Real talk though, how long ago was that? Linux has been making improvements at a blistering pace. If it’s been a while, I’d recommend giving it another try soon.
in 2021. In 2022 I tried again with Fedora and KDE but I have an Nvidia GPU and this was around the time they just switched the default to Wayland which resulted in the liveCD hanging forever. Didn’t even get to install it again. I used to use Linux as a desktop from 2008 to 2014 but stopped because things just kept breaking on me and it was wasting my time. Eventually, my work switched to Windows, I switched to working at home and it didn’t make sense to maintain a Linux desktop that every time I booted it up, something new was broken. I’ve been checking every year into Linux since.
Sorry but in my field 70% of the people use Nvidia. So, yeah, Linux doesn’t support my workflow, Linux is bad. The end result is the OS doesn’t work properly. I don’t care how it needs to work. I need to know that it will work. If someone is causing it not to work, that’s on Linux still because the end result is still that Linux doesn’t work. On top of that, X11, Nvidia, and KDE worked just fine but Fedora rolled on ahead with releasing Wayland as the default when clearly it wasn’t ready.
Even outside of the Nvidia drivers through, since they now have published open-source drivers, there are still tons of issues with Linux as a whole. Multiple times I’ve seen basic GUIs either not work or not exist. A great example of this is: How do you figure out what driver the system is using without using the command line? Not just video card drivers which some distros have finally made GUIs for. No, like my mouse drivers, or the random Watcom tablet or webcam? Where do I see the “device manager”? Another great example is themes. GTK and QT themes do not play nicely together. Linux has a division within its own ecosystem. In fact, everything is divided and thus has issues inter-communicating.
This is not to mention the bugs I’ve encountered in multiple distros. In Fedora, the last time I tried, I couldn’t change my mouse settings in their GUI. I had to use bashrc and issue an x11 mouse setting command to get the mouse movement I wanted.
At the end of the day, I want to use my computer to do the thing I want to do. Not make simply using my computer a hobby in itself. This is the case for the majority of computer users.
Lastly, Linux as a community has a hard time taking absolutely valid feedback and brushing it off. I’m trying to help Linux by saying it’s terrible. I want it to be good. It can be good. Getting pushback for valid feedback isn’t going to encourage anyone to give their feedback which Linux absolutely needs more valuable feedback if it’s going to become a mainstream desktop OS.
Fair enough. I appreciate you for trying it again every so often and not just holding a grudge because of a bad experience 5 or 10 years ago. I have faith it’ll “get there” eventually. For some of us it has, but there is obviously a ways to go before it has the ability to grab everyone. :P
Absolutely. I love Linux. I am a game developer who makes builds for Linux (not Proton). I specifically believe in Linux. That said Linux is a bit of a UX/UI trash fire and I have games to make. I’ll probably be trying again this year. I’ll probably go with Manjaro, Fedora, and OpenSuse unless you have any recommendations. What distro and DE do you use? I’ve been leaning towards KDE the last few times I tested but I really liked Fedora’s Gnome.
For game dev, try Pop OS. it has Nvidia support out of the box.
Game dev has always been an issue because either card support is minimal or manufacturer just didn t care about ux for linux despite community plea (,unity s font issue)
I have used manjaro before and liked it a lot. Currently I’m running Garuda, but I have never used vanilla Arch so I’m honestly not 100% sure what extra Garuda brings to the table outside of a pre-customized ui and some “helper” apps - install went butter smooth and updates have been a breeze and I think that is thanks to Garuda specificly.
Personally a big fan of KDE plasma. The DE in popos was my biggest detractor but that’s just personal preference. It also probably helps that I’m on an all AMD system.
Real talk though, how long ago was that? Linux has been making improvements at a blistering pace. If it’s been a while, I’d recommend giving it another try soon.
in 2021. In 2022 I tried again with Fedora and KDE but I have an Nvidia GPU and this was around the time they just switched the default to Wayland which resulted in the liveCD hanging forever. Didn’t even get to install it again. I used to use Linux as a desktop from 2008 to 2014 but stopped because things just kept breaking on me and it was wasting my time. Eventually, my work switched to Windows, I switched to working at home and it didn’t make sense to maintain a Linux desktop that every time I booted it up, something new was broken. I’ve been checking every year into Linux since.
Nvidia not publishing proper open source drivers -> Linux bad
Logic
Sorry but in my field 70% of the people use Nvidia. So, yeah, Linux doesn’t support my workflow, Linux is bad. The end result is the OS doesn’t work properly. I don’t care how it needs to work. I need to know that it will work. If someone is causing it not to work, that’s on Linux still because the end result is still that Linux doesn’t work. On top of that, X11, Nvidia, and KDE worked just fine but Fedora rolled on ahead with releasing Wayland as the default when clearly it wasn’t ready.
Even outside of the Nvidia drivers through, since they now have published open-source drivers, there are still tons of issues with Linux as a whole. Multiple times I’ve seen basic GUIs either not work or not exist. A great example of this is: How do you figure out what driver the system is using without using the command line? Not just video card drivers which some distros have finally made GUIs for. No, like my mouse drivers, or the random Watcom tablet or webcam? Where do I see the “device manager”? Another great example is themes. GTK and QT themes do not play nicely together. Linux has a division within its own ecosystem. In fact, everything is divided and thus has issues inter-communicating.
This is not to mention the bugs I’ve encountered in multiple distros. In Fedora, the last time I tried, I couldn’t change my mouse settings in their GUI. I had to use bashrc and issue an x11 mouse setting command to get the mouse movement I wanted.
At the end of the day, I want to use my computer to do the thing I want to do. Not make simply using my computer a hobby in itself. This is the case for the majority of computer users.
Lastly, Linux as a community has a hard time taking absolutely valid feedback and brushing it off. I’m trying to help Linux by saying it’s terrible. I want it to be good. It can be good. Getting pushback for valid feedback isn’t going to encourage anyone to give their feedback which Linux absolutely needs more valuable feedback if it’s going to become a mainstream desktop OS.
Fair enough. I appreciate you for trying it again every so often and not just holding a grudge because of a bad experience 5 or 10 years ago. I have faith it’ll “get there” eventually. For some of us it has, but there is obviously a ways to go before it has the ability to grab everyone. :P
Absolutely. I love Linux. I am a game developer who makes builds for Linux (not Proton). I specifically believe in Linux. That said Linux is a bit of a UX/UI trash fire and I have games to make. I’ll probably be trying again this year. I’ll probably go with Manjaro, Fedora, and OpenSuse unless you have any recommendations. What distro and DE do you use? I’ve been leaning towards KDE the last few times I tested but I really liked Fedora’s Gnome.
For game dev, try Pop OS. it has Nvidia support out of the box. Game dev has always been an issue because either card support is minimal or manufacturer just didn t care about ux for linux despite community plea (,unity s font issue)
I have used manjaro before and liked it a lot. Currently I’m running Garuda, but I have never used vanilla Arch so I’m honestly not 100% sure what extra Garuda brings to the table outside of a pre-customized ui and some “helper” apps - install went butter smooth and updates have been a breeze and I think that is thanks to Garuda specificly.
Personally a big fan of KDE plasma. The DE in popos was my biggest detractor but that’s just personal preference. It also probably helps that I’m on an all AMD system.