So, Im Ditching Windows And Moving Fully To Linux...

[DCBassman]

I wish I'd had that experience. I tried Linux several times over the years and every time either the computer froze or I got a message along the lines of "Error 437254: redo using hyperdense molecular transformer protocol".

Questions online generally resulted in answers like: "But it's so eeeeeeasy! Just reboot it but this time press the # key at the same time as CAPS then interrupt it af 45 seconds by pressing SPACE, '>' and '§'' then retype code lines 237 to 28466 in reverse using using a Japanese keyboard and a '1' whenever they have the letter "G" while making sure the RAM isn't working to more than 27.37% of capacity. Honestly, why are you so DUMB?"

That's why I still use Windows.

I can relate to this, but Linux is nothing like that any more (caveat: unless you *want* it to be! ).
Linux Mint is easier to install than Windows in many ways, and certainly just as easy to use. For the record, I'm still all Windows 11, but Mint is my Linux of choice.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I can relate to this, but Linux is nothing like that any more (caveat: unless you *want* it to be! ).
Linux Mint is easier to install than Windows in many ways, and certainly just as easy to use. For the record, I'm still all Windows 11, but Mint is my Linux of choice.

Linux has got easier as time has passed, these days it mostly just works, when I first started it was not uncommon to find it needed a lot of setting up just to get something working that should have just worked, or to upgrade to the next version of the operating system and it would break it, its why I moved to the long term support version and only upgrade every couple of years. They've improved it a lot recently.

 

[the_mikey]

I keep trying Linux and the time from Install to the eventual and inevitable "NOPE" from me, gets shorter every time. I think peak Linux for me was around 2008-2009, my interest and willingness to spend time figuring out why stuff doesn't work has completely gone over the years.

My most recent trial of Linux had me installing different OS's and settling for none of them, I finally opted for Chrome OS and it has remained installed on that laptop since.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I keep trying Linux and the time from Install to the eventual and inevitable "NOPE" from me, gets shorter every time. I think peak Linux for me was around 2008-2009, my interest and willingness to spend time figuring out why stuff doesn't work has completely gone over the years.

My most recent trial of Linux had me installing different OS's and settling for none of them, I finally opted for Chrome OS and it has remained installed on that laptop since.

Yet its better now than it was in 2008-2009

 

[yello]

Note to self: must have a look at Pop!OS. Not one I've heard of before. I'd settled on Mint some years ago and closed my eyes and ears. There's still a smidgen of geek in me so I'll satisfy my curiosity and stick it on a USB stick for a play.

I've a PC with an old NVIDIA GPU that Mint doesn't play nice with (even using the native driver) so maybe Pop's NVIDIA flavour will.be kinder.

 

[mjr]

My most recent trial of Linux had me installing different OS's and settling for none of them, I finally opted for Chrome OS and it has remained installed on that laptop since.

From what I've seen on someone else's devices, ChromeOS seems basically similar in many ways: stuff that works keeps working and stuff that breaks can usually be fixed without resorting to special tools only available to a "priesthood" of approved support engineers. The main problem with it is all the Google snooping that seems deeply ingrained in it. A second one is the rather short "end of life" dates for upgrades on a lot of it.

I wish I'd had that experience. I tried Linux several times over the years and every time either the computer froze or I got a message along the lines of "Error 437254: redo using hyperdense molecular transformer protocol".

Questions online generally resulted in answers like: "[...] Honestly, why are you so DUMB?"

That's why I still use Windows.

Yeah, but see what happens when you encounter a similar error in Windows: you'll usually either have an error so bland and vague like "an error occurred" that searching online just gives loads of irrelevant stuff; or the fix will require software you don't have and can't get because your Windows computer is broken. At least the over-jargon Linux error is usually specific enough to track the bug down and squash it and the old-fashioned command-line startup is still there (as well as graphical remote access from mobile devices) so you can fix most things using the Linux computer itself.

Some people answering questions for free online are daffodils, but that seems to be constant across all software. Some tech enthusiasts do not have the best social skills, to put it mildly. I think the level of abuse in IT forums isn't significantly worse than bike mechanics, though!

 

[lazybloke]

I'm a big fan on Linunx on the phone & tablet (aka android) and on Raspberry Pi (Debian Linux?).

But I wouldn't dream of moving away from Windows on my laptop. Currently using Windows 11 - easy for compatibility with work apps and services, plus the occasional game.

And I really don't like the way every distribution of linux has a subtle difference in config files, package manager or service manager. I used to look after a network that had about 6 different distributions - what I learned on one box was completely useless on the next. Hellish!
Windows has many faults, but it's generally very consistent. What I learned in the 90s on Win NT 3.51 is still good with Windows 11.

 

[mjr]

I'm a big fan on Linunx on the phone & tablet (aka android) and on Raspberry Pi (Debian Linux?).

But I wouldn't dream of moving away from Windows on my laptop. Currently using Windows 11 - easy for compatibility with work apps and services, plus the occasional game.

If you're committed to certain games, you're probably trapped. Work apps and services have become less and less of a reason as things move to the web, or at least to standard protocols.

And I really don't like the way every distribution of linux has a subtle difference in config files, package manager or service manager. I used to look after a network that had about 6 different distributions - what I learned on one box was completely useless on the next. Hellish!
Windows has many faults, but it's generally very consistent. What I learned in the 90s on Win NT 3.51 is still good with Windows 11.

I feel that neither of those things are generally true. Maybe coming from Win NT gave you longer-lived knowledge but it could have pretty easily gone the other way and your knowledge could have become as worthless as mine from Win 3 / 95 / 98.

There is more diversity among Linux distributions, especially on leading edges, but generally things stay very similar among distributions or installations that use the same major parts (such as the package manager or the service manager or the session manager) and things like Linux Standard Base and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard give consistency which seems to be completely missing from Windows, where Microsoft can change and have changed things totally as they wish. Windows is also very inconsistent about some things, such as what's in ini files, what's in registry keys and what's in other configuration methods; and it seems a bit odd to complain that Linux had several package managers when Windows didn't even have a standard package manager until the derivatively-named "winget" in 2020.

No, don't confuse single-supplier Windows with standards-based Linux.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Yeah, but see what happens when you encounter a similar error in Windows

I don't generally have these issues with Windows.

 

[Dadam]

Yeah, but see what happens when you encounter a similar error in Windows: you'll usually either have an error so bland and vague like "an error occurred" that searching online just gives loads of irrelevant stuff; or the fix will require software you don't have and can't get because your Windows computer is broken. At least the over-jargon Linux error is usually specific enough to track the bug down and squash it and the old-fashioned command-line startup is still there (as well as graphical remote access from mobile devices) so you can fix most things using the Linux computer itself.

Some people answering questions for free online are daffodils, but that seems to be constant across all software. Some tech enthusiasts do not have the best social skills, to put it mildly. I think the level of abuse in IT forums isn't significantly worse than bike mechanics, though!

Windows has improved in this area IMHO. Error messages, at least the more serious ones, usually have an error code that’s googleable. Access to the command line is still there, and much improved with powershell. They have embraced open source to a much greater degree. For instance community editions of visual studio. VS Code is now IMHO the best generic code editor available anywhere on any platform. And it’s free.

Linux is great if you have time or desire to fiddle about.

I’m not a fanboy for any OS, I’m aware of the pros and cons of each. I’ve dabbled with Linux over the years, both home and work. I have a W 10 laptop and (elderly) W10 gaming/desktop PC, a W11 laptop from work and a MacBook Air M1. The latter is by a country mile the best laptop I’ve ever used. I’m a recent convert, but if you just want to get stuff done, it’s Mac.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

redo using hyperdense molecular transformer protocol

I followed that protocol, which generated a black hole in middle of computer room. At least I no longer need a shredder.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

VS Code is now IMHO the best generic code editor available anywhere on any platform.

I’m a big fan of VSCode having used various IDEs over the years from Dreamweaver to Netbeans etc. It even links to Windows Subsystem for Linux , so I can edit Linux configurations in VSCode, before pushing (again from the VSCode terminal) to a remote Linux box. Much better than using Linux Vi

 

[Dadam]

I’m a big fan of VSCode having used various IDEs over the years from Dreamweaver to Netbeans etc. It even links to Windows Subsystem for Linux , so I can edit Linux configurations in VSCode, before pushing (again from the VSCode terminal) to a remote Linux box. Much better than using Linux Vi

Vi can just do one. And EMacs too!

 

[HMS_Dave]

Note to self: must have a look at Pop!OS. Not one I've heard of before. I'd settled on Mint some years ago and closed my eyes and ears. There's still a smidgen of geek in me so I'll satisfy my curiosity and stick it on a USB stick for a play.

I've a PC with an old NVIDIA GPU that Mint doesn't play nice with (even using the native driver) so maybe Pop's NVIDIA flavour will.be kinder.

Give it a go. To be fair System76 have been improving the way Nvidia works on Popos for some time, especially for laptop users. They have a dedicated ISO to download for Nvidia users which has everything you need out of the box. See how you get on.

 

[HMS_Dave]

I wish I'd had that experience. I tried Linux several times over the years and every time either the computer froze or I got a message along the lines of "Error 437254: redo using hyperdense molecular transformer protocol".

Questions online generally resulted in answers like: "But it's so eeeeeeasy! Just reboot it but this time press the # key at the same time as CAPS then interrupt it at 45.9 seconds by pressing SPACE, '>' and '§''. Then retype code lines 237 to 28466 in reverse using using a Japanese keyboard and a '1' whenever they have the letter "G" while making sure the RAM isn't working to more than 27.37% of capacity. Honestly, why are you so DUMB?"

That's why I still use Windows.

The Linux community over the years has had more than its fair share of elitists and it's an image that sadly has stained the community, but despite the odd bad apple and the "i use arch BTW" types (which is version of Linux where you need to compile most programs from source code and an "enthusiast" type of Linux which holds some sort of "trouser department" level bragging rights), on the most part the community bends over backwards to help. I first used Linux at work in 99/00 era and frankly i hated it, it was clunky and support minuscule, But Windows 98 and XP are my favourite operating systems, so i had very little motivation to change on a personal level. Windows 7 kept me keen. But in recent times, for me, i have been frustrated with Windows. I hate having to download software for almost everything that then likes to sit in the background, eating resources. My Canon printer wants to install software, My Logitech mouse wants to install software, My microphone wants to install software, my camera wants to install software, My MSI monitor even wants to install software... This makes boot up times slower and occasionally, the various software centres will pop up messages, new software, buy this, offer on that... It's frustrating, especially when im working. To me it's akin to having someone tap your shoulder to get your attention when you're busy doing something... On Linux, i connect my printer to WIFI and then search for the printer in my settings through PopOS and it installs and is ready. No Canon software and i have all the functionality...
The other motivation for me is that in 2025 my system will no longer receive updates from Microsoft. My computer is not Win 11 supported. I can install it still, but it will be unsupported and Microsoft might introduce an update to stop my PC from working as expected as it is my work machine, that would be mightily inconvenient. It is entirely possible i may upgrade by then, maybe not, but the choice should be mine and now it is. There are other niggles that i personally find annoying but i won't list them. That being said, Im not trying to sell Linux to anybody, in fact the opposite, some love Windows 10 and 11. That's fine, i would never have left Windows XP for anything else either as it was a smashing OS. Linux is still a niche product with only about 1% market share in the personal computing world. But if anybody does seem keen to give it a try, i would always direct to making a live USB install that would not affect their current install and they could try it as they would almost as if they had installed it and if they don't care for it, simply format the USB and you're back to where you were before.