Linux

1. fun, I like trying out new software
2. I love the philosophy of free software.
3. fuck Microsoft and windows.
4. It's actually just better

(I switched last year)

I have older hardware that would not be compatible with windows 11. I've recently started becoming a privacy nerd and thought this would be the perfect time to switch to Linux. I've been running Linux mint for a year and I will never go back, there is no reason to 😁 I wish I had done it sooner

I literally just wanted a login with a password experience with no ads or sketchy telemetry from my OS. Like how Windows 7 worked or at least how I thought it worked.

Around 1998 in middle school that's what I thought all the 'hackers' were using.

I switched while studying Cyber Security (it wasn't a good course) probably because I figured a more techy OS is better.

Because open source, like the right to privacy and the diversity it can offer, always has something for everyone.

In the end, W*'s recent choices, such as ReCall, and the intrusions into our privacy, finally convinced me to begin my transition.

Until now, I had been observing opinions for the past five years.

The fact is that I am not a programmer or a specialist in these subjects, just a very small amateur, and Linux has long been off-putting.

Having the time and a computer to experiment is not that easy. But with an old computer, I finally have the opportunity to test Linux Mint... Others will undoubtedly follow.

I always say that to change operating systems, you first have to figure out how to replace proprietary software or applications with open source ones, because most of them are also available on Linux.

That's what I did on my mobile, and now the next step is to choose a custom ROM such as Lineage or /e/OS, etc.

Tired of the constant pop ups in windows 10. The constant upselling of their product.

An OS shouldn't get in the way of what you are doing and Windows was always popping up some bullshit.

Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994 was the end of the Amiga, which forced me to switch to something else.

At the time, the choice of hardware I could afford and operating systems that didn't suck was extremely limited, a PC with Linux was pretty much the only practical choice and I've stuck with that ever since.

SSD died that had windows 10 on it. During the re-installation process I got fed up with onedrive and skype popping up every reboot despite being told not to start with windows multiple times. Attempt to disable, the next round of windows update brings them back. I didn't even have the absolute basics up and running before I lost all patience for it. Downloaded several distros, setup like 10 different USB sticks to boot them all. Cycled through them for a bit poking around and testing out. Landed on Garuda Linux kinda by chance, but it has been great. It was so refreshing to have a computer feel like it's mine again.

Built a new computer and Microsoft was pushing thoes full screen win 11 ads. That was the end for me.

I switched to Linux because of Linux gaming. Yes, I am completely serious!

Back in 2015 I had Lenovo laptop with only 2GB of RAM. Windows 7 consumed more than half of that and DotA 2 took over 2 minutes to load the map. The game was laggy. FPS was terrible even on low settings.

On another hand Ubuntu 14.04 consumed only ~350 MB of RAM. DotA on Linux loaded map in seconds. FPS was slightly better, but the game itself didn't feel so laggy anymore.

Linux was (and still is) my only viable solution for gaming on low spec hardware.

When Microsoft announced the sunset of Windows 10.

I was still in uni at that time. Started with Ubuntu, disliked snaps and moved to Pop. Stayed there for last 5-ish (?) years. It does what I want it to do, I don't care about switching distros now.

It was easier for work.

I think we used damn small linux cds to bypass computer stuff when I was in school, then I finally completely switched when steam dropped support for windows 7. I like tinkering, but I am very much of the philosophy that I just want my hobbies to work, so I never thought about linux until windows really started trying to harvest me.

Windows didn't work, linux did.

3.11 and Slackware respectively.

I had a not-very-computer-savvy friend with Windows 7 who didn't want to upgrade to 11 but Steam and some other programs stopped working for him, so I tried out Mint as a dual boot option and told myself that I'd switch back to Windows when I needed to.

I ended up never booting to Windows again; everything I needed to run worked just fine in Linux, either natively, or with Wine, or with alternatives that were actually better than what I was using in Windows.

My computer was getting older and slower and I couldn't afford a new one and wanted to squeeze as much performance out of it as I could. That and, I heard it was all the rage with hackers and I fancied myself a bit of a hacker.

Because of the continual enshittification of Windows 11 with each major update.

I had a meeting at work with a product team lead at Microsoft. Went home and installed Linux that evening.

I used Linux for a good while 20 something years ago. Mostly for recording music and some gaming (you can say what you want, cube/sauerbraten/openarena/… I had a great time that I look back to fondly).

Then got back on windows around vista all the way to w11 7/8/10 all “ok” OS experiences imo.

11… man, this thing frustrates me so much. Everything you try to do is like getting gaslighted. Updates/reboots whenever it feels like, regardless of what you have going on. (My setup requires a few keystrokes at boot, if not the fan goes nuts)

Coming back to Linux feels like a breath of fresh air. Especially now that installing/using it has become a breeze compared to back then. It does what you ask. Why doesn’t big tech corp get that through its thick skull?

Also, my data is mine.

~2007, Compiz wobbly windows and the desktop cube was my gateway via Ubuntu, after a few years shifted over to Debian with XFCE

Back when I was a freshman in college, I had a regular laptop (Sony Vaio) and at the time netbooks were popular and my girlfriend (now wife) had got me one for Christmas.

Win 7 starter was garbage, XP was fine, but not ideal. I ended up trying out Ubuntu netbook remix since it was supposed to be lighter on resources. At the time I was a pre med student and wanted something for knocking out documents, and reading papers with enough battery to get me until I had to go to work. The iPad wasn’t out yet so that wasn’t an option.

I had a ton of fun getting it working, even the Broadcom chip was a fun challenge. Once it was working, I just really liked the look and feel. I preferred the Unix file structure to windows as well as the terminal experience, using bash vs powershell.

I ended up writing a few programs and apps for myself specifically for that netbook, and it quickly became my primary way of interacting with a computer. I eventually ported my Sony over which had the challenge of writing a couple drivers to get some things working with minimal compatibility.

Following this, I switched from pre med to software engineering and eventually graduated with a degree and I have now been working with software and using Linux ever since. Even now, I am the sole Linux system administrator in the company I work for and manage a handful of servers and deployments.

Windows 7 support ended and windows 8 was wet hot dogshit. I stayed because I liked absolute control and ownership of my hardware and software

For fun, in the 90's. Windows was cool still, but what Linux was at the time was just fashinating and I just loved it.

I've used Windows since version 95. I even learned how to use version 3.1 back in the day (people actually used to take classes for using the PC!). Every new version after 98 was a pain in the ass, they'd get rid of a lot of functionality, change menus, and add crap no one asked for. XP might be a nostalgic memory now, but I thought the UI was horrible at first. Same with 7 and 10.

I first learned about Linux through forums, and then I found out about Canonical sending CDs with Ubuntu for free. So I gave it a try and I liked it. There was a lot of tinkering to do unfortunately. Stuff like the cheap ADSL modem I was given by my ISP weren't recognized, so I had to dual boot. Eventually I found some file from one dude who had the exact same modem and knew what to do, and so I was able to go online in Ubuntu. (All of that ended up being very useful knowledge, though. If something happens on my computer, I don't panic anymore, I roll up my sleeves and try to figure out how to fix it.)

I've been alternating between Windows and Ubuntu ever since. I switched permanently to Windows 10 a few years ago for some reason I don't remember. And last year I switched to Pop! OS after finding out about Recall. I was pleasantly surprised by how far gaming has come in Linux, so the switch is permanent this time. I will switch distros, however, once I switch my hardware to AMD.

I was using windows 2000 and suddenly got dozens of popups in internet explorer. I didn't even use internet explorer, I used Netscape for all of my web browsing. I had dabbled a little with BSD and Linux so I just took the plunge. My local bookstore had a SuSE book with CDs so I bought it and never looked back. I've distro hoped a few times but keep going back to Suse.

My first contact with Linux was via amateur radio. I didn't want to hook my radio up to my main PC in case I wired something wrong, so I got one of those newfangled Raspberry Pis, circa 2013. Raspbian Wheezy was my first distro.

Not long after, my old laptop died and I needed a new one. Bought a Dell, it came with WIndows 8.1. Holy shit what an unusable pile. I hated that OS a lot. And then the laptop outright died. I was going back to school, I needed a PC to do school work on, and I've had flesh wounds I was satisfied with more than Dell's warranty support. It took them pretty much an entire semester of "We'll fix it in three weeks or so, when the one guy who does field repairs in your state will look at it", "it's fixed" it breaks almost instantly, before I finally demanded they replace the entire machine. Which they did, with a different, lesser, model. I am no longer a customer of Dell.

This left me doing all of my school work on a Raspberry Pi 1B, and then a Pi 2, for about 3 months. So I got a bit of a crash course in managing a Linux system.

Once I finally got a working laptop, Windows 8.1 felt more alien to me than Linux Mint did. It would actually have been more work to learn Windows 8.1 than Mint Cinnamon. So I became a full time Linux user.

When I first tried it out in a VM, it was just a pinch of curiosity. Some people argue for Linux, so, maybe there's some merit to that? And, unlike MacOS, you can install it anywhere without all the hackery.

When I actually tried it (my first one was Manjaro KDE, and that's what I stuck with for my first 1,5 years later when I decided to go for a real install), I was amazed at how smooth and frictionless everything is.

The system is blazing fast, even on a limited VM, there's no bloat anywhere, no ads, no design choices to trick you into doing something you don't want to. The interface is way more ergonomic and out of the way at the same time. Seriously, Microsoft, do learn from KDE, pretty please.

So, when I moved to a new home, I decided that my virtual home needs an upgrade as well. I installed Linux alongside Windows (on two different physical drives), and ran it as dual-boot ever since. Not that I address Windows that much (normally about once in two to three months), but it's handy to keep around.

Later, I went into some distro-hopping and also got a laptop, which has become my testing grounds. After trying various options, namely Mint, Arch/EndeavourOS, Debian, Fedora, and OpenSUSE, I gravitated towards the latter, and I use it as my regular daily driver on both my desktop (Tumbleweed) and laptop (Slowroll). I love how it manages to keep the system both up-to-date and extremely stable, and has everything set up just right (except KDE defaults, what the hell is wrong with SUSE folks on that end? Luckily, it takes 5 minutes to change). So, there it is!

I learned to use linux decently in school. Used it for servers, etc at home.

Windows had its auto updatee, and eventually drove me mad enough to dual boot. When the updates started crash boot loops and I literally couldn't use it anymore... I finally swore off Windows.

Its not all sunshine and rainbows, but i have had a much better time woth Lonux, and feel much better about it.

Looking at all the sheisty things theyve talked about and/or attempted, such as screen recording everything for AI, contemplating ads in file explorer, forced one drive integration slowing basic operations down... I have no desire whatsoever to return.

I did not switch to Linux. I simply never did Windows. I use Linux since the old days of Slackware where you really had to compile ones kernel. That was with kernel 0.97.

Simple. Windows caused a lot of Problems I simply could Not solve.

Besides that Microsoft became Something I do Not want to Support much longer or willing to giveaway my privacy.

And yeah. Linux Runs better.

My desktop PC ran Windows 10 and didn’t have the magic Windows 11 chip. I tried to do some easy things to get it to recognise my PC as having that chip anyway, but it didn’t work, and I was a bit afraid it’d run like shit with 11 anyway.

So I just decided to try something different and install Linux. First on an old little laptop I had lying around. I tried Mint first, then OpenSUSE - the first because it was supposed to be easy to newcomers, the latter because it’s German (and I liked the way it felt when I tried it on my laptop).

After trying it for a bit, I just decided I’d install it on my desktop as I didn’t want to use Windows 10 without security updates anyway. I’ve now been using OpenSUSE Leap for about half a year, and I’m quite happy.

All schools here teach free software. No other choice for now

https://www.stickycomics.com/wp-content/uploads/update_for_your_computer.jpg

I started by hating Microsoft even before Linux. It was the day I saw the 3.5" disks of Win3.11 didn't have the tab to write them. My reaction was "those are OUR disks, not Microsoft's". I was using then DRDOS and later OS/2. Also I used an Atari STE. So not much love for Windows. And when I saw KDE (maybe 2.0) I installed Linux.

Always tinkered with Linux, since eeeearly Red Hat days, but took the first full move when I set up my home lab and needed to host some docker containers with hardware pass-through.

Turned out my hardware was a bit too new for the kernel I had to install so ended up teaching myself a lot in terms trying to get everything to work.

Because of that I got quite comfortable on the terminal and from then, the UI suddenly made sense, because I understood better the concepts underneath.

Run three boxes with various versions of Linux now, a couple more if you count dual booting, a couple more if you count Mac as some kind of Frankenstein UNIX.