this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2024
-102 points (18.5% liked)

Linux

48363 readers
414 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
-102
[Unpopular opinion] Linux is not a good choice for regular users (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
57 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I've been using all major OSes for a long time. I have the most experience with Windows, I've been using it since Windows 95 and stopped at Windows 8. I've been using macOS for about a decade and Linux (in total) for about 5 years. I have started with Mandrake, moved to Mandriva, spent over a year on Ubuntu and recently I've been using Fedora as my daily driver. And honestly, I'm running out of patience.

Few days ago I ran into the gpu driver issue. Long story short, Steam games started to crash on directx issue. Games that were working few weeks ago. I admit, I was mocking around with GPU drivers in order to make Podman containers to access the GPU. But I did the fresh diver install and it didn't solved the issue (also my GPU was not found despite all commands showed it was there). I don't have much spare time and I would like to play a game, I used to play before, without spending hours/days fixing issue that didn't exist last time I played it.

But it's not only about games. I have two laptops, both running Fedora 40 KDE spin. Some time ago on one laptop the power widget stopped working. It shows "no power profiles found on a device". But when I delete the widget and add it again, it works fine.

Other issue is with the general look and feel. There are many apps that don't follow the OS look - lack of window borders/shadow, random icons that don't match the system, flatpacks having issues accessing system configuration (e.g. vscodium not recognising zsh as a default shell).

Few more problems I had:

  • on GNOME, some extensions where crashing without any reason
  • some apps don't respect desktop scaling
  • bluetooth randomly dropping connections
  • syncing files between devices is always a struggle
  • you never know what's going to break when installing updates

If you want a Linux like experience use macOS, and if you want to play games, stick to Windows.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

started with Mandrake, moved to Mandriva, spent over a year on Ubuntu and recently I’ve been using Fedora

Another unpopular opinion:
That's because you've been using distributions that are either behind the times or have a lot of wonky crap added to them that looks like user friendliness when it works and is like fixing windows when it doesn't (I've been through similar path, just with a few other distros along the way)

Start with Gentoo or Arch (maybe Slackware). These are close to the grass, so the way to set things up is the way to fix things up

some apps don’t respect desktop scaling

are these gtk based apps? Different toolsets require different envs

syncing

Have you tried syncthing?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Start with Gentoo or Arch

I wouldn't recommend arch to general users. I consider myself a general linux user, and figuring out Arch, even after the installation hurdle, wasn't easy for me.

is like fixing windows when it doesn’t

I don't think Arch really makes that easy. Although, I guess archwiki is pretty great. Even arch forum helped me a lot with respect to other disto.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

That's why I wrote it's another unpopular opinion. Somehow the internet claims Arch is hard when to me it's been the easiest distro I've ever used

  • No GUI bs, unless you install it yourself, that you never know what it does under the hood. The config file you find in man is the config file that governs the thing - easy
  • You deleted a little bit too much? You just reinstall package, like in Slackware - easy
  • You need something from outside the packages? Arch is very well prepared for you building things from source and install it in a sane way, instead of pure make install, like Gentoo - easy
    And PKGBUILD is easy to understand, RPM and DEB package creation is black magic
  • You don't have a lot of crap in the system that you are not sure you need. Since it comes rather plain, you either install something you want, or it gets installed as dependency

But, of course, YMMV
And I've tried "easier" distros in the past. Sooner or later it always felt like I need proprietary set of keys to unscrew the lid to flip one small cable

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Start with Gentoo or Arch (maybe Slackware). These are close to the grass, so the way to set things up is the way to fix things up

I've tried Mint, openSUSE, Debian, Gentoo and Arch but I had other, non-regular user issues with those. I wanted to point out the standard issues.

are these gtk based apps? Different toolsets require different envs

Some were GTK based other were "optimised" for KDE

Have you tried syncthing?

Yes, I use it on a daily basis but there's no easy way to get it working on iOS/iPadOS.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I was mocking around with GPU drivers in order to make Podman containers to access the GPU. (...) I don’t have much spare time and I would like to play a game, I used to play before, without spending hours/days fixing issue that didn’t exist last time I played it.

And

I had other, non-regular user issues with those

I think, you should keep these two things (messing with containers accessing GPU and "just play a game") separate. I mean on separate boxes. Because now you can't "just play" because you've been elbows deep in OS internals. You can't take apart your fridge and then expect it to just cool the water the next day

“optimised” for KDE

Then I'm guessing these might need some KDE envs

Yes, I use it on a daily basis but there’s no easy way to get it working on iOS/iPadOS.

Ah, you're trying to breach the non-open wall. Is there an app on i* that allows you to set up an ftp/http file sharing server on the device? You probably could set it up as rclone upstream

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

I think, you should keep these two things (messing with containers accessing GPU and “just play a game”) separate. I mean on separate boxes. Because now you can’t “just play” because you’ve been elbows deep in OS internals. You can’t take apart your fridge and then expect it to just cool the water the next day

I agree, that's a valid point. But, I had a clean system, prepared for a normal user (clean install, official repositories, etc. And still GPU drivers refusded to work. I have covered all basics before I asked for help and even I got some good advice that worked, I ended up in the same place.

Then I’m guessing these might need some KDE envs

True, but sill for a regular user it looks like "Linux is ugly"

Ah, you’re trying to breach the non-open wall. Is there an app on i* that allows you to set up an ftp/http file sharing server on the device? You probably could set it up as rclone upstream

I know too well the unbreakable apple garden. And I don't mind tinkering with it but again, we are at the regular user level, that wants things just to work.