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this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Technology
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I tried a well-supported Linux distro over the summer, and it's severely not-compatible with my GPU. An OS that crashes every 10 minutes with the FOSS drivers and runs slower than continental drift with the proprietary drivers isn't a viable alternative to Windows. At some point in the future I might run through a bunch of other distros to see if there's one that is stable with my hardware, but I honestly don't have enough time in my life to do that right now. I went back to Windows because I could install it in an hour and be done with it for the next year or two.
There are people who have the patience to continuously fight with their OS in order to get it to do what they want it to... but they're a small subset of the population. Most people just want their computer to work, and until Linux has that (or until we completely reorganise society so that everyone has both the time and money to be able to spend time making their computer work rather than using the computer), there's not going to be a rush of people abandoning Windows.
I love the idea of Linux, but was not happy with the stability and support at this point in time. I'm more computer-literate than the average person, and even using a well-supported Linux distro, I found the documentation haphazard and in some cases plain wrong (or severely out of date?) If I struggled with it, I certainly wouldn't expect people less comfortable with computers to have any capacity to install or run Linux. For all Windows' flaws (of which there are many), it makes owning and using a computer easy, allowing you to just get on with the work you need to do.
I personally feel like I have to fight Windows more and more to have it behave like I want it to. You still spend time to configure your Linux of choice, but it doesn't feel adversary.
That's very strange, which distro and GPU was this? So I don't recommend that to anyone?
I'm assuming the GPU in question was Nvidia, since AMD and Intel make their driver opensource and baked in to the kernel. Sadly nVidias latest kernel (535) has been troublesome, so I'm still on the previous 525. nVidia is about to release 545, which looks to be very promising.
Luckily on Ubuntu changing driver is as easy as opening the Additional Drivers application, selecting the driver version, hit apply and reboot. PopOS, Bazzite, and a few others comes with Nvidia drivers preinstalled.
Best of luck if you try again in the future
Yeah, it's an Nvidia GPU on Ubuntu. I tried several versions of the proprietary Nvidia drivers and some open source ones I located via Ubuntu's Additional Drivers application, and they all left my computer in an unusable state, but in different ways.
Buying a new GPU isn't an option at the moment, and... yeah, just don't have enough time to go experimenting with different distros to find the right combination of hardware compatibility and features. I still think it was a worthwhile experiment, and I'm glad I gave Linux a try. But it's not the right OS for where I'm at right now.
Try something besides Ubuntu some day. I just moved from windows to Fedora and it’s been great for the past two weeks.
Mint. For new users, or experienced ones who want a computer that just works, Mint is the answer.
Yeah, I'm thinking in a few years, when I have time to play around with my OS, Mint will be the one I try. I still have some reservations about the enormous number of variables that have to be just right, though: when you're a gamer and an artist, the list of games, drivers, and software that need to play nicely is quite long!
I installed mint, kubuntu, and pop on a 3060 laptop, and 3080 desktop, and none had issues with GPU, drivers, or gaming. I am brand new to this, starting 2 weeks ago, I'm not experienced for sure.
Lutris gave me a command line to update vulkan, or similar, but otherwise mostly CLI-free too.
Pop specifically has an Nvidia iso as well.
THAT SAID- I still agree this is a "hobby" and if you don't have time to mess with it, then Linux still isn't "it just works!!" Like people will claim.
Yep! Could I make it work if I had the time? Probably. I might have just gotten unlucky with my previous attempt, or it didn't like my specific GPU (or it was actually a different component that was causing the problem, despite all the error messages pointing to GPU). But Linux definitely isn't in "it just works" stage for everyone, and for every person who can say it worked fine out of the box, there's someone else who can say it wouldn't work no matter what they did. The hardware combinations for desktops, especially self-built ones, is nearly infinite, and some combinations will be more finicky than others.
THANK YOU. I'm someone who loves Linux and daily drives it, but it feels like Lemmy's userbase is just those who moved from r/linuxmasterrace who don't understand that just because Linux doesn't cost you any dollars, doesn't mean it doesn't cost time, time which people just may not have.
Yep! Every OS requires the user to pay something, and that's either money or time - or a certain amount of tolerance for creepiness.
I beg to differ. Fedora Linux worked out of the box on my current Dell laptop, on the previous (Acer) laptop, and the previous pc too (I think it was a Lenovo). No problems whatsoever.
Meanwhile, it took multiple hours to disable the various ads, pulp news, and trackers on the Windows pc that I use for work.