Thoughts on the LTT Linux Challenge

f33dm3bits

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Part1

Part2

Part3(Isn't released yet)
 


Yes GNU/Linux isn't perfect but my personal view from hearing Linus talk about his experience with GNU/Linux is that he's approaching his setup from a Windows view point. Most of that he talks about is not my experience at all but that's probably because I'm an average user who doesn't have the same setup as a professional streamer like most of the rest of the world.

As for Luke having problems with Microsoft Teams I don't experience his problems with screen-sharing. I know you can't play every single game on GNU/Linux but there are more than enough games that work for me, it's not like I'm going to have more than 10 games installed on my system and I can play the games that currently work and a lot of others will eventually work at a later time. Also I choose to only play Steam games to support Valve with their development in the area of gaming on GNU/Linux.

Although I give them hats off for attempting this challenge even though from my experience here on the forums is that switching from Windows to GNU/Linux takes more time than 1 month. Since no one knows how Windows works when you are still crawling around in diapers, which goes the same for GNU/Linux and all other things in life at that age. The difference is people grow up with Windows because it comes install on pre-built systems that's why everyone thinks they know Windows without learning and expect the same from GNU/Linux. Just my two cents, looking forward to the 3rd part.

Also I hope something good does come out of the LTT challenge and the Linus wakes up hardware vendors, software and game developers to look more seriously into supporting GNU/Linux. If anyone can have some influence with that many followers it will be Linus. Thanks for doing this challenge Linus, I hope you attempt another Linux challenge except that you give it at least 6 months to 1 year because learning and getting used to a new OS takes time.
 
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The problem in my opinion is that windows tries to make stuff easy for a price and most people are willing to give a $100 for a gaming "OS"/windows and any compatibility layer sounds scary to a user who is used to .exe. I am a half good example as when I built my PC I got win 10 so I could game and guess what the main games I play using proton they run as good or better than on windows. I do have a win 10 drive setup but only for multiplayer games. But still fs22 just launched 2-3 days ago runs perfectly using proton on Linux.And as for like the driver problems like the 2 monitor fun from what I can tell thats just xorg drivers and when installing why would you need two screens.
 
It's interesting for me to see this challenge, because for the most part, I went through the same challenges that Linus went through, so to me, this seems to be a common pattern with new folks switching over to Linux from Windows.

If you think about it. When we switch from Windows to Linux having never used Linux before, we all try and use Linux the way we use Windows because in reality, that is really the only reference we have on how to use an OS. But the one thing you learn early on, is that the way Windows works is different from the way Linux works. And as soon as you realise this, you start to understand Linux better.

I've been a desktop Linux user for about 4-5 months and I started using Linux full time about 3 months ago. So for me, it's been more than a month, but still not enough to consider myself a veteran Desktop Linux user. Yes, I am technical, I can figure out most of the issues on my own without much help, but I know I am the minority as most people are not as technical. We can actually see this when we have new users on the forum trying to install and run Linux but get stuck and ask for help.

I think the best thing to do, when switching to Linux, is to prepare yourself to spend some time learning the terminal, understanding how package management works, how to look in logs for errors, etc.. the basics.

I also feel like most Linux distros, are not beginner friendly. Yes you have Ubuntu, maybe some other distros that are based on Debian that could be used for the most part with a GUI, but let's be honest, Linux vs Windows debate is always going to be a debate, there are positives and negatives to both experiences, what matters is what you enjoy using.

I use both Windows and Linux in a dual boot fashion where I game mostly on Windows, but then everything else I do is on Linux. Gaming on Linux has come a long way, but it is not where Windows is, the experience on Windows for gaming in my eyes is a lot better. It's not just about installing and running the games, but actually game performance where most of the titles, especially new titles, just run better on Windows with less stuttering, more fps, and less crashes, at least from experience so far. I have been able to get games like WoW, FF14, etc running well on Linux, but I had to do a bunch of tweaks and download some packages to make it run this way. You dont typically deal with these types of issues on Windows. Yes you might need to download some minor packages, but that is usually done by the installer of the game. In the case of Linux, the same thing needs to be done, only you'd need to use Lutris and a script to pull this off, on top of that, you still might have to do some tweaks to make it work smooth.

All this to say, when it comes to Gaming, Windows is just better, when it comes to being able to use your OS a lot more efficiently, with less spyware, and a less malware/viruses, and lots of customisation, Linux is definitely better.

Another interesting observation that I noticed, is that Windows typically seems to run smoother, it is snappier, seems to launch apps pretty quickly with smooth animations. With Linux, I find that this is something you have to tweak, configure, etc. Out of the box, I feel like Linux Desktop is not as smooth.

However, even with all the "jankiness" of Linux Desktop (GNU/Linux), I still love it, and will continue to use the OS as my primary, there's just so much tweaking and customisation that I can do, it's just awesome.
 

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