Linux is actually a much better OS for techies: you can make it look nicer, have a better workflow, and you can really play games now that Steam Deck brought so much focus on Linux compatibility.
Otherwise, Mac OS is doing just fine as well.
I've been using Lenovo's Legion devices instead. They don't run this horribly bloated BIOS, they run the much less critically acclaimed Insyde BIOS, but guess what, it just works. I've not had an unexpected wake-crash in years (aside from nvidia drivers with the mux switch on, but just use amdgpu instead). Desktop grade processors, weight comparable to a T420. Definitely not a device to use on the go, but very capable if you just need to carry a computer to the office.
It can't be an afterthought.
Same goes for phones. Buy the right phone, don't be upset you can't load GrapheneOS on your cheap Samsung handset.
Maybe for developers writing games in C++ or their own engines (or small time engines), but for many, how is it better?
As far as I know, out of the most popular engines, only Godot actually offers out-of-the-box Linux support. Unreal, Unity, CryEngine and the others don't offer Linux support for their editors, although some give you access to the source code so you can build it yourself on Linux, but that's often not so trivial.
The same was true for wii/wiiU (linux under the hood) if I recall correctly. I'd be shocked if that weren't also the case for xbox* though I don't remember that specifically.
Yeah, no.
You either switch to Mac and lose 99% of your applications and some of your hardware.
Or you switch to Linux and lose 90% of your applications and latest hardware; And enjoy random problems and figuring out which of hundred answers online is right. Answer could be none, because for example Wayland support for multiple monitors sucks.
Not everybody is graphics designer, video editor who needs Photoshop, Microsoft Excel etc.
And, I haven't found any random problems at least on PC. It might be problematic in laptop, which I honestly don't know.
Also, part of the problem people have with Linux is that it does not run Windows programs and they complain because they can't get QEMU or VMware or WINE functioning correctly. You shouldn't need those. When you switch to Linux, you lose your software. It's a reality you accept, because that software you used was not designed for Linux. Instead of trying desperately to get your old software to run, you instead use alternatives, be they open or closed, to run what you want. There are more than a few alternatives, many of them having similar or exceeding the power of paid windows-only products.
Grabbing a random machine and expecting it to work fine (especially if it's a laptop) will often fail, and that's why people spend hours on forums looking for answers.
Long ago I tried to run Linux on Macs. I would always get it to more or less work, but it would take a lot of time and toil. I had the patience for that back then. Now I just buy a Dell XPS 13 and stop worrying about it, because everything works out of the box. It's not my favorite piece of hardware, but it's fine.
I also do wonder where all these critical Windows-only applications are. I spend 90% of my computing time in a browser, terminal window, or text editor/IDE. Certainly some people have Windows-only apps (or games) they can't do without, but the vast majority of users out there don't.
Not random, but my current machine. How else am I (or random person on the Internet) to migrate to Linux then?
Create an entire new machine just for Linux? That is a pretty hefty price.
E.g. You bought an expensive nVidia card. Yeah, throw it away. Get AMD. Want dual monitors. Throw one away...
I honestly dread switching to Linux.
> Certainly some people have Windows-only apps (or games) they can't do without
Stuff like Office (not online ones), Adobe suite, video editors, sound editors, etc.
I understand what you are saying but it is not such a big deal in practice as it may seem. You migrate if your current machine supports linux (you have to do some research), OR you migrate the next time you switch machines.
Linux is my daily driver for 15+ years now and the hardware/drivers stuff doesn't bother me at all. I am currently using two xps laptops and one custom built desktop - everything worked out of the box. I had good experience with thinkpads in the past.
I think the answer to the last one is if you need Microsoft software then use it. Not much you can do if your chosen vendor doesn't support other OS (WINE, VMs, and such aside).
If it's a laptop then buying an entire machine is the norm.
If you want to test hardware you already own, then just do it. No need to do any real research there.
Should isn't won't.
If it was unclear that my sentence was in the scope of hardware, sorry.
I remember Luke saying multiple monitors broke at one point on his laptop, but that was a laptop.
I've used dual monitors on my linux setup for years without issues. Is this a common problem?
My current PC is using and nVidia 1660 GPU to drive this.
I'm running Ubuntu 20.04. It wasn't out-of-the-box easy to install, but running installer in safe-mode worked and regular boots are as normal.
Even on laptops dual screens work provided the laptop supports it.
I've rarely seen it as i usually dock the machine with duplicate monitors.
Same with dual, triple monitors, etc.
Linux Desktop evangelists being like this also makes people not want to switch. Who wants to deal with a community like that?
For most of the stuff that runs on windows and mac there are alternatives on linux, some equal, some worse, some better. I have been mostly a linux users for years. I still have one laptop with a dual boot on windows...for only one use case: music production. Not because there are no music production software available, not because they aren't good, quite the contrary there are fairly decent tools both opensource and proprietary, but because I don't know them well. I only do music as a hobby in my free time and so far I have been too lazy, or more interested in producing music than learning a new workflow. I admit it is mostly about laziness and time to dedicate to something new. I intend to correct that because I don't want to feel forced to use windows, which I mostly hate for anything else, for that.
> You bought an expensive nVidia card. Yeah, throw it away
Nvidia works fine (it has to, lots of ML shit on GPUs is done on Linux), you just need proprietary drivers. If anything their support on Linux is probably better than AMD's.
Why? Just make an Ubuntu startup stick and try it without installing... Nothing lost except maybe 10 minutes of your time.
True: a bit more than a year ago I bought a new computer with (I think) a B550 chipset motherboard which was very recent.
Wasn't supported by Kubuntu 20.04, I just had to install Kubuntu 20.10 and that's it.
IMHO Linux hardware isn't a problem at all. Software is more problematic (I had a lot of side projects WPF apps that can't run on Linux and I'm a bit lazy to port them to another framework or language so I have installed a Windows VM.
The vast majority of users would suffer if forced to use only Linux apps. Think Office Vs LibreOffice or Photoshop Vs GIMP. A lot wouldn't be able to work at all, like the folks who use Solidworks.
Let's not pretend that browser/terminal/IDE is the most common usage of PCs.
It's just there isn't a good path. So might as well remain on current thing that works.
In my case the $15 Windows.
tldr; Linux' hardware support is excellent these days.
[0] Since about 2010. Before that I had lots of issues, especially with graphic cards and broken ALSA drivers and stuff. All of these problems have disappeared for all practical purposes.
Same experience when I bought my thinkpad L14 AMD, no issues either.
Im convinced at this point that the entire "linux is bad on new hardware" is a thing of the past.