Just can't switch to linux

[Stoly]

I have an old toshiba laptop E-350 with 6gb of ram. Windows is quite sluggish to say the least so I figured I could try linux.

I use it mostly for RDP, browsing, some youtube and excel.

I tried linux mint as I heard its pretty good on slow machines.
Installation was easy but surprisngly it took quite a bit longer than installing windows 10.

I realize I should have made my homework and prepare everthing I needed to make the transition easier, but hey what's life without adventure.

I gotta mention I'm deeply submerged on the MS infrastructure, which means 365, teams, onedrive, etc.

My first bump, onedrive. There's actually support for a onedrive client on mint, a little hassle to set it up, but nothing too complicated.
It works, except it synchronizes EVERYTHING on my onedrive folder, which means nothing is just in the cloud and now I have tons of files/folders I won't need on this laptop. Of course It took hours to synchronize, but hey at least its working.

LibreOffice is no 365, but I think I could live with it.

Not really fond of firefox, so I grabbed opera, no complaints there.

I don't like thunderbird, and I really didn't find anything that supported exchange and resembled outlook, I resorted to webmail, at least usable.

Next step, TEAMS, there is a teams client for linux, easy to get it up an running.

The deal breaker. An RDP client. I was going for Remimma but its too heavy for just an RDP, so I tried Vinagre. Seems to work just fine, except, I just cant do copy/paste to the remote server. Couldn't figure it out... FAIL

The thing is, I didn't feel mint was really much faster than windows 10 except for browsing which was orders of magnitude faster with opera vs ms edge.
But things like youtube videos had som stuttering and worse video quality.

So I switched back to windows10 and installed opera. Its not as fast as Opera on Mint but it is still much faster than Edge. Plus youtube videos don't stutter and have better IQ.

I may revisit linux yet again in the future, but I really don't see myself using it regularly.

 

[Dan_D]

I've tried Linux a few times and I just can't get into it. I swear Linux makes the most basic of tasks seem arduous.

 

[Brian_B]

Linux is something you have to want to do. Windows is something you just have to live with.

 

[Stoly]

Linux is something you have to want to do. Windows is something you just have to live with.

thats odd, I was thinking the exact opposite.

 

[Brian_B]

thats odd, I was thinking the exact opposite.

I can't think of many situations where you are forced into using Linux. There are a lot of devices that use it on the backend, but almost all of them provide some sort of customized front end for the user and the underlaying OS is pretty well obfuscated (I'm thinking Android phones, most home routers, settop boxes, car entertainment centers, etc). It's extraordinarily rare that you have to drop out to actually see the OS or would even know what the OS is on most linux devices that a person may encounter throughout the day.

Maybe in a server/development environment -

Windows, on the other hand... is a constant uphill struggle and there's no getting around it for many things on a PC.

 

[Stoly]

Windows, on the other hand... is a constant uphill struggle and there's no getting around it for many things on a PC.

That has been my experience for almost 20 years going on and off Linux. Heck I tried linux even before it had a GUI.

The longest time I used linux, was during the Vista era, I stayed with XP on my main PC but used ubuntu on a secondary PC (back when using ubuntu was cool ) but then Windows 7 came out and I dropped ubuntu.

Since then, every now and then I give linux a shot, I don't even know how many distros I've tried, but everytime I use it I really find no reason to keep it.

As I stated in the beginning, maybe its because I'm so inmersed into the MS infrastructure, but even if that was not the case, I don't really see anything I can do better on linux than on windows.

I'm glad linux is making strides in the gaming market with the SteamDeck, and maybe in the future I finally find a use for linux, but not for now.

 

[Brian_B]

Since then, every now and then I give linux a shot, I don't even know how many distros I've tried, but everytime I use it I really find no reason to keep it.

Oh I don't disagree.

The only difference - if you don't want to use Linux, you don't have to - no harm no foul. If you don't want to use Microsoft, well... it can be done, but only if you really really want to. There are a lot of things that it just can't be done - specific software that only runs on Windows, in an office environment where everyone is just expected to be on Office, etc.

 

[Stoly]

Oh I don't disagree.

The only difference - if you don't want to use Linux, you don't have to - no harm no foul. If you don't want to use Microsoft, well... it can be done, but only if you really really want to. There are a lot of things that it just can't be done - specific software that only runs on Windows, in an office environment where everyone is just expected to be on Office, etc.

I guess that's my case.

 

[DrezKill]

I been f*cking around with Linux since the 2000s but last year I finally made the switch to Linux being my main OS (currently using Manjaro on both laptop and desktop). Been having a blast and I don't see myself switching back. That said, I still keep Windows around for gaming (although I been doing more and more gaming in Linux, and with my next PC I'm gonna delve deeper into that), and for a few scant programs I can't run in Linux or don't want to run in Linux. Linux is definitely faster than Win10 on both my systems, my overall RAM usage is lower, and my CPU idle temps and speeds are lower. Then again I could say the same for Win7 vs Win10.

I can understand from the OP's post why Linux isn't working out for him though. For me a lot of that stuff is a non-issue. I don't use TEAMS. I don't use OneDrive. I like Firefox, Thunderbird, and LibreOffice. I don't currently have a need for RDP.

I almost went with Linux Mint, as my brother had been using it for several years. But as fan of Arch (which he introduced me to years ago) and it's package manager Pacman, I wanted to stay in the Arch ecosystem (and I also wanted to try a rolling distro), but I didn't need to be absolute-bleeding-edge, or deal with a lot of the hassle of configuring and maintaining Arch. That's why I went with Manjaro. It's "easier" Arch. You still get the strengths of Arch, but there's more safety involved, which is important with a rolling distro. Manjaro withholds new package updates for further testing and reliability, rather than just sending them right out the gate like with normal Arch. So far the Manjaro repositories have worked out well for me, and I also get access to the Arch User Repository (some good stuff there, but also kinda the wild west so gotta be careful what you grab). Manjaro makes it easier to deal with things like nVidia's sh1tty-@ss proprietary drivers or swapping out kernels. I've had time with other distros in the past like Fedora, Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu etc but they never really grabbed me. Arch was the one that really interested me, and the ones based off of it. I gave Manjaro a try and took a liking to it, so that's what I'm currently using. For how long I dunno, but it's working out so far. My brother switched to it too. Only real complaint so far is it's kinda cumbersome to get drives formatted and partitioned correctly during setup, and they keep changing the process for this, and they even removed the choice to use a swap file instead of a swap partition (I just handle that myself after I get the OS installed). Manjaro keeps changing their OS installer, and sometimes it gets better, sometimes it gets worse. The inconsistency is annoying.

I will admit that Linux is only for people with time and patience. None of my friends see a reason to use it. One of them called it the "the tinkerer's OS," good for f*cking around, but not much more than that. I just got tired of Windows OSes getting progressively worse. Win10 was the last straw. Been messing around with Win11 in a VM since last year and can't stand it. Linux doesn't piss me off as much, it feels like freedom, it feels like I am actually in control of my own PC. With Win10 and 11 Microsoft has a hand on the wheel, "helping" you drive (more like trying to commandeer the vehicle). Linux also has a lot of quality-of-life sh1t that Microsoft either hasn't yet implemented, or is only just now getting around to. I just enjoy the PC-using experience more on Linux. I love the customizability and the control. So much choice... too much choice.

Linux has even worked out for me audio-wise. Those of you who have been around for a good while may recall that when Microsoft came out with Vista, they killed off the hardware audio layer and effectively destroyed the sound card business. From that point on, if you use a real sound card (as I still do, an X-Fi), the sound card's processor doesn't process the sound, the CPU does. The only way to get around this is if the software you are using (video game or music player for example) uses the API OpenAL. Not many do. I found an OpenAL output plugin for Winamp 5 so I got music covered, but aside from that and the very few games I still occasionally play that use OpenAL, I'm SoL. As for older games that use the old DirectSound 3D API, well the ALchemy utility will take calls to DirectSound 3D and turn them into OpenAL calls, restoring hardware-accelerated audio for those games. But yeah choices are limited in Windows. In Linux, ALL audio is processed by my sound card, from OS sounds to video to music to games. No matter what, all of it is handled by the sound card. So my audio experience is much better in Linux. Font rendering is also better in Linux, even when you use ClearType to fine-tune how text looks in Windows.

Linux is lacking in a lot of ways. X11 is sooooooo old, and full of vulnerabilities. There is a strong effort to move to Wayland, which brings massively improved multi-monitor support, support for higher than 8bpc so you can get HDR, and a lot of other sh1t a modern UI engine should have. But Wayland is not done yet, and who knows how long it will take. nVidia doesn't even support Wayland. A lot of desktop environments don't. X11 has been in use for so long that there are just waaaaay too many programs designed for it. But I use Wayland on my laptop and it is wonderful. Makes a night-and-day difference when using the same exact desktop environment (in my case, KDE's Plasma 5). Plasma 5 on my laptop using Wayland is so fast and smooth and fluid. On my desktop with X11 it is kind of @ss. Even Win10 feels better than that. Shiat, if I get a Discord notification it causes my whole desktop UI to hiccup.

Anyways I'm not here to sell anyone on Linux. It's something you gotta try for yourself, and see how it works out for yah. If it doesn't, then so be it. Maybe one day it'll work out for @Stoly, but not today. Nothing wrong with that. At least you gave it a try, rather than just automatically dismissing it. And the next time you try it, I wish you better luck.

I swear Linux makes the most basic of tasks seem arduous.

When it comes to a decent amount of things in Linux, I honestly can't argue with that. Probably one of the reasons it will never be mainstream. But there is such a thing as too simple, too mainstream. Apple OSes have mastered that. Unfortunately Win11 shows me that Microsoft might kinda be headed in the same direction. Both of them seem to be chasing, at least on some small level (well small for Microsoft, not for Apple), the mobile experience and bringing it to desktop. Linux is still very much a desktop PC OS.

Linux is something you have to want to do. Windows is something you just have to live with.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, that's a good way to put it!

...I don't really see anything I can do better on linux than on windows.

Yeah, that's how my friends feel.

 

[SeymourGore]

I recently installed Ubuntu on a old Inspiron 15R, installation was seamless and easy, but I believe these laptops were all 'certified' for Ubuntu.

Either way, it's given this laptop a new lease on life, what felt sluggish on Windows feels crisp and fast on Linux.

 

[Stoly]

Anyways I'm not here to sell anyone on Linux. It's something you gotta try for yourself, and see how it works out for yah. If it doesn't, then so be it. Maybe one day it'll work out for @Stoly, but not today. Nothing wrong with that. At least you gave it a try, rather than just automatically dismissing it. And the next time you try it, I wish you better luck.

Thing is that I've been waiting for Linux to be usable to me for decades .
If I felt the lap I tried it on, was actually faster than windows, I might have stayed with it at least for youtube and browsing. But using Opera on windows 10 actually made it usable, I do think I might missed something that might helped with linux performance and I'm more than willing to try it again in the future. If/when I do, I'll do my research so the road is not as bumpy.

 

[Brian_B]

I would say -- if you could find someone who was coming into computers brand new, no past experience, I suspect Linux would be just as easy to pick up as Windows. Possibly even easier, there are some very well thought-through distros out there.

It's just that Windows has had so much inertia for so long, and almost everyone's first exposure to PCs is via Windows, that that experience sustains itself.

That may change, as younger generations come up being Phone/Tablet first. PCs are becoming more and more irrelevant every year. I don't think they ever go away entirely, but mobile as long since surpassed them in terms of relevance in almost every aspect of computing.

 

[Stoly]

I would say -- if you could find someone who was coming into computers brand new, no past experience, I suspect Linux would be just as easy to pick up as Windows. Possibly even easier, there are some very well thought-through distros out there.

It's just that Windows has had so much inertia for so long, and almost everyone's first exposure to PCs is via Windows, that that experience sustains itself.

That may change, as younger generations come up being Phone/Tablet first. PCs are becoming more and more irrelevant every year. I don't think they ever go away entirely, but mobile as long since surpassed them in terms of relevance in almost every aspect of computing.

The majority of people take the OS for granted as they don't need to install it, its already on the device, they just use it. At most they have to deal with updates.

I would say the Steamdeck is a testament that Linux is very user friendly and can be used for gaming (for many its biggest achiles heel). From what I've seen its better than windows 11 on the ROG. But I guess once MS/Asus optimize Win11 for gaming handhelds it will be just as good or even better.

 

[DrezKill]

The deal breaker. An RDP client.

Saw this in the news today: https://www.phoronix.com/news/FreeRDP-3.0-Beta
Obviously too early to rely on, but maybe with time when it gets completed, it might be something that works out for yah. Who can say at this point.