If you do NOT currently use a desktop #Linux OS but are curious (or hesitant) about it: what questions or concerns do you have?

Security Writer :verified: :donor:

@killyourfm Not particularly curious or hesitant, I’ve been using Linux for nearly 30 years. But there are some definite blockers.

- Accessibility features are next to none existent. Most feel token at best and usually don’t work well in practice.

- No real competition for the big apps. Sure there’s wine or ‘alternatives’ but there’s no ‘real’ alternative to Photoshop or Premier Pro for instance, or Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro (if you’re a Mac person).

- and off the back of the above, zero vendor support if you do get anything working.

- Battery life tends to take a nose dive, as it’s not able to leverage the OS-UEFI integrations that Windows or MacOS can - or at least not well. In addition, sleep modes are lacking.

Zero101

@killyourfm I’m a proficient Linux server user, but can't get desktop Linux to stick.

My roadblocks:
- Hardware support/drivers are still limited or flakey. Lots of research and troubleshooting.
- Many widely used apps still don't have native Linux versions and Wine can be problematic.
- Inconsistent UI. The variety of DE's is cool, but support for them varies wildly.

I feel like these have been my issues for 10+ years now.

Mac gives me most of the benefits without any of these issues.

Seasons of Jason

@SecurityWriter Thanks for your feedback on this. Even as a self-proclaimed Linux evangelist, the "big app" issue stops me from using Linux full-time -- there isn't a suitable, elegant, powerful enough alternative to Logic Pro for my music production.

Sebastian Mangelsdorf

@killyourfm I‘m a linux server professional and i mainly struggle with hardware support. Laptops running fine with good battery life but desktop is impossible due to poor games support (for the games i play, i know there are a lot of games that work well)

Seasons of Jason

@zero101 Thanks for your feedback, Zero.
I find the hardware issue to be a common roadblock among people I talk to. To the best of my knowledge, there is still no real source of truth for hardware compatibility.

Seasons of Jason

@thibaultamartin And those are all valid in my eyes. Real issues that desktop Linux needs to tackle before it hopes to get significantly more market share.

Especially the hardware support -- and finding an updated, reliable source of truth for compatibility.

Seasons of Jason

@mike Thanks Mike. While I can't answer that directly, I appreciate the input and it's going to inform a lot of my coverage next year.

On the Linux side, I've found DejaDup and (especially) Aptik to be awesome, but the latter is a paid app and only works for Debian-based distributions, which is indicative of the wider problem...

There's definitely not a universal "Linux way" to do backups!

Seasons of Jason

@chrislowles This is really great, valid feedback. Thanks, Chris.

Seasons of Jason

@cardes Thanks Sebastian. I'm guessing you play multiplayer-centric games that have anti-cheat? Like millions of others do

Which titles, specifically, if you don't mind sharing?

Eddie

@killyourfm Have used it since the late 1990’s on various laptops and desktops. My laptop has been an Apple MacBook Pro M1 for the last 3 years. I wanted an integrated cloud/storage solution (pity Ubuntu One was discontinued) and no distribution was offering it. Sure, I could use Google Drive but that’s always a solution that can disappear at Google’s discretion.

Loren

@killyourfm I have Fedora on my Framework 13 and its mostly a good experience for me.

I do not have Linux on my personal desktop or my work desktop though due to both having NVIDIA GPUs and me having weird issues when trying Linux on both of these systems in the past.

I will be giving Linux at home another go when I build an all AMD system in the coming weeks though.

Loren

@killyourfm I do wish my FW13's FP sensor worked as well under Fedora as it does on Windows, though.

Seasons of Jason

@shadowplay_2112 I'm genuinely surprised a distro like Mint/Zorin/Ubuntu isn't offering a built-in cloud storage solution by now. Something that offers "smart storage" similar to iCloud or OneDrive, where storage is auto-optimized for the user.

Also seems like a no-brainer revenue source for those distros...

Seasons of Jason

@duckdotexe Which FW13 model/mainboard? I'm asking because mine works under Fedora. Have you checked here? https://knowledgebase.frame.work/en_us/fedora-fingerprint-troubleshooting-SyfIAyCM3

(Edited w/ correct URL)

Security Writer :verified: :donor:

@killyourfm I’m with you, my friend. I love Linux, I contribute to it, I use it every day… but my Mac is where I get the creative stuff done.

nerdwoman

@killyourfm I’m planning to swap to running a distro as my gaming install soonish (fuck windows 11), and am very concerned about VR GPU drivers on linux. I've been looking for a solid GPU and distro rec (I’m due for a new GPU and would like it to work), but the internet is full of "I dunno? Maybe this?" Which is not helpful.

Seasons of Jason

@SecurityWriter Honestly, I don't try too hard to convince people to switch away from Macs -- only Windows.

Well, unless those Mac users actually want to play some games

Seasons of Jason

@nerdwoman Damn, I follow Linux gaming pretty closely and I certainly can't answer that... a valid concern! While I can confidently recommend Garuda or Bazzite as strong gaming-forward distros, I have no idea what the state of VR is on Linux.

Something I'll have to dig into. Thanks for your feedback.

Sebastian Mangelsdorf

@killyourfm I did not pour too much energy into it so there might very well be good solutions out there to run the games i tried but i was unable to get it to run smoothly or to run across version updates. Some of the games i remember i had a hard time: world of warcraft, destiny 2, star citizen, guildwars 2, Mass Effect (Legendary), but also some games that have a linux native version that messes up savegames like Dungen Defenders or games with poor performance like satisfactory. Just to be fair: If games would work on desktop like they work in the steamdeck i'd just go with that but archlinux is just not an option for mission critical stuff (yeah I'm lazy)

Seasons of Jason

@cardes Well, you shouldn't HAVE to pour much energy into it.

I know Destiny 2 is completely unsupported due to anticheat, but WoW, Guild Wars 2, and ME Legendary Edition should run well on Linux. The problem, as you articulated, is that MY experience with those games may be null and void after a recent game update. Look what happened recently with GTA Online

And yes, I hear you about the Steam Deck experience.