Honestly mint is just so user friendly now if you can use windows basic features (which a surprising amount of people can't?) you can use Linux no problem
Doing mainly SW development and online gaming, installed Linux Mint in 2017 and removed Windows dual boot 2 years later. It has been updating itself since then with very minor problems.
Many if no most Windows games work perfectly using Steam/Proton.
Is really and transparent to use. It's not doing weird sh!t behind the curtains. You have full control about what the OS is doing. Find a distribution to that suits you and customize it and learn how it's configured
GNU/Linux on the desktop will never take off until the terminal is an optional feature to get work done. Normal users don’t want to fix their OS, they want to do the task they set out todo in the first place imo.
I just re-tried Ubuntu on a spare laptop again this morning. It's such hot garbage, it 100% required Terminal to get half my shit working. After 6 hours of dorking around I just went back to Zorin to avoid the headaches.
Yeah, typing this on Linux right now. Using Deepin. It's hard for me to think how a distro like this could get any easier. If you know how to use Windows, you should be able to figure out how to use this. All the functions are the same and you never have to use the terminal if you don't want to.
When you learn that the console is your friend, that the shell is your friend, that the compilers and interpreters are your friends, that you can just build anything.
generally my problems with linux is like basic compatibility stuff.
I couldn't get the scaler to work on my GPU/monitor combo so it would only output to a 4x3 inch square in the middle of the screen, which made actually troubleshooting such an issue a problem.
I'd recommend checking out a Linux reddit/discord/other thing because there are a lot of helpful people out there who are trying to help! Also, I don't think you could even do what you wanted in Windows
I'm sure by the time I switch to it and learn it, I will agree with this, but my friend that keeps having cs2 crash when trying to boot the game up unfortunately tells me otherwise
the only real problem with Linux for most users is the lack of support for very specific applications (photo editing/video editing - you can use Davinci but it doesn't support H264 so you better have a ton of space to use an intermediary format)
I wouldn't agree that Linux is lacking in photo or video editors. There's Gimp and Krita, for example. I've used Kdenlive for well over a decade because it does what I need, so I'm not familiar with what else may be around. Although maybe these don't stack up to top pro tools, they're all free!
No one uses those for professional work. I never said they were lacking video or photo editors. They’re lacking the ones people use.
Krita is used for illustration but no one uses gimp or kdenlive for like actual, pro work. People use photoshop and affinity, or Davinci/Premiere/Final Cut.
i just want to shoutout darktable, which i have used for semi-professional photography, and blender, which i believe is often used for 3d graphics in professional settings.
That's a fair point - fwiw you can totally use Davinci on Linux but there's caveats compared to Windows/macOS due to licensing issues with certain codecs (like h264/h265)
Also, yeah, they are! I’m not really hating - I *am* a Linux user haha. I’m just trying to be realistic about broad adoption. Also, Microsoft Office (libre is fine for most people *but* Calc kinda sucks compared to Excel).
I think having corporations/governments switch to Linux
would be one of the best things to help widen adoption.
But in the end, it honestly doesn’t matter all that much. A ton of people use desktop Linux now, way more than at any point before. I’m not trying to be a pessimist or anything, just realistic!
I would add a lack of accessibility tools. I'm sure there is GNU Screen Reader but Windows has a huge library of pre-tined accessibility solutions which just work that just aren't available on Linux.
I really want to use Linux but I just can't go without the tools I rely on to see. I hope over time better accessibility options become available. These need to be included by default so blind users can install Linux without help.
That's good to know. Some questions:
- how do I increase the font size of the installer
- can I use a screen reader during the installation process
- Has KDE scaling improved? Back when I could see the scaling was pretty awful.
Well, you also have Cinelerra-GG for video editing if you don't mind a somewhat rough UI, ditto for GIMP. You also have DarkTable and RawTherapee for photo editing as well as MyPaint or Krita for more general art programs.
As for the gaming front, basically everything that doesn't have kernel anticheat or particularly nasty DRM platform-locking it into Windows will work absolutely fine on WINE/Proton, if not even better than in native Windows depending on the game.
i'm just talking about "pro" software. same thing with like, microsoft office not working on linux -- libreoffice is fine for most ppl but things like calc != excel and that is a big deal for a lot of people
tbh I rarely use Windows nowadays - I still keep it on a partition on my laptop and desktop, but I have been using Arch (btw) for years now. the past few weeks on macOS outside of work has been nice, tho. I've almost exclusively used my Mini unless I'm lazy and wanna lay in my bed or couch
I dunno. I run a Linux server, and I've used it as my desktop at various times; it is almost always something that needs maintenance, in one way or another. Even Debian can break things by simply removing versions of Python from your OS.
I think it's just that most people have much simpler expectations from Windows. You don't normally go a round tweaking the OS in Windows like you can do on Linux.
Of course, everything can be fixed one way or another, and I don't mind—I'm a tinkerer. Nonetheless, it's still a bit of an issue that goes beyond just "not as convenient as in Windows".
That’s true. It took me a while to grasp that I don’t have to scour the internet for software and genuinely almost made me dislike Linux because I thought that software for Linux is harder to find. How wrong I was.
I have both Linux and Windows boxes at home.
Really, it's about "What software do you want to run?" Then you choose the operating system that runs it.
My desk PC is Windows 11, but my media center, NAS, one of my servers, and DJ laptop are all Linux.
Truth! My job requires me to learn Redhat Enterprise Linux OS. I’ve been learning it for almost 2yrs (not fully dedicated like I should be). Letting go of windows has been difficult.
Comments
It happened to me with LibreOffice.
When I stopped thinking it was M$ Office I found it had more logic and was easier to use
Many if no most Windows games work perfectly using Steam/Proton.
I have a Win10 VM for SW testing purposes.
I couldn't get the scaler to work on my GPU/monitor combo so it would only output to a 4x3 inch square in the middle of the screen, which made actually troubleshooting such an issue a problem.
eventually i just a got a different GPU
Krita is used for illustration but no one uses gimp or kdenlive for like actual, pro work. People use photoshop and affinity, or Davinci/Premiere/Final Cut.
A real professional produces quality work with whatever tools are to hand. The latest and most expensive tools don't guarantee the best results.
I think having corporations/governments switch to Linux
But in the end, it honestly doesn’t matter all that much. A ton of people use desktop Linux now, way more than at any point before. I’m not trying to be a pessimist or anything, just realistic!
- how do I increase the font size of the installer
- can I use a screen reader during the installation process
- Has KDE scaling improved? Back when I could see the scaling was pretty awful.
Davinci is pretty good about posting a format list which I appreciate (https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/SupportNotes/DaVinci_Resolve_18_Supported_Codec_List.pdf?_v=1705996810000)
Really, it's about "What software do you want to run?" Then you choose the operating system that runs it.
My desk PC is Windows 11, but my media center, NAS, one of my servers, and DJ laptop are all Linux.
i do minimum possible things in a browser because it is slow and annoying and hates Firefox