Linux

[Oblivion Knight]

Is anyone still running a Linux build, or have you tried a Linux build in the past?

What build of Linux? What made you give it a try? Would you go back, or have you already gone back to Windows? Why?

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I'm 35, I consider myself to be pretty tech savvy, yet I've still never tried it..

My laptop is now reaching that stage where it's kinda surplus to requirements, but it's still a pretty decent work based machine. I'm tempted to back up my data and finally give it a go for the first time.

Is Ubuntu still the go-to for Windows users?

 

[PGen98]

I love Linux, I prefer it to Windows even though my current desktop is running Win10. My laptop is a distro-hopping laptop, currently on PoP_OS, though likely switching to Fedora 34. When I can finally afford to build a new PC I will be running Linux on it, too, likely Fedora 34 Cinnamon.

I think a lot of people get caught up on Linux because they think it's still like it used to be back in the day, where you have do every little thing via the command line, and while it is easier to learn and use the command line, these days you can do more or less everything without once touching a terminal.

Ubuntu's usually the best bet for just starting out with Linux, it's a solid distro that you can get up and running with quickly. Linux Mint is another good option for early days of Linux, and PoP_OS is another very good distro that I like and make use of. I'd also put Fedora on your list, Zorin, ElementaryOS, Manjaro and Arch are also great distros, though Arch has a bit of a learning curve to it.

Give it a go, though, you'll see just how great Linux can be once you get into it a bit

 

[jamesyfx]

I use Zorin on an older laptop of mine that would die on its ass with Windows running on it - the OS kinda took over the whole system as it uses a really early non-standard form of UEFI which means it wouldn't even comply with a change in boot order.. Windows would always boot even if it was last on the list... nor would the BIOS work unless I got the OK from Windows 10 first.. It was taking over!

Managed to remove the issue eventually and get Linux installed. I tried Ubuntu and Zorin.. and I figured I would go with Zorin as it was the simplest and it was still Ubuntu based... it's straightforward and works well. Even the terminal and Linux folder structure are quite hidden, so they're much more user friendly than previous years.

 

[apathy]

I've used Linux since 2017 and it's been my daily driver since. I jumped into Arch first to force myself to learn the CLI - took me a couple hours to get it up and running, but once I did I not only had a working Linux system but also the knowledge to do maintenance on it. A lot of people say the Arch installation is just an elitist thing but I really do think it's to force users to understand how their system works. Despite using Windows all my life I have a much better understanding of Linux and how to fix issues, than I do on Windows.

That being said, after these years some of the bugs that can pop up with bleeding edge distros like Arch are starting to annoy me... I've had a lot of amdgpu crashes over the last year and right now my CPU uses way too many cycles when my Xbox One controller is attached, due to a buggy libusb.

I have Pop_OS! set up for my Xenforo 2.1 & 2.2 dev environments in VM, probably the easiest OS install I've ever done. Just a shame it uses GNOME

Gaming has really come a long way on it too but I'm cursed to be a fan of Japanese devs that always use MFPlat and etc for their video cutscenes ;_;

 

[Nous]

I used Ubuntu once on a old laptop that I had lying around. It was pretty fun to toy around with but I kinda stuck with Windows and Mac for now.

 

[Ash]

My knowledge of it is pretty small but I did have to use it once when I somehow managed to mess up my old laptop and had trouble with Windows. It's not too bad but I definitely prefer Windows, especially I'm just so used to it.

 

[apathy]

Recently swapped away from Openbox after using it since I started with Linux back in 2017, over to KDE. Openbox is great but I did end up getting fed up from not having basic stuff installed, and it just feels nicer overall having a full DE instead of just a WM - really love the wobbly window effects and such too.
I have noticed one or two graphical issues which I initially thought was from my trial run of Wayland, but it seems they're present on X11 too. Still, overall I gotta say I love it.

 

[jamesyfx]

I don't think I've ever thought about not using the X Window System on *nix systems. I need to look into that.. sounds interesting that there's Something else out there.

 

[Oblivion Knight]

This is next on my to-do list.. honest! I started backing up a bit of data shortly after posting this thread, but got distracted with setting up my PS2

I think I'll still most likely go with Ubuntu as a starting point.

 

[PGen98]

This is next on my to-do list.. honest! I started backing up a bit of data shortly after posting this thread, but got distracted with setting up my PS2

I think I'll still most likely go with Ubuntu as a starting point.

Ubuntu's definitely a good starting point, for sure, when you get more comfortable you should try and branch out a bit to distros like Linux Mint, PoP_OS, Zorin, or Fedora, all good distros that are great alternatives to Windows.

 

[apathy]

I don't think I've ever thought about not using the X Window System on *nix systems. I need to look into that.. sounds interesting that there's Something else out there.

X is the de facto standard, but it's a relic from the 80s so apparently it's almost impossible to maintain, a lot of the core team working on X have split off to make Wayland instead so in a few years time Wayland will likely replace X as the standard.

 

[jamesyfx]

I don't think I've ever thought about not using the X Window System on *nix systems. I need to look into that.. sounds interesting that there's Something else out there.

Yup I have a 21 year old G4 Cube and X11 is the main driver on there.

 

[apathy]

Looks like there's a lot of interesting things surrounding PopOS right now, and I'm definitely beginning to question if it's a distro I should recommend to the newbs.

The first I really heard about anything was when I watched Linus' recent video on his & Luke's Linux challenge, where he showed that trying to install Steam on Pop (which markets itself as gamer-oriented) actually uninstalled his entire desktop environment, and when he rebooted he was just prompted to login at the TTY. It turned out it was kind of unlucky timing on Linus' part, as he happened to download a bugged ISO which had been patched with a fix not long after he downloaded it.
These kinds of things can happen, there was an instance where Bumblebee accidentally rm -rf /usr'd, but to add to all of this a blogpost was recently written by one of the Gnome developers basically calling PopOS/System76 out for, in short (and my own words), basically going the same route Canonical did years ago.

As I noted in my previous post here I use Pop in 2 VM's for my PHP projects and it works great - since then I did actually try install it on another desktop I have which runs my NS2, Pokemon Showdown, and Git servers, but it totally crapped out and couldn't install. Don't even remember what the particular issue was, but since I wanted it to be up and running quick & easy I just went with Ubuntu LTS and it's been smooth sailing since.

I don't really care too much for all the linux drama you read on reddit, and even if most newbs won't care about a lot of the stuff written in the Gnome dev's blogpost, the general attitude of your distro developers does affect you as an end user, so I'm not too sure what I'll recommend from this point on.

As for Linus' vid, it really did highlight to me just how far the Linux desktop experience has to go. A lot of these nonsense issues that plague Linux would not exists if there wasn't so much fragmentation, so I'm hoping Valve & the Steam Deck can have some sort of influence here, even if it doesn't end up doing much for our market share.

 

[Demon_skeith]

I've run some at school but never at home, I need to get a VM going and run a few just to keep myself fresh on how to use the OS.