Surprising to myself, I have been a Linux user for over 12 years…
Through the many years I have bounced between and tried Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch, Parrot OS, Linux Mint, Manjaro. I have tried Gnome, Cinnamon, XFCE, KDE, Mate, Deepin. And more. I have 3 computers, all using a Linux distro right now.
I love the idea of Linux - free, free as in freedom, free of telemetry. And well, I thought I would never entertain the idea of switching, here I am today, strongly considering Mac OS.
Lately, I have become extremely frustrated and tired of dealing with little bugs, crashes, versions, and dependencies. Not to mention notable UI issues. It is starting to hamper my productivity when working.
Right now I am using Ubuntu and I cannot drag and drop into VS Code from Nautilus, I can’t drag and drop from the default archive manager, I am experiencing screen tearing issues, one piece of software I use crashes often but not Debian and vice versa, I have to manually reset screen brightness when it dims after timeout, etc. I have experienced issues of similar nature across all distros I have used and I am becoming burnt out.
I think part of the issue is that there is a huge variety of Linux distros, different combinations of kernels, desktop environments, window managers, package managers, file managers, network managers, etc… Not to mention devices. There is too many variables, and too many projects to maintain.
Sorry for the rant, I have seen many similar posts, but I have been using Linux for over 12 years, powering through, ignoring and working around these issues and I am pretty fed up.
While I am conflicted, I am thinking Mac OS looks like a good middle ground.
Any suggestions? What has been the most stable distro and compatible for you?
You must log in or # to comment.
I’m actually having the opposite experience (for the most part). All the little papercuts of yesteryear are almost completely gone, and it’s only looking better on the horizon. Of course your mileage may vary depending on use case and hardware…
Some things of the top of my head:
- Flatpak replacing 3rd party PPAs. Brand new software without dependency hell or breaking system packages? Yes please
- Snaps and AppImages too
- XDG Portals standards, making snaps and flatpaks play nice with confinement
- Audio and Bluetooth? It “just works” now
- Pipewire
- Even gaming works really well now, with Proton, DXVK etc
- AMD and Intel drivers baked in to the kernel
- Wayland finally being production ready for many use-cases, and being adopted as the default, fixing so many of the ancient X11 issues (screen tearing, multiple displays with different scaling, refresh rate, fractional scaling) ( cries in Nvidia )
- Nvidia finally changing their mind so Wayland on Nvidia can be a thing (I can’t wait 😊)
- KDE Connect / gsConnect phone integration
- Screensharing on Wayland even on legacy X11 apps becoming a thing through the new screensharing Portal
The only problem I’ve had recently is Ubuntu’s forced snapification, and snap being very rough around the edges for Desktop apps (ahem drag’drop)
This has been/is my experience over the last 5-10+ years. When I think about how far we’ve come since the early to mid 2000s… Man. My mind boggles. I still run Ubuntu on my server, for simplicity sake, but have become a fan of tumbleweed for my personal machine.
I’m a long time Gnome user myself, and man has Wayland come a long ways. I can’t even imagine going back to X11. The last time I booted into a session to check if it would “fix” somet, I was immediately blown away by just how choppy and awful it is. Once you get used to Wayland X11 is just… Bad.
I use Linux, MacOS and Windows more or less parallel. Each has its quirks and benefits, but I would say Windows is the worst. MacOS looks very clean at forst glance, but has some weird things that appear randomly and seem to get worse with every update. On Linux it depends a lot on how you set up your system, my Fedora with mostly flatpaks works really well, but there are UI inconsistencies all over the place and maybe you need to look for a workaroubd from time to time.
+1 all my servers run Linux or FreeBSD, I use macOS as desktop (most of the stuff is neat and out of the box and it uses less resources) and I use Windows while working with my customers and some of their servers. I would definitely not choose Linux for desktop (I tried and gave up), but it is great for the servers.
Right now I am using Ubuntu and I cannot drag and drop into VS Code from Nautilus, I can’t drag and drop from the default archive manager,
anything from Snap or Flatpak in there?
Always choose what’s right for your work. You can still keep your Linux distro for the less relevant tasks and skip to macOS for the main productivity job. It’s not a matter of religion
I’ve been a Ubuntu user for 12 years. Got bored. Turned my hp laptop into a Hackintosh. Got hooked on macOS and all the convenience the Apple ecosystem has to offer (copy on iPhone, paste on macOS; AirPods automatically switching to whatever device started to play audio; drag&drop works everywhere in exactly the way you’d expect; etc. etc.) Also with brew.sh you can install some commandline tools and use the Terminal almost the same as with Linux. Python and bash scripts work, there’s FUSE available, etc.
And the best: it all “just works”. There’s the odd issue after a major macOS update, but nothing critical.
Sounds like this is the way I’m going to go. I’ll try the hackintosh route to test the waters before shelling out on a Mac if I decide so.
If you need a starting point: Here’s my config from back then.
Yup Im like you, been using Linux since I was a kid basically. Probably for 20 years now I guess.
For me, its just screen sharing that is a major annoyance. This is something that is so annoying when it doesnt work, and quite embarrassing as well.
I have had periods when my Linux machine has been the most stable in the team. Mac users had constant problems with bluetooth issues and other bugs.
Currenly im the one having the most issues though, and my collegues with macs dont have any major issues.
So yep, its frustrating. But i really love linux and when I have used mac, I stopped being interested in open source and technology. I dont want to become that guy who just waits for the next Apple conference for exciting news. I enjoy new Gnome and KDE releases and reading about Linux features very, very much.
But yes, its not without its annoyances to run Linux.
MacOS is a good middleground and everything blends it smoothly.
But tbh Ubuntu has gone south lately and GNOME has always had troubles with apps interoperability.
I find it easier to use Plasma because I can actually drag and drop to another app. But it’s not perfect either.
Anyways, be it MacOS, Linux or windows the choice is yours. You should switch to something that feels good to you. Plus, on macOS you still have a decent terminal, zsh, etc.
Be free.
macOS is still Unix, so you’ll find yourself somewhat at home in the terminal.
Honestly, if you’re distro hopping a lot, find one that supports your hardware well out of the box with a desktop environment that suits you and works and stick with it. Futzing around with everything can definitely make it more frustrating.
I’ll echo others’ comments and say that operating systems are tools. Find the one that works for the job. If I’m doing audio production, macOS wins for me. If I’m gaming, I have a Windows install. If I’m doing anything else, Linux is my preferred environment. Don’t overthink it, go with what works for what you need!
It’s called F R A G M E N T A T I O N. Wasted thousands of hours despite having weaker manpower…
You should really try a distro that’s actually up to date instead of ubuntu or debian, things are changing rapidly because of wayland, and you might not have a good experience on stable distros until the big transition is done.
What would you recommend here instead? Or rather what are you using for your daily driver?
I’ve been using various Linux distros since Ubuntu 8.10 came out, when I was back in high school.
Ever since I got my iPad mini though, my computer usage has honestly kind of dropped off. I have a ThinkPad X13s, and I’m waiting on it to get better Linux support (since is has a Snapdragon ARM processor). Until then, it’s currently running Windows 11, and it’s fine. Not the greatest thing in the world, but it works for the things I need it to do, and that’s what’s important to me as I get older.
Once it gets better Linux kernel support, I may install a Linux distro, but at the end of the day 90% of what I do on my personal machines is just browsing the web and content consumption. I’m a Windows SysAdmin at work and tinker plenty. When I make it home, I end up just chilling and reading or watching something interesting.
Weird. I can drag and drop just fine. Are you using VScode from a snap or the DEB straight from https://code.visualstudio.com/
If it is frome the Software store then it is a SNAP and the application is now allowed to work that way. Perhaps the SNAP can see your Documents folder, but not your Downloads folder as an example. While annoying this is a security feature of SNAPS.
It depends on why you are using FOSS now?
For me its a principle choice of freedom and privacy since 1998, so I cope with the downsites on the desktop as much I can.
That is exactly why I choose to use FOSS including Linux. As much as I want to standby this principle, I have come to a breaking point after dealing with its issues, issues we have all experienced. I believe it is hands down the best choice for server use, but for work and productivity, I need something more matured that is going to work out of the box. I am glad that the community here took this criticism well but I think it’s important to discuss and understand that there are still some strides to be made. But at the end of the day, I’m just some guy ranting and who knows, maybe I’ll be installing a Linux distro after a month of using Mac OS.
This summer I use Linux on my desktop for 25 years. What do you think the first years looked like? My first laptop took me 3 weeks to get it properly installed with Suse back in 1998. For the last 10 years installing and configuring whatever distro is a piece of cake. Ofcourse soms things are not as you want them to be: the good thing is you can change everything in FOSS, and if it does not excist you can create it. People complaining at Linux Desktop are realy complaining on their own limitations. Don’t complain! Not about yourself. Not about the Linux Desktop. Never ever give up! Make your list of whats not working for you. And than work and change until your list is history. Keep your head up strong. You’ll never walk alone!
