There was an interesting thread on Reddit [1] the other day which did a breakdown of the state of gaming in terms of native games and games that can be run easily via Steam Play (aka 'Proton', Valve's in-built WINE+DXVK layer). The results were quite interesting and, as one of the replies pointed out in another breakdown, Linux now competes with (and in some ways beats) gaming on macOS in terms of size of catalogue.
Granted there is a ways to go to beat Windows in this space, but the progress over the last 6 years generally and the last 6 months specifically is astounding.
As someone who has just released[1] a first access game across Windows, macOS and Linux:
10 years ago developing on linux as a game developer was way worse than windows and MacOS, now there is no real difference at all. I speak as a long time UNIX user, Linux was terrible for C++ devleopment, debugging and asset creation/viewing (compared to the others) making gamedev tougher than it needed to be.
10 years ago linux's OpenGL drivers were behind even MacOS and way behind Windows OpenGL which was behind DirectX by quite some way. Now Linux's drivers are fairly good although it's still a nightmare upgrading radeon drivers and NVidia's drivers seem to be fickle. This leads to a lot of bugs from users and supporting various distro/hw/driver combinations.
Libraries like libSDL(2) were less mature 10 year ago, multi monitor, input and sound support were patchy because the Linux landscape was fragmented and buggy. Now libSDL2 is pretty much spot on. Mutli-monitor is doable (not as good as macOS but as good as windows), input is pretty good and sound is OK (but most people use FMOD which is superb).
Where Linux falls behind is deployment. No I am not going to ship my source for you to compile. itch.io and Steam go a long way to make it easy to deploy and crucially update the game. It's still a PITA to deploy a compiled app on Linux with unclear glibc versions and amazingly it's worse than MS DLL hell of MSVC redistributable shambles.
It's not impossible to overcome but it's a PITA for a small market. Not a good position to be in. I support macOS and Linux as well as Windows because I believe in plurality but I can see why many chose not to. Don't think that using Unity or Unreal make anything easier either. In many ways they are worse than a well written custom engine.
Runs 5000 games run on Linux vs runs well on Linux. Unfortunately - Linux still has some way to go. Generally, you get lower FPS on Linux(could matter for competitive gaming). There are graphical glitches and artifacts even on well supported games(I am looking at you Dota2). It is far more likely for game to be entirely broken via an update on Linux than Windows and it can take quite awhile to get the fix.
macOS can't really be considered a proper gaming competitor to Linux, since it runs on very limited hardware. You can't use it for demanding games, unlike Linux.
If you don't have specific Windows apps, I'd be tempted to try a Chromebook these days.
Around 2 years ago I got a cheap Chromebook and it was terrible. I think it was $250. Fit and finish and keyboard kind of sucked. I found one of those HP Chromebook 13 g1 boxes, which Woot had refurb for half off at just under $500, and it is much closer to the hardware experience I'm used to with Thinkpads, for 1/6th the price.
Now, I almost always reach for the Chromebook instead of the Thinkpad EXCEPT when I need to connect to both of my work VPNs, the Chromebook will only connect to one at a time. I can ssh into my personal and work machines, run my password manager, program via remove vi sessions (though I could stand to use VSCode, I don't have that set up on my Thinkpad either).
The Chromebook has been a great experience for me.
Why a Chromebook? Linux still works better on x86 CPUs, and I am sure there’s plenty of laptops, including inexpensive ones, that are perfectly suitable for Linux. (My current personal workhorse is a ZenBook on which I have tried Fedora, Slackware, and Ubuntu - all of which ran without issues.)
Coincidentally, recently project Crostini has reached Chrome OS stable. To those who don't know what it is - Crostini enables running Linux apps on Chrome OS (https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/c...). This makes Chrome OS a lot more appealing than it used to be, especially in combination with top end hardware like Pixelbook or Pixel Slate.
Glad that Ubuntu works well for the author, but I've used Ubuntu on and off for a good 5+ years, and could fill a book with small things that just don't work quite right, and cumulatively makes it feel like I'm fighting the computer instead of working with it.
As a brief taste:
* No trackpad swipe gestures (plus many more subtle trackpad issues)
* Pre-Wayland the only way to attach a second screen at a different DPI was with xrandr that caused random flickering
* Accidentally bricked it once because I restarted while updates were happening in the background (no indication they were, and no prompt to let me know before restarting)
* "Supported" ubuntu was so old that neither Chrome nor Firefox would update
* Latest ubuntu constantly toggled the backlight at 30fps (yes, really).
* They didn't provide a driver package, instead they provided a utility to bake drivers into install media. Naturally, it didn't work, the documentation described a significantly different version.
* All these problems were well-represented in forlorn solutionless forum / stack overflow threads.
my biggest wtf was when after rebooting after an update, the disk decryption didn't like my password anymore. turns out, the keyboard layout was switched and my password contained special characters.
The author praises the package manager as a positive, not a negative as I usually see from people used to downloading *.exe installers. He's used other distros, plus a Mac, in the past, but I wonder if phone app stores (plus Windows' own software store) have made this become a more natural method of installing software for the average user?
I've been using Linux for nearly two decades and the package manager is probably one of the most attractive features it has over other operating systems.
Keeping your software up-to-date on Windows is a massive pain and requires tons of manual work.
I guess people are more used to the package manager's way of working today due their exposure to app stores; but I'd be surprised if anyone wasn't impressed by how easy and convenient a package manager is after using them for a small amount of time.
I switched from Windows to Linux before I had a smartphone and appreciate the package manager. I got a Macbook for work and lamented the lack of package manager (homebrew is a weak substitute in several ways).
I freakin' love Linux as a personal workstation OS. I got into it in 1995, back in the days when Linux was punk rawk and you had to dig around on tsx-11 and sunsite to find things to run on it. I still dual-booted Windows there for a few years. Then I noticed something: Windows would, suddenly and without warning, stop working. As in, blue screen on first boot. All the way up through Windows 2000 -- 9x, NT, didn't matter. Windows would find a way to fail and, often as not, take the whole disk partition with it.
So I decided, okay, Microsoft, if that's the way you're gonna be, fuck you. Yeah, yeah, I know. Windows "Just Works" out of the box. Except when it doesn't, in which case you're up shit creek. The extra tweaking I had to do to get Linux fully going was well worth it because once Linux was configured, it would stay that way -- forever if need be.
For that reason I still run the same distro today as I did back then -- Slackware. Where other distros try to win you over with newness and shininess, Slackware is shibui. Shibui is the Japanese aesthetic of crafting simple objects out of natural materials, in such a way that the natural texture of the material shows through and gives the object an understated beauty. Slackware is a simple distro put together in such a way that the "natural texture" of Unix shows through, making it easy to configure to your liking provided you're willing to learn the command line and some basic configuration files. It's very much like a BSD in that regard.
I know I'm not a typical user, but I fit the profile of an ordinary Linux user from another era. I'm glad to see more and more Windows users give Linux a try, but I just hope there'll still be room for people like me in the vast and changing Linux ecosystem.
Like you, I know I'm not the typical Linux user, but I took started out with Linux (Red Hat) in 1996, then got into learning Linux with Slackware. Today I have servers at home and 'in the cloud' all running Linux (mostly Debian), and home systems (old iMac 27", Macbook Air 13") running Linux only (ElementaryOS and Budgie Ubuntu) and couldn't be happier. I use i3 on the desktop and just work so much better/faster than in any other OSs. You get closer to the real power of the hardware too, amazing how much faster everything is w/o the bit OSs of macOS and Windows. At work is a diff story, depending where I am (I'm an IT contractor), but when I have a Windows laptop, I do 95% of my 'real' work on a Linux server I ssh to. I've also gotten into FreeBSD and OpenBSD on servers and they're fantastic there too, but being in a Linux desktop is where I'm happiest.
> If I use Ubuntu with XOrg, I don't have features like touch rejection while typing etc.
I'm guessing that when you say "Ubuntu with XOrg" you're referring to a specific window manager?
On Debian with Xorg my touchpad and touch screen are both easily toggleable with a keyboard shortcut, the touchpad automatically disables itself when I'm typing or when a mouse (bluetooth or logitech solaar) is detected.
I have similar issues I've found that disabling tap-to-click is the only option. Takes some getting used to actually pressing down the touchpad instead of tapping, but at least typing is now a deterministic experience.
What version of Ubuntu? Libinput, the new touchpad driver, has had major improvements recently, but you only get the new version if you upgrade the system version.
On reflecting the writer's use-case, and my own use-cases for enjoying both Linux (Ubuntu, but Gnome3 no Unity) and Windows:
I've used Linux for 15 years. It truly was a pain getting things like ADSL modems (wired) connecting. But that was 15 years ago and not the point of this post.
I use Linux at home -
Gnome gives me no task-bar, or a highly customisable one if I want that. I'm focused in the application that I'm in. The UI supports the *NIX philosophy that one app does one app's job well, and if more need to be binded together, that's OK too. I feel peaceful in Linux. Terminal is running and that's an alt-tab away. Mouse to the top-left gives me other apps, though only ones I regularly find useful. Mint might not give the same.
Linux, or my Linux setup, allows me focus.
I use Windows at work -
Windows has a taskbar. Everything is in the Windows menu. The taskbar can be hidden but mouse-over activates it, and the Windows menu can be customised, but it still feels there as a distraction. Office is an outstanding piece of software today; Outlook: I used to receive 400+ email per day, and know people that get 2000+ everyday too - Outlook makes that almost manageable; Excel and Powerpoint are astoundingly good at their scope; Word, I transitioned to pmwiki (need for collaboration and flexibility); Sharepoint and AD integration... obviously this is a corporate environment.
Windows feels distracting. Adding a Linux sub-system doesn't change this UX (for me).
What works for me -
In a working environment I have Linux running on a VM and spend 60% of my time in this. At home I have a Windows VM running 20% when I want the best of Windows (which, for me, is Office). Not a gamer so no input there.
Choose the most comfortable tool for the job. YMMV.
Exactly. I've used all 3 major OSs and when we get into these discussions, you have to look at how each has its own pain points to be fair. Overall, Linux is a clear win for me. But YMMV, indeed.
I'm using Ubuntu since almost 10 years. I rediscovered windows 10 and i have to admit it's pretty good : more responsive than Ubuntu, more pretty. On the down side, you have to download drivers even for very common devices like for the wifi card of Intel nucs. I miss also the simplicity of installing software and library (sudo apt get...) Vs downloading an installer, the installer download something, clicking ok ok ok ok ok ...
Ubuntu works great for me and has done on every machine I have installed it on over the last decade or so. I find that the support for drivers is much better than with Windows except for when it comes to wi-fi. This means I have a drawer full of external wi-fi dongles and miscellaneous folders full of drivers that don't quite work.
Despite this I find Ubuntu to be a much more productive OS than the alternatives available.
What I do not understand is why people are so willing to give Ubuntu a hard time. On any discussion there are people from Windows or OSX that point out their negative experiences of Linux whilst being blind to the deficiencies of their own paid-for OS. It seems as if it is easy to write 'yeah I tried Linux for a couple of weeks five years ago and I thought the start menu was naff plus I couldn't get x to work' or to moan about the command line aspect.
It is much harder to write constructively so any discussion of Linux comes down to many subjective judgements.
When was the last time `apt dist-upgrade` did delete all your files? Oh... Never ;-)
It's hard to read all these opinions when my own experience with Windows is that I won't touch it with a pole. And God help me if the wireless fails (my wife's corporate issued Windows laptop could connect with the Starbucks across the road, but not with the stock D-Link at home) because there are at least 3 vendor specific control panels in addition to the Windows one, all showing conflicting information (and nothing on what actually failed).
Windows users are so shenanigan-tolerant when it comes to Windows it's a bit surprising they don't like rock-solid distros like Ubuntu or Fedora.
Anyone use Linux on the desktop with a document scanner? A big component of my at-home PC use is scanning documents (I'm a self-admitted digital hoarder). I have a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500, which is "supported" by Linux/SANE. I have tried to use this scanner under Linux, and while it does work, the problem is that the Windows-only Fujitsu software (ScanSnap Manager) does a lot of useful things to the scan data: straightens the document if it was fed in at an angle; converts to PDF; adjusts contrast, white levels, etc so the digital result magically looks like the physical document; and more I'm probably forgetting.
I have Ubuntu on a little NUC PC attached to my TV. The other day, I heard the fan running loudly on this system. Ubuntu's update system, across several processes, was collectively pegging both CPUs at 100%, causing the fan to ramp up. Why does an update system (which was waiting on my input) require so much CPU?
The huge number of distributions is both a blessing and a curse. Ubuntu has clearly put a lot of effort into the ease-of-use aspect. But what I found (years ago, to be fair) was that if you had any non-trivial problem, the forums weren't terribly helpful. On the other hand, a distro like Arch has fantastic documentation, and really knowledgeable forum users, but you need that because you're doing everything by hand. I haven't found the sweet spot that gives an Ubuntu-like experience out of the box, but has a very technical Arch-like community.
The statements the author made early in the article really resonate with me. I consider myself a Linux "pro", as I've been using it as an enthusiast for 20 years, and have been a professional admin for about a decade (server-side, not desktop). So I have fixed or feel I can fix just about any Linux issue. But at this point in my life, after work, I don't have the time or desire to fiddle with things, I want them to "just work".
"I haven't found the sweet spot that gives an Ubuntu-like experience out of the box, but has a very technical Arch-like community."
For me, that sweet spot is Manjaro. I have been using it daily on a laptop (T470) at work for nearly 2 years, with barely any problem at all. Moreover, it gives you many very polished DE options (official and community editions).
I'm writing this from my XPS 13 using the latest Ubuntu and once I've spent a few hours configuring everything, it works almost perfectly. There's still a few bugs, like Ubuntu not remembering the audio settings.
I recently switched to an XPS 15 9570 from my Macbook Air. I'm giving windows a shot for my secondary dev machine (python, docker, php, etc...), while being fully aware of the persistent Windows 10 issues. So far, the hardest part was adjusting my keyboard workflow from Mac to Windows.
For the time being, I'm extremely happy with the hardware and satisfied with Windows. I'll give dual boot a shot in my spare time.
Same here, except I bought a precision 5530, after 12 years on Mac (2 MBP, then a MBA). It’s been a few months and I like it, I don’t regret it. I don’t mind Windows 10 at all, it feels a bit more customizable than MacOS actually. I do find the way it puts all the files that makes an app work all over the place. But a lot of people are experts in this.
My Linux need is limited so I run the Ubuntu installed from the Microsoft App Store. Rest of my time is splitted between Firefox, Conda and Office. I am not doing any serious CAD, so I didn’t really need the Quadro or the 4K screen, but I have none of the problems that some are complaining about the XPS and it just looks so great. Onyx case also!
I haven't touched Windows or used anything by Microsoft since 2010, save for trying some games that my friends played. These days, if there's a Windows-exclusive game I like, I try to run it in CrossOver/Wine or Parallels/VMWare, or forget about it. Windows machines are synonymous with games consoles for me now, and between my Nintendo Switch, 3DS, and Mac ports, I feel I'm well-catered for with regards to games.
I also don't use Google for anything except their search and YouTube, and I was already using the latter before Google gobbled it. iCloud serves my email needs just fine. I also try to block as much of Google's cross-site tracking services on my computers as I can, like Analytics.
If you're horrified or disgusted by the idea of someone sticking solely with Apple for so long, consider that you and I only prove the point that it IS certainly possible to avoid one or more of the 3 major computing companies entirely. Once you're used to the alternatives to those, you may never even miss them.
The only thing that is stopping me to jump to a linux laptop is battery life. MacOs is just optimised to a crazy extent. Nothing really comes close to the same battery performance if you don't want to get your hands dirty with tlp.
I recently moved from a MBP2015 to a MateBook X Pro and what I like more is the battery life, I can work a full day without plugging it in (I work from coffee shops). One reason for the long battery life is the 15W CPUs in ultrabooks, as opposed to 45W in bigger laptops. Here are some things I did to boost my battery life (I get 7~10h)
- Undervolted the CPU (-100mV).
- Using bumblebeed/bbswitch to switch between GPUs, I never use the discrete GPU but I'm glad it's there just in case.
- Show power consumption (watts) on my status bar to keep an eye for power hungry websites
- Using Arch so it doesn't have anything I don't need running out of the box. A bit harder to install and configure though. I'm actually not sure if this helps or not
- Disabled Xorg compositor, yeah, I don't get window shadows and there's a weird flicker when I switch desktops but it gives me an extra 10~15% battery life.
There's also a utility called "powertop" that gives you stats about power consumption and a bunch of levers to improve it.
It took me a few days to set everything up but now I'm in love with the mobility.
From what I heard, this is not true for the Dell XPS 13 and other new Notebooks that supposedly run well with Linux. I get almost 5 hours out of my decade-old Thinkpad T410 (original battery). My 2018 Macbook Pro 13" with touchbar only gets me through 2/3rds of the workday (older models or 15" work way longer). Apple put in smaller batteries and optimized their own (!) apps to compensate. You're pretty much forced to use Safari if your don't want even worse battery life.
I've installed Arch on XPS 13 9350 and was also surprised by the amount of things that worked out of the box: touchpad, HiDPI scaling, different scales for different monitors, no issues with the Thunderbolt dock. Actually Windows had more issues for me on this laptop.
Or course one can still screw something up but with a little effort it's easy to learn how to get out of trouble. Additionally Linux is like Lego - one can create their own setup, e.g. currently I'm using Yubikey's OpenPGP card to unlock full-disk encrypted disk. Bitlocker cannot use smartcards (but can use TPM).
The Linux Mint experience of the author is strange. I was able to install with no problems on three very different machines (Dell Inspiron, HP Laptop (forgot the model, it's my daughter's) and an assembled game PC featuring 4 Monitors). The only qualm I have with it: For fear of data loss I decided against full disk encryption (the installation procedure asks for it) in expectation that one can switch after installation (I think Windows is able to do this). Unfortunately, that is not possible and imposing this later seems to include a lot of low-level work.
My laptop (~99% work only) setup is ZFS root + Gentoo on XPS15: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Dell_XPS_15_9560 ... but switched from Mac (vs. Windows) after yet another stupid hardware error and Apple quoting more than the price of the thing to fix it. Haven't used Windows personally in over a decade. Manage to game a bit, but in general don't have time anymore. However, just specced a couple of Ryzen workstations at work, and they will run Windows. More expensive than I expected. I don't built machines that often anymore. Since when did you need 700W of power and a dedicated graphics card because CPU doesn't support built-in graphics chip? This is truly a new world. :)
For power users I would suggest Kubuntu LTS, try the live image, if your hardware works then install it and for a few years you should be good. KDE is more configurable then GNOME and it does not suffer by the GNOMEs architecture and memory issues(aggravated if you customize it with extensions)
linux and "new" (i'd say new < 3-5 months) is always tricky in terms of support from the major distributions without having to fuzz too much. But i won't have ANYTHING else than linux on my laptop.
[+] [-] Zhyl|7 years ago|reply
Granted there is a ways to go to beat Windows in this space, but the progress over the last 6 years generally and the last 6 months specifically is astounding.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/9qopag/5000_l...
[+] [-] dazzawazza|7 years ago|reply
10 years ago developing on linux as a game developer was way worse than windows and MacOS, now there is no real difference at all. I speak as a long time UNIX user, Linux was terrible for C++ devleopment, debugging and asset creation/viewing (compared to the others) making gamedev tougher than it needed to be.
10 years ago linux's OpenGL drivers were behind even MacOS and way behind Windows OpenGL which was behind DirectX by quite some way. Now Linux's drivers are fairly good although it's still a nightmare upgrading radeon drivers and NVidia's drivers seem to be fickle. This leads to a lot of bugs from users and supporting various distro/hw/driver combinations.
Libraries like libSDL(2) were less mature 10 year ago, multi monitor, input and sound support were patchy because the Linux landscape was fragmented and buggy. Now libSDL2 is pretty much spot on. Mutli-monitor is doable (not as good as macOS but as good as windows), input is pretty good and sound is OK (but most people use FMOD which is superb).
Where Linux falls behind is deployment. No I am not going to ship my source for you to compile. itch.io and Steam go a long way to make it easy to deploy and crucially update the game. It's still a PITA to deploy a compiled app on Linux with unclear glibc versions and amazingly it's worse than MS DLL hell of MSVC redistributable shambles.
It's not impossible to overcome but it's a PITA for a small market. Not a good position to be in. I support macOS and Linux as well as Windows because I believe in plurality but I can see why many chose not to. Don't think that using Unity or Unreal make anything easier either. In many ways they are worse than a well written custom engine.
[1] https://executionunit.itch.io/smith-and-winston
[+] [-] gnufied|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WorkLifeBalance|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shmerl|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kayoone|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] linsomniac|7 years ago|reply
Around 2 years ago I got a cheap Chromebook and it was terrible. I think it was $250. Fit and finish and keyboard kind of sucked. I found one of those HP Chromebook 13 g1 boxes, which Woot had refurb for half off at just under $500, and it is much closer to the hardware experience I'm used to with Thinkpads, for 1/6th the price.
Now, I almost always reach for the Chromebook instead of the Thinkpad EXCEPT when I need to connect to both of my work VPNs, the Chromebook will only connect to one at a time. I can ssh into my personal and work machines, run my password manager, program via remove vi sessions (though I could stand to use VSCode, I don't have that set up on my Thinkpad either).
The Chromebook has been a great experience for me.
[+] [-] StavrosK|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomohawk|7 years ago|reply
I recently dusted it off and had the apps update. They worked worse than last time.
YMMV.
[+] [-] Koshkin|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neverminder|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marmaduke|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Wehrdo|7 years ago|reply
As a brief taste:
* No trackpad swipe gestures (plus many more subtle trackpad issues)
* Pre-Wayland the only way to attach a second screen at a different DPI was with xrandr that caused random flickering
* Accidentally bricked it once because I restarted while updates were happening in the background (no indication they were, and no prompt to let me know before restarting)
I could go on for awhile...
[+] [-] jjoonathan|7 years ago|reply
* "Supported" ubuntu was so old that neither Chrome nor Firefox would update
* Latest ubuntu constantly toggled the backlight at 30fps (yes, really).
* They didn't provide a driver package, instead they provided a utility to bake drivers into install media. Naturally, it didn't work, the documentation described a significantly different version.
* All these problems were well-represented in forlorn solutionless forum / stack overflow threads.
[+] [-] stefs|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jseliger|7 years ago|reply
It's amazing how often this gets discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17547817 without, seemingly being definitely resolved.
[+] [-] kurtisc|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] koyote|7 years ago|reply
Keeping your software up-to-date on Windows is a massive pain and requires tons of manual work.
I guess people are more used to the package manager's way of working today due their exposure to app stores; but I'd be surprised if anyone wasn't impressed by how easy and convenient a package manager is after using them for a small amount of time.
[+] [-] cix_pkez|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitwize|7 years ago|reply
So I decided, okay, Microsoft, if that's the way you're gonna be, fuck you. Yeah, yeah, I know. Windows "Just Works" out of the box. Except when it doesn't, in which case you're up shit creek. The extra tweaking I had to do to get Linux fully going was well worth it because once Linux was configured, it would stay that way -- forever if need be.
For that reason I still run the same distro today as I did back then -- Slackware. Where other distros try to win you over with newness and shininess, Slackware is shibui. Shibui is the Japanese aesthetic of crafting simple objects out of natural materials, in such a way that the natural texture of the material shows through and gives the object an understated beauty. Slackware is a simple distro put together in such a way that the "natural texture" of Unix shows through, making it easy to configure to your liking provided you're willing to learn the command line and some basic configuration files. It's very much like a BSD in that regard.
I know I'm not a typical user, but I fit the profile of an ordinary Linux user from another era. I'm glad to see more and more Windows users give Linux a try, but I just hope there'll still be room for people like me in the vast and changing Linux ecosystem.
[+] [-] mscasts|7 years ago|reply
The only experience I had with Slackware was just that, I installed it, found out there is no package manager and installed Ubuntu.
I have a hard time understanding why someone would use Slackware when there is distros that is literally better at every aspect.
[+] [-] fak3r|7 years ago|reply
TL;DR me too ;)
[+] [-] Koshkin|7 years ago|reply
Why not try a BSD, then?
[+] [-] kanishkdudeja|7 years ago|reply
If I use Ubuntu with XOrg, I don't have features like touch rejection while typing etc.
If I use Ubuntu with Wayland, my cursor is all over the place.
[+] [-] Jedd|7 years ago|reply
I'm guessing that when you say "Ubuntu with XOrg" you're referring to a specific window manager?
On Debian with Xorg my touchpad and touch screen are both easily toggleable with a keyboard shortcut, the touchpad automatically disables itself when I'm typing or when a mouse (bluetooth or logitech solaar) is detected.
[+] [-] davidbanham|7 years ago|reply
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Touchpad_Synaptics#Usin...
[+] [-] amarant|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abrowne|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paulie_a|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zhte415|7 years ago|reply
I've used Linux for 15 years. It truly was a pain getting things like ADSL modems (wired) connecting. But that was 15 years ago and not the point of this post.
I use Linux at home -
Gnome gives me no task-bar, or a highly customisable one if I want that. I'm focused in the application that I'm in. The UI supports the *NIX philosophy that one app does one app's job well, and if more need to be binded together, that's OK too. I feel peaceful in Linux. Terminal is running and that's an alt-tab away. Mouse to the top-left gives me other apps, though only ones I regularly find useful. Mint might not give the same.
Linux, or my Linux setup, allows me focus.
I use Windows at work -
Windows has a taskbar. Everything is in the Windows menu. The taskbar can be hidden but mouse-over activates it, and the Windows menu can be customised, but it still feels there as a distraction. Office is an outstanding piece of software today; Outlook: I used to receive 400+ email per day, and know people that get 2000+ everyday too - Outlook makes that almost manageable; Excel and Powerpoint are astoundingly good at their scope; Word, I transitioned to pmwiki (need for collaboration and flexibility); Sharepoint and AD integration... obviously this is a corporate environment.
Windows feels distracting. Adding a Linux sub-system doesn't change this UX (for me).
What works for me -
In a working environment I have Linux running on a VM and spend 60% of my time in this. At home I have a Windows VM running 20% when I want the best of Windows (which, for me, is Office). Not a gamer so no input there.
Choose the most comfortable tool for the job. YMMV.
[+] [-] cix_pkez|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] julienfr112|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Theodores|7 years ago|reply
Despite this I find Ubuntu to be a much more productive OS than the alternatives available.
What I do not understand is why people are so willing to give Ubuntu a hard time. On any discussion there are people from Windows or OSX that point out their negative experiences of Linux whilst being blind to the deficiencies of their own paid-for OS. It seems as if it is easy to write 'yeah I tried Linux for a couple of weeks five years ago and I thought the start menu was naff plus I couldn't get x to work' or to moan about the command line aspect.
It is much harder to write constructively so any discussion of Linux comes down to many subjective judgements.
[+] [-] rbanffy|7 years ago|reply
It's hard to read all these opinions when my own experience with Windows is that I won't touch it with a pole. And God help me if the wireless fails (my wife's corporate issued Windows laptop could connect with the Starbucks across the road, but not with the stock D-Link at home) because there are at least 3 vendor specific control panels in addition to the Windows one, all showing conflicting information (and nothing on what actually failed).
Windows users are so shenanigan-tolerant when it comes to Windows it's a bit surprising they don't like rock-solid distros like Ubuntu or Fedora.
[+] [-] ConcreteRooster|7 years ago|reply
I have Ubuntu on a little NUC PC attached to my TV. The other day, I heard the fan running loudly on this system. Ubuntu's update system, across several processes, was collectively pegging both CPUs at 100%, causing the fan to ramp up. Why does an update system (which was waiting on my input) require so much CPU?
The huge number of distributions is both a blessing and a curse. Ubuntu has clearly put a lot of effort into the ease-of-use aspect. But what I found (years ago, to be fair) was that if you had any non-trivial problem, the forums weren't terribly helpful. On the other hand, a distro like Arch has fantastic documentation, and really knowledgeable forum users, but you need that because you're doing everything by hand. I haven't found the sweet spot that gives an Ubuntu-like experience out of the box, but has a very technical Arch-like community.
The statements the author made early in the article really resonate with me. I consider myself a Linux "pro", as I've been using it as an enthusiast for 20 years, and have been a professional admin for about a decade (server-side, not desktop). So I have fixed or feel I can fix just about any Linux issue. But at this point in my life, after work, I don't have the time or desire to fiddle with things, I want them to "just work".
[+] [-] pmercatoris|7 years ago|reply
For me, that sweet spot is Manjaro. I have been using it daily on a laptop (T470) at work for nearly 2 years, with barely any problem at all. Moreover, it gives you many very polished DE options (official and community editions).
[+] [-] rospaya|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ericcholis|7 years ago|reply
For the time being, I'm extremely happy with the hardware and satisfied with Windows. I'll give dual boot a shot in my spare time.
[+] [-] Amygaz|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stemc43|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Razengan|7 years ago|reply
I haven't touched Windows or used anything by Microsoft since 2010, save for trying some games that my friends played. These days, if there's a Windows-exclusive game I like, I try to run it in CrossOver/Wine or Parallels/VMWare, or forget about it. Windows machines are synonymous with games consoles for me now, and between my Nintendo Switch, 3DS, and Mac ports, I feel I'm well-catered for with regards to games.
I also don't use Google for anything except their search and YouTube, and I was already using the latter before Google gobbled it. iCloud serves my email needs just fine. I also try to block as much of Google's cross-site tracking services on my computers as I can, like Analytics.
If you're horrified or disgusted by the idea of someone sticking solely with Apple for so long, consider that you and I only prove the point that it IS certainly possible to avoid one or more of the 3 major computing companies entirely. Once you're used to the alternatives to those, you may never even miss them.
[+] [-] funkythings|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] juancampa|7 years ago|reply
- Undervolted the CPU (-100mV). - Using bumblebeed/bbswitch to switch between GPUs, I never use the discrete GPU but I'm glad it's there just in case. - Show power consumption (watts) on my status bar to keep an eye for power hungry websites - Using Arch so it doesn't have anything I don't need running out of the box. A bit harder to install and configure though. I'm actually not sure if this helps or not - Disabled Xorg compositor, yeah, I don't get window shadows and there's a weird flicker when I switch desktops but it gives me an extra 10~15% battery life.
There's also a utility called "powertop" that gives you stats about power consumption and a bunch of levers to improve it.
It took me a few days to set everything up but now I'm in love with the mobility.
[+] [-] rawfan|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Leace|7 years ago|reply
Or course one can still screw something up but with a little effort it's easy to learn how to get out of trouble. Additionally Linux is like Lego - one can create their own setup, e.g. currently I'm using Yubikey's OpenPGP card to unlock full-disk encrypted disk. Bitlocker cannot use smartcards (but can use TPM).
[+] [-] chopin|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] apexalpha|7 years ago|reply
This is what stops noobs from using it.
[+] [-] contingencies|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simion314|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rawoke083600|7 years ago|reply