Hacker News Reader

Comment by Lio | Hacker News Reader

Linux desktops definitely are usable but there are still rough edges.

e.g. in Gnome when I open a media file with VLC the focus remains on Files app even if the video opened fullscreen over the top. So when I press space to pause I instead open a second preview of the same file in the background.

Or I use the Gnome media player and it turns sub-tittles back on every time I use it, despite me previously turning them off.

Or the sleep system doesn't suspend to disk after an hour of RAM usage so that my battery is flat when I return latter.

Little stuff like that is an unnecessary pain, just for a lack of polish. I persevere with Linux because of all the little things it does better but it's a hard sell to friends and family.

View on HN

Linux isn't perfect, but neither is Windows and it's actually easier to make people switch than you'd think, because so many things suck really hard with Windows (the update process for instance!) and people are often tired of it.

In my experience, the switch is hardest for people who are savy with Windows and who'd need to re-learn everything in order to be as proficient with Linux, but fortunately, Windows changing menus and settings at every release can help making the switch (that was my case, I used to be a Windows XP power user got a little bit pissed off when moving to Windows seven and then transitioned to Linux instead of Windows 8).

Seconded. The windows power users are the worst to land in Linux. Most users do just fine on Linux(kde or gnome), or on Mac, assuming someone installed it for them and takes 15 minutes showsing the correct apps. Surprisingly, a lot of them seem to like it better than windows.

But the people who know every Windows nook and cranny suffer hardest. They have so much to learn and unlearn, and they have work to do on a system that fights them. They'll be the loudest grumpiest customers in a switch. If they want to give it a chance and do the effort, it seems to take about a month before they reach equal productivity. If they don't want to give a different OS a chance, I rather see them continue running windows.

Each their own favorite tool, I guess.

Windows has focus issues too. Eg. when I launch Windows Terminal, whether from the Start menu or the pinned icon in Taskbar, it renders the window focussed at first, but as soon as the shell finishes initialization the window loses focus.

> Or the sleep system doesn't suspend to disk after an hour of RAM usage so that my battery is flat when I return latter.

This is almost certainly a firmware issue. Did you contact your hardware vendor for support and ask them about it?

Do you think so? My hardware vendor is Dell and I bought my XPS13 as a Developer Edition with Linux out of the box.

Everything I've read suggests that this is just a fiddly config issue and setting up the correct script combination would solve it. I just don't have the time of patience to get to the bottom of it right now.

That's mostly because you use up all your time and patience to complain about it instead of fixing it.

Yes. If they shipped it with Linux, they should support it with Linux. At least the version they shipped you. If it fails to suspend properly, have them fix it. System integration is their job, not yours.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com