I went back to #Windows for now you guys. I just can't. Every. Single. #Linux. Distro. has some kind of hardware issue. First it was the sound not adjusting with the GNOME volume slider. Then it was packages not being available in rpm or flatpak, and I'd have to spend forever finding a tutorial to compile from source. Then it was firefox having video stutter issues. Then I switch to Mint and I can't adjust screen brightness for no reason.
Constant headaches. Windows just works.
all that and Linux SUCKS for laptop battery life. It halved my battery no matter the distro.
Look I enjoy troubleshooting to some extent, but at the end of the day I want my hardware to work as it should. Linux is incredibly fun to play around with but when I needed my computer for basic stuff I kept running into these obnoxious little quirks that would take me hours of research to correct. Wore me down.
A few nuggets of advice if you decide to try Linux again:
You can not just buy any laptop, computer, or peripheral device and expect it will just work
Linux has all drivers embedded in the kernel and it can take anywhere from 3-8 months for bleeding edge distributions to catch-up and include driver support for the latest / one-off hardware. Other non-bleeding edge distributions such as Debian could take years…
Depending on the vendor GPU, your mileage will vary with screen tearing / multi-monitor / Wayland / battery life / performance and support
Unless you’re running Gentoo Linux or Arch, building from source (ie. unable to install from a package of some kind) is highly unusual and not recommended
To be quite honest, as someone that has 25+ years of Linux experience, I’d be interested in knowing what you couldn’t find… We might be able to help you find it.
If you want video acceleration for improved speed, DRM to watch Netflix or other streaming services, or zero / reduced screen tearing and you plan to run Firefox, you are in for a world of hurt…
Firefox is the browser of choice on Linux but sometimes Google Chrome is still a necessary evil. It took Mozilla over a year to give users the choice on whether they would want unsupported DRM streaming via Widevine.
There are other Desktop Environments
I prefer GNOME 3.x but sometimes what works is preferable, and if KDE / Cinnamon / MATE / LXDE, etc work for you… more power to you; but this also means taking the time and making the effort to try them.
I’ve tried KDE, Cinnamon, and GNOME. GNOME is definitely my favorite as well. The left & top taskbar layout is incredibly charming to me for whatever reason.
Look I enjoy troubleshooting to some extent, but at the end of the day I want my hardware to work as it should. Linux is incredibly fun to play around with but when I needed my computer for basic stuff I kept running into these obnoxious little quirks that would take me hours of research to correct. Wore me down.
A few nuggets of advice if you decide to try Linux again:
Linux has all drivers embedded in the kernel and it can take anywhere from 3-8 months for bleeding edge distributions to catch-up and include driver support for the latest / one-off hardware. Other non-bleeding edge distributions such as Debian could take years…
To be quite honest, as someone that has 25+ years of Linux experience, I’d be interested in knowing what you couldn’t find… We might be able to help you find it.
Firefox is the browser of choice on Linux but sometimes Google Chrome is still a necessary evil. It took Mozilla over a year to give users the choice on whether they would want unsupported DRM streaming via Widevine.
I prefer GNOME 3.x but sometimes what works is preferable, and if KDE / Cinnamon / MATE / LXDE, etc work for you… more power to you; but this also means taking the time and making the effort to try them.
I’ve tried KDE, Cinnamon, and GNOME. GNOME is definitely my favorite as well. The left & top taskbar layout is incredibly charming to me for whatever reason.
Do you have any specific examples?
It’s in the link I posted.
Oh dang, my bad. That really sucks you’re having these issues :/