It’s been a couple years since I tried maining Linux (Ubuntu). The state of Linux gaming was definitely less than today. Back then, Apex Legends that I played with friends didn’t support Linux yet.
Probably the main reasons for me personally is that I was dual booting from a secondary SSD, so Windows was just always there to switch to if I ran into Linux hiccups I didn’t want to deal with. Also I remember the secondary SSD was only 256gb so I ran into some problems with that.
As for what’s preventing me from switching today
I’ve heard Linux VR isn’t quite there yet.
Switching over is just a big task I don’t want to deal with right now. It could be done, but I’m currently entrenched in Windows. I want to eventually.
Shit never works and I basically have to become a programmer and expert in CLI to get shit to work… until it breaks again. So after having to Google everything on how to do supposedly simple shit, I always end up going back to Windows and GUI’s because I don’t have time to become a developer.
Basically photoshop and games. I was dual booting and when I switched computer it wasn't worth reinstalling because I spent most of my time in windows. This was a long time ago.
Now that windows is moving into subscription basis I keep thinking I should try getting into linux again but I don't have the time to fiddle around making stuff work.
Apart from Steam I mostly use consoles for gaming these days so it would only be Photoshop I guess ( I think ms office works on Linux now?). Gimp is cool but it still can't do everything photoshop does and I find the GUI counterintuitive.
The one thing I still do use Linux for is booting with a thumbdrive when a computer running Windows has a meltdown.
Peripheral compatibility was my biggest issue. Most vendors just don’t make Linux versions. One that I couldn’t work around was my Razer Huntsman v2 Analog. While I was told about the open source Razer app alternatives, they were far from feature complete. My keyboard ended up defaulting to a profile where WASD emulated a controller instead, and the software didn’t have a way of changing it outside of windows.
Indie software is also a big miss. I play FF14. I use a Streamdeck with a custom plugin for hot keys. That is windows only. I use Teamcraft. Also windows only.
The problem is really one that I’m feeding into by going back to windows. There’s just not enough people on Linux to rationalize app development on smaller projects for it. I feel bad going to a one man Dev team and being like “Hey, you should stop everything and do this for just me, because no one else will use the Linux version”.
Could I work around some of these issues? Probably. Could I advocate for Linux software and put together my own alternatives? Probably. But by the time I’m done with work and just want to play a game…I don’t want to spend hours reinventing the wheel.
Ultimately windows is there, and I can make it do what I need it to do. While I’d love to use Linux, it’s just not a viable option for me.
My main device is Windows, but for peripherals for at least keyboards I have moved towards actively choosing those with qmk support since it got annoying needing dedicated software for corsair or Logitech or razor and so on.
Was using arch +5 years and eventually I just wanted to play some PUBG. win10 has been bearable as it doesn’t change much anymore. Wallpaperengine is nice plus. Yes there are ways to achieve the same on Linux, but haven’t seen anything as good with built-in library for Linux.
Back on win10 for something like 6 months, during which I switched to NVIDIA. NVIDIA + Wayland is not really something I wan’t to tackle anytime soon.
Being able to focus on gaming, fixing other parts of my home lab and automating updating other system has been breath of fresh air. Gaming and upkeep of the system was always some amount of work, when comparing to windows. I have felt the windows hasn’t gotten in my way almost at all, ( apart from getting ansible automation working. Windows being the target of palybooks. But that was just my inexperience with windows and such stuff)
For now if my win10 installation stays solid, I don’t see myself going back anytime soon on my gaming machines. Even on my lan pc getting full control of fans has been a hassle on Linux, yes there probably is kernel module on aur for the chipset or the support will be in future kernel but the simplicity of github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases is just golden, I don’t know will I bother when everything works without hassle on windows. This is all on ASRock B650E PG-ITX WiFi.
After troubleshooting/automating Linux systems for 8 hours a day I guess I just want to be able to play games and relax after work. For now the os of choice for that is windows for me.
Couldn't agree more. It's the niche, or hardware-specific, or "what do I need to do this?" apps. Does this game work on Linux? No idea, I know it works on Windows though.
Fan Control is simply one of the best apps in the last couple years. I can't live without EqualizerAPO. I recall installing Logitech G-Hub, turning off the RGB on my mouse, then uninstalling it. MSI products require and app, also.
It's just easier on Windows, the apps exist and work reasonably well.
The first time I tried to switch to Linux, it was a bad choice of Distro (Puppy, I think Lucid Puppy, where I learned that I would rather use Windows 3.1’s UI than stock XFCE) me incorrectly believing I could just run it from USB all the time so my family could just use Windows (I couldn’t have been older than 14 and the PC was old at the time, we got it in 2005 and it came with XP and struggled with Windows 7, and the storage was low,) and just not making an earnest effort to learn Linux. This was all user error. I tried Mint also, which straight-up didn’t work on my hardware at the time.
The second time I tried to switch, Mint again, about a year or two and a new PC after the first. I think Cinnamon is one of the best UIs ever made, but I also think Windows 10’s is pretty good (to be clear I despised Windows 7’s UI,) and I ran into compatibility issues and ultimately found that, with no strong benefit to web browsing or gaming (this was well before Proton) which were the main things I used my PC for, and still needing a lot of Windows software, just being mostly Windows worked.
Last time I tried to use Linux earlier this year, I didn’t intend to switch fully, but I wanted to switch my music making hobby, that I do with Linux Multimedia Studio, to Linux because some features of LMMS don’t work on the Windows version (I wanted to link multiple channels to a single VST plugin, which is necessary for the VST plugin “Genny” to produce a file that works on a real Sega Genesis.) This feature does work on the Linux version of LMMS, but Genny itself does not (and I did install WINE, some other VSTs did work.)
I’d love to say I’ll switch when Windows 10 EOL hits, Windows 11 has a fucking awful UI and starts to introduce some of the reasons I’ve never seriously considered Mac or iOS (I feel like Windows used to at least respect that my PC is MY PC when Win11 doesn’t,) but I can’t because that last one still sticks in my mind. I keep a Mint partition on my PCs, but it’s pretty much solely for doing things that might get me malware on Windows, or helping fix Windows if I break it.
Mate introduced me to Red Hat in the very late 90s and I keep trying various distros every year or two - last time was about 2020 so my views here might be a bit out of date now…
When Ubuntu launched I truely believed this would be the start of genuine transformation. While I do see the overall progression in modern distros - installing them is easier than ever - but at its core, it just doesn’t seem to truely improve when it comes to usability and user friendliness. As others have said, small changes or issues might require hours of research or a game of copy/paste/pray with commands found on a long lost forum page.
MS make plenty of mistakes and dumb changes but windows has had significant improvements over the years both to the interface but also functions:
W2k/XP dragged us kicking and screaming out of DOS and into the modern era.
Vista made much needed changes to security/driver issues - but it was still a slow pig - particularly updating.
Win7 fixed what Vista should have been - faster, cleaner and simpler, BSoD mostly a thing of the past now driver manufacturers have caught up from Vista fixed updates a bit.
Win8.1 improved boot speeds, had a lot of good under the hood changes that improved deployment and self-repair, good tools for power users (we just don’t talk about that start menu)
Win10/11 greatly improved the updating process - still far from perfect but significantly faster and more reliable. No longer the upgrade lottery it was in XP - 7 era.
Not wanting to start a fight here, just my perspective - unfortunately, every time I install Linux, the visuals look good but it always feels like a fancy modern skin over top of something akin to Win98. Sure, it’s fast, secure as a MF and not riddled with modern bloat but genuine advancement of the platform feels absent.
Maybe it’s because I don’t live elbow deep in Linux like I have in windows desktop for the past 20+ years. I do know that it’s versatility and power is incredible - from phones and Pi’s to world class infrastructure, so maybe that’s it. It’s designed for maximum power and flexibility that it’s not really suited as a general purpose desktop for the masses like windows. It might always remain as a oddity at the desktop level, insanely powerful in the right hands and just a little too complex and less refined to appeal to those not willing to go deep into really learning it.
I had to recompile nvidia-bl every time the Linux kernel updated or my backlight control keys wouldn’t work. Put up with it for four years then installed Windows 10 when it came out.
I hate the CLI and every time I had an issue every manual or forum or user would give me the solution using the CLI.
Also gaming. There is lots that runs fine on Linux now, but there is also lots which does not. Especially gaming peripherals like my Fanatec wheel and pedals.
I need iRacing and the software for the rest of my sim rig to be fully supported. This means “SimHub” for my wind sim, the “SimRig” app for my motion actuators, “SimCommander” for my wheelbase, and there are a couple others like “The Crew Chief” etc. oh and whatever emulation layer for iRacing; as there’s no Linux version; would need to not get me banned from the anti-cheat software.
I put my money where my mouth was though! I used Manjaro+Gnome for 2 or 3 years on my main machine, dual booting Windows only to sim race. I quit Adobe and Maxon and switched to DarkTable and Blender for photos and 3D modeling. All my 3D printing software and slicers have native Linux versions. I used Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, Dropbox (have since switched to NextCloud self-hosted). Docker was a dream and so fucking fast for web development. I still keep a Linux VM around just for Docker web development.
Here’s the thing… on not one but two occasions my machine refused boot to a GUI. I’m speaking as someone who uses server Linux daily for work, Mac OS daily for work, and Windows daily for play. If Linux distros and GPU makers don’t get their shit together IT WILL NEVER be the year of Linux on the desktop. Exactly 0 times has Windows failed to boot to a GUI for me (short of a hdd or GPU hardware failure) and Mac OS has also not booted to a GUI 0 times. As long as seeing a desktop on boot is not a 100% guarantee when running Linux, it’ll remain as something only nerds or enthusiasts do.
I love Linux, but I’d say it’s a safe bet to say I’ll never sim race or run iRacing natively on Linux short of Microsoft and windows disappearing from existence overnight. It just won’t happen.
For web development or 3D modeling and hacking around? Gimme Linux or Mac OS! WSL is like 99% there but no where as performant as the aforementioned. Also with WSL simple fucking things like networking become a proxy-firewall-ssh-tunnel nightmare.
I’ve used Ubuntu as at least a dual booted daily driver since 2016 and have also discussed with friends and family about what they liked and hated about it when they have used it, how they use their computer and whether they would swap. Here are some observations from that:
Hardware Issues and stability: For the most part, I’ve not really had to deal with hardware issues outside of trying to get NVidia graphics cards to play nice with everything else. However, I often have weird system stability issues or just plain quality of life. E.g. 2-in-1 decides randomly when put into sleep mode to flip the screen to a random orientation which I then have to go into settings to revert back. I’m used to buggy and annoying software, but for a lot of people this is a complete killer. Similarly, while I love the diverse options within Linux, having so much diversity means that troubleshooting and testing is so much more complex and you will usually have to go over multiple answers in order to solve your problem making it much harder to get into and use reliably
MS Office: This one tends to be the largest reason in my experience for people not going over to Linux. For a lot of people this is their main use for a computer and the fact that it is not available on Linux is a deal breaker. I’ve tried the online version and it is just not a viable alternative (nor is any cloud option). Similarly LibreOffice is a lot better than nothing, but the UI feel like it came out of the 90s, Latex is faster and easier to use than the math input, I never have been able to get referencing to work, drawing tools are lacking if they even exist at all. Opening office documents breaks all the formatting and looks awful, etc etc.
Games and other windows software: While I think value has done wonderful work in encouraging developers of games to support Linux and Proton does work quite well, you never quite know how a game will perform on Linux and if it will even work, whereas on Windows you can guarantee it has been tested and will work well. Similarly for other software: Will this work on Wine or Crossover? Maybe or maybe not but it’s a bit hard to swap if you are paying large amounts for software just to find out it cannot run on Linux.
A reason to move: I think Linux will always remain fairly niche as for most people there just isn’t a good enough reason to move over from Windows or Mac. These platforms already offer them everything they want in a computer in an easy to use and polished way. For most people, they really don’t care that windows is constantly spying and with ads everywhere already, what is a few more ads or that the cost of a Mac and is absolutely extortionate. Moving across would require a whole bunch of troubleshooting and learning how to do just about everything all over again and that would require a really good reason to do which Linux doesn’t (and possibly can’t ) provide and MS and Apple haven’t done anything stupid enough to offer.
I’ve tried and used Linux many times. Sometimes over the course of a whole year, but I always end up going back to Windows because of my games and Adobe.
Say fucking what? When was the last time you tried KDE or Gnome? Gnome is a beautiful masterpiece that blows Windows and Mac OS desktops out of the water.
It’s my opinion. Part of the problem is ‘which desktop’. As long as I can ssh into a Linux system I’m happy. The guis are clunky, but I’ll admit to not having tried all of them or the absolute latest versions. Also, and I likely ought to have mentioned this, in my homelab almost all ‘systems’ are vms, so the desktop gui has to function well in a virtual environment and has to at least try to have a decent rdp implementation.
It’s really not a problem anymore. Look at a distro like Mint, compare the lightweight xfce version versus the full fat Gnome cinnamon. They both look the same on the surface using the same theme, all apps work, look and behave fine over all versions, yet you’ve got the option between “small and snappy” or “pretty and high end” which works much better than turning off the animations in Windows.
I’ve been an on/off Linux desktop user for years and now is just a comfy time to be a Linux user. All websites work, most of my Steam/Epic and GOG library just works with no messing, the various software stacks we use day to day are there, mature and “just work”.
Many DE have received substantial improvements over the last couple of years. It sounds like you’re really looking for something lightweight, more than you are something that is fully featured. I don’t have much experience with the lightweight Linux DE, because when I need performance I just use command line like you do. I’m sure if you did some searching, you could find a really snappy DE, but it doesn’t sound very important for your use case. Definitely do check out some of the full-featured desktops though if you ever decide to use Linux as a primary PC. Several of them are really slick now.
Add comment