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This week’s Weekly discussion thread will be focused on Linux. I know that Lemmy is VERY biased towards Linux and FOSS, but I’m curious what non-technical people feel about it and what your thoughts are.

Some starters:

  • Have you used Linux? If so, what was your experience like?
  • Would you run it as your primary system? Why or why not?
  • What would it take to get you to do so?
  • Do you feel it’s a solid option?
  • Are there any changes that you’d think would benefit consumers and aid with adoption?
  • baconisavegEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    I’ve run Linux since 1998, about half of that time was as a primary desktop. I switched back to Windows on the desktop for a few years (but always had Linux servers on my home network), and recently switched back to running Linux on the desktop about 18 months ago.

    I don’t run Gnome, KDE, or Wayland. I don’t want my Linux desktop to emulate a Windows machine. I prefer command line apps for a lot of things, like music players, file browsers, etc. I don’t mind the efforts to make Linux on the desktop more beginner friendly through various UI tools, but I abhor when they do so while degrading the non-UI experience (gconf, you can fuck right off).

    I also don’t care too much about FOSS. I run plenty of proprietary software packages. I have both Nvidia and AMD GPU’s and both work fine, though I prefer the Nvidia because of some of the AI tooling I run. Both have worked fine in Steam for the handful of games I play (FFXIV+mods, New World, Enshrouded, ESO+mods, Neverwinter, Path of Exile, Planetside 2), but I only have about 30 games in my library and I can tell you a good 70% of those I’ll likely never feel like playing again.

    I do all my work on the same Linux desktop, but most of my job is done on command line tools (coding, git, aws, docker) or via web-based tools (Jira, Outlook, Teams). I have a VM for running Word when I need to open documents with DRM.

    I don’t think Linux is for everybody, and I don’t think people should switch to it unless they’re actually interested in learning how to run Linux, and not simply looking for an alternative because “Windoze bad lol”.