Yeah I did not expect to dump so much text 乁(•ิ◡•ั)ㄏ

I did my best to shorten it and tried not being too vague but it’s hard with all the stuff I’ve tinkered with. Keyboard issues have been the weirdest and funniest experience I’ve had of them all I think, while printers are one of the worst.

This one is more a case of «it didn’t work on windows for a reason but worked on Linux for no reason» : More than a decade ago, I got my first Graphic Tablet (yeah another one), it was from a dead brand, their drivers were still online but not supported anymore. But the tablet still worked out of the box on windows 8, only… windows wasn’t able to detect pressure so it looked like I was drawing with a mouse, Linux didn’t have such issue. At that same period my laptop (wich was the first that I owned) turned half dead after an update, wasn’t as tech savy as now but at the time all that I knew was that the disk had some issue that I could not fix…windows would not work on it anymore and that’s how I tried daily driving Linux for the second time, I lasted with this half dead pc under kubuntu until windows 10 came out (mostly because by then I got my first desktop and proton wasn’t a thing for games).

Sure :

• My worst/best personal one : had a Huion Graphic Tablet that would just refuse to work on my windows 10 pc, either with the drivers given to me on a small disk, or with the ones on the site, had to contact the company for help (eventually they did)…thought it would be a nightmare on linux…couldn’t be more wrong, it worked straight freaking up, even had the luxury to install Huion drivers that actually worked…or just a bunch of non Huion stuff to calibrate the thing if I needed to…although none of it was necessary…like how ??

• More recently I got a Switch Pro Controller knockoff, thought I had to install some packages to make it work on Linux but no, worked out of the box wirelessly and plugged in, when I wanted to play with a friend who uses windows, had no choice but to plug it in with an awfully small cable (the only one my friend had at their house, didn’t bring mine), bluetooth refused to work whatever we tried…

• Some years back I helped a friend to buy a decent microphone (don’t remember the brand)…only to have them call me the next day because windows didn’t detect it…the mic was your usual usb plug and play thing…spent an hour on the phone playing customer support. When I went at their house later, I plugged it to Linux for the fun of it and it just worked…

On the more usual stuff there is the great classic of printers not working, that must be the thing people asked me for help the most, didn’t try Linux on most of them, but some (friends, family) I had to and never had an issue…and the comical thing is, for our printer at home I had to install some drivers through the AUR to make it work and even with that it’s just awful (making it work on windows is even worse but it works a little bit better). I also got called for webcam issues, keyboard issues, usb, drives… That’s the device part.

Regarding hardware, it will be hard to be specific because I helped a lot of people with pc stuff over the years, it something I do on my spare time. What I can say is, each time I am called for something big like a pc (mostly old laptops) not working/dead, or some drives dying, or refurbishing some antiquities or part of them, I always bring my Linux laptop and a bootable usb stick with a bunch of distros on it, because I know it’ll be more usefull than using windows. I remember the nightmare of trying to reinstall windows on some laptops (that had windows, that are still within what should be compatible)…to no avail. Trying to get files on a dying disk to no avail, etc, etc. The only time I ever truly needed windows for this kind of stuff was to unlock an Iphone using Itunes.

Tbh it’s just dead easy to give examples because with windows, manufacturers or whoever have to make their product work on the OS, and the drivers are not always up to date, so old they aren’t supported anymore, or can just be a pain to get or configure…while on Linux it can be a community effort, and a lot of stuff is already within the distro you installed so you often don’t have to do much. I am sure people can have the opposite experience though and I know some stuff just doesn’t work on Linux, but really my point is : a lot doesn’t necessarily work on windows either.

Not what you asked but on an OS level, I could also mention people encrypting their pc by accident with bitlocker, windows breaking stuff, update issues, partition issues, and so on… when you spend time on other people issues you really start to notice how much of a mess it can be, far more than people seem to think.

Each time I go back on windows I realize it’s worse than I remembered, even though I never liked it. One thing I quickly realized after getting constantly asked for help about issues on windows : people tend to be greatly biased about how reliable it is, mostly because it’s all they’ve known for a long time.

People often talk about compatibility regarding Linux, but are somehow oblivious to all the devices and hardware made for windows that somehow fails miserably to work when it has no good reason to…while Linux, despite most hardware and software not being made with it in mind, can sometimes somehow work wonders.

Windows only «just works» because it’s made by a monopolistic monster of a company, with a ton of software and tools and stuff made for it because of how widespread it is, and despite that their OS is just plain garbage…

And people get offended when I say we’re better off using forks…

I swear it’s always the same mistake each time someone has an issue trying linux. It should be a rule at this point : never switch to another OS without knowing what will work and what will not.

Going at it blindly is a quick way to get overwhelmed and discouraged.

(Not pointing fingers here, had a friend who wanted to try it out too, didn’t listen to my warnings, didn’t wanna check if everything would work out and then spent three month of pure hell, with me picking up the pieces and fixing their pc all the god damn time…)

Can you not set it up and then not have ongoing issues?

That’s a tough one to answer, because Linux has one key element that is different from other OS : it isn’t one single thing dumbed down to cater to everyone, instead it has multiple variations (distributions), each has their own logic and ideas, and everyone of them are highly customisable (so yeah you can spend a lot of time editing stuff if you want to). This means that it higly depends on what you chose to use, what you wanna do with it, and what are your skills.

I could say that you would get as much issues as you would with any other OS, but that would be wrong depending on the distribution you use, that would be wrong if you have a specific need that isn’t easy to get on Linux or not yet troublefree to use, and that would be wrong if you have no idea what you are doing. You could even have less issues (but I wouldn’t advertise that thought). This is why there are what people call “noob friendly distros”, meaning as much troublefree as possible and easy to learn (doesn’t mean it has all your needed features, or that it will grant you the best experience).

I have been toying with Linux since I was 15, but I only made the switch some years ago (I’m 29). Most of my issues were either that the distribution I used did’nt satsfy me, or that my needs were a bit complicated to get working, but once I found something that worked for me most of my experience has been «you configure it once and then you are good to go», I cannot say it is the same for everyone.

One important thing to note is that switching from a familiar OS to an unfamiliar one is never easy (people tend to forget how hard they had to learn using a pc), and it can get painfully hard to do if you go at it with the wrong mindset. So if you want to try it out, I’d suggest you first spend some time looking if everything you need will be available and easy to get working, then find a distribution that you think would suit you (since it’s a first dive you might try something “noob friendly”). Ideally you would first look how it works before trying anything, for exemple don’t be fooled thinking a distribution is only defined by how it looks, it’s how it works that matters most. It’s a bit like preparing yourself for a trip, never try it blindly (it’s a common mistake people do when switching between OS, be it Linux or otherwise), it will require patience and an open mind because you will have to learn how thing works since it’s new to you and it might feel like nothing is working the way it should, so it’s better if you can still go back to an OS that is familiar to you if something goes wrong. And then you’ll see for yourself if it is a troublefree experience or a masochist one :p

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¯_(ツ)_/¯ Well if you say so… Good luck !

Regarding Wine not working, if you feel overwhelmed with that and really need help, just make another post or edit this one and specify :

• what Linux distro you are using
• what windows software you’d like to run on Linux
• what it is you are trying and failing to do exactly (as precisely as you can, you might get even better answers that way)

Otherwise you will get chaotic and vague answers that might not even apply to you. But frankly, some softwares you might still need windows for them, or you could find an alternative (if you can, if it exists alternativeto.net is your friend in that regard). It really depends on what you are using.

Also I get it can be bothersome to deal with and frustrating, but mostly this kind of stuff you configure it once and then it’s done. So it might still be worth it.

1. As others pointed out already, most distros will ask you which program you want to use on a file the first time you double click on them, and you can tell it to always use the same program for all other similar files (just like windows btw)…the only difference with windows (regarding exe files) is that you need to have wine installed first (lots of distros have it preinstalled though). You can still do it later by right clicking (again, just the same as windows). I fail to see what’s so complex about that.

2. You cant have the same expectation with Wine regarding any windows software vs Proton for games, games and softwares can be awfully different, that’s why Wine can be a pain to use, and why it sometimes needs more fiddling for some soft than Proton does with games. Also some soft wont work on Wine period. Some softs will work just as simply as games on proton, some absolutely wont.

3. I am sure you are aware that windows softs are made for windows, so it is a bit odd to expect a different OS to handle exe files perfectly and make it an out of the box experience, it was never made for that. I have yet to see anyone complain about not being able to run any Apple exclusive app on windows, sure Linux has Wine and Proton, and that’s cool… but some people don’t use it. So yeah it won’t be smooth and yeah it can get complicated, yet it’s still better than nothing don’t you think ?

I think all this should answer your post and your comment. Sorry if it sounds like I am scolding you, but to be plain your post is asking why an apple can’t be an orange.

If you need any help with something and don’t want unconstructive or vague answers it’s better to be specific about your issues and to consider that one problem with an exe file (or anything really) won’t be solved the same way as another. And if you don’t get something just say it instead of accusing anyone offering advice of being cryptic or unhelpful snobs, you won’t get far if you annoy everyone…just saying ;)

I read “boot”, “side by side with windows, “ubuntu”, Nvidia” and some awfull war flashbacks came back to haunt me.

As someone who grew up toying with both windows, Mac and Linux I think people always underestimate how hard it’ll be to migrate to an OS they never tried before. I’ve seen lots of people getting frustrated that way, regardless of the OS.

So I’d say being an IT guy or a tech illiterate won’t change much in that regard. I guess being an IT might at least give you shortcuts but you’ll still hit a wall if you don’t check beforehand if all your needs will be easy to access and how much pain you’ll have to deal with.

At least that’s my take on it.

But yeah, Ubuntu can be awfull depending on your needs. Windows and Linux don’t make good neighbors, windows is always the one trying to murder the other, and Nvidia is a nasty piece of work.

Late to the party, but here is what I might add :

As others have mentioned, most distros will do, so just pick one that you think would suit you, or that you might like, or feel comfortable trying.

Regardless of what distro you go for though, you might wanna make sure you have h264 support and some extra codec packages to make sure you have compatibility with more audio/video formats, some don’t have all of them preinstalled for different reasons and it might hurt your experience with editing.

Not a necessity, and may be not ideal since it can be difficult to use for some beginners, but a rolling release distro could also improve your editing experience simply because your system will be more up to date…except that’s not a certainty and the difference might be too marginal to really notice…and using flatpak packages could be a simpler way to get more up to date stuff.

Regarding dual booting… yeah it’s not the best experience, but it’s not that bad either. What it mostly means is you’re gonna have to deal with a bunch of minor inconveniences (disk space management, disks opening in read only, windows update messing things up, one of the OS showing the wrong time,etc) , but adding all of them up could tire you at some point. And it can be worse if you are not sure the distro you installed suits you. If using a virtual machine is not great for you, you could try installing Linux on an external disk (although I haven’t tried it myself so I don’t know if it’s easy to do), that way you could enjoy having both OS without having the worst issues you can sometimes have when dual booting. (myself I do the opposite, windows on external disk, but it’s because I barely use windows)

Finally the program you use might matters still since some are more janky than others. If you want a simple editor Shotcut is a good option (like others pointed out), I’d argue Kdenlive is better but it’s less intuitive, might require some fidling to work well on some hardware and overall it’s more advanced (can be a good or a bad thing depending on what you do).

No clue if it was usefull and didn’t expect it to be that long of a text, but here it is.

I’d say gaming on Linux can be great but it heavily depends on your hardware and what you play (also it’s getting better over time so with all that we’re on a constant «your mileage may vary» situation) .
On old/potato machines though, yeah it has more chances to be less ideal than windows in most situations. (I am only talking from experiences with various computers, to be clear. I am sure it can be less or more optimistic for others.)

I switched to Linux three years ago. I was dual booting until I realised I was barely launching windows anymore. So I just removed it. But just to be sure it wouldn’t be an issue if I ever needed windows again, I installed it on an external ssd with rufus, and it’s actually more handy than your usual dual booting. I had the same issue with some games not yet properly working on Linux (like Vermintide) but in the end it was solved and I ended up never using windows for anything…the last two times I’ve had to use it was to unlock the Iphone of a friend and to make a pesky printer work…and it was half a year ago.

Linux gets awesome when you have at least a the bare simplest minimum of idea what your computer is doing, but when you see it as some kind of magic box it won’t protect you against yourself. I experienced this myself with a friend who wanted to try Linux, giving them as much help as I could, explaining everything down to even make them regular tutorials if they forgot anything…and nope, to my suprise they just never understood their pc even back when it was windows…and even with all my help, it just flew over their head. While doing some overdue maintenance on their machine I just realized they always ended up seriously harming their pc with bad habbits, regardless of the OS, Windows just took it better because of how dumbed down it is for tech iliterate people.

So yeah I completly get it xD

Nah it’s not what I meant, I think I just wasn’t clear (I am no native speaker, might be that or it just came out wrong) I didn’t mean to say you yourself have some ill will toward newcomers, you even spoke about your bad experience as one and how you don’t want this to happend to others. I was generalising about the ambiant toxicity you can sometimes find on most platforms and that’s what tires me more than simply noobs enjoying their discoveries or seeking a helping hand, sometimes even people with good intent get condescending for no reason and I find it dumb, but I wasn’t aiming at you at all. May be you took it this way because I abruptly came back to you in almost the same sentence.

I only meant that I get the impression people sometimes (on diverse sites, not just lemmy) get burned over noobs, and start noticing them more often than they sould, starting to wish for more peace, or more intersting stuff on their feeds and what not. Wich, as understandable as it may be, is not very welcoming (and not too hard to overcome). Or may be it’s just that sometimes people have weird takes about newcomers and I just mix it all up and get the wrong overall impression, cannot say.

But going back to you, you are mentionning “flood of those two types of posts, and other content just drowns in them” and that’s what I find odd (if you are talking about only Linux@lemmy.ml specifically), because yeah there are a good number of them…but not so many (at least to me) that you can’t just ignore them without paying no mind to it. And again, may be it just doesn’t show up us much on my end for some strange reason, but I checked to be sure, and still can’t find that much to agree. Even the “the lack of organisation” is a strange way to put it since there are broad topics to have on just Linux and posts usually talk about diverse stuff (security, softwares, news, distros, experiences, unixporn…) besides the fact some recurring stuff always come back since people have their favourites topics (favourite distros, dick contest between this and that, “what do you prefer”, and on and on).

And in the end, some noobs will just end up talking or asking about stuff everywhere they can, down to the worst places up to the best, only because they simply will go to places they find or know. And I don’t think isolating them, or making another space for them will ever change that, and it might just send the wrong message. To me, unless there is a truly dire need for another noob space to give them better help (wich I really can’t assess here), I think the best way to deal with it and stay welcoming is by just paying no mind when you don’t feel like it and just go to them when you want to. Not implying that’s your case but, I know some people don’t know when to let go, but we all can’t be patient or interested in things all the time, may be that’s why I think people get burned sometimes. Reminds me that joke about the best way to get help on linux : you simply say «Linux is so bad I can’t do this» anywhere and Linux people won’t let it slide and give you the best help right away.

I really don’t get why anyone would be annoyed about this specifically when recurring topics and posts are just pretty common… about litterally anything. I find it even more weird since it’s about people ditching windows (I mean how many topics and posts hating on windows, praising Linux, suggesting Linux, and whatever else…just lots and lots, and somehow people are fine with that, so why would it be any different here ?)

Beside, people just want to share things, regardless if others did exactly the same an hour or a decade ago. Why care when it’s just so easy to move on to something you’d be more interested in ?

One thing I do find tiresome more than anything within the Linux community though is talks about noobs like they are some cringe childs being boring and acting childishly…everyone have been noobs seriously, even you mentioned toxicity and the lack of openness/friendliness towards noobs if we ostracized them…yet you are suggesting it anyway. I get noobs aren’t always fun but come on ! And about newcommer posts…noobs will seek help wherever they can seek it, having another place to help them is not going to change that, so we might just as well help them and redirect them to helping sites anyway.