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How was your experience using Linux in college?

This is aimed at students/ex-students that used Linux while studying in college.

I’m asking because I’ll be starting college next year and I don’t know how much Windows-dependency to expect (will probably be studying to become a psychologist, so no technical education).

I’m also curious about how well LibreOffice and Microsoft Office mesh, i.e. can you share and edit documents together with MOffice users if you use LibreOffice?

Any other things to keep in mind when solely using Linux for your studies? Was it ever frustrating for you to work on group projects with shared documents? Anything else? Give me your all.

possiblylinux127 , (edited )

It depends on the college and the region honestly. Remember they are trying to prepare you for a job.

With that being said Linux tends to be pretty popular in high ed especially in computer science. Mac OS and of course Windows also have a foothold. I would get into virtualization and distrobox (podman). Even if something is natively supported on Linux is best not to pollute your system with junk. Create separate environments for everything.

EnderMB ,

We installed Slackware. One kid bet me that Linux wouldn’t let him drag his entire drive into the bin to delete. It did, and we all laughed, including the professor - who still gave him the passing grade since he’d seen enough of it working before it went up in flames.

pathief ,
@pathief@lemmy.world avatar

I had a teacher who was really passionate about Ubuntu and was distributing Ubuntu 5/6 live CDs. I ended up installing it on my laptop. It was a pretty miserable experience. Everything was ugly as hell, configuring the sound card was a pain, Wi-Fi drivers had constant problems, upgrades to the new x.04/x.10 version borked the system 100℅ of the time. Pretty miserable but got the job done.

Nowadays the experience is much, much smoother. Just ensure you don’t need exclusive software.

recreationalplacebos ,

I actually switched to Ubuntu full-time way back in 2006 when I went back to school (anthro major), specifically to help me focus when using my computer and not get distracted by playing video games. Of course, nowadays with wine and proton on steam, that might not be as effective. But it worked well for me, never experienced any issues with word docs opening in libre office (or rather open office back then) or vice versa. There was once or twice where I had to use a computer in the lab in the library to run some niche program or another for an assignment, but not a big deal.

gramgan ,

The people I know in my program (undergrad History) use their computers for little more than Google Chrome (specifically Google’s Office suite), a PDF reader (sometimes also Google Chrome), sometimes Zotero, and sometimes MS Word. We get a lot of Mac’s around here, so one can imagine Microsoft products are not highly relied upon, generally speaking.

Everything’s through the browser nowadays, so I’d say just pick a stable distro, install 2 or three browsers in case something doesn’t work (like Google Docs with Firefox in my experience…), and submit everything as PDF.

Can’t speak much to LibreOffice as I write my papers in Typst (and before that in LaTeX, which got me brownie points with some of the older professors), which I find much faster, easier, and more flexible than WYSIWYG word processors.

whotookkarl , (edited )
@whotookkarl@lemmy.world avatar

Comp sci undergrad from a mid tier university graduated in 2012, didn’t need Windows at all. I mostly used an Ubuntu desktop, pocket sized mini laptop with bsd, and a red hat vdi the school provided during a research assistantship.

The school had labs in the library and comp sci building if you needed windows for something but it never came up. Group projects shared files on school provided web based tools or dropbox and used the same for class forums, sharing docs and assignments, etc. Some web stuff was broken for Firefox and had to use chrome, but never hit anything requiring IE (pre Edge).

Even if you’re not in a technical field you may want to explore some of the common tools they use like git for version control (like save/restore points in a video game), LaTeX/TeX for better typesetting than office, and off-site backups.

HobbitFoot ,

Mainly only with my PS2.

priapus ,

I’ve used Linux all through college and haven’t had any problems. I never had to use Windows only software for my degree, but I can’t really say what you might need. LibreOffice can mess up the formatting of more complex documents, but will normally be fine. If you’re working in a group project and need to use shared docs you can always use Word or Google Docs online.

HubertManne ,

I didn't but it was the early nineties and honestly I did not even realize the command line was unix on machines vs dos. I just thought I was messing up the terms or it was just a variant system. I did not realize all dos was the same.

bobs_monkey ,

For what is worth, I’ve had better luck on MSOffice integration with onlyoffice, but ymmv

clark OP ,
@clark@midwest.social avatar

I’ve actually not researched that much about OnlyOffice but I’ll definitely be sure to do that.

eco_game ,

+1 on OnlyOffice, it has 1:1 formatting compatibility with Microsoft Office. Unlike LibreOffice, it doesn’t have to translate documents between odt and docx in the background.

In the same vein, OnlyOffice has poor compatibility with odt files etc.

bobs_monkey ,

I’ve definitely notice weirdness with odt files, but truth be told I damn never run into those, everything is xlsx, docx, etc as I’m interfacing with companies that are firmly MS, but they’re also none the wiser usually. Every now and again there’ll be a formatting issue, especially with Excel, but it isn’t too common thankfully.

avidamoeba ,
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

I’ve used Ubuntu on a laptop during my undergrad 2008-13. I used LyX to write anything I’d submit, including some psych work. I’ve used LibreOffice (OpenOffice) for some stuff too. I had to use MS Office or some other Windows-only software on occasion. I used a Windows VM for that. I’ve kept this formula till present day. Linux (Ubuntu LTS/Debian) on the hardware, Windows VM on Linux for special occasions.

aksdb ,

I ran Arch on a convertible laptop around 2006-2010. Most notes I did using OpenOffice Writer, with hotkeys to quickly add formulas. Drawings were done with the pen. Homework (where speed didn’t matter as much but where I wanted high quality) were done in ConTeXt.

Programming was done in FreePascal using Lazarus IDE or Java using Netbeans IDE, depending on the course and my personal preference.

I think I had no complaints from anyone. Quite the contrary, one professor even gifted me a book as a thanks for the high quality typesetting in my homeworks, since most students didn’t give a shit and had no fucking clue how to really use their beloved MS Word.

MonkderVierte ,

I’m also curious about how well LibreOffice and Microsoft Office mesh, i.e. can you share and edit documents together with MOffice users if you use LibreOffice?

You can. But if the sender is the type to use linebreaks for spacing and textbox for grouping, be prepared that the layout may explode after saving and reopening the .docx in LO.
But that’s the formats (MS OOXML) fault, consists mostly of proprietary extensions, no such issues with .odt (ODF).

Hexbear2 ,

2001-2005. My computer lab in the school of math and natural sciences (including computer science), had windows 2000 (best windows of all time), Apple Power PCs, and all dual booted linux. All we used for comp sci was linux. Yellowdog on the Power PCs. Learned to program/develop in C++ and Java, mostly used e-macs, goal was to never lift hands from the keyboard or use the mouse, keeps you in the zone. Used Gnome as the desk top environment back then.

So pretty good :)

Today I use linux mint with cinamon for day to day computing, been using it for about 10 years now without issue.

I went back to college for a professional program, and used linux mint in 2022, it worked out just fine. As far as office software, I used word 365 online through the university web portal.

I think word sucks a lot and 2003 and 2007 are the best versions and little improvement since then (improvement is efficiency and easy of creating an end-product), but I’m not willing to re-learn how to master Libre Office, I just can’t be bothered. So no input on that.

Static_Rocket ,
@Static_Rocket@lemmy.world avatar

I made it through college without using windows on any of my personal machines, but I did need to access a library or computer lab to take 1 test that needed a specialized web browser for some reason. Other than that, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to slip by with a good PDF viewer, libreoffice, and Inkscape.

My degree was in computer engineering, most groups I worked in outside of the engineering department just preferred collaboration through office online or google docs.

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