Windows 10 EoL is fast approaching, so I thought I’d give Linux a try on some equipment that won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 11. I wanted to see if I will be able to recommend an option to anyone that asks me what they should do with their old PC.
Many years ago I switched to Gentoo Linux to get through collage. I was very anti-MS at the time. I also currently interact with Linux systems regularly although they don’t have a DE and aren’t for general workstation use.
Ubuntu: easy install. Working desktop. Had issues with getting GPU drivers. App Store had apps that would install but not work. The App Store itself kept failing to update itself with an error that it was still running. It couldn’t clear this hurdle after a reboot so I finally killed the process and manually updated from terminal. Overall, can’t recommend this to a normal user.
Mint: easy install. Switching to nvidia drivers worked without issue. App Store had issues with installing some apps due to missing dependencies that it couldn’t install. Some popular apps would install but wouldn’t run. Shutting the laptop closed results in a prompt to shutdown, but never really shuts off. Update process asks me to pick a fast source (why can’t it do this itself?)
Both: installing apps outside of their respective stores is an adventure in terminal instead of a GUI double-click. Secure boot issues. Constant prompt for password instead of a simple PIN or other form of identity verification.
Search results for basic operations require understanding that what works for Ubuntu might not work for Mint.
While I personally could work with either, I don’t see Linux taking any market share from MS or Apple when windows 10 is retired.
I'm someone who grew up on Windows but switched to Linux and holy shit was it so much nicer. I don't know if Windows massively improved or if people are just incapable of comparing something new with something they already know. Because Windows is hard.
99/100 basic users need someone to unfuck their windows install after what, one, two years?
Every time you need to do something non standard you're basically going from training wheels to "good luck, deputy sysadmin."
Broken registry. Orphaned cruft.
Malware, spyware.
Maybe 10-12 years ago. I have provided friends and family with tech support for a long time (20+ years) and I’d say I haven’t had any relatives call me for support in 5 years.
It’s part user education, but mostly that the OS is generally so stable and solid that it isn’t necessary anymore.
I personally have two desktops, one windows and one Ubuntu. I use them both equally and have more issues with Ubuntu acting randomly funky than Windows 11.
That's why I never advanced past Windows 7.
Windows 8 looked like crap.
Windows 9 didn't exist.
Windows 10 looked like they tried to unfuck Windows 8 with a mild degree of sucsess.
Windows 11 is actively the worst operating system I've ever heard of.
Meanwhile, I've installed about 6 different versions of linux. I don't get it. It looks like an operating system that I SHOULD like........but 12 years, and 6 different attempts later, I don't get it. I gotta remember code to install things?
Something like this:
And it spits out an error because it's as much jibberish to linux as it is to me.
I just want to click.
Click click. Installed. Done.
I shit you not. I have a case for a raspberry pi. That case has a fan. For some stupid reason, that fan does not have a switch. Instead you need to install that fan with the operating system. I forget the code, but it's actually really easy. You know what's NOT easy? Getting the fan to work after I updated everything.
Apperently that shits impossible. Theres even a github page where some guy wrote another code, which I can't figure out, that unfucks the fucking that any update does.
Then you got some linux users saying "always update and stay up to date!"
Then you got other linux users saying "don't ever update unless you need to".
Then there's android. I like android. I can use android. Android is built on linux. So thats proof you CAN have linux be a stable user friendly operating system.
And 2009-2015 taught me that android can be free of corporate bullshit. Fully customizable. You can install your own take on it. In android they're called roms, but in linux it's distros.
Yet I've NEVER seen a distro run like android.
I'm sure they could even come pretty close to what windows is. But the people who develop linux have such a hate grudge against windows, that they refuse to admit that windows is the easier to use software, and the masses will only use software thats easy to use.
I'd LOVE to use my equipment I paid 200 dollars for. Instead, the last 3 years it's sat unused, because the thing runs hot, and I can't turn the fan on. That's what is preventing me from playing the 800gb of roms (video games, not android images) I put on that card. That's whats preventing me from linux. I can't turn the fan on.
That's cause they don't use their computer anymore. They do everything on their phones now.
To be fair, troubleshooting windows so I could play games in the 90s led to me becoming an actual sysadmin, so that's cool I guess
Ah, the days of manually editing files in DOS so you could run Warcraft. No thank you.
But you have to admit warcraft was amazing and worth the hassle :)
This way! No, THAT way!
Touche, mon frere. Touche.
Same here, but DOS.
I don't know what version of XP you're using, but this is not true in the last decade. The only times I reinstalled Windows was when I bought a bigger SSDs to my notebooks and figure to just do a clean one and play with the partitions a little. I never, ever, needed to reinstall because something was broken, even after updates. And my company still have notebooks running for about 6 years without needing a reinstall, which would be a huge headache.
Now on Ubuntu, Fedora, elementaryOS... I always had those implode for one reason or another, usually thanks to system updates. I got my DE dead by installing an app. I got it locked by uninstalling an app. And I wasn't even doing fancy stuff like using the terminal to hack stuff.
I really wish I could migrate from Windows, specially now withbthis AI crap. The truth is, Linux is an usability nightmare and it still has a long, long way to go. Even macOS is better, and that's saying a lot.
Windows is fairly stable now. I have been averaging about 4 years an install and I have only been reinstalling due to new disks.
My windows install (unfortunately 11 now because I needed nested virtualization on AMD) was first installed in 2016.
Since then I have switched the boot drive twice, the processor and motherboard once, the GPU once, upgraded and installed non OS disks many times.
I have not reinstalled it a single time. I do know quite a bit about windows so I have been able to fix every issue so far (except a new weird one that's annoying but not game breaking), but still it shows how stable Windows is these days. Updates have not broken anything that I can think of (except that annoying update that everyone got in February or something, which doesn't work because it tried to do something which doesn't work.).
And yes I know I should reinstall but that would be so much work.
My experience mirrors yours. Back in the day I used to have to do clean installs all the time, but I haven’t for years now, and I’ve swapped lots of hardware and disks, etc. it’s fairly problem free for the most part, except for the creeping sense of doom I feel with each new piece of adware they cram into the user interface. I am definitely planning on switching to Linux, I have an Ubuntu server and have installed a flash drive version of arch on my laptop before, but I just haven’t hit a wall yet that makes all the work of completely switching necessary yet.