I’ve always used Windows and am super comfortable with it. I have set up a dual boot with fedora but don’t use it because I have never identified a need to use it. I see a lot of windows hate, so what does Linux have that I need? What can motivate me to migrate? What is a good Linux to have for a desktop + steam?

  • oats
    9•1 year ago

    A few reasons other than privacy to use linux:

    1. Drivers for majority of the software are already installed. This means for most devices, it is just plug and play, no need to scour the internet for device drivers.
    2. Installing and updating packages through package manager is a much-much better solution than going to websites, downloading installer, than installing the software and then remembering to update each and every piece of software.
    3. Customization, you make the UI look and behave like you please. It is my belief that the UI should be user-specific not how a certain company feels a UI should be like.
    4. Much better OS updates, Updating the OS doesn’t all the time require restart (you should do that anyway), but OS updates don’t happen suddenly forcing themselves, when you maybe doing something important.
    5. Printing is a much better experience. This may not be for all, but I print stuff regularly, but I had issues with printers on windows, that I don’t have on linux. Cups and Sane are amazing.
    6. Its just faster and runs like a champ, even on old hardware.
    7. No ads. This shouldn’t even be a thing, but microsoft in their infinite wisdom, show ads on a OS that the user has paid for.
    8. You can uninstall any software you don’t want. Don’t like firefox as default browser? just uninstall and use whatever you want. Don’t like your file explorer? there are quite a few to choose from, or don’t want to have a file explorer? the choice is yours.
    9. You should explore it, you should check out what all it has to offer, try different desktop environments, try tiling window managers, maybe you will find something you really like. Virtual desktops for example, in my personal opinion are done much better on linux than on windows/mac.

    After you setup Linux to your requirements, there really isn’t a reason to use windows.

    A few reasons not to use linux:

    1. Your work/school require that you use windows/mac.
    2. Some hardware that is necessary for you doesn’t have linux support/drivers.
    3. Some software(this applies to games as well) you use is not available/work on linux and the alternative doesn’t exist, or the alternative isn’t good or you really require that specific software.
    4. You are happy with your OS. This is a perfectly fine, use whatever you are comfortable with.

    If you do decide to use linux a few recommendations:

    1. If you plan on using linux for a long term, use something like debian (or debian based, ubuntu is fine, but I don’t like it)/redhat based distro like alma or rocky . These are stable and for the most part you can just install them and forget about them. Arch is good, but you have so many updates daily, it kind of takes a toll on you. fedora,opensuse are a good middle ground if you want regular software/os updates but not daily.

    You may also be interested in something like NixOS. Check it out, it is a really interesting project but it isn’t I would say yet for majority of the users.

    1. try out different Desktop environments, I would say this is much more important than your choice of distro. Experience them all and pick one you find the best for yourself. Do this in a VM, trust me on this.
    • @halo5
      3•1 year ago

      Much better OS updates, Updating the OS doesn’t all the time require restart (you should do that anyway), but OS updates don’t happen suddenly forcing themselves, when you maybe doing something important.

      Typical updates on Linux take MINUTES, and (sometimes) a single reboot.

      And for the record, with regards to @oats point #1 for the negative, I have a school machine (university level, research-related work). Matlab, Mathematica, R, Rust, Intel and Nvidia (CUDA) Fortran are all available for Linux. And, in many instances, many CPU-intensive applications may only be available on Linux (and Linux clusters).