Linux How many people here completely switched to Linux and why?

6

6pack

Level L
Just curious.

I was always interested in Linux since I first saw BeOS and used it for a few days. This was like 20 years back I think.
After that installed Ubuntu as a wubi partition alongside Windows. Hated it for some reason. Probably I was too closed minded and wanted everything to look and work like windows.

Probably I went dual booting around 2008 or something. Windows 7/8 was the main reason I think. I forgot why. Probably updates messing my computer. Windows 10 was the last nail. No more windows for me. The time it wasted updating for hours and hours and then rolling back because something went wrong and then again downloading a few gigs of updates and then updating after a few hours to a blue screen made me format it. Sorry. I don't like to sit and watch Windows updating for hours and failing and doing this cycle till it gives up.

Linux had it fair share of crashes namely because of the graphics drivers. But here, we at least get a console to uninstall applications or drivers and set it right. I was a noob the first few times the desktop crashed and reinstalled the system. Later i found out we could just boot to the terminal and troubleshoot from there. lol.
I think just gpu drivers are the biggest headache in linux now. Hopefully Intel and AMD work to better linux drivers.
 
Try SuSE linux, Ryzen works beautifully. However, for day to day work on the Word, photo editing, etc, you just cannot beat the simplicity of the Windows or Mac.
for everything else, there is a Linux. I still don't understand why Windows cannot try to build up the OS with the disk optimization of Linux. The HDD i have connected to linux is running fine from past 10 years! yes !0 years and it still does not have a single bad sector. It is not 24 X 7, but still averages around 4 - 5 hours a day
 
Libre Office is more than enough for day to day tasks. The only reason some files don't show up properly on Windows is because MS is purposely not adhering to open document standards so people keep using their software. For photo manipulation Gimp is okay. Its okay for small tasks. Its not like people can force Adobe to make products for linux.

I've heard DarkTable is good for photographers.
https://www.darktable.org/

For video, there is a studio level software - LightWorks.
https://www.lwks.com/
 
Yes, there is always an alternative, but it is becoming too much of a hassle when the documents or photoshop files do not seamlessly work. Most of the "working" people are still on Windows and you need to live among those. So for me, linux is the place to store the stuff, do media encoding, hptc and programming. For all other like photo/video editing, ppt and word, it is still windows
 
6pack said:
Just curious.

I was always interested in Linux since I first saw BeOS and used it for a few days. This was like 20 years back I think.
After that installed Ubuntu as a wubi partition alongside Windows. Hated it for some reason. Probably I was too closed minded and wanted everything to look and work like windows.

Probably I went dual booting around 2008 or something. Windows 7/8 was the main reason I think. I forgot why. Probably updates messing my computer. Windows 10 was the last nail. No more windows for me. The time it wasted updating for hours and hours and then rolling back because something went wrong and then again downloading a few gigs of updates and then updating after a few hours to a blue screen made me format it. Sorry. I don't like to sit and watch Windows updating for hours and failing and doing this cycle till it gives up.

Linux had it fair share of crashes namely because of the graphics drivers. But here, we at least get a console to uninstall applications or drivers and set it right. I was a noob the first few times the desktop crashed and reinstalled the system. Later i found out we could just boot to the terminal and troubleshoot from there. lol.
I think just gpu drivers are the biggest headache in linux now. Hopefully Intel and AMD work to better linux drivers.
Click to expand...
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use.
Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
 
Switched completely to Linux from 2015.
Mainly because - stopped playing games and started some hobby web dev works in Ruby on Rails.
(still have Win as dual boot - only for occasional CS:GO, but haven't logged into Windows for last 5/6 months).
Besides the programming stuffs, PC is mainly used for browsing, watching media - for that any OS would suffice, so why not use the free one. :)
For documents, I had moved to Google docs a long back. I don't use advanced features of Excel for personal works, so I haven't really missed MS Office either.
For basic image editing and organizing, my wife (who also uses the same machine) was comfortable in using the old discontinued Picasa app (by Google). Couldn't find good counterpart in Linux env.
But again, Google Photos have similar tools, switched to that. GIMP is too heavy/cluttered for casual users.

Thing I missed most in Linux is MS Visual Studio. :p
I use Eclipse and SublimeText - which both are no doubt great tool. But I like overall look/usability of VS.

On Ubuntu 16.04 now. I don't care much about the 'awesome' looks some distros offer. I use the default Unity :)
 
The final straw that made me switch to Linux completely was, like @6pack, WINDOWS 10.

I moved to Debian after experimenting with Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse and Mint and couldn't be happier.

I've installed Debian on all my computers, and also use it on my home server - a Raspberry Pi running Raspbian.
I've also got a custom Linux version installed on my phones.
I'm running LineageOS without GAPPS with mainly open source apps from the F-Droid repository - where I've been able to find good, open-source, privacy respecting, alternatives to almost everything in the Play store - except Whatsapp, banking apps, and the GOI's Digilocker.

And while I haven't touched my wife's phone, I installed Debian on her laptop too, and the switch from Windows was completely painless for her.

I do miss some apps on my phone, but on my desktop, I've got everything I need.

Almost all the games I play run on Linux, and I've found that the quality of other FOSS programs is miles better than most of the stuff I used to run on Windows.
I also realised that a lot of the innovations that Google, Apple and Microsoft like to advertise as the next killer app, have long been freely available in Linux.

I use KDE on Debian 9.
 
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