Not sure about the similarities here, but I actually love GTK when it comes to app design. It’s one of the things I miss about Linux in Windows. (Yes, I’m a Windows user—not by choice, though.) About the only thing I hate about it is that for some reason a lot of GTK app designers think a simpler design should mean less functionality. Gimme my damn right-click context menus dammit! >_<
check through the hotkeys of your current window manager – you won’t get the full dynamic features of a tiling window manager, but most of them have keys for snapping windows to top-half, bottom-half, left-half, right-half (as well as sometimes offering by quarter as well)
DistroTube argued that the killer feature of tiling window managers is the workspaces, not the tiling
non-tiling window managers can also have different workspaces, or even DEs such as KDE Plasma. IIRC even Windows has those (although with inconvenient keybindings imo)
I think they’re talking about the tandem of tiling and workspaces, as usually you can customize your tiling per-workspace. Some TWMs have tags instead of workspaces, making it even better.
OP, I have an entire guide for Linux/Windows computing, having been a couple decades old user of Windows. I am using Linux for the past 6+ years, and am using Debian as of now.
Start with Ubuntu LTS. Your priority is being able to search your solutions easily on AskUbuntu, StackOverflow or similar websites within the first few search results, and NOT needing to interact with and/or get harassed by the toxic evangelists in Linux community. I assume you already got a taste of that evangelism with the comments here.
Also, it is essential to require optimal corporate and community software support, and maximum stability/compatibility with WINE, without your system breaking upon automatic/random updates. This lessens the need for you to go around scrambling on the internet for solutions. Make sure to utilise whatever you need, Snaps, AppImages, regardless of what people say, to make your Linux life easier.
First time? Use Ubuntu. Not only is it easy to use and a good UX overall, most tutorials assume a Ubuntu based distro (there are differences between distros that can be...hard to translate over). That's going to be really useful when you're looking up how to do stuff
This is not 2005 when the vast majority’s experience with interactive UX on a screen was Windows. People today operate Android, iOS much more so than Windows. Thus they are able to grok multiple OS chrome paradigms without much difficulty. And then the OS chrome is rather simple and therefore learning it doesn’t cost much or yield significant benefits should you have gotten that knowledge for free. Therefore the argument for choosing an OS based on its chrome is as shallow as the chrome itself. The difficult stuff is things not working due to defects (bugs), finding solutions and implementing them and that’s where the OS choice yields the highest benefit. On that front few options beat Ubuntu LTS other than perhaps Debian, but Debian isn’t novice-friendly.
The default UX used in Ubuntu may actually be confusing for newbies, as it’s quite different compared to Windows.
It's not that different, dude, and it's not like they don't give you a tutorial on first boot either.
Perhaps a distro which uses KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, MATE or LXQt by default.
Gauge your audience dude. A Linux newbie will not know wtf anything you just named is. (For any other newbies reading, these are all 'desktop environments' - essentially collections of programs that make up a user interface)
Side dock, top panel, lack of a “start” menu are already three immediately visible differences, and you claim it’s not that different?
The side dock is a taskbar except on the left hand side. Big whoop. Top panel is basically the system tray as seen on Windows, with all functionality fairly obvious just by looking at it, and there is infact a start button where you can type in the program name you're looking for, just like most people do in Windows. Not exactly MacOS levels of relearning.
Which is EXACTLY why I mentioned them, so that they can Google it.
Or...you can explain what you are talking about. Like I did for you. Sending newbies off on wild Google chases is not helpful.
Parent comment is wrong. The default UX used in Ubuntu may actually be confusing for newbies, as it’s quite different compared to Windows. Just check some screenshots or videos and you can see for yourself. I’d instead recommend going for a distro which uses a more familiar UX (ie the Desktop Environment).
Perhaps a distro which uses KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, MATE or LXQt by default (these are “desktop environments” (DE) - which is a collection of the desktop shell components (eg start menu, taskbar, dock etc) plus default applications that go with it eg the file manager, document viewer etc). A desktop environment like the ones I mentioned above, in their default settings, should be familiar to most Windows users. Now whilst you can install any DE on any distro, it can be a daunting task for newbies, plus, the settings might not be optimal for you. So it’s better to go with a distro that comes with such easy-to-use DEs by default. Examples of such distros include Linux Mint and Zorin. These, by default, should look quite familiar to you, and should be even more easier to use than Ubuntu.
Both Mint and Zorin are based on Ubuntu, so most of the documentation for Ubuntu should be relevant to Mint and Zorin as well. But if you’re not sure, just include quotes for your distro when you’re doing a web search, eg how do I do this in Linux “Mint” will ensure you’ll only get results with “Mint” in the page.
Parent comment is right. The body of documentation generated for Ubuntu by the community is an enormous asset. It’s one of the important side effects of it being the most used distro.
Mint is the most mentioned choice and an extremely great beginner distro with an huge community.
ZorinOS will get a big update very soon and is also a very good choice. It was my first distro, especially because it looks very modern and pleasing.
If you’re a tiny bit more advanced and get the basics, then you might take a look at the immutable Fedora variants like Silverblue.
They have many advantages compared to traditional distros like the two mentioned above, but atomic Linux is a relatively new concept. I also find them easier to understand and use, and, imo, they’re even more user friendly, but not as refined.
Out of curiosity, what’s preventing someone from making a regulatory db similar to tzdb other than the lack of maintainers?
This seems like the perfect use case for something like this: ship with a reasonable default, then load a specific profile after init to further tweak PM. If regulations change you can just update a package instead of having to update the entire kernel.
Linux will eventually make it seriously to the desktop in the next few years, possibly going as high as 15%-20% of the userbase (in my country Greece it’s already at 9%). But only because MS is going to destroy its Windows base by making it subscription etc.
I have no direct experience with any pen related issues but kudos for taking the time to open all them reports. sooner or later, someone is going to tackle those issues. let’s hope it’s soon.
there’s a lot of things that need to be re-implemented in wayland and it currently sucks for a lot of people; but forcing change by pushing wayland onto the users is the only way forward, way too many people are comfortable with status quo.
there’s a lot of things that need to be re-implemented in wayland and it currently sucks for a lot of people; but forcing change by pushing wayland onto the users is the only way forward, way too many people are comfortable with status quo.
People will make the switch is there is no issue. See how pipewire switch happened. I am not adamant about maintaining the status quo. By forcing people you are just punishing them for no fault of theirs. It is not like they are sticking to X11 because they are X11 fanatics. Give these people working alternative and they will switch in a blink of an eye.
It is always easy to say these things when you and your work is not affected. Tomorrow these people will switch to something else and say your computer is not bootable or for some reason you are not able to do your work due to that change will you say yes make the change I am happy?
I’m not calling you a reactionary, just seen way too many people maintaining “this is fine” for issues that are anything but.
pipewire sucked a lot for the longest time, at least for several setups I know. but it got better and more dependable by getting forced onto users. if it had waited to be 100%, it wouldn’t ever be in production.
this is a “build the plane while flying it” situation, if the stress on the vanguard is not for you, then step back for a while and try again in a couple of months, you have options.
Yeah that is exactly what I am doing. I am on debian now. I do not have high hopes that these will be fixed any time soon. There is the issue of colour management too. But I can only hope that when debian ditches X11 these are solved. Otherwise windows it is for me and others who need these things.
That said it is not good to build a plane while it is flying you crash and endanger others. And it is perfectly reasonable to make people aware what kind of plane they are boarding. Mainly when so many people suggest fedora for artists and general people while it is not for them.
I haven’t seen anyone mentioning this yet, so I will: if you’re looking for the most accessible way to use Linux, nothing beats Endless OS. It’s a Linux distribution that is built specifically with ease of use and offline usage in mind (if you don’t know what a “distribution” is, feel free to ask). It’s pretty different from Windows (the user interface is nothing alike, you should download every program/app from the App Center instead of downloading from your browser), but I think you’d get the gist of it quickly.
Now, whether you would want to change to Linux or not greatly depends on what you use your computer for. If you use your computer mostly for browsing the Internet and making Word documents, then I think you should change. If you play videogames on your computer, but mostly via Steam, then Linux won’t be bad. But if your work depends on something like Adobe Photoshop and you really aren’t available to using any other program, then you would not want tochange to Linux, because Photoshop isn’t compatible with it.
TL;DR: Have a look at Endless OS; and please share what you use your computer for / what devices other than a normal keyboard and mouse you normally connect to your computer, so we can help you determine whether you should just switch to Linux or not.
Technically, Linux is just the kernel. What makes a distro different is the software they choose to install and package, and what version: some come with the latest version of kde plasma and busybox, others use versions of GNOME and the GNU core system utilities that are a few years old, etc.
You may want to ask over in !datahoarder . This topic often came up back on Reddit, and the general vibe I got was that most people prefer QuickSync. Intel may not be great in a lot of areas, but they are a beast in video encoding/decoding. That being said, I use a Ryzen APU and it’s perfectly fine. There are way more important things to look at when choosing a CPU.
If your performance is slow, I would check your CPU is listed on the chart I linked above. Not all CPUs support all codecs.
Edit: If your CPU doesn’t support the codec, it will still work, it just won’t be accelerated.
quicksync really doesn’t have good quality:compression buying a used nvidia gpu and using that would be far better. but really, any moderatly up to date cpu should get good x265 or svtav1 perf
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