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[Unpopular opinion] Linux is not a good choice for regular users

I’ve been using all major OSes for a long time. I have the most experience with Windows, I’ve been using it since Windows 95 and stopped at Windows 8. I’ve been using macOS for about a decade and Linux (in total) for about 5 years. I have started with Mandrake, moved to Mandriva, spent over a year on Ubuntu and recently I’ve been using Fedora as my daily driver. And honestly, I’m running out of patience.

Few days ago I ran into the gpu driver issue. Long story short, Steam games started to crash on directx issue. Games that were working few weeks ago. I admit, I was mocking around with GPU drivers in order to make Podman containers to access the GPU. But I did the fresh diver install and it didn’t solved the issue (also my GPU was not found despite all commands showed it was there). I don’t have much spare time and I would like to play a game, I used to play before, without spending hours/days fixing issue that didn’t exist last time I played it.

But it’s not only about games. I have two laptops, both running Fedora 40 KDE spin. Some time ago on one laptop the power widget stopped working. It shows “no power profiles found on a device”. But when I delete the widget and add it again, it works fine.

Other issue is with the general look and feel. There are many apps that don’t follow the OS look - lack of window borders/shadow, random icons that don’t match the system, flatpacks having issues accessing system configuration (e.g. vscodium not recognising zsh as a default shell).

Few more problems I had:

  • on GNOME, some extensions where crashing without any reason
  • some apps don’t respect desktop scaling
  • bluetooth randomly dropping connections
  • syncing files between devices is always a struggle
  • you never know what’s going to break when installing updates

If you want a Linux like experience use macOS, and if you want to play games, stick to Windows.

vikingtons ,
@vikingtons@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve been lucky enough to dumb guy my fedora install since 28, and it’s been pretty decent to me. Granted I’m not using nvidia graphics, and I feel like that could throw a big spanner in the works for regular users. It’s a big enough leap getting into the mindset of installing software from Distro repos rather than directly from the vendor.

I hope the newer nv open kernel modules don’t stay out of tree. Also hope that NVK will give users the ability to just plug and play with mesa drivers in the future.

savvywolf ,
@savvywolf@pawb.social avatar

I think Windows has a very poor track record for ui consistency as well. It feels like every Windows app wants to roll its own UI; Firefox, Discord, Steam etc. I know Discord and Steam also have those issues on Linux as well, but it feels like every Windows app wants to roll out it’s own window decorarions and theme.

Honestly, I’m pleased at how consistent most gtk based apps look.

slazer2au ,

Windows can’t even get their own UI right.

Look at the win10 control panel. Nearly a decade later and we still have to use the classic control panel to change settings.

TheGrandNagus ,

Fucks around with GPU drivers for some reason

Experiences GPU driver issues

“How can Linux do this to me??”

fart_pickle OP ,

As I wrote, I did the clean install. Even if I didn’t do a thing with it, it would still break. As it did couple days ago.

GolfNovemberUniform ,
@GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml avatar

Fyi messing around with drivers can even cause permanent hardware damage.

suburban_hillbilly ,

My favorite implication of these kinds of posts is that windows somehow doesn’t ever have driver issues.

INeedMana ,
@INeedMana@lemmy.world avatar

started with Mandrake, moved to Mandriva, spent over a year on Ubuntu and recently I’ve been using Fedora

Another unpopular opinion:
That’s because you’ve been using distributions that are either behind the times or have a lot of wonky crap added to them that looks like user friendliness when it works and is like fixing windows when it doesn’t (I’ve been through similar path, just with a few other distros along the way)

Start with Gentoo or Arch (maybe Slackware). These are close to the grass, so the way to set things up is the way to fix things up

some apps don’t respect desktop scaling

are these gtk based apps? Different toolsets require different envs

syncing

Have you tried syncthing?

fart_pickle OP ,

Start with Gentoo or Arch (maybe Slackware). These are close to the grass, so the way to set things up is the way to fix things up

I’ve tried Mint, openSUSE, Debian, Gentoo and Arch but I had other, non-regular user issues with those. I wanted to point out the standard issues.

are these gtk based apps? Different toolsets require different envs

Some were GTK based other were “optimised” for KDE

Have you tried syncthing?

Yes, I use it on a daily basis but there’s no easy way to get it working on iOS/iPadOS.

INeedMana ,
@INeedMana@lemmy.world avatar

I was mocking around with GPU drivers in order to make Podman containers to access the GPU. (…) I don’t have much spare time and I would like to play a game, I used to play before, without spending hours/days fixing issue that didn’t exist last time I played it.

And

I had other, non-regular user issues with those

I think, you should keep these two things (messing with containers accessing GPU and “just play a game”) separate. I mean on separate boxes. Because now you can’t “just play” because you’ve been elbows deep in OS internals. You can’t take apart your fridge and then expect it to just cool the water the next day

“optimised” for KDE

Then I’m guessing these might need some KDE envs

Yes, I use it on a daily basis but there’s no easy way to get it working on iOS/iPadOS.

Ah, you’re trying to breach the non-open wall. Is there an app on i* that allows you to set up an ftp/http file sharing server on the device? You probably could set it up as rclone upstream

fart_pickle OP ,

I think, you should keep these two things (messing with containers accessing GPU and “just play a game”) separate. I mean on separate boxes. Because now you can’t “just play” because you’ve been elbows deep in OS internals. You can’t take apart your fridge and then expect it to just cool the water the next day

I agree, that’s a valid point. But, I had a clean system, prepared for a normal user (clean install, official repositories, etc. And still GPU drivers refusded to work. I have covered all basics before I asked for help and even I got some good advice that worked, I ended up in the same place.

Then I’m guessing these might need some KDE envs

True, but sill for a regular user it looks like “Linux is ugly”

Ah, you’re trying to breach the non-open wall. Is there an app on i* that allows you to set up an ftp/http file sharing server on the device? You probably could set it up as rclone upstream

I know too well the unbreakable apple garden. And I don’t mind tinkering with it but again, we are at the regular user level, that wants things just to work.

astro_ray ,

Start with Gentoo or Arch

I wouldn't recommend arch to general users. I consider myself a general linux user, and figuring out Arch, even after the installation hurdle, wasn't easy for me.

is like fixing windows when it doesn’t

I don't think Arch really makes that easy. Although, I guess archwiki is pretty great. Even arch forum helped me a lot with respect to other disto.

Meltrax , (edited )

You were fucking with your GPU drivers, lost access to your GPU, and you have concluded from that that “regular users” (who don’t know what a driver is or does) should not use Linux?

EDIT: Stick a “normal” user on a stable distro with a clean UI like Mint or Fedora, keep in mind they probably don’t know what a terminal is and will probably never use it, and they will be fine for almost all cases.

fart_pickle OP ,

As I said, I did a clean install and still all Steam games were failing on directx issue. Also, a “regular” user when switching to Linux will have to know what a GPU driver is in order to use it, event if it’s just for playing games. And the cherry on top - once I fixed the directx issue and I was able to play a game I wanted, the drivers update broke it. And despite spending days on fixing the issue, I got back to a square one.

ZeroHora ,
@ZeroHora@lemmy.ml avatar

If they use windows they also know what a GPU driver is, if they use AMD that’s better on linux, they don’t need to know what a GPU driver is. Unless of course the “normal” user need a rocm driver.

andrewta ,

He listed just a few more things then that

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