Despite what the fanboys say, linux still isn’t completely ready for primetime. I’ve been a casual linux user for twenty-odd years, and it has come a LONG way from assembling Lego bricks into a usable OS to a mostly plug-‘n-play setup.
There’s plenty of stuff that doesn’t work. Compared to Windows the software isn’t all available. Sound and video can still present difficulties. I moved my Steam library to linux and many of the games work well, but forget it if you’re into AAA online play, anti-cheat software still doesn’t play nice on linux.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a much more polished and easy to use setup than it’s ever been. But it still doesn’t beat Windows for the amount of mainstream software available and still needs to be irritatingly fiddled with if you want to do anything off the beaten path with it.
What’s the “plenty of stuff that doesn’t work”? And what audio/video issues are you having? Pipewire is miles better than anything Windows can conjure up in latency, quality, and customization. Video is literally just rendering pixels, which works with web browsers, and local video players (mpv and vlc). The only valid complaint is [Windows] software availability.
Pipewire is miles better than anything Windows can conjure up in latency, quality, and customization
For my own curiousity, is this a recent thing? When I was researching before making the jump to linux, it was implied that audio on linux wasn’t in the best state comparative to windows.
Technically it has been a thing since like 2015, but Pipewire 1.0 was only released 10 months ago , even though many distributions were already using it by default since 2021 (Fedora) and 2022 (Ubuntu, Pop! OS), given how much of an improvement it was over pulseaudio.
Audio cracking and popping, sound not working at all, flickering at certain resolutions, not rendering faces properly, some software won’t load at all, some linux apps don’t work correctly, USB ports not working, wireless dongles not working, etc. I’m not going to bore anyone with the full list. I mean, I can tell you’re waiting to pin the blame on me or say something along the lines of “all you have to do is…” and that’s really disingenuous. Either Linux “just works” or it doesn’t. And even as a fan and long-time user…it doesn’t. Not like Windows, anyway.
Not trying to blame you or anything, just stating the facts. It does sound like you don’t want to hear the other side though, and are completely convinced that these issues you’re having are normal to the average Linux system.
Installing a recent version of a normal Linux distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint) will come by default with the following: Pipewire server (most likely wireplumber), Wayland, network drivers (except Debian) for most adapters, stable graphics drivers (unless you’re an NVIDIA victim), a DE of your choice (KDE, GNOME, Cosmic, etc). This setup will not have any audio cracking or popping, no flickering at certain resolutions, working USB ports. However, if you’re the type who refuses to update from the unmaintainable Xorg, old pulseaudio/alsa drivers, uses some obscure distribution, uses an NVIDIA GPU, or uses hardware from 2 decades ago, then you’ll have a horrible experience and it will only get worse with time, not better (unless you have an NVIDIA GPU, which will get not-garbage drivers eventually).
What’s there to hear? I already said I’ve been a linux user for 20 years, so it’s not like you’re going to convince me to change or tell me something I don’t already know, yet here you are trying to sell me a product I already use without acknowledging any of the issues that can happen with Linux…and there you go accusing me of some kind of user failing when I already stated I downloaded a current popular distro to get thing working. Why should I have to explain my regular upgrades and updates? I really don’t have time to listen to soft accusations after I stated real issues with the OS. If you’re happy with linux, great, but don’t shove your rose tinted glasses on everyone else’s face.
Despite what the fanboys say, linux still isn’t completely ready for primetime. I’ve been a casual linux user for twenty-odd years, and it has come a LONG way from assembling Lego bricks into a usable OS to a mostly plug-‘n-play setup.
There’s plenty of stuff that doesn’t work. Compared to Windows the software isn’t all available. Sound and video can still present difficulties. I moved my Steam library to linux and many of the games work well, but forget it if you’re into AAA online play, anti-cheat software still doesn’t play nice on linux.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a much more polished and easy to use setup than it’s ever been. But it still doesn’t beat Windows for the amount of mainstream software available and still needs to be irritatingly fiddled with if you want to do anything off the beaten path with it.
What’s the “plenty of stuff that doesn’t work”? And what audio/video issues are you having? Pipewire is miles better than anything Windows can conjure up in latency, quality, and customization. Video is literally just rendering pixels, which works with web browsers, and local video players (mpv and vlc). The only valid complaint is [Windows] software availability.
For my own curiousity, is this a recent thing? When I was researching before making the jump to linux, it was implied that audio on linux wasn’t in the best state comparative to windows.
Technically it has been a thing since like 2015, but Pipewire 1.0 was only released 10 months ago , even though many distributions were already using it by default since 2021 (Fedora) and 2022 (Ubuntu, Pop! OS), given how much of an improvement it was over pulseaudio.
Ah, its very possible I was seeing some years old info then. Thanks!
Audio cracking and popping, sound not working at all, flickering at certain resolutions, not rendering faces properly, some software won’t load at all, some linux apps don’t work correctly, USB ports not working, wireless dongles not working, etc. I’m not going to bore anyone with the full list. I mean, I can tell you’re waiting to pin the blame on me or say something along the lines of “all you have to do is…” and that’s really disingenuous. Either Linux “just works” or it doesn’t. And even as a fan and long-time user…it doesn’t. Not like Windows, anyway.
Not trying to blame you or anything, just stating the facts. It does sound like you don’t want to hear the other side though, and are completely convinced that these issues you’re having are normal to the average Linux system.
Installing a recent version of a normal Linux distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint) will come by default with the following: Pipewire server (most likely wireplumber), Wayland, network drivers (except Debian) for most adapters, stable graphics drivers (unless you’re an NVIDIA victim), a DE of your choice (KDE, GNOME, Cosmic, etc). This setup will not have any audio cracking or popping, no flickering at certain resolutions, working USB ports. However, if you’re the type who refuses to update from the unmaintainable Xorg, old pulseaudio/alsa drivers, uses some obscure distribution, uses an NVIDIA GPU, or uses hardware from 2 decades ago, then you’ll have a horrible experience and it will only get worse with time, not better (unless you have an NVIDIA GPU, which will get not-garbage drivers eventually).
What’s there to hear? I already said I’ve been a linux user for 20 years, so it’s not like you’re going to convince me to change or tell me something I don’t already know, yet here you are trying to sell me a product I already use without acknowledging any of the issues that can happen with Linux…and there you go accusing me of some kind of user failing when I already stated I downloaded a current popular distro to get thing working. Why should I have to explain my regular upgrades and updates? I really don’t have time to listen to soft accusations after I stated real issues with the OS. If you’re happy with linux, great, but don’t shove your rose tinted glasses on everyone else’s face.