, neither the tty works, seem to break KMS and there found no way to recover from it, and I remember this to be a KMS issue having no way to recover from breakages
 

1 hour ago, QXC said:

I also didn't have any issues with the nvidia drivers in the windows VMs, despite many reports of nvidia trying to lock down that feature to professional cards only. I've got no clue why I never had that issue... guess I'm lucky. I don't believe I had to turn off any of the "enlightenments" either.

Depends on how you configured KVM and could be also the nvidia card version I think

 

1 hour ago, QXC said:

However, there's a good chance that the x.org desktop replacement will support AMD before Nvidia, and I'm going to be all over that once it's stable so I can get rid of the screen tearing. As of right now, there's no way to run tear free vsync on desktop or videos (that I'm aware of) under linux with x.org/X11/whatever you prefer to call the X desktop.

It's more a matter of a driver, actually wayland supports every video card except nvidia with proprietary drivers because they did not implement EGLstreams in their driver

 

 

1 hour ago, QXC said:

Also, regarding nvidia, short of some very rare (once every few months) graphics stack crashes,

It happened for me only when I got games opened, and also did some multitasking activity

[QXC]

2 hours ago, Lukyp said:

I already tried it, sadly when something like the nvidia kernel crashes like this


Neither SSH access can solve it, X.org won't run unless you reboot everything and the kernel module cannot be unloaded in every way, neither the tty works, seem to break KMS and there found no way to recover from it, and I remember this to be a KMS issue having no way to recover from breakages
It happened for me only when I got games opened, and also did some multitasking activity

I've only had it happen during xscreensaver from what I recall. I couldn't/can't get into TTYs when it happens either.

 

Again, thankfully it's rare for me. That being said, I do tend to keep my heavy 3d work off of linux.

 

2 hours ago, Lukyp said:

Depends on how you configured KVM and could be also the nvidia card version I think

I only use a 950, that might be part of it.

Looks like I'm using (and in case anyone might want to use it):

-M q35
-vga none
-device vfio-pci=host=xx:xx.x,multifunction=on,x-vga=on

Should be the relevant lines, don't know if the northbridge matters or not... but come to think of it, I'm also using an old version of qemu now, because the last time I updated it EVERYTHING broke. Mostly my fault for my janky install right now.

 

2 hours ago, Lukyp said:

It's more a matter of a driver, actually wayland supports every video card except nvidia with proprietary drivers because they did not implement EGLstreams in their driver

Yup, that sounds right. I can say from experience that the open source nvidia driver isn't worth the time, unfortunately. Even just for desktop use, it's got major issues.

[captain_aggravated]

I transitioned to Linux back in 2014.  I had bought a Raspberry Pi 1B for amateur radio use and learned some Linux basics for that.  Around that time, I bought a new Laptop, and Windows 8.1 was just un-fucking-usable, particularly with all the Dell bloatware it had.  I thought "Hmm, maybe I could try Linux on this laptop?"  I did the virtualbox thing, then the liveUSB thing, then finally, following some random guide on the internet, I installed Mint Cinnamon 17, Quiana.  Finally, a working operating system.  No more unpredictable trackpad behavior, no more sudden unannounced reboots, no more Wi-Fi connectivity problems, no more hiding the battery gauge so I'm unaware my battery is about to die, no more plagues of locusts, and no more Internet Explorer.

 

Not everything was perfect, however.  I encountered the following issues that resulted from running Linux, and came to the following solutions:

• Synaptics trackpad driver issue.  When Dell replaced my 7537 with a 7547 under warranty, the trackpad suddenly didn't work in Mint 17.  Solved and outmoded.  Mint 17's default kernel didn't support my trackpad version, but more recent kernels did.  Upgrading the kernel via a USB mouse, the touch screen, or via keyboard command solved the problem, and I've since moved to more recent distros.
• Finding a compatible keyboard I liked.  I wanted a backlit mechanical keyboard, and had to reject several otherwise fine specimens for lack of Linux support (programmable backlights required a Windows utility for effective use).  Solved and outmoded.  I found an acceptable keyboard from Cooler Master with a simple backlight operated entirely onboard, and since then mechanical keyboards have trended towards onboard configuration.
• DisplayLink USB 3.0 video dock support imperfect.  The laptop came with a Dell-branded DisplayLink dock that I use for multiple monitors.  Imperfect but functional.  The website provides .deb driver packages that function under Mint, and produce acceptable video, though I think at a lower framerate.  Most of the time, I have static stuff up on the second monitor anyway, like email or something.
• Epson compatibility.  I went back to school, I was living in a small apartment, I needed a small inkjet printer.  I went to the store and bought an Epson XP-830.  Of course, Linux had no idea what to do with it.  It didn't occur to me that there might be printers Linux didn't support out of the box.  Partially solved, improved.  Linux does provide "no warranty" Linux drivers; at the time they only provided an RPM package, so I was introduced to Alien.  Now they do provide a .deb package.  They also supply a rudimentary scanner utility.  Now I know to check for compatibility before buying a printer.
• One out of my 30 Steam games didn't work. I literally had 30 games on Steam, and only one of them--Sleeping Dogs--wasn't Linux compatible.  Not important, improved.  A family member bought Sleeping Dogs for me as a gift, and I was never particularly interested in it, and for all I know it might work via Vulkan by now.  Additionally, I can think of maybe two games I've been interested in over the past two years that weren't available:  Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, and I think there was another one but it's not springing to mind.
• AMD Hybrid graphics are questionable at best.  During the brief time my 7537 was in my possession and actually working, I had quite good performance from the included Nvidia GT750M while running Bumblebee.  Once they replaced it with the 7547 with Radeon M265 graphics, I was never even sure if my discrete graphics were even working.  Still a major issue.  As far as I can tell, the problem lies not in actual graphics driver support, but in multiplexing support. The AMD graphics work adequately once they can be pursuaded to turn on and take over, and I don't see this ever being addressed.  I've essentially given up on the idea of performance graphics on Linux laptops; In fact, I think that's the difference between the "drivers work fine for me, drivers don't work at all for me" discussion above.
• No ideal 3D CAD solution.  Situation is worsening with time.  OpenSCAD is a cute toy, FreeCAD is getting less usable with age given their "We'll develop the bloat before the core" development cycle, Autodesk products basically don't work (there is a browser-based version of Fusion360 in early development, I don't think it's been touched since 2015).  OnShape does work quite well in Linux, but their license terms and cost make them untenable.
• Laptop suspends when closing the lid, then wakes up seconds later and remains awake.  Seemingly resolved?  I would get up in the morning to go to school or work, unplug my laptop, close the lid, stuff it in my bag and head out.  When I arrive where I'm going, I pull out a suspiciously warm, running laptop with about a third of the battery gone.  Something would throw a wake up signal shortly after it went to sleep via the lid switch.  I think this actually cost me a battery.  I haven't seen this happen recently, partially because I now routinely shut the laptop down entirely when transporting it, and partially because...
• Laptop sometimes freezes with black screen when suspended via shutting the lid.  Intermittent, no apparent effort by developers to address.  Lots of people are seeing this sort of behavior out of a wide range of different hardware.  Forum threads across several distros go unanswered or unaddressed.  Sometimes it does work correctly, others, the laptop locks up.  Now, rather than shutting the lid, I usually lock the screen, or shut it down for long-range transport.  So, there are multiple issues suspending laptops.

Linux does seem to be my best option; I'm not willing to pay the Apple tax for hardware that is just as faulty as the rest of the industry and a closed platform, especially since they seem to be actively combating installing other OSes.  Microsoft borks Windows on a weekly basis and has almost as many flagrant privacy issues as Google.  And where Linux be like "You can watch Netflix in Google Chrome and a TON of Steam games just work now!" FreeBSD be like "But our sane userland..."

[LinuxGeek18]

I switched to Linux about five years ago, I have tried many distributions, and I finally came to one that I really like, and I can make it fit my needs and wants. All but one of my games run on Linux, but since I rarely play said game, I think I may nuke my Windows 7 Professional install.

[Terryv]

After dual booting for a couple of years, I've switched to Linux full time as of last December.

 

I don't recommend dual booting, windows had a tendency to break by Linux install with every biannual update. I'm just happy I kept good backups of my work.

 

I chose Manjaro, it works great and I've had no issues to speak of so far.

[DesolationGod]

i use linux on an old laptop i have laying around but on my main desktop its just not worth the hassle  for gaming which is my desktops primary use. If gaming became on par with windows id surely switch