Man you must be super lucky cause I've never gotten anything to work correctly in WINE. 🤣
It may be the games I'm trying to run though since they were always kinda finnicky.

I was using Arch Linux for several years on my (then) main desktop PC, playing "wined" games like Fallout 1 & 2, Half-Life, Max Payne or Neverwinter Nights. Good times. 😊

DracoNihil wrote:

I'm running a broken, unable to successfully migrate out of deprecated stuff Arch Linux on my laptop.

I only really use it for browsing without the risk of stupid viruses. And for occasionally running stuff that runs better under Linux than windows.

I used to work in a lab that seemed terminally stuck on a variant of RHEL 4. That meant Firefox 2 and no NTFS support (which was just great when dealing with external hard drives).

Someone recently mentioned that a recent kernel update broke Win16 support in Wine.

I stopped using Linux after that stupid X color control regression that never got fixed. This is still the case today. Breaks the appearance of many 1999-2005 games.

I stopped using Linux after that stupid X color control bug that never got fixed. This is still the case today.

I must say that I am a bit surprised - thought there would be many more Linux boosters here. I was afraid I would be the only one with something negative to say.

Use linux for what?

Does Android count? Do routers count? Web servers? etc etc

If it's for everyday general/desktop use then... Well, I must say I'm a heavy windows user myself, because it basically has become the current de facto 'home OS' for CAD and 3D apps. All my major apps are either windows-only or windows first and then *nix second (or 'promised', but takes forever to be officially released & supported).

It's been many years since I last used (forced to use...) Red Hat and Fedora and I never missed them since. That said, I still want to play with Debian and Alpine, when I have the time (I'll find the reasons/purposes later 😊).

WhatANerd wrote:

I must say that I am a bit surprised - thought there would be many more Linux boosters here. I was afraid I would be the only on […]
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I must say that I am a bit surprised - thought there would be many more Linux boosters here. I was afraid I would be the only one with something negative to say.

Yeah. I personally don't understand why people don't like it. I mean there are folks that use it just to mess around and have fun, but for serious computing needs it kills Windows. Haven't stopped using it since years ago, and writing assembly is way better under Linux. Windows can only dream about running a modern browser on a pentium MMX. I've installed DSL, Debian, and Puppy Linux on K6's, and I'm pretty sure I had a modern desktop running; as a matter of fact, I know I did.

Windows is just a media toy with expensive software suites. If you're a computer enthusiast, there's no denying the openness of Linux is just mind blowing; especially when you have AMD, ATI, Nvidia and Intel for backup (and dosbox hehe). Linux is pure power at your fingertips. You don't even need the X interface for common tasks, and you can do most better and way faster in a framebuffer terminal.

Many blessings to the Slackware crew (or perhaps the entire Linux community). Thanks to them I always have a head start on my own custom bootstrap (not to mention a very complete developer suite).

Tried to use it off and on since 1999 for desktop\gaming use but usually only use it for system recovery.

My desktop at home is used for playing games so I want it to be fast,compatible and simple to use. Linux isn't there yet unless you use an emulator or a linux native game. Sorry but wine blows chunks for me.

My newest laptop did not work well with Linux as the host unfortunately so I had to load Windows on it.
I don't even use the host except to boot vmware which runs various guests (primarily use a Windows guest).
I could use Linux as the guest but I'm already using Windows as the host so doesn't make much sense but I do need to get around to making that banking only VM.

My server has been running FreeNAS since 2007 or 2008. No issues and it works well.

Holering wrote:

Windows is just a media toy with expensive software suites.

If you really honestly believe this, then I pity you.

WhatANerd wrote:

I must say that I am a bit surprised - thought there would be many more Linux boosters here.

Maybe I'm just hanging out in the wrong forums, but enthusiasm for Linux on the desktop seems to be somewhat diminished as of late.

It used to bother me seeing lengthy threads espousing Linux as being free and open and beyond the reach of corporate control, as inevitably it suggests that by being opposed to Linux for some reason (like having a desire to use one's computer to actually do things instead of endlessly customizing and tinkering and trying out one half-completed doodad after another) one is opposed to freedom and openness and supportive of corporate control.

SquallStrife wrote:

Holering wrote:

Windows is just a media toy with expensive software suites.

If you really honestly believe this, then I pity you.

Lol I pity you for not seeing the truth in this. There are plenty of open source alteratives for everything you want to do, seriously at this point there is no reason to not use linux.

(like having a desire to use one's computer to actually do things instead of endlessly customizing and tinkering and trying out one half-completed doodad after another)

What things are you doing because I find linux to be a very productive OS. Besides using it for various entertainment options (Games, watching DVDs, listening to music and browsing the internet) I can also get serious work done. I am a college student who needs to write papers use cad software and use excel to balance my checkbook. On the side I also sell antiques and old games on ebay so I am constantly viewing and resizing pictures using GIMP (Since with the software its a big nono to accidentally post the CD KEY. 😜

For writing papers and using an excel program I use Libre Office (which has improved a lot in just the last few updates, it now starts very quickly) and for my drafting work (mainly 2d) I use DraftSight by Dassault systems which can work with autocad formats (dwg primarily).

On top of all that it makes use of my older computers hardware much better than windows ever did. I'm currently typing this from an AMD x64 Athelon 2Ghz (if I recall correctly) and it was always complete dog shit under windows XP even on a fresh install it ran like utter crap. Yet now that it is a dedicated linux machine it is just as fast and pleasant to use as any other PC I've ever encountered. I'd say even more so because it's not being dragged down by windows and it's infinite other baubels and plugins MS feels is nessisary on their "modern" OSes.

On top of all this I also use Kdenlive to edit video footage and post it to youtube, now I'm no amazing editor and my videos are kinda shit but that is not because of kdenlive that's because I suck at editing I just don't have an eye.

I also use LMMS and Audacity to compose music btw and linux detects my Yamaha keyboard without me even having to go look for any drivers.

On windows I would have had to pay for all these programs AND pay to use the OS. No thanks! I'm a linux user from now on.

King_Corduroy wrote:

I am a college student who needs to write papers use cad software and use excel to balance my checkbook. On the side I also sell antiques and old games on ebay so I am constantly viewing and resizing pictures using GIMP (Since with the software its a big nono to accidentally post the CD KEY. 😜

archsan wrote:

Well, I must say I'm a heavy windows user myself, because it basically has become the current de facto 'home OS' for CAD and 3D apps. All my major apps are either windows-only or windows first and then *nix second (or 'promised', but takes forever to be officially released & supported)

...

I'd say even more so because it's not being dragged down by windows and it's infinite other baubels and plugins MS feels is nessisary on their "modern" OSes.

No, it's just being "dragged down" by different baubels and plugins the distro maintainers arbitrarily decided on.

I would have had to pay for all these programs

Windows also has free software available. (And you sure as heck don't need Photoshop to view and resize pictures, much less GIMP.)

DOS / Windows just work. I always find it hilarious how people try to justify Linux. I remember the same things in the 1990s when a friend had Linux on a 386DX40 and was running Doom. However: he spent days / weeks figuring out how to get peripherals to work. I just ran Doom on my 486DX33 within minutes after installing it. From what I read in this topic not that much has changed. 😀 IMO of course: to each their own.

And Windows is usually free when you buy a high end PC anyway (it was with all my ThinkPads). Antivirus and other software is free with rebates @ Staples and other stores on a regular basis as well.

Jorpho wrote:

Maybe I'm just hanging out in the wrong forums, but enthusiasm for Linux on the desktop seems to be somewhat diminished as of late.

Desktop Linux is pretty exciting these days due to Valve's involvement (Steam Machines & SteamOS). Gabe Newell said Linux is the future of gaming. That's what Linux needs - influential supporters like GabeN.

ALSA by itself is really, really good once you get your configuration right for it. What's hilarious is. I run a PCIe X-Fi Titanium and under the ALSA doc's it says this card is "unsupported" yet I get full sound... It's not hardware mixed though, and I blame Creative for being closed minded proprietary morons for that crap.

(Speaking of which, why the hell does AL6Licesning have to run for ALChemy under windows? I remember when Daniel K. who's driver set is the only one that works properly for me, got threatened because he took out all the DRM BS surrounding ALChemy and the DTS encoders)

King_Corduroy wrote:

I am a college student

Ah, that explains it - the zeal of a college student. You of all people should understand opportunity cost - Linux is a huge timewaster. I never understood Mac people when I was younger, but after years of dealing with Linux I can now completely understand just wanting to get your work done as quickly and easily as possible. I used to be like you, but Linux really does everything it can to piss you off over 18 years. It's nice when you don't have to rely on it, and have tons of time to tinker with few other intensive hobbies. Just wait and see.

Just off the top of my head, without thinking too hard:

1) "They" are constantly changing around the syntax of things like mounting an SMB share.

2) Linux totally messed up the automatic fan controller on my Lenovo Thinkpad L512 several years ago. TWICE. Reflashing the BIOS did not solve it; I had to send it in to Lenovo for a depot warranty repair both times! If you think I'm making this up, here's my post: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/R-and-L-Series-Th … ing/td-p/644023 I soon discovered that installing LINUX caused the problem. Wonderful, more time wasted.

3) LibreOffice in college, you say? Hah! My professors hated everything I turned in with it! And have you ever had a physics class yet? I once again wasted hours of my time that could have been spent studying on trying to figure out WHY LibreOffice/openOffice did not have POLYNOMIAL REGRESSION required for the labs due. Once again, Microsoft came through with Excel - it just works out of the box.

4) PulseAudio randomly screeching at full volume on two different soundcards (Audigy 2 ZS and builtin)

5) The open source nVidia video drivers are terrible and slow on all systems

For developers, yes, Linux is incredible. For CIS people like myself, it's ok - but I still contend that FreeBSD is better: it can run ELF (Linux) binaries out of the box, has ZFS support (the best filesystem on the planet in many admins' opinions), and is much more stable & cohesive. Things don't change so often that you have waste time re-learning stuff just because some kid in Finland decided he didn't like the way things were done.

For normal users, Linux is a joke. I give credit where credit is due, but like I said previously, they have been spinning their wheels for many years.

If Linux was so great, I wouldn't need to dual- or triple- boot to Windows 7/XP. Setting up Linux takes a long time; you have to get MP3s working, install video codecs, get rid of the ridiculous open-source Nvidia drivers that are SLOW, leave artificats, and CRASH often, etc. etc.

King_Corduroy wrote:

On windows I would have had to pay for all these programs AND pay to use the OS.

Not necessarily. 😉 Some people have not paid for a MS OS since Windows 95. I'm not saying that I'm one of them. But there are also student discounts.

King_Corduroy wrote:

I am constantly viewing and resizing pictures using GIMP

And I'm sure you know that many open source programs are also available on Windows - I use GIMP on Windows 7 regularly without issue (except slow filesystem dialogs when there are a lot of directories to traverse).

Of course if I have to batch-resize, I will just SSH on over to my FreeBSD server and use mogrify.

You'll see as you get older (I'm only 30!) that sometimes it's ok to have the best of all worlds!

Oh and I have to bring up the single most important thing that Microsoft has ever contributed to the world: Active Directory. No one else even comes close to this magnificent feat of computer science. If you don't know what it is, Google it and see just how incredible it is. For starters, I can move from computer to computer on my network (via LAN or WAN) and be able to log in and have instant access to all my settings, preferences, folders, etc.

Of course, I'm using a FreeBSD server with Samba4, but still, Active Directory is a Microsoft innovation.

No other operating system has such tight integration between client and server. The granularity of Active Directory is something to behold, especially when paired with Microsoft permissions. Linux just cannot compete with certain things on the desktop and especially in the SMB environment where real work is done.

Firtasik wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

Maybe I'm just hanging out in the wrong forums, but enthusiasm for Linux on the desktop seems to be somewhat diminished as of late.

Desktop Linux is pretty exciting these days due to Valve's involvement (Steam Machines & SteamOS). Gabe Newell said Linux is the future of gaming. That's what Linux needs - influential supporters like GabeN.

I agree completely, using linux resparks my interest in computers. It's like a new frontier! Like when windows 95 and 98 was a big deal! Being a linux user in this time is very exciting. 😁

WhatANerd wrote:

4) PulseAudio randomly screeching at full volume on two different soundcards (Audigy 2 ZS and builtin)

5) The open source nVidia video drivers are terrible and slow on all systems

Here's a tip for free. Most distros do not properly include the PulseAudio server. Ubuntu surely didn't, hence why everybody was posting detailed instructions how to rip Pulse out of their Ubuntu install and resort to the default ALSA and it's minimalistic sound daemon. (which you have to have running since unless you have a SB Live!, you need it for software mixing as you have no hardware mixing)

Oh yeah, most software isn't even written to support Pulse properly either. Wine is a good example of that. Just revert to ALSA's original sound daemon and everything's peachy keen.

And open source drivers will always be terrible. Why? Because unlike Intel, AMD\ATI and NVIDIA seem to want to guard their precious driver source code as if it will undermine their products and sales if people could write their own driver with legit down to the letter details on how the GPU's function in hardware.

WhatANerd wrote:

2) Linux totally messed up the automatic fan controller on my Lenovo Thinkpad L512 several years ago. TWICE. Reflashing the BIOS did not solve it; I had to send it in to Lenovo for a depot warranty repair both times! If you think I'm making this up, here's my post: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/R-and-L-Series-Th … ing/td-p/644023 I soon discovered that installing LINUX caused the problem. Wonderful, more time wasted.

Alas, your link is dead. (That sounds really, really weird.)

5) The open source nVidia video drivers are terrible and slow on all systems

To be fair, the nouveau drivers that came out relatively recently are supposed to be a lot better, but isn't that what they always say? I read once that the closed-source nVidia drivers actually work by replacing large quantities of X, so I guess things might get better when X gets replaced – though that seems like a pie in the sky.