Oh, look, a post on Lemmy about Windows. I’m excited to engage in a unique, nuanced discussion about the topic of the post!
So glad I’m not on Reddit where people just repeat the same predictable thing over and over then jerk each other off.
(I use Linux too. But I hate seeing copy+paste Linux shilling on every Windows post. It’s preaching to the choir and uninspired.)
Wtf is this a reasonable comment to discuss a nuanced topic where a person who never used Linux and has no desire to can maybe find options to adjust and keep my windows from enshittifying?
Inb4 get linux
I get it. I just don’t want to learn a new operating system. And to make it work for most of what I use my computer for.
What did you learn about Windows that makes your knowledge about it so in depth that you can’t separate from it any longer?
Besides using it since Windows 95, I’ve done everything on it. Warez, making shady software work, learning the ins and outs to keep it my way.
I thought about switching since I’ve dabbled in dual boot before, but I just f don’t want to be restarting my computer to keep switching between OS when one can do all I want with some baggage, and the other can do less without it.
Mainly for me it’s compatibility. Discord, MW3, networking between my main PC and HTPC. Online gaming with friends. Full steam support.
It just works. Switching to Linux, finding a distro that will encompass what I do, running into problems, having to fix them, or worst case scenario finding out that I can’t do the thing (mw3 or any game that has denuvo) without having to switch back to windows anyways in a dual boot I just don’t see why having Linux to do anything that I’m already doing on windows is worth it. Why have dual boot. Removing the annoying windows baggage is just not enough for me to switch.
I just now switched from chrome to Firefox because they finally implemented the removal of anti ad extensions. It was an easy switch. The UI is a little different. But I hate nothing more than ads. Despise them. And paying to remove them isn’t an option because it means I’m giving into the hostage situation.
If windows becomes unmanageable, I can’t find ANY software to remove ads, even remove windows features that I can’t live with, then I’ll consider sacrificing the few things I can’t do on Linux and move to Linux.
I just feel like a fool for buying win10 and then upgrading to the Pro license a couple years back for something like $300 in total, only to keep getting completely irrelevant ads shoved down my throat. Buy Xbox game pass (never cared about it), MS365 subscription (I already had it, why do I get ads for it?), One Drive (I already had this as well), etc. And I’ve been with MS since DOS days and then the whole shebang as well. It’s just unacceptable to me.
I’ve also been dragging along data from one old hdd to the next as I kept upgrading, with some files still being retained from the 90s. I have a lot of demo scene material and what not, and one day when exploring the directories, I’ve noticed that a lot of them had now missing executables. Defender removed them without as much as a warning. Rummaging through some other directories, I’ve noticed that some of my late father’s files are gone from his personal directory (from when we shared my PC on occasion). It included some silly stuff like the Terrorists’ Handbook. But wait, there’s more.
Mainly for me it’s compatibility. Discord, MW3, networking between my main PC and HTPC. Online gaming with friends. Full steam support.
These just work under Linux perfectly fine. Except for maybe MW3. The fotm shooter sponsored by the genocidal US army. But not sure what you even mean by full Steam support. Steam IS Linux. And I’m using Datcord instead of Discord, to avoid electronJS (Chromium).
I’ve only switched end of August, after trialing another distro on a laptop during the summer to see if I can do studies and work stuff on it (no gaming). Everything worked there out of box. Once I had axed my C$300 copy of windows from my main PC (lol sunk cost fallacy) my distro of choice took a bit more time to set up, but I haven’t had this much fun with tinkering on something since the 90s. And if something doesn’t want to work right away, the answer is usually one search or LLM prompt away. I understand now why “man” is not even included in a lot of distros by default nowadays.
Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t share this but I never paid for a windows product. Even office when it went to 360 I stopped trying to pirate earlier versions and just switched to free open source office tools.
Windows 8 I think got authenticated when it went to 10 and I’ve just been riding that install. Still got my handy USB stick whenever I reinstall.
The shooter game is just a time killer for me. Dopamine memories from better times. The problem with using compatible apps is not all my friends will. Is datcord communicate directly with discord users? We already have a technologic dichotomy with half my friends on iPhone other on Android. Xbox vs Playstation vs pc gaming. It’s tough to get people on the same page.
You don’t like people fervently ignore it the article and just broken recording “install Linux” and “Linux is so much better than it used to be”?
Cool. I use Linux for something and windows for others and Mac for others!
How and why do you have 3 operating systems. Across how many platforms?
Software engineering work.
Mac for code and other work tasks
Windows for personal use during work
Linux for hosted applications and side projects.
Oh OK. Makes sense. Hosted applications and side projects is like programming stuff? For non programmers do you use your Linux for anything else?
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Linux. The operating system is extremely nuanced, and without a solid grasp of command-line interfaces and system architecture, most of the concepts will go over a typical user’s head. There’s also the community’s open-source philosophy, which is intricately woven into its development—its principles draw heavily from the ideals of free software and collaborative coding. The true enthusiasts grasp this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to appreciate the depths of these systems, to realize that they’re not just functional—they represent a radical shift in computing. As a consequence, people who dislike Linux truly ARE uninformed; of course, they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the brilliance behind commands like “sudo,” which itself is a profound commentary on user permissions and control. I’m smirking right now just imagining those confused novices scratching their heads in bewilderment as the power of the terminal unfolds before them. What fools… how I pity them. And yes, by the way, I DO have a Linux tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the tech-savvy eyes only—and even they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
Quick question, was that an existing copypasta or did you come up with it
It’s the Rick and Morty copy pasta reworked for Linux.
It’s all part of the authentic lemmy experience.
Hopefully instead of turning into a bunch of e-waste, a bunch of “useless” desktops flood refurbishers, and refurbished desktops become even cheaper. I wouldn’t mind replacing my dying media server.
I’d rather pay for security updates than invite more AI and Microsoft sponsored spyware onto my computer…
Oh no! Anyway, nobody cares but Linux folks looking to prove how much better Linux is.
And tax payers who have to replace perfectly good systems in schools and government offices.
There will be DOZENS of 10 year old computers that survived 10n years of service in a library or student run orgs. Dozens I tell you!
Let’s fix school funding instead of using it as an edge case to support old ass hardware that can barely hold 10fps in a zoom call.
Here in my southeast European shithole I’m not worrying about my tax money, the upgrade is going to be pretty cheap, they’re just going to switch from unlicensed XP to unlicensed Win7.
Good. I happen to know companies that will have to kick out some rather nice machines that happen to be just under spec for Win11. Those machines are still top for running Linux.
I’m probably one of the last people who use Win 8.1. The only thing I use there is Smart Switch to back up my phone. For everything else, there is Mint. I’ll keep up with that setup until my hardware fails.
mine hasnt been updated for about 3.5 years now. not having online access has its moments
But you had to fax this comment in.
see? your limited understanding of the many ways to communicate are on full display
I’m curious. How are you sending these messages without Internet access? I too am ignorant to the many ways of achieving this.
a little doodad called a cell phone
…which has internet access?
With the different distros of Linux, do different things support different distros? Like Zoom is support on Arch but not Mint, and Steam is supported in Mint but not Arch; or if an app supports Linux, it is on all distros? And if there is differences, do you have different partitions for different types of Linux?
Distributions are all of the same operating system, they differ in the set of applications and installation management tools. Except for those with different libc than glibc, things will generally work everywhere. Maybe with some effort.
All distros are equivalent, as far as software is concerned. They all have access to the same open source software, and Flatpak; AppImage; and Snap can be used for extra portability.
Think of a distro like a pre-configured image of linux. You can always change the configuration later, if you desire. For example, the Desktop Environment. All you have to do is just install a different DE package (usually via command line)
The DE has a major impact on user experience. Use KDE plasma for a more windows-familiar experience, or Gnome for a more Mac-familiar experience. Or experiment with others
The Linux Experiment is a good resource
When an app supports linux, it can do so by either:
- packaging it for popular distro repositories,
- giving instructions on how to build the app from the source code
or
- package it on distro-agnostic, package management solutions like flatpak or appImage.
These last ones are sandboxed environments. That means they have their own dependencies isolated from your system, so they dont have to deal with every distros pecularities at the cost of using more storage space. This is very useful for developers and in your case benefitial for the user because you can have both steam and zoom via flatpak on mint, arch or any obscure distro that has flatpak available, without any major problems.
Edit: Formatting
Yup. The big downside to flatpak is that, as you said, it takes up more space.
To make a Windows comparison, imagine needing to install Java separately for every single program that needs it. Flatpaks tend to be orders of magnitude larger than technically necessary, simply because they’re sandboxed and come with everything they need to run, even if you already have it installed.
imagine needing to install Java separately for every single program that needs it
Isn’t that pretty close to what already happens though? With all of the different versions of java, different companies packaging up their special versions of OpenJDK, I’ve got quite a few different java versions on my computer plus I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some software just package their own Java binary with the software presumably to limit Java version mismatches
Graphic card ist what get’s me nervos
Have my second pc on running Linux mint for about half a year now and it’s been a pleasure so far.
I think I’ll be prepared to switch over fully in a year.
So fucking refuse to switch over to 11
Similar to yourself, I switched to Mint about 9 months ago - initially on dual boot before ditching Windows altogether (the Windows updates kept fucking everything up). For the one piece of software that I missed on Windows 10 (Fugawi Digital Maps) I simply created a Windows 7 VM, that doesn’t connect to the internet, and installed it on there. In fact, it has made me realise just how crap 10 was in comparison to 7. Linux has been a pleasure. Not only has it made computers interesting to me again, but I’ve learned a shitload along the way. It’s nice to have a computer do what I want it to, rather than the other way around.
What do you use to run the VM? I run Mint and have been meaning to get a Windows VM up but there are too many options
VirtualBox.
virt-manager
VirtualBox for me
All of the random BS it requires is a bit of a turn off but the 10ish percent drop in gaming performance is a no go. Linux with proton should outperform the os the games are designed to run on but here we are.
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I only have one computer that can run 11 because of the TPM module, it upgraded by accident.
All others will run linux
Pretty telling when the only way you can get your users to “upgrade” is by stealth. I wonder what the % of involuntarily upgraded win11 users is vs people who knowingly and willingly did so.
I would’ve upgraded to 11, but either my computer doesn’t support TPM or I just refused to turn it on. So instead I upgraded to Ubuntu. There are probably better distros but I had a limited about of time to fuck around trying them.
Mint is pretty nice, too. It felt familiar, as a windows user. But I kept installing stuff that broke the updater. So I switched and found it’s me, not the updater, and I just need to do
apt update/upgradeanddpkg -iregardless, but anyway now I’m on Ubuntu.I still have my full windows install on an SSD somewhere if I had an emergency, but I haven’t had any such emergency in about a year.
The one that runs W11 can still be upgraded to Linux. Keep the W11 partition and run W11 in an emulator inside Linux when you really need it - which should be less and less the more you’re familiar with Linux.
Me too, but im betting windows 10 gets an extension. Microsoft will take too much flack ending support while so many people are still on 10 and too many computers that can’t upgrade are still in use. They’re going for a scare tactic to try and fluff up 11’s numbers a bit before doing it is my guess. 62% of computers are still on 10 right now. They won’t end support.
I keep trying but I can’t make Xlink Kai work with Dolphin, nor play using Zerotier for some lan games (tModloader, mostly)… Managed to make my DRG and Gunfire Reborn run, so I got that going for me.
Until I can make those 2 networks work, I’ll have to stay on Windows.
I’m using Linux mint all day at work, while I have a couple of rarely-used Windows machines at home. I think the swap to Linux on those home machines is going to be a winter project this year.
It might be more accurate to say the project will be setting up the Linux version of a few key pieces of software. The actual installation of Linux Mint is the easiest part!
Already switched to linux. I still have one windows drive that I haven’t booted for about a year. Haven’t relied on virtual machines or anything.
I’ve turned a few older neighbors on to Linux when they complained that window updates caused their PC’s to run too slow.
I’d tell them 'before you go out and buy a new computer, let me install Linux if you don’t like it, you lose nothing. In the end, each one of them was happy their computer was running like new again.
I’m definitely migrating to Linux at some point before then
Want any help doing so?
We have all heard this song before and know how it ends.
Yeah. A lot of people loudly declaring that they’re switching to Linux, followed by them staying with Windows anyway.
Cool, now I can try and remember to get fully migrated to Linux before October next year.
“Switch to Linux” is always the answer but a Nvidia graphics card, Stream Deck, and GoXLR are all things I use every single day, with no official linux support I’m never going to be able to use it as a daily driver. I have plenty of VMs that I run Linux on, but it’s just a non-starter for my day to day gaming rig.
MS should have done what they said and made W10 “the last version of windows” instead of doing the typical corpo bullshit and coming out with an even worse version.
Not trying to make you do something you don;t want to do, but my Nvidia machine is working seemingly perfectly with bazzite, I’d assume the other fedora immutables with different focuses might work as well.
Thank you, I know I have more homework to do on this before I make a final decision, but the more info the better.
Other people pointed out that nvidia and the goxlr have software, but you should know that theres a linux app for the stream deck.
As someone who switched to Linux, and found reasons not to for literal decades, this has helped me:
Have a second ssd in your PC that is untarnished by the windows bootloader.
This way one can easily switch via BIOS / UEFI and no other annoying software.
Dual booting is also less annoying, if you switch via boot menu. It lets you test drive and configure Linux anytime you’re in the headspace for it and reduces pressure on yourself.
Install linux on it. My current favorite for your situation would be Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop Spin (what a mouthful). Have another exfat partitioned usb disk ready for file exchange with windows. Again, this makes handling windows easier, has nothing to do with linux.
Nvidia on fedora works good enough. third party repos also help a lot.
streamdeck is wonderful hardware, I know a friend who uses it daily with streamdeck_ui
- same with GoXLR Configuration Utility. Software is there, the only question is does it work for you.
This is to my knowledge as close to “official” as you can get. Good luck on your journey!
I’m starting to set up a dual boot and this helps me. I have a 1TB SSD with Windows, and later bought a 2TB SSD for games. I’ve shrunk the latter’s partition so I can set up Linux, and I may reconfigure bios to make that the default boot device.
That will be my next plan, 2 NVMe boot disks, but that may not be before next year. I’ve been using PopOS, fedora, and Mint in VMs for about a year now just messing around and getting a handle on the GUI side of things since most of my debian containers are cli only.
I’ll look into GoXLR and Streamdeck plugins again, thank you for that, I looked a while ago and it was a long way from my comfort level, but given the amount of docker/debian I’ve messed with in the last year, that may be attainable now.
Back in my day it was Lynx 2012 / apocalypse / whatever it was called saying that was the last Lynx they’d ever make. To my annoyance, it turns out they were lying. Although I don’t tend to hang out with the sort of people that blast themselves with Lynx so I guess it makes no difference either way
Dude Tc helicon dropped software support for the GoXLR 1 year ago, indeed the community continuing the support for this device was at first a GoXLR control software for Linux that, after some time, became a windows app too. https://github.com/GoXLR-on-Linux/GoXLR-Utility
Holy crap, I had no idea. Someone else posted that utility as well, I’m going to bookmark it for when I get another NVMe to put a linux distro on
