Let me clarify:
Linux is not a bad OS.
It’s really good and honestly I recommend trying it out for yourself.
For me though, I tried giving it a shot and I just gave up on it.
Ok you Microsheep, why did you even try using Linux?
It was mostly Customization and curiosity, but also I heard how much better Linux is now and how much easier it is to use.
So I slapped it on a USB, then properly installed it, and now my PC can dual boot Windows 10 and Mint.
So is Linux better?
In certain ways, yes.
Being able to just do “xed config style.css” and have the Xed (the text editor) open with those two files was a great feeling and using the terminal was great cause of how much it makes things faster to do.
Plus the other benefits like Privacy and the Customization potential is great as well.
If it was faster, more customizable and had more privacy, then why did you go back?
Convenience and this one might be a weird one, too much control.
Which, I’ll get to last as it’s a long one.
So, let’s just tackle convenience quickly.
LMMS, ironically, just doesn’t work?
Like VSTs in the native Linux version, just straight up don’t work.
They don’t load or give an error message, they just freeze the app for a minute and nothing happens.
And the Software Center version for some reason just outright removes VSTs.
Yes, I did try changing the settings and using different VSTs, especially the open source ones, but none worked.
Then I tried LMMS on Wine and it worked.
But the CPU Usage was like 50%, which was way more than what LMMS on Windows shows.
And that was just on a 2 track project, not even a full project.
Then the issue of Steam just refusing to even look at the libraries with games I already installed, I only got it to work on my windows’ main drive and not the external drives for some reason.
And also having to give up Visual Studio, which would just let me run C++ programs and C# programs without needing to use a masochistic’s favorite program aka Make/CMake and also hot reloading without some complicated setup.
(Side Note: Make/CMake are tools to build programs)
With all of that, why should I stay?
I already invested hours and hours, just for programs that were supposed to have good as or even better support than windows, to either not work or require me to do stuff that’s just inconvenient.
Of course, I’m sure if I stay with Linux for longer, I’ll learn the ins and outs and eventually figure out how to get things working the way I want it.
But that’s not something I really want to trade, convenience for freedom, with the payment being time.
And about that, let’s talk about too much control.
“Too much control”?? You absolute soft handed, cocomelon watching, tiktok attention span, lazy bum! How is too much control bad!?
Yeah that was something I thought was dumb, how can too much control be bad?
It’s a little hard to explain, but basically I installed a few desktop environments.
I first installed KDE Plasma (X11 & Wayland) then Sway, then finally Hyprland.
I installed these because my main reason for installing Linux was again, for the customization.
An extremely vocal minority of Linux Users online really like to play up Linux Customization being super easy to understand and use. No it is not.
And again this plays back in convenience, but also control.
KDE lets you customize things more than what Windows will, but still is limited by being controlled by one global theme.
And for Sway and Hyprland, they both have the same problem.
Tiling Windows, I mean, too much control.
I opened up Sway and had 0 idea what I was doing, even though I was following a tutorial.
I was incredibly lost. So I switched back to KDE.
Then I tried using Waybar, but for some reason apps wouldn’t show up. I tried searching it up online and nobody had the same problem. No matter, I’ll just use what everybody uses, Hyprland.
Cue 5 hours of flailing around and eventually finding a Ubuntu repo of Hyprland and installing that.
Finally, I restarted my computer, after 5 agonizing hours of wasting my time, I set the DE to Hyprland.
It was beautiful.
The UI had personality, it had warm colors, a good font and a really pretty wallpaper.
Then I opened a window and saw it had tiling.
Fuck.
No matter, I mean, this is already so customizable, surely I can just disable this right?
There’s a hint button, what does that do?
Cool, there’s a keybind to make them all float. Huh? That didn’t work.
Oh wait, there is a config! Let’s click on that and… what the fuck is this?
Text-based config? What is this, 1995?
You know, I should at least try it out and see if I can at least just get windows to float.
Let me just search this up.
Let’s copy and paste that, oh. That didn’t work?
This? Why is it giving me an error?
Ok, what if I just removed this line instead?
Nothing?
What about just changing my 2nd monitor to be vertical?
How do I do that?
Maybe that’s a bit too complicated, how about just changing the wallpaper?
Why is it saying that it can’t detect the monitor I’m focusing on?
After a bit, I just gave up and went back to KDE.
I tried making it look like Windows 7, which was always the goal.
I got Windows 10 to look similar, but surely with Linux, I could do that easily.
But turns out, no, not easily at least.
As I tried, I just got a bad taste in my mouth from wasting 7-8 hours on installing DEs and none of them being as easy to customize, use and having the right amount of control.
Then you ran back to Microslop?
Not yet, I waited another day before making my decision.
I decided to try again to use KDE themes and programs to make it look like 7, instead of installing some new DE.
Which I did, but even with all the themes I could find, it just kept looking like bootleg Windows 7 instead of "Windows 7, but if it were updated".
After a full day of this struggle, I was pretty much done.
I'd just spent 3 days on Linux and I could barely get it look how I wanted. While over in Windows 10, I got it to look how I wanted with Wallpaper Engine, OpenShell, Retrobar, Rainmeter and DMWBlur.
And with that, I ran back to Windows 10 and it’s not like I did it happily either. I feel bad that I didn’t connect with Linux.
I tried my best to, but it just didn’t work out.
I just don’t think having that amount of control in turn for convenience and time is something I’m willing to give up.
I’ll keep it installed just for debugging Time Cowboy builds, but using it as my main OS?
Don’t think so.
Would you recommend it to people?
Hard to say.
If you make music on Windows and use VSTs like Kontakt or BBC Symphony or just invested heavily, then I wouldn’t really.
If you’re a big programmer, then I’m surprised you’re not using it actually.
Are you sticking with windows, MacOS or even FreeBSD?
With that, I think that’s all for now.
If you like Linux and think I’m dumb, send me an email. I usually read them.
If you’re hesitant on using Linux, just burn it on a DVD or USB and just try it out.