Have you ever been disappointed with Linux?
Personally I haven't. While Linux is imperfect, choosing the right distro makes the rest of the experience straightforward. And with it's whole complexity, I find Linux more user friendly than Windows. Even driver issues, broken shadow file ownership and KDE specifics only made me more confident about my choice to use Linux after I solved everything.
103 replies
I was a bit disappointed with desktop Linux during the late 90s and early 00s because many applications within the typical ecosystem weren't great or mature yet (I still shudder when thinking about the amount of time I spent trying to get audio to work nicely across OSS, alsa, artsd, esound, ... this was before pulseaudio or pipewire, obviously), and then I temporarily switched back to Windows as a primary OS just because of gaming compatibility. But since the mid-10s or so, Linux grew to become very capable for at least casual gaming as well. So there was no need for Windows anymore and I just wiped it off of every device, leaving Linux as the only OS. This was also during a time where Windows 8, 8.1, 10 and later 11 showed up and this really showed to me that Windows was doomed to die a long-winded death. The last decent version of Windows was 7.
I've been using it professionally and personally for 30 odd years and sure there have been some issues from time to time but honestly they pale in comparison to the number of times it has blown me away with it's awesomeness. :)
For me there are little quirks, but they pale in comparison to how broken Windows is
Linux isn't perfect, nothing is. But there's a thing people do after they spent years on Windows, they come to Linux and expect it to be absolutely perfect, and they're let down by the slightest inconveniences
Even though they spent years with literal spyware, they hold Linux to an insane high standard that no OS will ever live up to
The final straw for me was Windows uploading my files to OneDrive even though I never signed up to it, I kept dismissing that pop-up, until one day it just started uploading a folder
And they have the audacity to send me an email a year later showing me my "memories" from stuff "I uploaded" to OneDrive
with windows i can just blame m$, but on linux it's my fault
I am perpetually disappointed by both Windows and the various flavors of Linux.
The difference is: there's relatively little you can do to "fix" Windows when you really need to. When Linux is broken, it may be a lot of work, but the option to fix it as you believe it should work is always there...
All the time but then I remember it's my fault because it's open source and I am not fixing it either.
The plasma drawing tablet calibration tool does the opposite of what its supposed to and it only has one job.
I hate to say it, but Linux in general is not great for art stuff in my experience. There's some good stuff like Krita and Blender, but I've found that Linux is generally very twitchy about graphics tablets, and some stuff like Toon Boom/Moho for animation just has no real equivalent in Linux (and I haven't had any luck getting those to work in Wine so far either.)
fortunately I've had no trouble with Krita for drawing or animation, and the calibration thing is just a minor nitpick. The tablet otherwise works perfectly I would just prefer if the cursor was very slightly to the left of the pen nib instead of directly underneath it so i could see what I'm doing better.
It's not just art, it's just about anything to do with professional productivity. Linux isn't better for development in general; it's better for development for Linux. -This is why you see so much propaganda about it being preferred by devs; because it's not a simple 'not it's not!'. The other propagandas like Libre Office, GIMP, etc., are often debunked by professionals as not being adequate in Linux's own communities.
Yes, I installed Fedora and everything was working OOTB. Nothing to tinker with, no issue with sound, WiFi, Bluetooth or external screens. Then I moved this SSD to a new AMD laptop and it worked perfectly. It even switched from Intel to AMD utils by itself.
So disappointing.
/s
Not so much in Linux as in tools I want on Linux being Windows only (or X11).
Ydotools is one of the biggest failure and letdowns I've ever seen. It makes me sad every time.
xdotool mentions dotool, never heard of it before.
I haven't used in a few years, since I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted. I just lived without it. I remember there being a hassle with installing it as well.
What makes you dislike it so much?
In the old days, lots, mostly around hardware support and until very recently the ability to run most games.
Nowadays, I’m mostly disappointed with the desktop environments lacking features that BeOS had in 1997. This is honestly a kernel and filesystem issue since most of those features require that the kernel/filesystem fully support indexed, extensible attribute queries. xattrs aren’t nearly sufficient. The remainder are framework/UI threading model limitations, which aren’t really kernel related.
Mostly before proton and wine got really good tbh. I also have a ton of the old free Ubuntu CDs and we can see where that went 😔
I'm also pretty disappointed with the security standards on Linux, flatpak next pls save us
It happens. But when I boot into Windows those disappointments ease up.
No, I've never been disappointed.
xdg-desktop-portal is the only thing that really gave me anger
After a recent update, I started getting prompts for using a having controller. I know there's a way to fix, it probably has to do with UDEF rules or something, but I just can't quite care enough to figure it out.
On the other hand, I know there's a fix. There's always a fix.
And nothing is ever added just to fuck with me. So, yes, but more on the level of "eh 🤷♂️"
It's difficult to be disappointed with something that is free.
Actually, one shouldn't be disappointed with things. Only people can disappoint you.
I was disappointed in the Debian crew when they standardized on systemd when it clearly wasn't ready yet.
And I was disappointed in the people running some distros that made Wayland the standard when it clearly wasn't ready yet (a few apps I rely on don't support it or run poorly on Wayland even now).
Other than that, free software, free choice, and a lot of learning possibilities. You just have to adapt your expectations. Change hardware, change software, change distros, and learn.
Time has value.
Trying a new distros is a 10 minutes endeavor. Tops. 🤷♂️ And there's Ventoy.
Haha, you sound like my boss… it only takes 10 minutes. If you want to really try it out and not just, more or less, boot it, then it takes more time. And right now in my life, 10 minutes is a lot and does not include getting ready to spent 10 minutes.
So fa, I have had big differences between running in a VM and on actual hardware.
You could see it as time invested. For me, it's something I do in my free time, on an old laptop, for the fun of it. And for the learning aspect of it.
My main system also runs Linux, but I don't tamper much with it. It just runs. Reliable, predictable, boring. Boring is good for important systems. But that's not why I run Linux.
I will invest my time elsewhere. Boring is good, Debian Stable all the way.
During the HTML 4 days.
Yes, when I first tried it out in 2005 I was kind of disappointed. Mostly because back then nothing worked as I expected. Since 2018 I'm running Linux full time and since then I haven't been disappointed a single time.
Noob take.
I am disappointed we still don't have a solid FOSS smartphone OS that can compete with the 2 monopolies who have cornered the market.
I don"t want ro sell my soul to Google or Apple just to use my bank (even on my computer thanks to mandatory 2fa apps) or to renew my government issued ID or to buy a train ticket on European public transport.
Jolla was a massive disappointment. As was the M$ buyout of Nokia.
What’s wrong with Jolla?
Failure to deliver their tablet in 2016, in a big way. They're trying to do a phone now, it's going better - but that's not saying that it's going well...
Ah, I see. That makes sense. I don't actually know that much about them, other than that the Commodore phone uses Sailfish.
That disappointment isn't with Linux
depends on where you draw the line.
in the past, i've been mildly dissapointed by the drama-queen-esque antics of the kernel developers; but i most recently DEEPLY disappointed by how thoroughly the kernel developers to caved to the us gov't's demand to kick out russian developers instead of complying maliciously like others do.
both are separate from linux, but linux can't exist without them.
postmarketOS, LineageOS, GrapheneOS?
I know they have limited hardware support but that's only a matter of involvement at the end of the day
I wanted GrapheneOS but all Pixel phones have this huge ass camera house on the back.
Pixel 10a is flat.
Unfortunately only postmarket is actual Linux os from these and it's far from daily driveable, lineage and graphene are android roms and are therefore dependent on Google's decisions with AOSP.
Out of curiosity, what about PostmarketOS is not daily driveable? Postmarket is a vague umbrella OS with a lot of DE options, all of which have vastly different user experiences. KDE mobile, phosh, and GNOME mobile have all come a long way and provide everything a smartphone OS needs. The only thing I’d argue that could prevent daily driving is lack of app support and lack of good mobile Linux hardware, but that’s not PostmarketOS’s problem.
Mainly in terms of firmware for actual phones, taking photos is basically impossible as the photos either look horrible or don't work at all. Frequent sound issues, lower battery life, unreliable mobile network connection and lack of inbuilt esim support. OSes based on halium have better experience though they do still lack the app support.
have you tried it on a real device? maybe this is a hardware support issue, but no matter which DE i use (be it phosh, plasma mobile, gnome, ..) it was extremely buggy and mostly unusable. battery drained like crazy, calls didn't work properly, the list goes on. to be fair this was on a poco f1 and lg k10, which aren't in main or community though..
my daily driver is a 2013 phone with custom rom and i've daily'ed a self ported ubports phone in the past, my level of tolerance for buggy experience in daily driver phones is very likely much lower than others
Yeah, device support is the biggest issue. But the OS as a whole is pretty good. I used it with a OnePlus 6T and a Nothing Phone 1, both of which have pretty decent support. Some things about it were broken, and I didn’t try putting in a SIM card and making calls or texts, but the overall experience was good. I have high hopes for when we eventually get good “flagship” linux mobile phones that have full PostmarketOS compatibility.
Technically AOSP also runs a Linux kernel. Lineage and Graphene are like this only for compatibility reasons, no one stops them if they decide to fork. And AOSP itself is still not that bad though
Gestures vaguely at Ubuntu.......
I'm ubuntu show you some of the dumbest decisions a distro has made
Sorry mate, want to try that sentence again?
No man he tried. That's what Ubuntu does to a mother f*****
The moments I have been disappointed by Linux were the moments I learned most about hardware and software.
Linux made me switch the WiFi card of my computer, which is something I’ve never done before and would have deemed “impossible”.
Linux is like a teacher that sometimes slaps you on the hands, but who is always helping you to expand your knowledge.
I usually blame this on the hardware manufacturers for being secretive gatekeepy fucks that make things only work with shitty drivers
It's usually not malicious. Hardware is that way by default, and it takes effort to make it not be that way, and then someone still has to write the driver.
Technically all the info you need is inside the Windows driver, it's just a bit difficult to get at. It's on us to git gud so we won't need the cooperation of the hardware companies.
Ironically, we're getting into situations where our WiFi card vendor (Ezurio) supports Linux but not Windows.
The biggest thing I fought with since getting started has been audio. First figuring out how to make an Elgato device cooperate (not exactly the most linux-friendly company to say the least), then setting up virtual sinks and routing everything appropriately, and finally getting my mic to not sound like actual garbage.
Frustrating as hell and a very long process to get all of that working out, but definitely learned a lot from it.
It’s always interesting for me to read other people’s stories like this because I never ever had any audio issues with Linux. Can’t say the same about Winslow.
Oh sure, all the time.
A computer running public auditable software refined by some of history's top computer scientists...is still just a computer.
We taught spicy electrified rocks how to help us fill out tax forms.
It's going to fall short every so often.
I'm annoyed at modern Gnome's hostility towards user customisability. Their refusal to support server side decorations has trickled down to Cinnamon's Wayland compositor and it looks like it's going to be a barrier in Wayland Cinnamon.
The Gnome team are just discount wanna be apple.
In 2014, I felt like Canonical / Ubuntu actually added value beyond the Debian it was based on.
As the years rolled on, Debian's "shortcomings" became fewer and less important, meanwhile Canonical's handling of Ubuntu has slowly accumulated what I consider "negative value." Since 2024, my new installs have been Debian based, no more Canonical/Ubuntu. Fresh Ubuntu installs are still a bit more polished than Debian, but not in any way that compensates for the negative aspects of virtually forced use of snap packaging, Gnome (Xubuntu is a viable option, but so is XFCE on Debian), holding LTS updates hostage behind paywalls, etc.
Modern? Gnome developers were always like that.
I like gnome's approach to a unified and opinionated human interface design. I think it makes a nice cohesive user experience. If other projects don't want that then they probably shouldn't be building off of gnome.
I am disappointed at professional application support, but not with Linux specifically. In my professional life I have needed to use products like Visio, Adobe Suite, Autodesk software, and others.
I am often forced to use Windows for my work computer because of these limitations, and while I realize its not the fault of Linux, the lack of install base demanding professional applications run on Linux is a community issue. While I always prefer FOSS over PROP software, sometimes I really do need to run PROP software on linux, and that means convincing enough people to demand that support from the developer.
There is a compatibility issue too. Every Windows 11 is almost identical, enough for software to run, but Linux encompasses a lot of different systems. Valve makes it work on Ubuntu and then if you're not using Ubuntu, makes it your problem to go the rest of the way (usually pretty easy) which is a fair tradeoff but also not the plug-and-play you get with Windows. And don't even mention X11 versus Wayland.
True but that's far less of an issue for most mainstream distros. If it works on one Linux distro then it probably works on another or a reasonable tech person can address the missing dependencies.
While I don't love flat packs it's one thing they do tend to solve.
I think it means convincing people to drop the proprietary platform and telling the sales rep that both lack of Linux support is why you're dropping them and what application you're switching to. As long as you're still a revenue stream for them they're not incentivized to change. I do recognize, though, that this isn't always professionally possible as the end user.
Yes because Linux encourages you to make it your OS by customizing it, but it’s not easy as it should to create a backup of all that work so that you can easily deploy it on another computer.
I know that Clonezilla works in some situations or that NixOS coulb be a solution, but it’s not should be easier.
i think you can just move the home directory and install same packages, i've done this numerous times
in fact, i still don't know how to properly migrate a windows or osx system (other than imaging the entire drive)
Well then I’ll have to try it one day and report about the experience.
Isn't everything in dot files in home? Create package lists and export them, add dot files.
Or keep home on a seperate partition or drive.
New installation, import package list.
This seems straight forward to me.
I’ve never tried it, even if I know people are using it.
Still it’s not an easy solution like the one people are using when upgrading from an old to a new iPhone.
I know Linux doesn’t have Apple behind, but it’s better than Windows/Mac in every other way, so why not try to improve this?
I am not sure whats to improve, it is just a situation where it is easy if you know how.
As for the iphone, the amount of trouble that process has caused me is not trivial. Things are not the same! I would put it as more complicated. People are just used to dealing with it. Part of the issue with the iphone is applications and Icloud crap.
Yes, but to folks accustomed to using SuperDuper to create bootable backups, it does not seem so straightforward.
That seems like a completely different issue, if you just want a clone then clonezilla, which is also easy.
Easy? Is this the kind of easy that's "easy once you understand"?
I want to be able to back up, not earn an undergraduate degree in how to back up.
I am not sure how much easier Clonezilla can be. It walks you through every step, waits for answers and confirms what you want done.
Yes its easier if you know how, but it certainly is not hard.
As opposed to apple, which makes cloning an entire disk (including boot) a lot more challenging if not impossible now that they sign the system volume.
So in that regard, for a full disk image backup, Clonezilla (with linux or windows) is a lot easier.
How curious.
I am now trying my first backup. There were extra steps and I think I did it correctly, but the web site inundated me with details in a way that Shirt Pocket did not do with SuperDuper.
I haven't used Mac OS regularly since about 2018, so I take you at your word that backing up isn't as easy on Mac OS as it used to be.
With any luck, this just works. There is room for a simpler and gentler introduction to this. Maybe I can publish one.
OK, I want to be helpful. Are you trying to back up the entire disk? Like Clone one drive to a file or another drive?
Or are you wanting to create backups of the data and user information?
Before Proton, I wasn't able to consider Linux as a viable solution for home computing at all. I could set up and manage a pihole, and salvage an old laptop to use for word processing and email, but couldn't run anything my family or non-techie friends were familiar with.
Sure Wine was a thing, but I think for most casual users it wasn't worth the hassle.
My first attempt with Ubuntu 15ish years ago was horrible; almost nothing worked, GPU support was trash, it was just an all around miserable experience.
With proton, stuff just works. It's like a whole new ecosystem now.
Edit: not the kernel or the GNU utilities themselves, but rather some people on the various affiliated forums. While most people have been kind and helpful, a handful of bad apples don't know how to behave. They are hostile to the point where one could easily lose the will to have anything to do with Linux.
I have only ever been positively surprised. Just a few of all the good habits that Linux has made me adopt:
Sounds like an Arch user.
Woopsie🤪
Artix btw
For years...every time I needed to configure a printer. Sometimes when I needed to find drivers for a wifi card. These days...it just works.
More the people behind it than the distro, but CachyOS. Aside from the performance improvements only being marginal, I was happy with the convenience after a decade of using Vanilla Arch. It was the first distro ever to tempt me away in that decade. I was really, really disappointed by the response to the age verification bs. The mods did a terrible job with discussion on the forums and the devs never made a formal response. The upside is I learned more about Systemd and now happily using Artix. So at least some good came out of my disappointment.
The best way to learn something new is to be upset by something old.
Worse case you learn something new! Best case you find a better option for yourself.
Yes, the packaging mess that Atomic distros cause.
I want a couple of functional things:
I’d like to be able to do all that efficiently and cleanly too. Atomic systems generally fulfill those first two while traditional distros struggle, which is why I stick to Atomic distros.
But whereas you can use a single package manager on Arch and get everything (albeit without easy sandboxing), Atomics keep adding more and more. Here’s your rpm-ostree, flatpak, toolbox, homebrew, sysexts, etc.
I find sysexts particularly insulting because they regress so much on traditional packages for so little upside. Doesn’t even have dependency management.
I would wish we would stop creating so many package managers and just focus on improving existing ones.
In a more ideal world we would have something like
Idk why people at flathub decided not to allow CLI programs.
And no alisses to the names of the programs.
Two very frustrating decisions. I would get rid of snap on my system if not for those few CLI tools I need.
Nope, okay I fiddle more with complex scenarios than ever before with windows. But I never lost files/progress than I lost with windows bluescreens. And since everything is open source and documented. There is always a way to find a solution, even if its a reddit post 12 years ago.
Not with Linux per si but surely I have with the LKML and Linux Foundation guys. With Linus and Greg. RH, Canonical, Gnome. And so on...
I get it with Canonical and Red Hat, but why Linus? What is he doing recently?
It's more what he's not doing: blocking MIT licensed drivers in the kernel.
Also there was that thing with banning Russia from the LKML. He stressed over he was a Finn at that opportunity. Don't ask what the Finns were doing at the WWII. And he's a pro status quo kind of guy.
God forbid a fascist authoritarian government known for cyberwarfare be banned from working on the Linux kernel.
Do you mean the USA? UK? France? ISRAEL???
You NATO removed are ridiculous. And the true enemy of the humankind.
he means Russia because that is the country that was banned from the Linux kernel mailing list
the UK, USA, France, Israel and NATO were not banned from the Linux kernel mailing list
the topic of this discussion is people getting banned from the Linux kernel mailing list
hope this helps
The West is lost
Yeah, that tracks
So is the subreddit
It would be one thing to ban a fascist government, but he didn't ban the Russian government, he banned a whole country of people who have no control over or choice in who the government is or what it does. And worse was that he spouted what amounted to racist sentiment as a defence.
2 times:
Recently an update broke something in flatpak and in consequence freecad would refuse to load completly. There was no way for me to know what actually happened and all the time i thought freecad was at fault.
The infamous gma500 driversupport condeming so many netbooks to become ewaste instead of having a second life with linux.