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Comment by BrandoElFollito | Hacker News Reader

I tried to install Ubuntu 20.04 on my Thinkpad P51 with two monitors. Fonts were funny and the mouse never got the monitors right. Horrible things were happening when I was recovering from sleep mode.

I installed Windows 10 on my Thinkpad P51 with two monitors. Everything worked out of the box.

So at least for me 2021 is the year of Windows Desktop and certainly not Linux Desktop.

Disclaimer: I try 1-2 times a year to install a working Linux on desktop since 1994, and have my family use it. It never, ever fucking worked. I am so pissed of because of that because I have Linux on every backend server and I lost hope that one day I will have a Linux desktop.

Comment: I may have been able to make Linux work on my computer after digging some obscure settings in x.org and whatnot. I just want my front end device to just work - so Windows it is.

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Consider me incredulous. I've been using Linux since '97 and for well over a decade now, I've rarely hit an installation problem.

I'm not saying there's never going to be a problem--especially with brand new hardware fresh off the press, especially combined with a slow moving distro. But trying once or twice every year, and it never working? Either you're running the most exotic hardware on the planet, or you're running the oddest distribution, or you should start playing the lottery.

Most laptops have issues. I have what I consider to be the best-supported Linux laptops around, and it's still so janky that it's hard to get used to.

My opinion is this: Linux does work, but it doesn't work cleanly for desktop/laptop use. There are rough corners galore, especially around support for specific hardware or hardware features. You get used to them eventually, or you're irritated, but they are there.

Is a P51 (what, 3 years old now?) and two HDMI monitors. Is that exotic?

Last time I tried it was Ubuntu 20.04 when it was out. The result is in my post above.

I work in IT for 25 years and I am a geek at heart. The state of the Linux desktop is horrendous.

This is not a problem per se - Linux has a good and stable place on servers. It just means that peopel who want to run a desktop with linux must be ready for a lot of browsing, experimenting, ... Windows users do not.

You are an exception I'm sorry to say. I've used two ThinkPads with Linux over the past few years with no issues, and am now on a Dell XPS with again, no issues.

Try running Kubuntu off of a live USB (you can do this with any Linux distro, you don't need to install it just to test it). I'd honestly baffled if it didn't run perfectly as long as you agree to install the drivers when prompted to.

> I work in IT for 25 years and I am a geek at heart. The state of the Linux desktop is horrendous.

I share your exasperation (or at least I think that's what I can read between the lines). I really want to like the Linux desktop, but... I just don't. I'm holding out hope for Haiku and Serenity OS. Perhaps one day they will be the ones to achieve the Year of the Linux Desktop, as a successor platform.

Not at all. I'd suggest booting into a live CD environment of a newer kernel distro (personally I am a fan of Fedora which provides a very stock experience). I can't see you having much issue with P51.

Or the OP's standards are higher than yours? Things you may gloss over or accept as 'good enough' are unacceptable to people looking for "just works" on par with a comparable windows install on the same hardware.

Well let's hear it then. Because everything "just works" on my current setup. It's not always so of course, if you buy a laptop with a bunch of OS hostile components, sure that won't work well, but how's that the fault of Linux?

And even then, I have a Lenovo that was a very hostile driver experience to start with, and yet everything is now supported in the kernel minus the fingerprint reader.

Have you read the first line of my post? Lenovo P51 with two monitors (HDMI) - hardly exotic stuff.

You may be lucky, I was not.

My wife claims that I use Linux precisely for this. To get the kicks from troubleshooting pesky little issues, endless tweaking and discovery of obscure configurations.

I use Mint on my Thinkpad P53. Everything works out of the box.

I also use Mint on my M93P Desktop. Ditto likewise.

I used a Unix Desktop from 1991 to 2001. Since 2001 to 2021 I've used Linux as my day-to-day system.

I've never used Windows as my day-to-day system. There never was any need to.

I don't think I'm an exceptional genius, Linux just works.

Dual monitor setup is a huge problem with linux distros. I haven't found yet any DE that works out of the box. I'm really looking forward to KDE with official stable wayland support, until then 2021 is not the year of linux desktop

What's the issue with dual monitors and GNOME?

Never had any problems.

But I think there is a general problem with sleep modes as mentioned. Luckily it boots in a fraction of the time Windows took.

Try using monitors with different pixel densities and setting per monitor fractional scaling. It never works as good as it works on a Mac (not a Mac fan boy... I would rather move to Linux but here I am).

But why though? At my desktop workstation both of my monitors are exactly the same brand and model (and sequential serial numbers, if I have a choice) and that's exactly what I would want regardless of my OS.

Why would anyone not prefer this over a mixed set up? The only reason I see to use a mixed set up is if you're forced to use a laptop. Personally I don't optimize for working in meetings and planes though and my life is just simple and straightforward. I keep just 1 cheapo laptop around for that stuff.

With that said, XFCE handles mixed DPI/scaling just fine for me.

Works fine for me ;)

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