What do you or don't like about GNU/Linux?

[Alex4nder001]

Do you or do you not think it is superior, and why? What do you like about GNU/Linux systems?

I personally like it more than Windows or MacOS for many reasons: it's secure, it's open source, and its software is free but actively maintained and just as good as its Windows equivalents. There are many distros for beginners, with tools to help first-time users and a graphical environment included. You can choose Debian or Ubuntu for it's stability, Arch Linux/Gentoo for it's bleeding-edge software and fully customizable install process (and the Arch/Gentoo Wiki), Tiny Core or Slackware for it's low resource usage, or even build the entire system yourself from source. Linux systems will never spy on you and collect your data. Even resource-heavy distros like Ubuntu run noticeably faster than Windows on the same hardware. Linux can run on just about any hardware, supporting more cpu architectures than Windows. You can even use Linux to power machines like smart fridges, smart home systems, routers, servers, robots, kiosks or many other things.

Overall, I'd say it's the perfect OS for pretty much any task: art, music/film production, coding and development, and literally anything else. I have one complaint though, and it's that it's less suited to gaming. The only existing methods for playing Windows games is either through Wine which has less compatible titles and will actually run slightly slower, or by setting up a Windows VM which is tricky to do properly, requires a seperate GPU for the computer and PCI passthrough, and will run even slower. However, there are plenty of emulators available for classic computers and consoles.

That's my opinion, and I'd love to hear yours

 

[FAST6191]

I had used Linux for years prior but went full time back a few months before XP ended. No WINE, no VM.

Some things are more fiddly. Not that I have not had to play with filter graph software in Windows at times but wow is getting audio and microphones piped where I want it to be often a pain in the arse with ALSA, especially when I deign to plug the device in after I launched the program.

Less compatibility with various bits of hardware. I buy printers and wifi hardware because I am seldom let down by anything that takes the time to do Linux support vaguely well but still I note it.

Lack of games can be annoying, though I can always kick it to a console.

Lack of quick and dirty scripts that most of us still use in various hobbies, partially due to the lack of visual basic/.net/c# support. This does mean a lot of ROM hacking tools are harder to use, though I have plenty of options to still do things.

I have not yet found a hex editor I like as much as 010 editor, Xrays or Hex Workshop on Windows. Even my Windows Freeware combo that more or less matches Hex Workshop (HxD, XVI32, Tiny Hexer, https://sourceforge.net/projects/hexplorer/ ) does not really exist on Linux. I get by with Bless though.

Windows UI setup is far more drag and drop and allows me to be a bit silly and clean things up/adjust to my liking (even if I still install a classic start menu wherever I can). I do like its image printing options as well -- sure Linux might be basically a print studio in a box but 95% of the time I just need something to give to someone and the Windows image printing options are pretty swish, even if I would never ever consider them for something I am charging for.

Lyx was a bit annoying to get set up to play with my older documents (I write all my professional documents in it) but nothing too drastic.

What I like.
Security is pretty nice to have.
The way I have it set up then the colour scheme is somewhat like Windows 95 (no bad thing) and because that is XFCE powering that it is super super nippy.
Pretty stable, though modern Windows kind of got its act together a bit there compared to XP and Vista so might not be the best comparison. On the other hand it is not Windows 10 -- I like the scripts that make Windows 10 suck far less such that it is more or less useable but this works more or less out of the box.
The terminal is actually made by someone that appreciated having a terminal rather than hated the notion, and don't even get me started on powershell.
I like being able to say I own my machine and thus can configure it in whatever stupid configuration Microsoft tells me I am not allowed to do, or that might be too insecure, or might be too hackery for their taste.
Most of the software I want is on Linux or has an equivalent -- I had long since ditched IE, taken up libreoffice/openoffice, GIMP and inkscape were what I learned on in the first place and it was mostly just games that were proprietary. That said browser + email + coding notepad (Geany replacing notepad++) + chat + office + video player is not exactly pushing the boat out. Video editing is good stuff too, though as I had spent the time to make avisynth really work for me the lack of a decent linux port/fork despite the efforts does annoy a bit.

 

[Deleted member 397813]

the app compatibility is holding me back. When Overwatch gets ported to non vulkan cpus then I will switch full time.

 

[Deleted User]

just works distros like ubuntu and mint can't even boot properly on my laptop. they both can't see my encrypted root block and i can't get into them with my password that i set at install. never had a problem like this on non debian based distros like fedora, arch, or gentoo.

 

[Deleted User]

as a kid my parents installed me a dual boot of windows xp/7 and ubuntu, then i started doing it myself, i grew quite fond of both but since i didnt have anything i could do on ubuntu i couldnt do on windows, i started to stop bothering with ubuntu, things are a bit different now, i want to give software development a try and some programs i use (blender for example) are better optimized for linux, so in summer, when im not busy, i will do a manjaro and windows 10 dual boot

 

[spkatsi]

I install Linux Mint on underpowered laptops for performance reasons. That been said, for my own system the only OS will remain Windows.

Let's stick to the topic with reasons not to:
1) Compatibility (Photoshop): No Photoshop is no deal. We are still without any solid alternative app.
2) Compatibility (Other) small apps that I often need to install for a 1-time thing. They may have Linux alternatives, they may also work on Linux with Wine. Still, I cannot be confident that I will be able to do what I need to do.
3) Missing some Windows 10 features. First that comes to mind is Colorblind mode lol

 

[TheCasualties]

I grew up on DOS, but I still haven't used Linux much. It's fantastic to have another OS on my switch, I love my linux build and the few GC games that run well on it. It's fun to go back to the terminal and run commands.

If Linux got more support from big corporations/companies like Windows and (sometimes) Mac do, and more github devs, then Linux would be the clear winner. I'll always be in support of an open sourced OS. It's like a democracy where you get final say!

That said, I've neutered my Win10 install completely to where it only sends out data when I want it to. So I'm satisfied. Not to mention the main purpose of the machine, to play games!

Basically the same issuses as spkatsi mentioned above.

Edit: If I ever need a laptop for only web or business use, I'd use linux for sure. But PC gaming is the best! I can't go back to consoles, hopefully/maybe PS5 will change my mind.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Full control over the OS is the main reason for me staying with Linux. I trust a Linux computer but don't trust a Windows installation (especially 10) – no matter what debloating script or privacy settings or whatever has been used on it.

Switching from Win XP to Linux back in 2006 was not easy. Linux felt so different. Now it feels the other way round whenever I have to use a Windows computer. Why pay for a OS that makes me feel it spies on me and actively changes settings back to defaults after updates? Why pay triple for an Apple computer? I'm Not a PC gamer, not needing any specialized Win/OSX-only software or hardware. Linux works for me – not going anywhere else anytime soon.

Still have a Windows 7 VM (used once this year) and a Windows XP computer (for the few PC games).

Anybody should choose the OS as they want. I don't care for other people's choice and never try to convince anybody in switching to Linux "because it is free software and so much better!11!!" or something stupid like that.

 

[Worldblender]

Do you or do you not think it is superior, and why? What do you like about GNU/Linux systems?

I personally like it more than Windows or MacOS for many reasons: it's secure, it's open source, and its software is free but actively maintained and just as good as its Windows equivalents. There are many distros for beginners, with tools to help first-time users and a graphical environment included. You can choose Debian or Ubuntu for it's stability, Arch Linux/Gentoo for it's bleeding-edge software and fully customizable install process (and the Arch/Gentoo Wiki), Tiny Core or Slackware for it's low resource usage, or even build the entire system yourself from source. Linux systems will never spy on you and collect your data. Even resource-heavy distros like Ubuntu run noticeably faster than Windows on the same hardware. Linux can run on just about any hardware, supporting more cpu architectures than Windows. You can even use Linux to power machines like smart fridges, smart home systems, routers, servers, robots, kiosks or many other things.

Overall, I'd say it's the perfect OS for pretty much any task: art, music/film production, coding and development, and literally anything else. I have one complaint though, and it's that it's less suited to gaming. The only existing methods for playing Windows games is either through Wine which has less compatible titles and will actually run slightly slower, or by setting up a Windows VM which is tricky to do properly, requires a seperate GPU for the computer and PCI passthrough, and will run even slower. However, there are plenty of emulators available for classic computers and consoles.

That's my opinion, and I'd love to hear yours

Most of my opinion would largely match yours. For sure, GNU/Linux distros win in server usage scenarios, one reason is due to the terminal being a standardized interface on almost every Linux distro (unless it is made inaccessible by default, as is the case with most OEM Android ROMs).

Most Windows-only games can be run through an enhanced version of Wine called Proton, developed mainly by Valve for use in their Steam client. https://www.protondb.com/ is one good website that tells about which Steam games can run well on Linux distros, and which can't. It has the advantages of making a hassle into a plug-and-play situation, and sponsorship by a big company.

 

[StrayGuitarist]

Growing up with Mac OS X in the early-to-mid 2000s, I was already quite accustomed to terminal use. It was only around the time Windows 7 started coming into swing that I started using Windows XP as my primary OS. Now using non-Apple hardware, I had a lot of freedom and decided to try out some various Linux distros.

Fast forward a few years (around 2012 or so) and I was working on custom versions of OpenSuse, using Xubuntu on my desktop and Fedora on my laptop, and life was sweet. I liked that the terminal was so familiar to me, as it was similar in many ways to Mac OS X's. I liked that there was so much room for customizability and expansion with such a low risk of viruses and trojans in software. The only issue at the time was with a lack of program compatibility, which slowly pushed me back towards Mac OS X.

Eventually, as Mac OS X became MacOS, my interest in PC gaming grew, and Apple's interest in making a quality product faded, I went back to Windows. I'm a musician now, and all of the software and plugins I use only work on MacOS or Windows. Not to mention my audio production hardware's refusal to interface with Linux whatsoever. Really, I do miss the lightweight, reserved feeling of Fedora, and the crazy capabilities of Ubuntu, but it's simply not convenient enough for me to switch over, at least, not until Image-Line makes a Linux version of FL Studio and Behringer makes Linux drivers for their audio interfaces.