this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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Unpopular Opinion

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Windows 10 EoL is fast approaching, so I thought I’d give Linux a try on some equipment that won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 11. I wanted to see if I will be able to recommend an option to anyone that asks me what they should do with their old PC.

Many years ago I switched to Gentoo Linux to get through collage. I was very anti-MS at the time. I also currently interact with Linux systems regularly although they don’t have a DE and aren’t for general workstation use.

Ubuntu: easy install. Working desktop. Had issues with getting GPU drivers. App Store had apps that would install but not work. The App Store itself kept failing to update itself with an error that it was still running. It couldn’t clear this hurdle after a reboot so I finally killed the process and manually updated from terminal. Overall, can’t recommend this to a normal user.

Mint: easy install. Switching to nvidia drivers worked without issue. App Store had issues with installing some apps due to missing dependencies that it couldn’t install. Some popular apps would install but wouldn’t run. Shutting the laptop closed results in a prompt to shutdown, but never really shuts off. Update process asks me to pick a fast source (why can’t it do this itself?)

Both: installing apps outside of their respective stores is an adventure in terminal instead of a GUI double-click. Secure boot issues. Constant prompt for password instead of a simple PIN or other form of identity verification.

Search results for basic operations require understanding that what works for Ubuntu might not work for Mint.

While I personally could work with either, I don’t see Linux taking any market share from MS or Apple when windows 10 is retired.

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 6 points 7 months ago (12 children)

I'm willing to accept, that without a "mentor" Linux is hard to get setup for someone on their own.

For someone resourceful, they can ask every question and hopefully find the relevant Linux answers online, sometimes make a few mistakes but eventually figure it out.

Some users who are decent with computers and Windows might find some Linux things harder to use, and also sometimes hardware drivers or other features are missing. If they aren't willing to put up with it to get away from Microsoft spyware then I respect that choice.

For users that need help setting up Windows to begin with from their "computer guy" that get flustered anytime something goes the way they didn't expect, Linux actually can be a little lower maintenance. Have all the apps they need in an obvious place, have the system either update automatically or have them do it once every while. Linux has been very stable in my experience for that type of user too.

[–] atocci@kbin.social 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

It's not necessarily about asking questions or providing the right detail to someone who knows more than you though. After asking for help with the problems I'm experiencing, the answer turned out to be that the NVIDIA driver support for my hardware configuration just isnt there yet. It's not Linux's fault, but unless I spend hundreds to switch my GPU brand or start unlugging monitors, I'm stuck with Windows until Explicit Sync hits the stable release.

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[–] enbyecho@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Overall, can’t recommend this to a normal user.

How do you know you are not an abnormal user?

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Because I’ve been working with the Normal Users for 20 years.

[–] SapientLasagna@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I think you're massively overestimating what normal users are willing to do. Normal users aren't going to install Linux because normal users don't install operating systems. Other things normal users don't do:

  • Install drivers
  • Configure hardware (including printers)
  • Run system recovery
  • Run OS upgrades (unless forced on them)

When the upgrade from windows 7 to 10 resulted in broken systems/applications, some normal users paid someone to fix it, but most bought a new computer.

In short, Linux is ready to replace Windows, but only in the cases where it's sold preinstalled on supported hardware. Android, ChromeOS and Steamdecks are good examples of this.

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[–] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It's obivous how Microsoft and Apple twist views on intuitive when they spend billions on advertising, disinformation, to spread their anti-libre software. Microsoft even push it in schools to infect kids minds.

If you want to be able to find help quickly, copy people who are active online and actually use GNU on their personal devices everyday, use Arch.

[–] gnuplusmatt@reddthat.com 5 points 7 months ago (7 children)

You tried Ubuntu and modified Ubuntu, why not throw your net further afield than Ubuntu?

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[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Most people don't install anything beyond office tools (and even those are switching to various cloud systems).

Also, I know it ~~is~~ was a thing, but I never had driver issues (ok, one wifi card in like 2005), I think drivers aren't really an issue anymore, maybe some proprietary stuff (fingerprint readers?).
(As a funny side note, I have a wired laptop I can't get good Win drivers, but works perfectly out of the box with at least a few distros (openSUSE, Fedora, Debian).)

I manage 3 computers for my family, all run Linux for 10+ years. And I upgrade them frequently (with my old components most of the time :)). As I don't live with any of them I don't really want issues that would prevent their use. And beyond some bigger updates (versions or largely change from X11 to Wayland) over the years there is like an issue every few years. And now they all run Tumbleweed, so so no versions (set to upade monthly for their convenience).

Oh, and the og reason for Linux was because there were always constant issues with Windows. Im not gonna install XPs every few months.

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Plasma 6 has a good fingerprint integration.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I’ve been running Fedora on a desktop for many years, and recently I finally got tired of the updates not working. Sure, it’s nice to have GUI, but if you end up using the terminal anyway to actually get stuff done, can you really say the GUI is helping a new users.

Many years before that, I also experimented with a bunch of different distributions to see if there’s anything I can recommend to a new user. Manjaro was pretty close, but you end up using the terminal anyway, because you’ll eventually run into some weirds stuff that requires terminal intervention.

Mint was slightly better, because you didn’t need the terminal quite as often and installing proprietary drivers through the GUI was easy and it actually worked. That’s why, at the time, Mint was the only distro I could recommend to just about anyone. Most people would still need some help installing the distro, but once it’s up and running Mint is likely to give you fewer headaches than other distributions.

All the other distros I’ve tried absolutely needed some terminal time every now and then. If the user needs a smoother experience with less time tweaking and hacking, Windows would be my first recommendation. However, it’s all a matter of priorities. How much do you value your free time or privacy. Are you interested technology at all. Those sorts of questions determine if Linux is a viable candidate.

[–] Breve@pawb.social 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I switched my desktop to KDE Neon and I've been enjoying it. Does it have some minor issues and rough edges? Yup. But I think Windows also has some things it handles poorly that people have just learned to cope with so well they forget about them and paint it as the "perfect" OS that always "just works" and expect Linux to live up to that unrealistic standard.

When I built my Windows 10 PC I had to manually install a ton of drivers, including the network card which is the biggest pain, then go into the registry to disable a bunch of "features". Some user friendly OS. 🤷

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Both: installing apps outside of their respective stores is an adventure in terminal instead of a GUI double-click. Secure boot issues. Constant prompt for password instead of a simple PIN or other form of identity verification.

Well that is actually not true. What do you want to install? Of course if you are a power user and want some special script for whatever reason yeah I can see you being forced to use the terminal, other than that there's often a DEB you can install via GUI with double klick, there are flatpaks you can install via GUI and double click and also AppImages. You can come pretty damn far with that to be honest.

[–] Famko@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Tbf I did try out Linux Mint after using Windows basically my entire life and the only issue I ran into was that setting up the desktop was a bit fucky through the inbuilt UI settings (notably panels freaking out).

Other than that, it was fine.

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