I’ve been using all major OSes for a long time. I have the most experience with Windows, I’ve been using it since Windows 95 and stopped at Windows 8. I’ve been using macOS for about a decade and Linux (in total) for about 5 years. I have started with Mandrake, moved to Mandriva, spent over a year on Ubuntu and recently I’ve been using Fedora as my daily driver. And honestly, I’m running out of patience.

Few days ago I ran into the gpu driver issue. Long story short, Steam games started to crash on directx issue. Games that were working few weeks ago. I admit, I was mocking around with GPU drivers in order to make Podman containers to access the GPU. But I did the fresh diver install and it didn’t solved the issue (also my GPU was not found despite all commands showed it was there). I don’t have much spare time and I would like to play a game, I used to play before, without spending hours/days fixing issue that didn’t exist last time I played it.

But it’s not only about games. I have two laptops, both running Fedora 40 KDE spin. Some time ago on one laptop the power widget stopped working. It shows “no power profiles found on a device”. But when I delete the widget and add it again, it works fine.

Other issue is with the general look and feel. There are many apps that don’t follow the OS look - lack of window borders/shadow, random icons that don’t match the system, flatpacks having issues accessing system configuration (e.g. vscodium not recognising zsh as a default shell).

Few more problems I had:

  • on GNOME, some extensions where crashing without any reason
  • some apps don’t respect desktop scaling
  • bluetooth randomly dropping connections
  • syncing files between devices is always a struggle
  • you never know what’s going to break when installing updates

If you want a Linux like experience use macOS, and if you want to play games, stick to Windows.

  • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world
    0·
    4 months ago

    tldr: Linux can have driver issues and programs or updates might not work as expected. So anything you can expect from any major OS.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Computers are not a good choice for “regular users”. Get them a locked-down iPhone and be done with it.

    What you are describing is not a situation unique to Linux - or even Windows. “Software is hard and it sometimes breaks”. My Windows 11 laptop that I use for work and to which I have made exactly zero modifications sometimes doesn’t recognize when I’ve connected external speakers. And I can’t disable hyper-v despite following all of the instructions. This is a corporate provisioned and managed system and simple stuff just doesn’t work.

    X% of all things have bugs. Your mistake is in thinking that the percentage that you’re seeing are somehow special or related to the particular OS you’re running at the time. The classic “the grass is greener” fallacy. This is pretty evidenced also by the fact that you’re a classic “distro hopper” whose always looking for the perfect system rather than taking the time to understand the problems and deal with them as they come.

    • BitSound@lemmy.world
      0·
      4 months ago

      I’d be careful of pushing the narrative about computers not being a good choice for regular users. I’m going to channel a bit of Stallman and say that that’s how we end up without The Right To Read

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        4 months ago

        That’s fair - I’m not saying users shouldn’t be able or allowed to use computers, but just that it’s been proven over and over again that most people simply don’t get computers. They should always have the option to learn what they can though.

  • Meldrik@lemmy.wtf
    0·
    4 months ago

    You are not a regular user. My parents are regular users and they have been using Linux for years. They don’t know though. That’s a regular user.

  • BitSound@lemmy.world
    0·
    4 months ago

    For your bullet points:

    • Yeah, GNOME can be flakey with extensions. Almost no regular users will install extensions though. Windows also has tons of bugs and issues that users just ignore because it’s the “default”
    • Regular users won’t care about desktop scaling. I’ve seen people using the blurriest, weirdest aspect ratios on Windows because they liked it that way
    • Bluetooth sucks on all hardware and with all software, to various degrees.
    • Syncing files is trivial with Syncthing
    • MacOS keeps breaking my coworker’s setups with every update.

    GPU issues can be hard, but that’s not really Linux’s fault. There’s a reason this image exists of Linux giving nvidia the middle finger:

    That being said, it’s getting better. As of this year, nvidia has started putting some real effort into making things work with wayland.

    EDIT: I’ve found nirvana with NixOS, speaking of GPU drivers. I just add a few lines to /etc/nixos/configuration.nix and it goes off and ensures that the nvidia drivers are present. I also run lots of CUDA stuff on top of that and it all works about as seamlessly as possible.

  • infinitevalence@discuss.onlineEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    My kids, who began using Linux at home and then Chrome OS since the ages of 5 ,would suggest that it’s only older users who are completely stuck in their ways and can’t adapt to different operating systems.

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
    0·
    4 months ago

    So you’re a user that tinkers with your system, breaks it, can’t get it working correctly again…and that’s Linux’ fault?

    And you consider yourself an example of a “regular user?”

  • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
    0·
    4 months ago

    Is Linux perfect? No

    Is windows better than linux? No

    Is mac better than windows? No

    Are your specific issues a reason normal users shouldnt use Linux? No

    • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      4 months ago

      I’m going to disagree with you on the “is Mac better than Windows” front - I think there’s good arguments either way though. At least with a Mac, the end user is still, mostly, who they are designing for. On Windows the end user is becoming the product.

    • fart_pickle@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      4 months ago

      Are your specific issues a reason normal users shouldnt use Linux? No

      I cannot agree. Most of the users would be upset about bluetooth dropping connection or constant issues after running updates.

  • INeedMana@lemmy.world
    0·
    4 months ago

    started with Mandrake, moved to Mandriva, spent over a year on Ubuntu and recently I’ve been using Fedora

    Another unpopular opinion:
    That’s because you’ve been using distributions that are either behind the times or have a lot of wonky crap added to them that looks like user friendliness when it works and is like fixing windows when it doesn’t (I’ve been through similar path, just with a few other distros along the way)

    Start with Gentoo or Arch (maybe Slackware). These are close to the grass, so the way to set things up is the way to fix things up

    some apps don’t respect desktop scaling

    are these gtk based apps? Different toolsets require different envs

    syncing

    Have you tried syncthing?

    • astro_ray@piefed.socialEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      Start with Gentoo or Arch

      I wouldn’t recommend arch to general users. I consider myself a general linux user, and figuring out Arch, even after the installation hurdle, wasn’t easy for me.

      is like fixing windows when it doesn’t

      I don’t think Arch really makes that easy. Although, I guess archwiki is pretty great. Even arch forum helped me a lot with respect to other disto.

    • fart_pickle@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      4 months ago

      Start with Gentoo or Arch (maybe Slackware). These are close to the grass, so the way to set things up is the way to fix things up

      I’ve tried Mint, openSUSE, Debian, Gentoo and Arch but I had other, non-regular user issues with those. I wanted to point out the standard issues.

      are these gtk based apps? Different toolsets require different envs

      Some were GTK based other were “optimised” for KDE

      Have you tried syncthing?

      Yes, I use it on a daily basis but there’s no easy way to get it working on iOS/iPadOS.

      • INeedMana@lemmy.world
        0·
        4 months ago

        I was mocking around with GPU drivers in order to make Podman containers to access the GPU. (…) I don’t have much spare time and I would like to play a game, I used to play before, without spending hours/days fixing issue that didn’t exist last time I played it.

        And

        I had other, non-regular user issues with those

        I think, you should keep these two things (messing with containers accessing GPU and “just play a game”) separate. I mean on separate boxes. Because now you can’t “just play” because you’ve been elbows deep in OS internals. You can’t take apart your fridge and then expect it to just cool the water the next day

        “optimised” for KDE

        Then I’m guessing these might need some KDE envs

        Yes, I use it on a daily basis but there’s no easy way to get it working on iOS/iPadOS.

        Ah, you’re trying to breach the non-open wall. Is there an app on i* that allows you to set up an ftp/http file sharing server on the device? You probably could set it up as rclone upstream

        • fart_pickle@lemmy.worldOP
          0·
          4 months ago

          I think, you should keep these two things (messing with containers accessing GPU and “just play a game”) separate. I mean on separate boxes. Because now you can’t “just play” because you’ve been elbows deep in OS internals. You can’t take apart your fridge and then expect it to just cool the water the next day

          I agree, that’s a valid point. But, I had a clean system, prepared for a normal user (clean install, official repositories, etc. And still GPU drivers refusded to work. I have covered all basics before I asked for help and even I got some good advice that worked, I ended up in the same place.

          Then I’m guessing these might need some KDE envs

          True, but sill for a regular user it looks like “Linux is ugly”

          Ah, you’re trying to breach the non-open wall. Is there an app on i* that allows you to set up an ftp/http file sharing server on the device? You probably could set it up as rclone upstream

          I know too well the unbreakable apple garden. And I don’t mind tinkering with it but again, we are at the regular user level, that wants things just to work.

  • flashgnash@lemm.ee
    0·
    4 months ago

    I don’t really get the obsession a lot of people seem to have with trying to push Linux on people who are content with windows

    It’s great for technical people who actually understand the reasons to use it but I really doubt switching to Linux even if it works perfectly and never breaks down (which it probably won’t) will it really be a net positive effect on the lives of non technical users.

    To repeat the same thing everyone always says if all they’re using is a browser they could be using any OS, but at that point windows serves them perfectly well and doesn’t require the local nerd’s help when they want to edit an image or something

  • Meltrax@lemmy.world
    0·
    4 months ago

    You were fucking with your GPU drivers, lost access to your GPU, and you have concluded from that that “regular users” (who don’t know what a driver is or does) should not use Linux?

    • fart_pickle@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      4 months ago

      As I said, I did a clean install and still all Steam games were failing on directx issue. Also, a “regular” user when switching to Linux will have to know what a GPU driver is in order to use it, event if it’s just for playing games. And the cherry on top - once I fixed the directx issue and I was able to play a game I wanted, the drivers update broke it. And despite spending days on fixing the issue, I got back to a square one.

      • ZeroHora@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        4 months ago

        If they use windows they also know what a GPU driver is, if they use AMD that’s better on linux, they don’t need to know what a GPU driver is. Unless of course the “normal” user need a rocm driver.

        • SteveTech@programming.devEnglish
          0·
          4 months ago

          if they use AMD that’s better on linux, they don’t need to know what a GPU driver is.

          Same goes for Intel, unless they need to use OneAPI.

  • toastal@lemmy.ml
    0·
    4 months ago

    Did you mean computers are a bad choice for regular users?

    Something something touch grass. Bugs exist in all OSs. If my data sold & being advertized + tracked by a US-based company’s closed-source OS is the alternative, then I am just turning off the computer & starting a farm.

  • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Fucks around with GPU drivers for some reason

    Experiences GPU driver issues

    “How can Linux do this to me??”