this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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I replaced Windows with Linux and everything’s going great (www.theverge.com)
submitted 22 hours ago by git@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net
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[–] nasezero@hexbear.net 24 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

I spent all fucking week debugging crashing issues with Windows 10 and Unreal games (mostly Arc Raiders). Went so far as to reinstall Windows, which somehow just made the crashes much worse. I was starting to worry that my GPU was dying, and was about to RMA it, but first I figured I should give Bazzite a try - and it ran absolutely perfectly. Zero crashes after several hours of testing. Also, funny enough, the entire installation process was smoother than the Windows refresh/reinstall process.

Now I'm backing up stuff on my Windows drive, so I can wipe it this weekend and finally be rid of Windows completely quagsire-pog

[–] ReadFanon@hexbear.net 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm gonna be heretical here and advise you to consider a dual boot setup, if you have the hard drive space to spare. I like indie games and some are really buggy or poorly optimized for Linux (small teams/solo devs that are amateurs often have these problems especially if it's a recent release - I understand and I'm not complaining.) There are a couple of games I boot into Windows for, same for the very occasional application.

It's nice to have the option to boot into Windows as a last resort, at least imo. More power to anyone who has managed to divorce themselves from Microslop permanently but I often wonder if Linux loses users who go all-in and make the full switch immediately, only to eventually get sick of encountering problems with compatibility where they eventually revert back. (Sidebar to mention that whenever I do boot to Windows I am immediately reviled by it and honestly there was nothing quite as effective as convincing me that I'm sold on Linux than when I occasionally switch back to Windows because it's a reminder that sometimes the grass really isn't greener on that particular side.)

Glad you've found something that works well for you.

[–] nasezero@hexbear.net 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Oh yeah, I'll throw Windows on the spare drive if I ever need it, although I kinda doubt it. (I was able to install my 3D modeling software and slicers easier than it is on Windows, lmao.) Only reason I did it this convoluted way was due to wanting to quickly test Bazzite before RMA'ing my GPU, and Bazzite's live session can't run games. But once I confirmed that and backed up my files, I wanted to wipe my primary drive because it's a much faster NVMe, and I will never let a Windows partition touch any drive that also have a Linux partition, been burned doing that in the past. vegeta-pain

[–] ReadFanon@hexbear.net 3 points 9 hours ago

Understandable. I think these days it's not such a big problem as long as you set it up correctly, although it's a bit of a convoluted process and it's not something that I'd recommend for people who aren't at least moderately tech savvy.

I have a handheld that runs dual-boot Bazzite and Windows, with a large shared partition between them where my games are stored. Would have been nice to not have Windows lurking ominously on the same drive, threatening to screw everything up, but it hasn't caused any problems (yet.) But I can understand why a handheld isn't gonna have two NVMe slots so I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

[–] booty@hexbear.net 10 points 16 hours ago

Arc Raiders runs so smooth on Linux, I love it.

There were some crashes right on launch, but when I looked them up it seemed like Windows users were having them too. And it was totally fixed within like a week or two.

[–] ReadFanon@hexbear.net 18 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Linux irritates me. A lot less than windows. And Microslop has to find alternative ways to spy on me and get my money. And it's much snappier and less demanding on my system resources. And I don't get in-OS advertisements. And searching for settings and applications actually works. But it's still irritating.

I get why people stick with windows. Transitioning is hard. Windows isn't on a trajectory that I like one single bit though and for me, I needed out of the sunk cost fallacy of many years that was holding me captive. I'm intermediate in what I can do in Linux and advanced in what I'd like to be able to. If you're a basic/mostly basic user of a PC then it's going to be less irritating for you than it is for me.

If you aren't married to certain workflows or particular applications that aren't supported on Linux (Adobe, anti-cheat games) then it's really a matter of picking your poison.

[–] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 19 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Transitioning is hard.

bridget-pridesolidaritysicko-tux

[–] roux@hexbear.net 12 points 16 hours ago

Not me being a enby Linux nerd lol

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 12 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Funny like how the authors most noted problem is that proprietary software is hard to find and doesnt work well in a free operating system.

[–] Mardoniush@hexbear.net 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, that's been a huge problem for most of FOSS history. If you use your computer for work as well as personal use, then you are the one who has to integrate with everyone, and that means native-running office and adobe. And companies love proprietary software over Open Software.

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 7 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

then you are the one who has to integrate with everyone

Which is why the whole "use what works" shtick is bullshit. I didn't choose my computer for some personal gain, I did it for pure politics and most firms are too lazy to stop themselves from getting robbed by tech companies anyway.

Whole industry was born with its hand in somebody else's pocket.

[–] john_brown@hexbear.net 18 points 21 hours ago

I refreshed my laptop with a new distro recently for funsies and I'm trying out Fluxbox. It's great, extremely low resource usage. Definitely worth a try if anybody's looking for a lightweight DE for an older machine, it's using less RAM than XFCE for me.

[–] microfiche@hexbear.net 10 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

For some it is hard. Be less flippant about it. Why do you think adoption rates are what they are?

[–] RondoRevolution@hexbear.net 2 points 11 hours ago

Adoption rates of Linux aren't low because it is hard to use. Nowadays it is easier to use than Windows. The adoption rate is small because the vast majority of computers comes with Windows pre-installed with no option to say otherwise. And yet, Linux usage continues rising, because Microsoft continues fucking it up and shoving ads and AI in everyone's face.

[–] Monsieur_bleu@hexbear.net 24 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

most people just assume it's hard and never actually try it

[–] microfiche@hexbear.net 6 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

You likely aren't the target market. Assume less.

[–] john_brown@hexbear.net 24 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Installing an OS in general is "hard", but installing Linux is by far easier than Windows these days. Trickiest part is changing the boot order in the BIOS, really.

[–] microfiche@hexbear.net 5 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

I've been running some variant of *nix since the mid nineties. Installing windows is head and shoulders simpler than Linux. Lol

[–] RondoRevolution@hexbear.net 4 points 12 hours ago

No it really isn't. Installing Linux nowadays is literally just booting the usb and following a few things on screen and you're up and running. On Windows you tell it to install, then it drops you into the preparation process after installation that takes a shit ton of time and asks you a million things while telling you it will watch you even after you click to disable every single tracking shit it is showing on screen, and after all that it will still ask you to wait while it prepares the OS for you. And if that is not enough, after that you still have to download drivers for your card manually because it will only install some old version just to get it working.

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 6 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

I didn't know what a linux was until 2022 when I installed kubuntu for kicks and then stayed on it because I didn't know how to format the USB drive for windows.

Still trying to figure out how to get back to windows basil-anxious I'm stuck here.

[–] john_brown@hexbear.net 20 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (3 children)

When was the last time you did it? I'm directly comparing my experience doing both, recently. lol

[–] PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net 26 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (2 children)

Last time I installed Windows I literally had to drop out of the install wizard and run a bunch of terminal commands in order to perform the installation without a Microsoft account. They're stricter about that than even having a fucking license key.

[–] booty@hexbear.net 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I had to do that to get Windows to recognize my SSDs. Yeah, it was a fucking mess.

Linux just worked. I honestly wish at this point that I hadn't even bothered setting up Windows. It was 90% of the hassle.

[–] LeninWalksTheEarth@hexbear.net 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

that's why the only version of Windows worth using is the Pro version of windows, it lets you make local accounts.

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

So you're saying you can't use this distribution of windows but another better distro? Sounds familiar

[–] LeninWalksTheEarth@hexbear.net 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

luckily both are free or i guess spend the $20 on a key from somewhere if you need to. then you have to live with the fact that most things will function on your operating system without having to think about it or research. it's pretty terrible.

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 14 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

maybe he's comparing it to the windows version he last installed in the mid 90s from like a gateway OEM install which was basically a single click disk image push from a manufacturer CD.

because, yeah, i've installed 3 distros in the last two years across 3 different machines (manjaro mint, ubuntu LTS, fedora atomic/bazzite) and the longest and most difficult of those took probably 20% of the time and 10% of the attention a windows install has always taken in this millennium.

it's almost disorienting how easy and fast installers are now. every time i'm like, "wait, that's it?"

[–] john_brown@hexbear.net 13 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I think there's a small contingent of Linux users who like making it complicated and hate the idea of Linux being accessible and easy for anybody to use. The kind of people who would make sure to tell you how long they've been using "*nix". My mother's in her 70s, has never been a computer toucher beyond the basic necessities, and I set her up on Mint many years ago and she's perfectly happy with it.

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 9 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Elitists ABSOLUTELY exist in Linux spaces as do chuds and worse people. With that said almost all my interactions with Linux users have been very pleasant so far.

[–] john_brown@hexbear.net 7 points 19 hours ago

As the old joke goes, the best way to get help in a Linux forum isn't to ask a question, because you'll be told to use the search function or read x documentation. You gotta post that Linux sucks because it can't do whatever you're having trouble doing, and that it works in Windows perfectly.

[–] Inui@hexbear.net 12 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah idk what he's talking about. Theres graphical installers with sensible defaults for most distros now. It only gets complicated if youre trying to follow some nerds advice about doing custom partitions. The Fedora installer is just selecting a language, a drive to install on, a username and password. Everything else is under Advanced settings.

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Generally speaking. I think if someone wants to try Linux they should go for it. But even watching a 10minute vid on how to go about it is probably gonna help a lot of folks. (As someone who is currently using Mint which is like babbys first distro)

[–] Inui@hexbear.net 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

It doesn't hurt but I just think the other person was exaggerating how difficult the process is if you aren't doing anything unusual that a random forum said is the best way. If someone has trouble installing Linux, they would probably also have trouble installing Windows from scratch.

It's just that most people don't usually have to do it themselves. That's a general lack of computing knowledge/skills that will always be a barrier and can't be solved no matter how easy Linux gets for the average person to use. It requires that person to gain more familiarity with computers in general.

Which is different than the difficulty of having general computing knowledge, but not understanding the difference in workflow. Such as installing an app from a store like KDE's Discover instead of from the website directly or from the Microsoft store, which would be the closest analog but not as common. That's where I think most of the difficulty comes in but that can also be worked on by distros to help overcome.

[–] LeninWalksTheEarth@hexbear.net 1 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

a lot of people use stuff that doesn't have a linux version and probably never will, especially modern games that use anti cheat in the kernel.

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 4 points 15 hours ago

a lot of people should probably stop depending on skinner box shooter slop for their recreation but idk I don't make the rules.

[–] RondoRevolution@hexbear.net 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

For anticheat, both BattlEye and EAC support Linux in userspace as long as the developers click the toggle to include the files needed, the issue is with other anticheat like Vanguard and with devs that just hate Linux users for some reason (Destiny for example). For everything else, I really don't think it's that much of an issue. Sure if someone absolutely needs Microsoft Office, then there isn't much they can do if the online version don't suffice, but Office suites on Linux are good enough replacement for the majority of people and are easy to use. For video editing, DaVinci Resolve runs natively, for Photoshop, there is a no-headache AppImage on github for Affinity running on Wine, but there is talks of it getting a native version (there's also Photopea on the browser). For art, there's Krita for drawing, Blender for 3D Modeling, Aseprite and Pixelorama for pixel art. For vector graphics there's Inkscape. For game development both Unreal Engine and Unity run natively, and there's also popular FOSS stuff like Godot. For CAD, FreeCAD is actually good now. For 3D printing, all major slicer software runs natively, etc.

[–] LeninWalksTheEarth@hexbear.net 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

the issue is with other anticheat like Vanguard and with devs that just hate Linux users for some reason

it's not hate, there's just not enough linux desktop users to make it worth time developing for. it's at like 2% marketshare and most of that is Linux servers. "hate" lol. The persecution is real.

[–] RondoRevolution@hexbear.net 1 points 10 hours ago

I was obviously exaggerating lol. I know they don't hate Linux. Also no, Linux gaming marketshare is around 3,5% iirc. And it doesn't really take any effort to check a toggle to enable Linux players to play your game if it uses either BattlEye or EAC. Destiny actively chooses to block Linux players for example.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 14 hours ago

The UI and UX of a lot of FOSS Linux software really needs a lot of work. It was all designed for nerds by nerds, and not for normal people. Then there’s the “just read the manual” crowd and no normal person is going to want to stick around through that.

Pair that with the ever present hardware compatibility issues and it’s not hard to see why Linux has stayed so small for so long.

[–] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 3 points 17 hours ago

I wish I could say the same.

[–] LeninWalksTheEarth@hexbear.net 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

And I’ve run into one very funny issue with a gaming mouse that only works in games.

yea i'd go back to windows right after that nonsense.

I use Linux mint, in a VM, and only for pirating really. I kept forgetting to turn on my VPN on my desktop, so i made a Linux VM that requires the VPN to be on to connect to the internet. I use AirVPN and have used it for maybe a decade, they have frequent sales where you can get a year or two for like $3 USD a month.

[–] RedWizard@hexbear.net 21 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I'd ditch a mouse sooner then I'd go back to windows.

[–] invalidusernamelol@hexbear.net 12 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

The mouse not working is likely because the mouse isn't using standard driver software and is likely expecting the manufacturers spyware to be installed.

[–] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Nah, it's just a Mad Katz piece of shit that uses non-standard button mappings that Windows (and apparently Wine) can pick up without issues or additional drivers:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Mad_Catz_Mouse

[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Mad Catz, maker of the worst controllers on earth twenty years ago, still exists?

[–] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 3 points 14 hours ago

They did when this clown was shopping for a gaming mouse

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 9 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

As a novice in Linux. If you have a gaming mouse from a big brand like say Razer/Logitech etc. and you want software for those that exists and works pretty straightforward. From my experience. Literally using a razer mouse on mint right now with software that lets me see my battery level and set the dpi of the mouse.