2022 and 2023 I made multiple decent attempts to go Linux and I’ve finally ragequit back to Windows where things finally just work. Currently using WSL for my Linux needs.
So many frustrating hours.
- Unresolvable sound issues
- Multi monitor issues
- Size scaling issues
- Couldn’t get my games working even for Gold rated proton games
- Don’t think I ever got nvidia drivers working correctly
- Really struggled on some distros to find the correct packages for some things because they were named differently?
- Couldn’t find how to set a desktop background that filled my entire screen in Gnome. It kept repeating to fill the screen instead of just “zooming”
- Got 100% CPU usage in KDE just doing nothing
- Didn’t even want to start figuring how to run my Windows-only apps because by that time I was a bundle of stress and just wanted to use my pc without fighting it every step
Conclusion for me: Windows is best DE, so use Windows+WSL
I’m a bit sad about it because I’m getting more and more frustrated with Windows 11 direction. It seems each update brings a new configuration or “feature” that makes things more difficult for me.
I do feel I am being pushed out of Windows.
For about the last 10 years I try going Linux roughly every 3 years. So I’ll give it another shot in a couple of years.
I fully understand for some people it just works. But it is not yet my personal Year Of Linux Desktop
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had a poor experience with trying to migrate to Linux. It is a big switch in terms of how the OS is structured and how things work. Unfortunately the out of box experience of Linux on personal laptops and desktops can be quite poor for commonly recommended distros like Ubuntu especially if you want to game.
This might be contentious with some people but if you or anyone is feeling adventurous and in the mood to try to understand how Linux works, I would recommend Arch. It gives you the reins to setup and configure your system how you wish. I would however try it in a VM first before going dual boot or as your sole driver.
I’ve tried many Linux distros over the years (Mint, Ubuntu, Centos, etc) but Arch has been the most stable and enjoyable to use. I have one install from 2013 that’s still going strong. Nvidia drivers or Steam can be installed without setting up PPAs or downloading binaries as one might need to do on other Linux distros. Most third party apps I would want are available through the Arch User Repository (AUR). The Arch wiki is amazingly useful for any Linux user.
Most games I play work through Steam or Lutris with the latest Proton from https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom
Thanks for your reply.
I’ve heard many people mentioning EndevourOS and I think that’s based on Arch?
EndevourOS was top of my list to try next time I’m willing to give Linux another shot.
The most interesting distro I tried was MicroOS (opensuse immutable). I really liked the immutable concept, keeping the base OS clean and mess around inside containers. Very cool
