How Many People Here Switched to Linux?

[darkdelusions]

I have been running Linux on and off for years, currently my desktop is running windows 10 but after seeing the advancements they have made with gaming I may switch over and give it a try for a while. I have use FreeBSD for my plex server currently 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

6 hours ago, georgezilla said:

Unless you game, or use Windows only software ( anything from Adobe for example ) I can not think of one single reason to use Windows.

I cannot think of one single reason to use anything from Adobe. I "divorced" myself from all Adobe products, free and paid, after they became cloud based with some subscription options. Most, if not all, of Adobe's software can be replaced with equivalent Linux compatible software.

[Guest]

I want to. My dad's old laptop just sits around, takes sooo long to boot into Windows 10, and takes forever to run anything. It was from 2007, and I would love to just install Linux and have it run more quickly now. Anything that Windows has that Linux doesn't, it would be well worth it with the speeds of this thing. Also thinking about switching over to an SSD to make it a bit more usable again, but Idk if that core 2 duo would bottleneck it. Smh it can't even render a youtube video

[Umberto]

If you are huge into PC gaming then I would definitely use Windows for that. 

I switched to Linux in 2004 but then two years later I got my first mac. I kept my Linux desktop around for a while longer but I almost never used it so I put it in a closet and used it as a server for some time. Semi frequently I visit different Linux forums to see what's going on in the community and it's the usual lack of software and driver support that people have problems with. "But it's much better now than 5 years ago" they say and to me it seems that, relatively speaking, it's about the same. The year of the Linux desktop never came and desktop computer usage in general is in decline so I guess it never will. 

 

Obviously on servers it's a different story. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Umberto said:

"But it's much better now than 5 years ago" they say and to me it seems that, relatively speaking, it's about the same. The year of the Linux desktop never came and desktop computer usage in general is in decline so I guess it never will.  

It's an huge ton better than the past.

• NVIDIA has DKMS support so should compile for every kernel update, when it used to work only with a specific set of kernels
• Broadcom started making open source drivers, so they should work plug&play for newer models, that means no manual proprietary drivers required
• Cutting edge repositories avaiable for updated graphics drivers and stack for both proprietary one
• amdgpu driver replaced fglrx and radeon which was crappy, and works very very decently
• DXVK basically makes possible to play DX11/DX12 games at a decent framerate and stability
• Manjaro Linux can be considered user friendly as ubuntu with much updated software and a faster package management, and supports optimus laptops, and should have better support for newer hardware, and has proprietary driver support avaiable
• KDE Plasma became very eyecandy and less bloated than the previous KDE versions and has nothing to envy with Windows and MacOS desktops
• Lutris and Steam play is a real thing when it comes to gaming and makes creating wine prefixs insanely easier than it used to be, so easy gaming for everyone
• Slightly better software support
• New alternatives like Krita for photo editing and KDEnlive became stable and can be used if you need some editing environment, and proprietary alternatives like Davinci Resolve are now available and work great and slightly faster than windows (my impression there)
• OBS makes possible recording using hardware encoding
• Stable and less bugged hardware decoding support with vaapi and vdpau
• github makes life easier for program deployment

What has not changed that much is:

• Slow development and bug fixing, but steady
• X.org sucks, and NVIDIA still does not support Wayland anymore, and has some old bugs
• GNOME imo is laggy since 3.0
• Fanboys who do not know anything about linux and still talking without nothing in mind

Also, basically everything is plug&play if you got the supported hardware and is perfectly suitable and stable for office or grandma usage, it's user friendly enough

A stupid example is printing, it became plug&play and every desktop supports it decently as it is using the same drivers as OSX

[Umberto]

2 hours ago, Lukyp said:

It's an huge ton better than the past.

[...]

Yes, but every other platform has improved as well. And Linux is constantly playing catch-up, so relatively speaking it's about the same. Grandma wants to stream her DRM protected flash content to her chromecast, so you get her an iPad instead - there's an app for that. 

 

"Year of the Linux desktop" is really about Linux as an OS for personal computing. 20 years ago the personal computing needs of the masses meant a desktop computer. Nowadays most people use their smartphone as their main computing platform, and the family computer was replaced by an iPad. In that regard, "the year of the Linux desktop" has already happened thanks to Android. 

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Umberto said:

Yes, but every other platform has improved as well. And Linux is constantly playing catch-up, so relatively speaking it's about the same. Grandma wants to stream her DRM protected flash content to her chromecast, so you get her an iPad instead - there's an app for that. 

 

"Year of the Linux desktop" is really about Linux as an OS for personal computing. 20 years ago the personal computing needs of the masses meant a desktop computer. Nowadays most people use their smartphone as their main computing platform, and the family computer was replaced by an iPad. In that regard, "the year of the Linux desktop" has already happened thanks to Android. 

What DRM do not work in Linux? Well if you say Windows has improved compared to Windows 7 you need to be more specific...

I can play spotify netflix and amazon video fine, the issue with them is probably with more about something like FreeBSD, speaking of desktop environments features it's always been better on linux, even when the graphics driver were all bugged, but you were always been able to customize your desktop to maximize productivity unlike the others (and unlike GNOME 3, at least they added extensions)
 

Is definitely a valid alternative today compared to the others, and especially considering what Windows became today

I don't understand how it shouldn't be able to catch up with the others, exception of the usual driver support issue (which also improved from the past) which is just about it, when you speak of operating systems you compare them in a fair way, not just saying "it doesn't run on this computer so it sucks even if when it work it's perfectly suitable" because bugs exist in every platform, and considering how limited is linux support because a few amount of people are currently using it, I'm not even surprised and is a fact people have to deal with
Still is not that bad to use and sometimes even better for getting some kind of work done, when I have issue with my printer drivers I often boot into Linux to not waste time about reinstalling drivers since it's plug&play there
Same thing as the PS4 controller which has the driver preinstalled on linux

If it does not have a program for it like the Adobe suite why should it be considered not able to keep up? Not all people have the same workloads, it can work perfectly for some people, neither the Mac can do some jobs you do on Windows but still is not inferior to Windows, there are even cases where you need Linux or OSX to get some work done, but it's a different kind of comparison.
Depends on what you compare, and Linux definitely became a valid alternative for the most common and easy use cases

I own a Dell XPS which is directly supported by Dell for Linux and has not a single issue compatibility-speaking, in the same way you do not compare an hackintosh to a PC if it does not have all the drivers working

[DrTesla]

I have kind of switched to Linux, but not fully, since I dualbooted Linux and Windows 10 Pro.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

i've gone back and forth between linux a lot, and i'm trying to use it as my main OS again now. it's a lot easier now because i stopped gaming. 

[Don Vielenio]

I'm using Linux since 2009 and primarly since 2012. Windows is only installed on desktop for a lan party and so it's almost never used. I don't know how to work anymore without i3wm with those many easy to configure shortcuts to access and move terminals form one desktop to another, I'm regularly using at least 15 desktops, distributing certain tasks to certain desktops. Ordering by desktops is in my opinion the most clean solution.

Only on my notebook I'm still using macOS, at least I have a bash and brew, so it kind of works for me, next notebook will get linux again.

[win8linux]

Been using Linux since 2010 and it's quite something to see its progression on the desktop from then until now. All of my devices run it from the RPis to my current gaming laptop, including the netbook and old desktop in between. The acceleration of the state of Linux gaming since 2013 has been absolutely remarkable and I am looking forward to where it goes next!

[ThePurpleDog12]

I have switched to linux just 3 months ago! i have dicked around with linux for 3 years on a VM or Dual Boot, so when i made it my default OS, i already went past the learning curve so it was easy for me.

The reason i switched is because of Microsoft's constant surveillance and forced updates. Some people don't care about the privacy concerns, but even if you don't.. that stuff eats up a ton of your system resources and uses up precious bandwidth and that is a no go for a lot of power users. A lot of us just can't necessarily switch because of certain software they need to run. But i sure can switch no problem now that we have tools like Davinci Resolve for video editing, Valve's Proton for Gaming, and ever constant work of Nvidia and AMD making their drivers work on the platform. I can safely say i do not regret making the switch, and wish i did earlier because the community has got my back when it comes to issue i can sometimes get.

[Craselin]

My laptop (my only computer) is pretty old and was getting slow a couple years back, I had a theory that Linux would run a bit better, it didn't change much but I got used to Ubuntu and have enjoyed it after learning some commands, how to find my way around, etc. I don't really have any interest in going back to Windows.
This being said, I don't play many games, mostly just Binding of Isaac these days, so I've yet to run into any compatibility issues.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

I first used Linux back in 1st half of my high school career with Ubuntu 12.04/12.10 when my parents got a new PC, and I use the old PC (they locked my brother and I out (parental paranoia)) and I used the PC we got back in '07 (which ran Win XP) as my own.  I heard of Ubuntu from a classmate and decided to nuke it completely and install it.

 

I stopped, however, when I got my own laptop.  I didn't want to install it at the time & split the partition.  Also, I play some games on it.  I went back to Ubuntu again on that laptop after I built my gaming PC in '16, switching to Kubuntu few months after when Canonical cancelled Unity project.  It was around that time that I'm much more comfortable using Linux.  Around last year, I switched to Linux full time when I switched my gaming desktop to Kubuntu & am no longer using Windows 10.  However, I might need to install it on another drive just so that I can play Halo (probably the only game, along with Mass Effect (if none worked on Linux) I'd reinstall Windows for).

[Skaarg]

I used Linux off an on for project/mess-around PCs from 2005-2011ish during high school and early college. Usually just sticking to Ubuntu for play around machines or just straight Debian when doing Server stuff. After 2009ish I really got back into bleeding edge PC gaming so Linux definitely wasn't an option on my main PC.

 

Back in August last year I watched the Wendell/Linus video on Linux Gaming. How much Linux gaming had improved really impressed me, and I was becoming more and more annoyed with Windows 10. So in the beginning of September I decided to dive in and install Linux Mint on my 2nd SSD. Since then the only thing I've booted into Windows for was to play PUBG or Apex Legends occasionally. I play Overwatch, FFXIV, and several new releases (DMC5 works damn near perfect) with little to no messing with things.

 

Since then I've taken the rest of this 2nd SSD to just be Linux Mint. It used to have a 2nd partition for some Windows games, and I'm going to change my 3TB storage drive to EXT4 soon from NTFS, but I need to move everything to my wife's PC over the network first since I don't have a large enough external drive.

 

I also have a newer laptop and an old Dell SFF PC I plan on using as a steam streaming/kodi box that are both exclusively running Linux. The laptop has had it since November, and the Dell I just bought last week from a university surplus sale.

 

Within the next year or so I want to build a new PC, and to be honest I'm very much considering going straight Linux on it, and only having a VM for the Windows things I rarely need.

[SpiritSC]

I'm using almost only Linux since last June, now i have a secondary ssd with Windows 10 just to play Apex, i used linux for a few projects, messing up with web hosting and AWS, after DXVK 0.61 i decided to dual boot, then a few weeks later i was only using Ubuntu, a few months ago after trying Manjaro with KDE and openbox i moved to Arch, mostly because of the AUR.

 

I got really mad with Windows after losing a ton of data from my documents folder + bloatware, then i decided to switch, i've never been so happy with one OS, the fact the i can customize the whole UI was something the made me love even more linux i'm not even a programmer but things were so easy to setup the i was able to make things the way i wanted.

[Shura]

I used a mix of both for over 8 years back and forth,  eventually got frustrated with some of the Distros. For 2 years, I've been mainly on Linux. Specifically vanilla Arch that I got setup just to my liking. I still have a windows partition for Final Fantasy XIV, I can get it to work just fine on Linux but I can't seem to get it to support my PS4 controller within the game. I like playing that game on controller so I still use windows for that but 95% on linux.

 

My main laptop for work is also on Arch, It's an old (7-8 years now) Vaio SA(1st gen). It came with windows 7; while It works on windows 10, the battery life is down by 60%, the fan is super loud on windows 10 and a memory hog since the windows 7 optimization drivers don't work on 10. But on linux it's dead silent, my Install only uses 564mb of ram and the responsiveness is amazing; it really did breath new life into the laptop. 

 

I don't usually play the latest triple A titles but was very interested in DMC5 and was surprised how quick it was made compatible with Linux. Honestly at the rate Linux is evolving, if Microsoft doesn't step up their game, they will really be in trouble. I have nothing against windows, Win7 was a good OS, it's just a matter of productivity, security and convenience and for me personally Linux wins in all 3 for my personal usage over windows. 

[camjocotem]

On 2/18/2019 at 3:50 PM, emosun said:

ill try linux after windows 7 stops working

Me too!

[lutherus]

Using Linux for 21 years. For 16 years using Gentoo.

[vsteel]

I made the switch in 2010, I had been playing with it and semi using it since around 2005, going back and forth between Windows and Linux.  Currently I use Kubuntu and the rest of the family use the latest version of Kubuntu. 

 

I have no issues, I do some gaming but not a ton so the titles I have work good for me, I use my machine also to surf, operate a music server(airsonic) and, media server (plex).  I have all of my media on two 10 terabyte drives in a mirror raid config.    I reboot every 10-30 days when  an update comes through and I need to reboot.  I don't remember the last time I had a Linux machine crash on me, it has been quite a while. (Not counting the self induced crashes because I was playing deep under the hood and did something I shouldn't) 

 

I run Nvidia drivers and don't have issues, anymore things seem to just work and I don't fiddle a ton with it like I used to.  The fiddling I do is related to testing out beta or alpha software or some other goofy thing where if I have a problem it is my own doing. 

 

I love having my home and root on different partitions so I can reload the OS in about 10 minutes and not have to reset everything up.  As an experiment I built a new PC and took the OS drive out of the old system and put it in the new one.  It booted right up with no issues. 

 

I still have a Windows partition on a laptop if I need it but so far I have been staying out of windows and not needed it.  (I don't look forward to all of the updates I am going to have to do if I ever did need it.)  I have found equivalent programs  for anything I used to run on Windows.  For my needs I have not missed Windows.   Your mileage may vary. 

 

[Breadpudding]

I've been a Linux user since 2010 and the only issues I've ever had were the ones I caused myself. Linux lets you do anything you wish and that's not always a good thing.

[elsandosgrande]

On 2/18/2019 at 5:11 PM, Taswell said:

I have also screwed a lot of linux installs by trying to install GPU drivers, AMD drivers are the worst.  

Ummmm, AMD drivers are working just fine for me. Funnily enough, it's only Nvidia that can't work properly with Wayland (that would be a death sentence for me, as I need Wayland for the touchpad gestures and Wayland always works better for me for some reason that Xorg, since KWin crashes on anything other that Xrandr when on Xorg).

[Schwarzie]

On 4/19/2019 at 12:44 AM, jonhyNoCash said:

According to steam, still not enough people have changed 

Thats no wonder to me. I tried several time to switch to Linux on my non Gaming system (i use Notebooks in Dockingstations for that for 10+ years now) and even though the Systems i tried it on are renowned for good Linux compatability ALWAYS(!) something doesnt work, no matter how much time i spend to solve the issue. Be i the nondetection of the closed screen when my Thinkpad T61 was sitting in its Dockingstation (which forced me to switch resolutions and multiple screensettings manually while windows 7 did all what i wanteds out of the box) or nonworking wireless lan cards (also in a Thinkpad) or not detected Lan chips (was a Intel one in yet another thinkpad) it simply drove me crazy.

And if thats not enough the Linux fontrendering works somehow fundamentally different then either Windows or MacOS. On both i can work all day without issues while under Linux i get burining eyes after one or two hours because all fonts are borked and blurry (which is apparently an issue that im not alone with even though its rare, and i have the same problem with the GPU assisted fontrendering under Windows withing Firefox but there a simple checkbox remedies that issue)). I tried for a week, together with some people in the Ubutuno helpforums to fix this issues (because after all Linux indeed gives you lots and lots of options to tweak that) but to no avail. That was 4 years ago, never tried against since then.

And every single issue was either unsolvable or made havy use of the command console necessary. Thats not the level of comfort i demand from a modern operating system. I want to use my computer with the applications i want and it has to work. So far Windows does that without major hickups even though Windows 10 has several annoying issues (like espionage and repeated reboots just for an update, definitely two strongsuits for Linux)

 

[elsandosgrande]

16 hours ago, Schwarzie said:

Thats no wonder to me. I tried several time to switch to Linux on my non Gaming system (i use Notebooks in Dockingstations for that for 10+ years now) and even though the Systems i tried it on are renowned for good Linux compatability ALWAYS(!) something doesnt work, no matter how much time i spend to solve the issue. Be i the nondetection of the closed screen when my Thinkpad T61 was sitting in its Dockingstation (which forced me to switch resolutions and multiple screensettings manually while windows 7 did all what i wanteds out of the box) or nonworking wireless lan cards (also in a Thinkpad) or not detected Lan chips (was a Intel one in yet another thinkpad) it simply drove me crazy.

And if thats not enough the Linux fontrendering works somehow fundamentally different then either Windows or MacOS. On both i can work all day without issues while under Linux i get burining eyes after one or two hours because all fonts are borked and blurry (which is apparently an issue that im not alone with even though its rare, and i have the same problem with the GPU assisted fontrendering under Windows withing Firefox but there a simple checkbox remedies that issue)). I tried for a week, together with some people in the Ubutuno helpforums to fix this issues (because after all Linux indeed gives you lots and lots of options to tweak that) but to no avail. That was 4 years ago, never tried against since then.

And every single issue was either unsolvable or made havy use of the command console necessary. Thats not the level of comfort i demand from a modern operating system. I want to use my computer with the applications i want and it has to work. So far Windows does that without major hickups even though Windows 10 has several annoying issues (like espionage and repeated reboots just for an update, definitely two strongsuits for Linux)

 

Oh my, you've had quite the misfortune. Usually, there are fewer issues, if any at all.

[Schwarzie]

3 hours ago, elsandosgrande said:

Oh my, you've had quite the misfortune. Usually, there are fewer issues, if any at all.

Well thats my collection of several attempts to switch to Linux over many years, not all at once, so it wasnt a total desaster Still, every time i ruefully came back to Windows.