this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Finally migrated from Windows to Linux. For anyone wondering, what is the state of Linux as your primary OS for home PC\laptop in 2023.

I've finalised my Archlinux installation yesterday, I dropped of Linux more than 10 years ago and experience in 2023 in comparison is awesome and beyond even wildest dreams back then:

  • For average user looking for more out of the box experience I would suggest something Arch based (people in comments suggest EndeavourOS, please do your research). Archlinux installation took me quite some time
  • Almost everything works out of the box, by just installing corresponding package
  • KDE Plasma environment is fast and beautiful
  • Pipewire audio server (Jack\Pulseaudio replacement) works great
  • Wayland window server is not there yet, especially if you have Nvidia with proprietary drivers and want to use VR. Waking up, session restoration and other scenarios have issues. Use X11.
  • Wine is great!
  • Music making - Bitwig Studio DAW has linux native version, yabridge allow you to use windows VSTs, which are easily installed via wine
  • Gaming works out of the box with Steam for majority of titles, some games have native linux version. Performance is great. In worst case windows game might loose 5-15% in performance. Was not case for my titles
  • Gaming outside steam is fine too. Use Wine, Lutris, Proton
  • VR is a mixed bag. Not everything is there (Desktop view, sound control and mirroring, camera, motions smooth, lighthouses do not wake up os go to sleep. I use my phone to turn them on/off). But if its not the problem for you, quite some titles work. Tried: native HF Alyx, Lab, windows: Beat Saber and Boneworks. For me it's a surprise, I did not count on it. Performance is great.

So overall my experience is great. Eventually I'm going to get rid of WIndows on other computers and laptops at howe. I can finally wave goodbye to Windows, with lots of ads and bloatware. Alway glad to help with answers regarding installation while my memory and history logs are fresh. ^^

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[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

Glad to hear. Few remarks that I hope will help. I'll start with Wine to clarify it's a clutch. Sure it's a useful one but IMHO the beauty of Linux is that you are in control, you have more agency. Wine per se is great because it gives you more options. Unfortunately most of the time Wine is used to run what is not available in Linux and that is usually not open source. Consequently you bring with you little black boxes, spaces where you lose again control. The deeper problem IMHO is that you assume there are no alternatives. In truth in most cases there are numerous alternatives, they just aren't clones because having more freedom to explore means they can be genuinely new solutions with interfaces that are thus unfamiliar. So... yes enjoy Wine but I'd suggest to take just a bit of time to search and try open source alternatives. This lead me to an example. I work in VR so when you mentioned desktop view I thought it was interesting. Yes you don't have whatever M$ is proposing (honestly used it years ago with WMR but can't even recall it) but you have "simple" things like ALVR (I even use SteamVR on Steam Deck) and IMHO deeper explorations like XRdesktop https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xrdesktop/xrdesktop that allow you to manipulate actual windows in space, not "just" on a 2D plane. Anyway enjoy the discovery it's a worthwhile adventure. I work and play, VR or not, on Linux for years now, it's literally liberating!

[–] sounddrill@lemmy.antemeridiem.xyz 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you tried ardour btw?

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[–] KindaABigDyl@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Personally, Ardour > Bitwig. Couldn't ever figure out how to do anything in Bitwig. Very complicated an unintuitive.

Ardour is also unintuitive but 1) I did eventually figure it out and 2) it's at least free

[–] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That sounds fantastic. Long term Linux user here. I hope you like the world of Linux and Free Software.

~~migrated [...] to Linux 10~~

~~I don't think there is a Linux 10. Arch has installer version numbers like 2023.09.01 After that~~ it's a 'rolling release' that means there are no version numbers, it changes continuously and is constantly updated.

Archlinux installation took me quite some time

That is correct. Arch Linux isn't recommended as a beginners distro. YMMV. If you managed to do it: Nice. You shouldn't have. But you're probably fine, now that it works and you've probably learned more in the process than lots of other people have in the first few weeks.

Music making

Make sure to also check out the free software for music making. "LMMS", "Ardour" and similar.

Gaming works out of the box with Steam

That's also my observation. Steam works fine. And Proton is awesome. Also, check out a few of the free games from your package repository. I like "0 A.D.", "Supertuxkart", "Super Tux Party", "Supertux", "Slingshot", "Mindustry", "Minetest", "Performous", "Sauerbraten", "Hedgewars", "X-Moto" Just to name a few. There are hundreds more.

[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see you're using KDE (I love it too), have you had a look at KDE Connect? It's an app to connect your phone seamlessly with KDE, and it's one of the things Linux does way better than Windows

[–] Fatcat560@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love KDE Connect! And it's even available for Windows users. Great piece of software that can do so many things. I've used it on many occasions to quickly get a link or something like that from my PC, having the ability to share your clipboard is amazing.

It's also been my main "share the password manager file" application for the longest time before someone else on Lemmy recommended Syncthing. But KDE Connect is still fantastic!

[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I love the wii remote mouse thing in Connect, it's really nice when I want to interact with my computer, but am too lazy to get out of my bed to do so

[–] jackpot@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

wine staging for yabridge btw, should mention that

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[–] plactagonic@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

I switched because w10 got too heavy for my old shitty laptop. Now I got new shitty laptop with w11 and will soon it will be cured by Linux.

My old laptop will retire as server.

[–] Fredol@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Your suggestion for arch-based distros isn't the best. Tumbleweed is a more friendly alternative for those who want rolling.

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