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Pablo Herrero
Pablo Herrero

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Switch to Linux?

hey!!!

I currently work with an HP laptop running Windows 10. I have ever been tempted to switch to Linux and lately the idea has been coming back to my head.

Actually, as a programming student, I do a bit of everything: web, mobile, desktop, databases, graphic design...

I think I could continue using all the programs I use (VSCode, Netbeans, JetBrains IDE's, Figma, Gimp...) although I think I would lose compatibility for my vices (Steam, etc... ahahaha).

Tell me, should I switch to Linux? Why? What advantages does it give me compared to Windows? What can't I do on Windows that I can do on Linux? What can't I do on Linux that I can do on Windows?

As always, any help is appreciated.

Cheers!

Latest comments (60)

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carsnwd profile image
Carson

I like the customization of Linux tbh. Being able to use different shells and changing my desktop environment the way I like.

Games actually work a lot better these days. Steam now has this thing called Proton protondb.com/ they use to run games in a windows like environment on linux.

I think the biggest drawback of linux is that sometimes things just break and it requires a bit of tinkering. The more freedom you get to do what you want the more ways it could go wrong :)

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pauld profile image
Paul

I've grew up on Windows and during my undergrad, I've found that linux and Unix are both power. From a sys admin approach linux is much easier for developing anything. Unlike Windows you have some restrictions to certain packages. Linux is the way to go and I've used both linux and Unix and never touched Windows. Though, windows is moving more to support linux and there's even a way to make linux look like Windows. reddit.com/r/unixporn/ is a great first step. I've change my dev to linux and Unix and I've nevered looked bad. (Windows) let's update to v2 (user) ok..... Waits ten hours...... Update is spinning.... (Windows) ok never mind, let's roll back till we fix the bug.
Ok I'm done. Anyways which linux flavors you used, you'll never look back

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pauld profile image
Paul • Edited

best way to test which Linux flavor you like is by using virtual box or VMware

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vivekblip profile image
Vivek M Nair

It's been almost 3 months since i have switched from windows to ubuntu and i don't regret.
I'm not a gamer and its only development, programming and once in a month of illustrations that i do.
See ubuntu is all about customisation and tuning your system to your needs.
So are passionate about tech and love to try out new things then its a perfect OS.
And ya ubuntu is way smooth and fast compared to windows.
If u got any problem with performance then there are a lot of onboard tweaks that can improve it

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Andrew Baisden

Currently dual booting macOS and Windows might consider trying Linux to join the rest of the cool kids here 😎

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Paweł Kubik

In your case, I would choose Linux over Windows + WSL2 if:

  1. you'd like to develop graphical apps for linux (it's coming to WSL2 too though)
  2. you'd like to experiment with Linux graphical environments (IMHO worth it)
  3. you have a very old hardware and need to customize your OS for better performance
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canutethegreat profile image
Ronald Farrer

You could use WSL2 and have the best of both worlds.

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vajahath7 profile image
Vajahath • Edited

Why? Enable WSL and you can do linux. I play games on windows and code on WSL.

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Mansehej Singh

I pretty much have the same requirements as you do. I use a dual boot system, and all my development work is done in Linux. It's just more comfortable, and I personally find it much more enjoyable.

I, however use Windows specifically for Gaming, Photoshop (GIMP, Krita, etc. are excellent in linux, I'm just used to photoshop) and MS Office. You can definitely work with LibreOffice or Google Docs in linux, but I feel extremely comfortable using a dedicated suite that is well maintained by Microsoft.

So yes, I would recommend a dual boot system, it's super easy to do and you can experience the best of both worlds!

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zizaco profile image
Zizaco • Edited

As someone that have been primarily using Linux without dual-boot for more than 6 years, I warn you that perhaps there are not many reasons to do the switch anymore.

WSL2 was a remarkable step in closing the gap between windows and Linux, and it can provide almost everything that a native Linux experience would.

Still, if you make heavy use of docker/docker-compose and other ops/server-side tools you may find that they will run much better on Linux. By "better" I mean, less dependency errors and much less resource consumption.

Also, by getting used to Linux in your desktop you will be much more "fluent" when dealing with server-side in general. :)

But for simple full stack development, WSL2 is more then enough.

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Harikrishnan A

I'm also in an hp laptop and yes wsl seems like an option but I'm too deep in it wirh tiling window managers and rolling releases. Wsl can't match with my linux workflow

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tina

I love Linux. I've been a devoted Ubuntu user for years. Just know that you sometimes have to tweak a bit to make things work. But that's actually what I like, I don't get frustrated easily and I like to understand how things work. You get more control in return.

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Mirko Vukušić • Edited

Was on dual boot and then exclusively Linux for about 10 years I guess. Not sure anymore. I know that the day Win 8 came out I deleted it. What do I miss? A lot really. Mostly I miss viruses and antiviruses. Also those beautiful updates that just surprise you when you have something urgent to do, to remind you to slow down and not work so much. Then also all this beautiful software you dont even need to install yourself to have and enjoy, like candy crash. And lets not forget, in case you are a complete moron and actually forget that OneDrive or stuff like that is the best thing on earth... Windows kindly remind you about that, and often enough. Uh Microsoft account too! God forbid if you somehow wonder out of the usual path and manage to loose yourself and configure local login, again kindly, and often enough, Windows will teach you how to be normal again and join a happy MS familly.
And then all that customization, who really needs it? Why do people want to be different when there should be only one window manager, one desktop environment, one.... I mean, when it is so perfect!? Why? You might accidentally end up having fun, or learning other ways, instead of working. Urghhh.
I miss Windows a lot.

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Donovan Hutcheon

You should try a dual boot setup. You can always delete the partition if you don't like it.
The biggest benefit of Linux is no viruses, Spyware and windows updates. Games might be supported on Linux but your graphics drivers may not. Driver support is getting better though. Dual boot is a good way to get the best of both worlds. Also MS Office used to be a major reason pinning people to Windows, thanks to Google that has all moved into the browser.

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pablohs1986 profile image
Pablo Herrero

Is it true that there are no viruses, spyware and others ??? Not having Office is something that worries me a lot... and yes, dual-boot seems to be the best option. Thank you!!

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donohutcheon profile image
Donovan Hutcheon

I'm sure there are Trojans and malicious software out there but not as prevalent as on Windows. Security has always been an afterthought on Windows. On Linux you usually install software from your distro's package repository which is usually vetted. Occasionally you need to add a ppa (personal package archive) to get certain apps which I guess could present a risk. I tend to avoid this, I've found through experience that ppa's aren't maintained that well and tend to break the update process rather than being a security risk. Then also occasionally you need to install rpms or Deb files manually, but security is such that apps can't install themselves. Windows isn't as flimsy as it used to be, but viruses are still a thing. I guess browser plug-ins are a risk no matter what OS you use.
I've never used Office online but wouldn't that be an option? It would suck to have to reboot each time you want to use Office.

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donohutcheon profile image
Donovan Hutcheon • Edited

I also like to use Docker where possible to run certain apps. It gives me the peace of mind that I can delete the container and image when I no longer want the app anymore. Config files and other junk isn't left behind after it's gone.
An additional anecdote, I went to a Tensor Flow roadshow last year. The Google engineers spent the first two hours trying to assist the Windows users to get the curriculum Docker images working. The World would be a better place without Windows and MacOS :-)

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manishfoodtechs profile image
manish srivastava

Being a developer you should consider learning linux as 98% of super computers are linux. Also, most popular control panels (c panel) are based on linux.

Linux guy (even home users) can't survive without touching command terminal. While, windows is easy and user has variety of programs.

Get virtualbox.

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pablohs1986 profile image
Pablo Herrero

Totally, you are right, in fact it is one of the reasons why I would like to switch and get more into Linux. I don't like VirtualBox, I think it would do a Dual-Boot... and I love the terminal!!

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freedom profile image
Freedom • Edited

The most practical is dual boot but make sure you always backup your data before risk on installing OS that in rare case may cause storage partition corrupted.

reFind is a better boot manager you could use, download binaries from SourceForge.

Doing benchmark on Linux tend to give accurate results and has plenty of tutorials you can find on the web. It’s good to explore and you can do anything you want on Linux including develop software with Go language for a self contained binaries. Think how you can build something that works on cross-platforms is interesting but I would target web development to be a better choice.

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pablohs1986 profile image
Pablo Herrero

Thanks for the advice!! Clearly a dual-boot seems to be the best option. I'll take a look at reFind :)