I'm nearing a year of using this Linux laptop as a 50% daily driver and I really have to say…
Linux's quality of life on an ordinary laptop is *embarrassing*.
Like, I'm able to use it. But it is embarrassing. No normal person would put up with the garbage desktop Linux puts me through. I put up with it because I'm stubborn and ideologically motivated.
I see problems including, but not limited to
- When I close the laptop lid and open it again, a shocking percentage of the time it does not wake up and I have to force power it off ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-oem-6.8/+bug/2064595 , ongoing since April)
- Every time I briefly brush my fingers against the screen, GNOME enters an entirely broken "touchscreen mode" in which it pretends my keyboard and mouse don't exist. It fixes itself after an unpredictable amount of time ranging from 5 to 30 seconds. Can't be disabled
[Impact] On some OEM platforms observed bad suspend occurs on lid close and power LED stays on without normal sleep behavior at that time. Needs to call GFXOFF to the right state during the suspend stage. https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/ca299b4512d4b4f516732a48ce9aa19d91f4473e Closes: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3132 Fixes: ab4750332dbe [Test case] test that s2idle works after installing the update [Regression potential] minimal
- Firefox can't show image previews when selecting attachments (because of "security", somehow)
- Often, when I direct a program to open a new window, GNOME refuses to let the program do it, and instead opens the window at the back of the stack and shows a top-of-screen notification letting me know there's a new window (I guess also "security")
- Just fresh weird stuff happening at random intervals. Since last week, when I right click in Firefox, I can't click on the menu. It's happening RN
@mcc I didn't see it in the thread, but what laptop are you using?
(Not that it's relevant to your case, but I've used Ubuntu on Thinkpads -- never, ever the latest model, however -- for a long time with good results.)
@dangillmor Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 (AMD). I specifically selected this machine for Linux compatibiliy… >_>
I think that my most serious problems stem from:
- Using newest versions of Ubuntu instead of 22.04
- Third parties having poor support for HiDPI and high resolution scrollwheel events
- Me trying (at first, not now) to use Wayland
- Intentional features of Snap, and my refusal to use non-Snap methods of installing software when a Snap is available
@levlaz @dangillmor Yeah. I … didn't expect this to be the case. "Well of course you don't install LTS until it hits .1" is apparently common knowledge in the Linux desktop community but was not common knowledge to me.
LTS: "Long term support but NOT short term support"???
@mcc Yeah, I'm cautious about using the latest OS if I have a choice. I'll probably wait for 24.04.2 before I upgrade Ubuntu on my primary machine (and will do a clean install).
Also yeah re screen resolution stuff, not ideal (though I mostly use the machine in clamshell mode with big external monitor).
I like/hate Snaps and Flatpacks and even .deb but wish the ecosystem would settle on something and stick with it.
If you ever have to use the command line, an OS is not for "regular" folks.
> If you ever have to use the command line, an OS is not for "regular" folks.
Hmm. I'm old enough to remember when Windows users used the command line too. Regular folks did that. (I am quite old, though.) And later plenty of Windows "how to" guides would tell you to do it, or worse, screw with the registry. Isn't that still a thing?
Perhaps you're right; I don't know. Maybe those guides aren't for "regular" Windows users.
Except -- "regular"? All users are different...
@fishidwardrobe @dangillmor @mcc Macintosh came out in 1984 and demonstrated, then, 40(!!!) years ago, that the command line was not necessary to run a computer. If the Linux community hasn't internalized that learning in FORTY YEARS than they deserve to be roundly mocked for it, in my opinion.
"Regular folks" did that, ever, because they didn't have a choice, not because they enjoyed it.
@mcc @fishidwardrobe @dangillmor It's no stretch to convince me Windows is getting worse over time. All software companies seem to have just given up on the entire concept of QA.
I've never had to use the registry editor or CLI in Windows, though, so maybe you have to "often" do it, but I think you're an outlier there frankly.
@blakeyrat @mcc @fishidwardrobe @dangillmor you don’t get it for free though. even if it comes with your device, manufacturers pay microsoft licensing fees to include it by default, which drives up the cost of their devices.
and even if that weren’t the case, i strongly disagree with allowing that to simply be the “price you pay,” when it comes with all sorts of social ills
@blakeyrat @mcc @dangillmor Speaking personally I find there is a large gap between "I found it neccessary to do X" and "I wanted to do X". Not at all the same thing.
Nor am I sure you are getting Windows for free in any real sense, unless off Pirate Bay?
Just my POV; don't know that MCC would agree.
mcc
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