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.
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)epic game store and gog also work on linux.
You can even combine them all and use Heroic Games Launcher.
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.
Yeah! Once you get into linux you discover that in reality there are like 3 maybe 4 linux distros. Ubuntu is based on Debian and Mint is based on Ubuntu. And if you are knowledgeable enough then you just compile everything from source and it doesn’t matter if you’re running Fedora or FreeBSD.
I may be a fool though, don’t listen to me.
The only thing a beginner needs to know is Linux Mint. I think any time anyone shows curiosity in trying Linux, it should be stressed that there’s a really simple and “safe” way to start, which would be through Linux Mint.
You could always dual boot - have a secondary drive to ease into Linux and keep your Windows drive as you work on setting things up/functioning in Linux.
just make a vm of windows and use Linux for EVERYTHING else
None, we only use linux.
At the house yeah its the family computers. Haven’t had to reimage for years. The windows 10 old lap had to get reimaged after the last windows update blue screened it haha.
I’m lazy and haven’t gotten around to it yet
+1
+1
I did flip my peripheral electronics, it’s just my main computer I haven’t changed yet. I made an attempt a while back ago but ran into enough snags, after already having a rough day, that I gave up and I haven’t tried again since. I’m pretty sure I know what the problem is, I just haven’t found myself wanting to sit down and burn the time it would take to install the new OS and get everything installed and tweaked how I like it etc. The latter part being a most-of-the-day project.
I will do it eventually though. I am sick of Windows. Now I just need to get over my fatigue and get off my ass.
For me, the snag is that I haven’t sorted through my files yet to decide what to keep
If you’re definitely making the hop, copy the whole windows file system to an external NTFS-formatted drive and then mount that and sort the files later haha.
You won’t be able to boot it as a backup, but the files will be there. If you have drive encryption you have to turn it off
I made the change about a year ago now. I saw the end of Windows 10 coming up and decided to install linux in a dual boot and try my best to use it exclusively for a couple months until I properly got used to it. You will need to accept that not every program you use on Windows will be available and you may have to try out a couple replacements before you find something that works for you. But most things have decent alternatives. Especially considering how much is done in a web browser these days, there aren’t too many programs I really miss from Windows (mostly 3D CAD and RAW image processing).
Also, note that the differences between distros is way overblown when it comes to compatibility, it is mostly just a case of whether your package manager has the packages you want available and how bleeding edge the packages your distro uses are. Debian based distros (e.g. Ubuntu and Mint) tend to use slightly older packages than ones that are rolling release like Arch which should theoretically be a bit more stable.
I saw the end of Windows 10 coming up and decided to install linux in a dual boot
This is something I need to learn how to do - I’ve no idea how dual booting works, but I could do with learning. Did you have any good resources to help you, or did you already know how to do it?
Dual booting is easy as long as you have a second drive or can shrink your Windows partition to provide space for your Linux install (this can be done within Windows). Your distro installer should have a couple options during install, one of which should allow you to install it on a specific partition without touching your Windows partition. After you select that option it should install everything including a bootloader like GRUB or systemdboot that will allow you to select Windows or Linux on startup.
A warning about dual booting though, Windows doesn’t like to be installed alongside another OS, it may realize this and fuck with your bootloader resulting in a system that won’t boot into your linux install. You need to boot up a live CD and do something called “chroot” into your sytem to reinstall your bootloader. Its not actually that difficult but can be a pain to figure out the first time. https://discovery.endeavouros.com/system-rescue/arch-chroot/2022/12/
I’m travelling atm and bricking my laptop would be a disaster. That’s it
Almost 20 years ago I was living in China and my Mac’s hdd got corrupted. While I was able to restore the os I couldn’t get a copy of ms office anywhere - that’s when I switched over to saving everything as .rtf Wrote my dissertation in Nisus Writer Pro and still won’t fuck with any proprietary file format.
Irfanview, MYOB, and a lack of virtual file system in Nextcloud.
- CAD
- Photo editing
Gave FreeCAD and darktable a solid try hoping to switch my main desktop, but they have significant usability problems
I used to dual boot windows just for when I needed to run LR Classic or Photoshop but now I just use winboat which makes them usable in Linux in your desktop environment while under the hood its running through a VM. It works great except not having GPU acceleration hurts, but it was a compromise worth it to me to not have to reboot into and out of windows.
Have you tried RawTherapee instead of Darktable? They both do pretty much the same thing, but I find RawTherapee much easier to use :)
CAD was a big problem for me as well. I’ve been happy enough with OnShape (coming from Autodesk Inventor), but the extreme SaaS nature of it makes me worry.
I have about 7 or 8 machines running some version of linux. I try to switch as a daily machine every decade or so and works fine for a couple of weeks. Then something needs an update, that update then updates some dependencies which breaks a half dozen other programs. Half of those have new updates for it the other half dont. Of the half that do about half of those also update even more dependencies which then breaks even more programs. This spirals for a month or two sometimes settling out sometimes not. Eventually i get tire of fixing the machine and just want to use it so i go back to my windows box i havent had to fuck with since i put it together. Wait a decade or so and the cycle repeats. Just waiting on that time when the cycle breaks and im still using a linux box. Maybe another 30 some odd years and it will be ready.
- I don’t have a personal computer, just my work computer right now so I don’t need it.
- I work in graphics so I’m wary that not everything I use now will be available (I know there are alternatives, but they aren’t equal).
- I got a steam deck for my gaming (not my day to day).
- my wife and I use Mac’s and iPhones and I’m worried it’ll be hard for her to switch and the ecosystem is very convent and easy right now.
- I acquired a gaming computer for my kid and promptly put mint on it.
- I only pretend to be technologically savvy and am not confident to answer all the questions my family needs to go full Linux. It’s more at the testing hobby level.
My main reasons boil down to availability of programs, no necessity yet, and ease of the new ecosystem isn’t as simple.
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.
being a linux power user is a big advantage.
I still need to provide binaries for Windows, so build and compile for multiple operating systems.
I love Linux. Deploying software to customer sites was historically challenging on Linux due to system dependencies. Containers alleviate most of those problems.
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.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.
