It seems like the more interested I get in Linux, the less appealing it becomes. The community seems to have no fucking clue what they’re talking about, because everyone is just constantly talking over each other and contradicting themselves! I have spent so much time reading about Linux and distros and such to prepare for my eventual switch, but after all that I’m starting to question if I even want to make the switch. Here’s a few of the things I have read over and over, that confuse me to no end:
- It doesn’t matter what distro you use, but also you absolutely should not use that one!! Use that one it’s much better trust me!
- Gaming is good on Linux now, but also it’s super shit and you should keep windows if you want to game
- Sure you can use Nvidia cards, but also no you can’t because nothing will work with them
- Just dual boot if you’re not sure, but also no don’t dual boot because windows will erase your shit if you do
- Trust me bro Linux is super easy to learn, also here’s 14 different specific terms you’ll have to Google, but even then you’ll barely understand them
- Everything will work out of the box, but also you can’t use that thing with that other thing without configuring that other thing first but that’ll break that thing which needed that thing […]
I’m slightly exaggerating and I may get downvoted but I needed to vent. It honestly sometimes seems like Linux diehards are intentionally hiding some of its major pitfalls in order to “convert” more people to their side.
I know windows sucks and that’s why I want to switch, but at least when you have a windows question there’s a concrete answer, not a bunch of nerds yelling out incoherent technobabble-sounding answers that all contradict each other.
And for fucks sake please type the whole words when speaking to beginners. How am I supposed to know what a DE, a VM, a CLI, a WM, PM, or all that other stuff is?
Linux is the “least welcoming, yet most aggressively butthurt that no one is joining it” community I’ve seen in a while.
Alright rant over, you may yell at me now.
TL;DR: Want consistancy? Setup a server. Want a desktop? Pick a distro which seems fine, you can easily switch and distro hop. Don’t let others decide, you are _libre_
Every experience is different, that’s the beauty and the curse of Linux, you may be able to get consistent results on the same hardware (or similar), but it also depends on your own choices.
You may get 5 laptops in which Linux Mint works better than anything you have seen before so you say “I’ll try this on my main laptop!” But sound disappears… weird thing is, 1 hour before you were on Arch, listening to music while playing Minecraft with your friends.
Yes, the last example is taken from my own experience. Personally I think you should start picking a distro that looks pretty and easy to pick up, pick Manjaro if you want, don’t let others decide for you. And, if you have the chance or money or whatever try to setup some servers, could be a RaspberryPI a random laptop or even a PC you found in the trash (again, yes, I did found a computer on the trash).
If you really want to learn linux you must learn by experience, that’s why everyone contradicts themselves unless you get on server administration, NixOS, etc. You can get consistent, if you want that, start at server administration, install any distro and setup some services! How could you use rsync to make backups? Are you sure you want SMB? Why not iscsi? Why not benchmark them? Have you ever tried playing a game storaged in a server in your network? Well, iscsi and 1 Gb networking can make that work!
On the other side, if you just want a desktop you should try distros by yourself, for most of them a VM or Ventoy is enough, do you like Mint Cinammon because it’s Windows like or want a Mac like feel with CuteOS? Maybe wanna try something different with Manjaro Gnome? Why not test all? Arch intrigues you? Pick a VM and the Arch wiki! If you want to try distrhoping I advise you to make a separate home partition and backuo your files. Not “if” you mess up but for when you do, cause you will.