I've been trying various Linux flavours every year for 10 years or so. The last year I tried Arch, then EndeavourOS, which has been my most successful Linux exploration I've ever had, and given me huge hope. However, there are still a few things preventing me switching it to my default OS.

I'll put aside Games that need Anti Cheat, as I doubt that will ever be fully fixed, unless Governments force game devs to support more than just Windows.

Here is what doesn't work for me:

1. Streaming services like NowTV. (Works in Windows in browser only)
2. DRM proected VST's for use with Reaper (not via Wine)
3. Roblox (Using Waydroid was not very successful)
4. Office 365 (I like Libreoffice and OnlyOffice but fact is Word and Excel are just required for some stuff)

I watch the F1 on NowTV. In windows this works fine in Firefox but not in Linux. My research turned up various posts linking to the "widevine" package that depends on "glibc-widevine" but that seems to have disappeared. What happened to it? did it work? where can I get it? is there an alternative?

I recently moved to Arch (EndeavourOS) from Mint. Arch doesn't have cron installed as it uses systemd timers instead, and while I could have just installed cron that felt like a lazy answer.

Systemd timers are easy enough to use and I got it working straight away, but I bumped into a comment in the Arch wiki about using a template for the timer so it can be re-used. I'm a bit slow, so I spent a hours trying to work this out, but I couldn't find a good example. Anyway, I now have it working so I thought it would be useful for someone in the future for easy reference .

This is how you create a timer template that can be reused to run a oneshot service under a specific user. In this example it will run on the hour every hour.

Create the timer file.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/everyhour@.timer

Paste the following into that file, save and close.

[Unit]
Description=Run %i every hour

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:00:00
Persistent=true
Unit=%i.service

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Create the service file for the script or command you want to run. (using "myscript" in this example)

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/myscript.service

Paste the following into that file, save and close.

[Unit]
Description=My Script

[Service]
User=username
group=username
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/command -parameters

Now enable and start the timer

sudo systemctl enable everyhour@myscript.timer
sudo systemctl start everyhour@myscript.timer

Not everything actually requires a GUI, obviously. But anything that requires configuration, especially for controlling a hardware device, should have a fully functional GUI. I know Linux is all about being in control, and users should not be afraid to use the command line, but if you have to learn another bespoke command syntax and the location and structure of the related configuration files just to get something basic to work then the developer has frankly half arsed it. Developers need to provide GUI's so that their software can be used by as many people as possible. GUI's use a common language that everyone understands (is something on or off, what numeric values are allowed, what do the options mean).

Every 12 to 18 months I make an effort to switch to Linux. Right now I'm using Archlinux, and it has been a successful trip so far, except my audio is screwed, I can't use my capture card at all, I had issues with my dual displays at the start, and the is no easy way to configure my AMD graphics card for over clocking or well anything basic at all.

I'm not looking for a windows clone, I love that I can choose different desktop environments and theme many of them to death. I even like the fact there are so many distros. Choice is a big part of linux, but there is clearly a desire to get more people moving away from Windows and until that path is 95% seamless most people just won't. Right now I think Linux is 75% to 85% seamless depending on the use case and distro but adding more GUI front ends would, imho, push that well into the 90% zone.

GUI is not a dirty word, it is what makes using a new OS possible for more people.

EDIT: Good conversation all. This is genuinely not intended to be a troll post, I just feel it is good to share experiences especially on the frustations that arise from move between OSes.

Using KDE plasma, Archlinux, Pipewire, Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen

Audio from built-in audio and via GPU into display speakers all works fine but audio through my Focusrite is badly distorted, like it is running at super-low quality.

I've spent most of today trying to work out how to make pipewire use the right bit/sample rates. It. This should be a basic GUI feature, and certainly shouldn't need to sudo edit cryptic files to configure this stuff. I use Reaper and I'll need to change bit / sample rates from time to time, so having to make with config files is just nuts. This should be a basic function available in the control panel (Like windows has had for decades). / rant

Anyway, I genuinely want to fix this problem and would really like a GUI tool for it, but a working config edit will do at this point. I can' also make a script to tweak it on demand I suppose.

There is a video that suggests building a new kernel driver for it, which is even more nuts for something so basic.

System spec - Ryzen 3700X CPU - AMD RX 7900 XT GPU

I got an AMD GPU specifically because I wanted to switch to Linux. I've done a bunch of testing over the last year while I still had an nVidia card. Now I've got an AMD GPU I feel ready but it has not gone well.

When I use multiple monitors I get a range of odd behaviours, including a white screen, lock ups, failure to display anything on second screen. I've unplugged the second screen for now and all is OK except that adaptive sync does not work properly.

When I set adaptive sync to "Always" in the settings the screen sort of flickers when I move the mouse. To be more precise the screen gets a bit brighter when the mouse is moved, then returns to previous slightly dimmer brightness when the mouse is stopped. There are no errors that I've found.

Both of those issues happen in fresh Fedora 38 and Arch Linux installs. I'm running KDE-plasma (using Wayland not X) so it seems like a KDE issue. Though I'm about to test it with a Fedora and gnome install next, though I doubt it will be any different.

EDIT: Small update. Running Arch/KDE. I have found I can get it sort of working. I boot the PC with a single monitor (my 165Hz ultrawide) and set it to 60Hz, then turn on the second (1080p 60Hz) monitor. At this point I can set the then changing the ultrawide to 165Hz and set adaptive sync to automatic, but I have to do this process everytime I turn my PC on. Also, if it goes to sleep or I want to shutdown/reboot it goes mad again and things lock up. I have to turn off the second monitor off before I reboot/shutdown, or before I goes to sleep. Then I have to go through the whole process again. Obviosuly not ideal.

EDIT2: Turns out it was the old LCD I was using as a second display. It has been around a very long time, and while it always worked OK it clearly doesn't like something about how Linux talks to it. Anyway it is working now. Though Adaptive sync on the desktop is still flickery.

Server

• Lenovo M700 Tiny Mini PC i7 6700t / 16GB RAM / 256GB M.2 + 1TB SSD
• OS - Linux Mint
• Hosting - Plex, qbittorrent, SMB, Minecraft, Terraria

"Core" Switch

• TP-Link 5 Port Gigabit Switch

WIFI and Internet Router / Firewall

• Ubiquity Unifi Dream Machine