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Could be small or big.

My answer has always been that, Linux can't handle everything I'd ask out of it that I normally can with Windows. I know the games issue has been progressing far from the days when that used to have been an archaic flaw with Linux for the longest time. Games might not be the issue except for some concerns I have for some games.

I was taking some time a few moments ago, to check if a program called Firestorm Viewer would work on Linux Mint which could've been my distro of choice. And the description written on the linux page described exactly the kind of concerns I'd have for compatibility and usability from going Windows to Linux.

They said that their viewer was tested and designed to function mostly with Ubuntu and while it could work with other distros, it's not to be expected to be smooth.

That's the kind of sentiment and concern I have always had with Linux if I were to go from Windows to it. There are programs and tools on Windows that I have that are used for specific purposes and I know they will not function on Linux. Furthermore, incase anything breaks down, any and all solutions would only be applicable to that thing that would be far easier to solve than just being SOL if I was on Linux.

It is something as a user that I just can't simply afford to deal with on a regular basis if I made the switch.

So while I may not have too much of an issue running games, I won't have too much of an issue using alternatives, I won't have to deal with the Windows ecosystem .etc I will just be running into other walls that would simply make me second guess my decision and make me regret switching to the point where I would dip back into Windows in a hurry.

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[-] MarieMarion@literature.cafe 8 points 6 days ago

I'm convinced it's much less straightforward than people here say it is.

I hate Windows, but I only use my computer for OpenOffice, some liiiiight browsing, and old-school light pirating (light enough TPB fits all my needs), so meh.
My new neighbor is an old leftist techie though, and when my 9 year old laptop dies, I may ask him to convert me. Maybe.

[-] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

it can be straightforward, but oftentimes it is not.

everytime i ever try to use linux on anything, even VM or usb, the video/audio drivers are forked and it takes hours to fix it w/ some sort of custom settings file editing. wasted hours of my life trying to edit this files. never again

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 days ago

it is not, but for the simple use case you mention, it's actually more intuitive.

you can try it out straight from the usb.

[-] Dragonstaff@leminal.space 2 points 5 days ago

Every couple years I decide to switch to Linux, spend few weeks trying to get everything to work right, then give up and go back to Windows.

I feel like I'm in a "Goldilocks zone" where I'm enough of a power user that doing what I want in Linux takes quite a bit of work to get set up, but not enough of a power user that I enjoy the technical challenge.

Most recently I was trying to play a couple modded video games, and run a headless HTPC. One thing would work on one distro, another would work on another, but I couldn't get everything to work at once.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 6 points 6 days ago

I went back to windows for a few months on the newer desktop. I installed mint and discovered it had a lot of problems with the hardware. HDMI, Ethernet, WiFi, and various downstream things didn't work. I fixed some of it with help from forums and such, but eventually I went back to windows.

But a couple months later, I tried Pop!_OS and that has worked perfectly out of the box. No regrets.

[-] ChaosSpectre@lemmy.zip 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Only remaining windows devices in my house are my wife's gaming rig, my gaming rig, and my work laptop.

Gaming rigs are using heavily debloated windows 11 installations, and if I ever figure it out enough they will act a lot more like game consoles than PCs eventually. The moment Linux can reliably play all the games I frequent, Windows will be purged.

Work laptop is non-negotiable sadly. My work uses Windows 10 and an absurd amount of permission controls over it. I am a web developer and every time I need admin permissions for UAC, I have to send a ticket to IT and wait for them to remote into my laptop just to enter a password. Dumbest shit I've seen, but this company is the masters of time wasted. But at least it isn't Windows 11 I guess.

Other devices are mostly linux. Wife's work laptop is MacOS.

[-] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 6 days ago

I'm a lazy bastard who keeps pushing it off

[-] KingDingbat@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I have tried several times, with both Ubuntu and Mint, and it never ends well for me. I even use Ubuntu as a web server for years, and have similar problems there, just in a different use case. I don't even get to a point where I'm unable to run apps that can run on Windows. It always seems to work fine during the first few hours and while doing the setup and config stage, I eventually run into a never-ending troubleshooting wormhole that leads nowhere but aggravation. I'll spend hours upon hours scouring the internet for solutions and it always ends the same way "I have this same problem, and this fixed it." and whatever "this" was never fixes it for me, whatever it is. I feel like Linux is just so always evolving that there's no standards and a command that works for one user on a previous version/distro is just completely useless for me because of some obscure technical glitch or difference whatever my installation has. Dealing with repositories, updates and endless dependencies is always just impossible and it's completely alien to someone who's used Windows for 40 years.

My current iteration is I'm running a dual boot machine with Mint and Windows with the intention of phasing out Windows, but I'm unable to trust Linux Mint to be there when I need it. After a day or so of installing apps and configuration, it became unstable. I attempted to update the video drivers to the "recommended" version and it seems to have borked the whole Linux installation and nothing on the internet seems helpful, and the communities aren't very friendly to n00bs.

So I always end up back on Windows, even though my hateful soul wants to ditch it badly. As much as I hate Windows and MS, Windows rarely has severe stability issues.

[-] spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 days ago

Maybe you should try something Arch-based like Cachy OS? Coming from Mint I don't think I could live without the Arch wiki now. Just like you said, I was tired of the never ending obscure forums. I'm personally using EndeavourOS and everything just works™️. I'd like to think it's due to the fact that less things are pre-configured, so my configs are the singular source of truth. I would say Ubuntu based distros are not good for extensively modifying.

[-] KingDingbat@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Again, thank you for the recommendation of CachyOS. I whipped it up last night on my computer, and other than a small blip that the drive doesn't appear in bootable devices on my BIOS unless I go deep digging and manually click it to boot, it's been very smooth and reliable. I've been using it all night/day and it is really nice. I just have to figure out why the drive doesn't appear in my boot order menu when it's clearly a bootable OS.

[-] spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Glad to help!

If you're trying to use grub(im not sure which boot loader you're using), you'll need to add the drive ID to the boot config. You can use something like lsblk -f I hope that's enough information to help you keep going.

[-] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 5 days ago

I second CachyOS. That shit just works on every machine I slap it on.

[-] unsettlinglymoist@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Are you me!? What you described is exactly my experience with Linux. I really want to completely ditch Windows, but I'm not keen on the idea of spending full days of my life every year on maintaining a Linux installation. I tried Ubuntu, Manjaro and PopOS, all of which have bugs preventing audio from being played on my laptop (I spent so many hours troubleshooting and couldn't figure it out). Finally tried Mint and audio works most of the time, but Mint is a super mediocre experience that I'm not excited about and I don't understand why people rave about it. My laptop is dual boot and I use Mint 95% of the time but it's pretty lame and doesn't feel like "my" OS.

Linux enthusiasts scratching their heads wondering why the masses aren't switching over to Linux need to understand that it's nowhere near ready to go mainstream. Even after decades of development it takes more troubleshooting and customization than 95% of people are willing to give it.

[-] rabber@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago

Adobe software doesn't work

[-] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Fusion 360.

Blender is not suitable for me because from what I've read it's good for sculpture work but not good for dimensional accuracy.

There is Free cad but last time I looked at it, it was very far behind in terms of features. But as soon as that can do STL mesh to editable object conversion I'll switch.

[-] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 days ago

Not sure what to get considering I want something fully European.

[-] jaycifer@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

The flash drive I used to install it finally died several months ago and I haven’t bothered to get a new one yet.

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

No consensus on pronunciation of name.

[-] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I don't have any reason to use Linux personally.

I'm not self hosting or running servers out of my house. I'm browsing the internet and playing the occasional computer game.

[-] MyRobotShitsBolts@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Affinity software, Linux alternatives just are not there sadly. If affinity released a linux version tomorrow I'd be gone.

[-] saigot@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago

I have a professional advantage in being a windows power user. Only way of maintaining that is running windows at home. I do have several Linux systems too.

[-] obey@lemmy.wtf 1 points 6 days ago

Pirated games

[-] BodePlotHole@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I just want Serato DJ Pro to release a Linux version...

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 1 points 6 days ago

Nvidia and Asus suck with linux. With default drivers of any popular distro, my CPU fans won't go over 4k RPM on their own, despite the thing easily heating past 90ºC.

Only on windows, running asus' "rog gaming center" piece of shit, the actual maximum speed of the fans can be turned on, it's loud as fuck, too. I suppose it runs at around 10kRPM, which is a HUGE difference.

I gotta check how linux support is for huion kamvas right now, since I have one as my main screen no less (the laptop screen gets all fucky when it heats up, which takes 2 minutes after turning the thing on)

[-] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

Too much annoyances migrating my PC.
And I already got a taste of it with my SteamDeck.
Yeah, not worth my nightly effort after work (and I won't build my library solely on Steam/Valve, lol)

[-] 5in1k@lemmy.zip -2 points 6 days ago

Having used linux 17 years ago for a year.

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 1 week ago

I'm lazy and haven't gotten around to it yet

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[-] variouslegumes@reddthat.com 37 points 1 week ago

You'll find some things are broken and janky in Windows and Linux. Just different jank you're not used to. I have friends who complain about how they have to do weird workarounds for Linux and then turnaround and fuck with RegEdit. You get used to either given enough time.

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[-] Whitebrow@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Isn’t mint based on Ubuntu? So that should work without a hitch for you. Worst case just boot into the live usb without installing it directly and just try it there.

As for me, I dual boot on separate drives because I have specific software that requires windows sometimes. Otherwise it’s primarily Linux on all machines in the house.

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[-] Eiri@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 week ago

Because my PC is an entertainment box. I don't want to turn it into a problem to solve.

Also, Nvidia.

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[-] i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 week ago

My Windows 10 PC is just as, if not more secure than any Linux machine on the planet.

But one of these days I’m going to have to actually power it on again and then I guess I’ll have to do something.

[-] frank@sopuli.xyz 11 points 1 week ago

Man i wish Mint worked out of the box as well as virtually everyone on here says it does.

I am a former software engineer, and don't want my home PC to be a hobby. I'm like 6 hours into trying to make my (simple) audio setup work on Mint Cinnamon and it's intermittent at best. Never have even thought about it on Windows.

It is plug and play compared to Linux of old, it's clearly come a long way. But it's nowhere near as easy as Windows still, for anyone who isn't trying to make this a hobby

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this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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