I have used linux for a couple of years now and it was one of the most bumpy beginnings (and ends) i ever had with software. There was little a moment that wasnt marred by some kind of problem.
I could write a book on all the problems i had encountered and some of them happen several times, but here are some highlights:
- monitors not being all recognized unless its plugged in in a VERY specific order
- monitor 2 not having the correct colors
- audio not coming out of the correct source, the default source changing when something else that can sue it is plugged in, and also changing after a restart
- gaming, proton barely EVER worked, rated gold or platinum on protondb? fuck you it wont even start for you
- wine is not much better, lutris also fucked up several times
What broke the camels back today:
I stream, on wednesday my controller stopped working so i couldnt continue to stream, an hour after i stopped? the controller started working again great right? no, today the same shit, controller doesnt work.
Linux continues to have awful roadblocks that make even the most stubborn user (me) switch back to windows for now
But ah i am not dont yet, getting support from other users is about as much a fools errand as it is for windows, just sprinkled in with a lot more brown nosing elitism. And i imagine i will get similar comments here cause lemmy has the same circlejerks reddit has.
As long as linux continues having the most mundane problems with NO solution anywhere it wont get anywhere, if it werent for steamdeck it would still hover around at below 3%
See i like linux, i like how the ui feels and all, but i just cant anymore, i want shit to actually work and linux just cant provide that yet
That’s true, but also a very bad thing.
Most users (read: laptop users) cannot just swap their GPU. They’d have to swap the whole device.
Combine that with the fact, that many people get interested in using Linux when Windows doesn’t work any more (e.g. because they don’t qualify for Win11 or when they have issues in Windows that they can’t resolve), and the general popularity of Nvidia cards (they used to be much better than AMD for a long time) and you get a lot of users with problems.
Obviously, Nvidia is to blame here, but that doesn’t help users who can’t use their PC fully on Linux.
G-sync monitors have also given me issues on Linux (w/ either AMD or NVIDIA gpus)
GUI mode was fine but I still never got it to display the text mode boot up screens properly, which is fine, until it breaks and then it’s really a problem.
Fingerprint readers are in many cases a complete write-off when moving to Linux.
Touchpads not made by Synaptics are also a big issue.
Generally, any hardware that isn’t standard CPU/storage/mouse/keyboard/printer/AMD GPU is touch and go. Depending on the model, they might work great or not at all.