this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Looking to make the switch (lemmy.ca)
submitted 10 months ago by LowlandSavage@lemmy.ca to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Hi everyone, looking to make the switch from windows. I'm reasonably technically apt but not a programmer by any means. I've been doing some homework on which distro I would like to use and pop_os kinda feels like the right direction. I'm running an Nvidia 3060TI on a Ryzen 5600 chip set on an Asus tuf motherboard. Any other distros I should be looking at, and does somebody have a link for a comprehensive guide to installing? I'm looking to continue running windows on the side until such a time as I am comfortable enough with linux that I don't need it.

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[–] TCB13@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Here's the comment:

I would advise you get Debian + GNOME and install all software via flatpack/flathub. This way you'll have a very solid and stable system and all the latest software that can be installed, updated and removed without polluting your base system. The other option obviously is to with those hipster of a systems like pop, mint and x-ubuntu.

Now I'm gonna tell you what nobody talks about when moving to Linux:

  1. The “what you go for it’s entirely your choice” mantra when it comes to DE is total BS. What happens is that you’ll find out while you can use any DE in fact GNOME will provide a better experience because most applications on Linux are design / depend on its components. Using KDE/XFCE is fun until you run into some GTK/libadwaita application and small issues start to pop here and there, windows that don’t pick on your theme or you just created a frankenstein of a system composed by KDE + a bunch of GTK components;
  2. I hope you don't require "professional" software such as MS Office, Adobe Apps, Autodesk, NI Circuit Design and whatnot. The alternatives wont cut it if you require serious collaboration and virtualization, emulation (wine) may work but won't be nice. Going for Linux kinda adds the same pains of going macOS but 10x. Once you open the virtualization door your productivity suffers greatly, your CPU/RAM requirements are higher and suddenly you've to deal with issues in two operating systems instead of just one. And... let's face it, nothing with GPU acceleration will ever run decently unless big companies start fixing things - GPU passthroughs and getting video back into the main system are a pain and add delays;
  3. Proprietary/non-Linux apps provide good features, support and have tons of hours of dev time and continuous updates that the FOSS alternatives can’t just match.
  4. Linux was the worst track ever of supporting old software, even worse than Apple;
  5. Half of the success of Windows and macOS is the fact that they provide solid and stable APIs and development tools that “make it easy” to develop for those platforms and Linux is very bad at that. The major pieces of Linux are constantly and ever changing requiring large and frequent re-works of apps. There aren't distribution “sponsored” IDEs (like Visual Studio or Xcode), userland API documentation, frameworks etc.;
  6. The beautiful desktop you see online are bullshit with a very few exceptions. Most are just carefully designed screenshots but once you install the theme you'll find out visual inconsistencies all over the place, missing icons and all kinds of crap that makes Microsoft look good;
  7. Be ready to spend A LOT of time to make basic things work. Have coffee and alcohol (preferably strong) at your disposal all the time.

(Wine for all the greatness it delivers still sucks and it hurts because it's true).

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@kbin.social 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah not sure I agree with all of this.

When it comes to KDE this feels out of date. The GTK issues are not what they once were; KDE Plasma has good GTK themes that match the KDE ones. Nowadays I find the main issues are with Flatpak software not matching DE themes because they're in a sandbox. I've had that issue on both KDE and gnome 2 derived environments (I've never really gotten into Gnome 3). KDE also used to have a reputation for being slow and a resource hog; that's inverted now - KDE has a good reputation including for scaling down to lower powered machines, while Gnome 3 seems to have a reputation as a resource hog?

I have a KDE desktop environment and it's very attractive, and I haven't had any glitches beyond issues with Flatpak (VLC being a recent one that I managed to fix). I would say the mainstream themes for DE work in the same way as a windows theme works. The problems are when you go to super niche attempts to pretty up the desktop - but you'd get similar issues if you tried that in windows.

I agree regarding the professional apps. If you are tied into specific proprietary Windows software then Linux is difficult. The exception is Office 365 which is now both Windows and Web App based, and the web apps are close to feature parity with the desktop clients. The open source alternatives to windows proprietary software can be very good, but there are often compromises (particularly collaboration as that is generally within specific softwares walled gardens). Like Libre Office; it's very good and handles Office documents near seamlessly, but if your work uses Office then it you lose the integration with One Drive and Teams.

In terms of Linux not supporting old software, I would caveat that that is supporting old linux software. It is very good at supporting other systems software through the various open source emulators etc. Also Flatpak has changed things somewhat; software can come with it's own set of libraries although it does mean bloat in terms of space taken (and security issues & bugs albeit it limited to the app's sandbox). And while Wine can be painful for some desktop apps it is also very robust with a lot of software; it can either be a doddle or a nightmare. Meanwhile Proton has rapidly become very powerful when it comes to gaming.

I disagree that it takes a lot of time to make basic things work. Generally Linux supports modern hardware well and I've had no issues myself with fresh installs across multiple different pieces of hardware (my custom desktop, raspberry Pi, and a living room PC). Printing/Scanning remains probably the biggest issue but I've not had to deal with that in a long time. But problem solving bigger issues can be hard.

[–] TCB13@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I have a KDE desktop environment and it’s very attractive, and I haven’t had any glitches beyond issues with Flatpak (VLC being a recent one that I managed to fix).

...and how much GNOME / GTK are you pulling into that KDE because of app dependencies. I like Flatpak but it even makes this issue worse, from the theme mismatch (that can't always be easily fixed) to effectively loading a LOT of GNOME components with those apps everything happens. I don't see a point in using KDE if then you're essentially running a LOT of apps that will depend on GNOME/GKT components.

Also, c’mon this isn’t KDE sidebar isn't right:

https://m2.material.io/design/layout/spacing-methods.html#spacing

[–] governorkeagan@lemdro.id 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

With regards to 6. I tried Xerolinux with a rice on it and yes it looked pretty but after a couple hours of real world use it was more annoying than anything else.

[–] TCB13@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Gotta try that one.