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!
Oldest comments (61)
You may, but do that on any other laptop. Always make sure that you have Windows or Mac on your main computer. I recommend usage of the Linux OS for personal use on a secondary device.
May I ask why?
Intro
I have been using Windows since I was born. I switched to Linux by setting up KDE Neon on my primary laptop. My laptop had two drives.
I installed Linux on my SSD for better performance. For the first month, I used Linux extensively and was impressed by its speed and low RAM usage.
Problem starts
The problem started when my SSD was full of software and packages. I literally had only 3GB left on my SSD. However, I had more than 950GB left on my hard disk. I tried to move those packages from my SSD to Hard Disk, but I failed. And that's the point I had to leave Linux and roll back to the shackles of Windows.
Thanks for the advice, Abhigyan, I'll keep it in mind.
@abhigya53544714 Ohhh, I'm following your logic regarding Linux now!
I assure you, the problem was not Linux there, but rather your drive configuration. The reason you "failed" to move those packages was because you should not be taking them out of the directories they're placed in by the package manager. Windows and Linux do not work in the same way; you cannot move packages like you can Windows executables.
There are multiple ways to fix that problem.
The quick-and-dirty way is to boot to a Live USB copy of Linux, so you're not booting to either hard drive directly. Copy one of the larger folders, probably
/usr, to the HDD, and then rename the original (temporarily, in case of error) and create a symbolic link from the SSD to the HDD. Then reboot to the SSD like usual. (This solution is only a stop-gap in case you can't reinstall, however, as it's a tad brittle.)The better, more stable way, is done at installation. Select custom drive configuration during Install, and set up the SSD as root (
/), but then set up separate partitions on your HDD for/usr(where most programs get installed) and/home. Your computer will be a bit slower as a result, obvious since you're loading your programs from an HDD instead of an SSD, but it will work pretty well regardless.Solution 3 is to get a larger SSD, but I assume that's not an option.
I agree with your solutions(I don't want to buy a new SSD), and I even implemented these all for a while. However, it became a nightmare to maintain all this.
How was it a nightmare, precisely?
Also, had you indeed reinstalled with
/usrbeing configured as a separate partition on the HDD? It didn't sound like you had. That isn't a "nightmare" at all; it's quite effective if done in the normal manner, and you wouldn't ever notice it (except for the speed drop).This is odd advice, given that I've been using Linux exclusively for six years, for both work (and I wear many hats in coding AND business) and play. I also know dozens of other professionals across several fields who do the same.
YES! Come and join us, the Linux Clan!
Oh yeah!!! Would you accept me even with a dual-boot??? : D
Wewill consider you an ordinary membership... lolYou might consider a "dual-boot" setup. That way you can boot into a Linux distribution of your choice when you want to, and then switch to Windows or Mac when necessary for things like games. I recommend following an up-to-date tutorial to get it set up, and I also recommend Ubuntu or Pop!_OS for your Linux distribution.
Absolutely right, Austin, a dual-boot is probably the best option. Thanks!!!
The main reason for me is supporting open source and having built in Bash support. Course, with WSL2, GitBash, and everything else... There's not much difference. And since I have to use VS for work, I'm not using linux :(
It is one of my doubts, if it is so worth the change... or is it better to continue with Windows and work with WSL. Thanks, Winston!
Ability to run docker natively was deciding factor for me. Very often I find myself in situation where I am running multiple containers at the same time which I was also able to achieve with WSL2 on windows, but it kind of made windows sluggish. I have switched to Linux mint on my laptop which I primarily use for development.
I actually went from Windows, Linux then to Mac. The reason being, it is what the company gave me when I went to Linux Academy last year. Now as a Linux fan I tried to get that sleek look through a Dell XPS 13 that shipped with Ubuntu, etc but whew, when I got handed this 16" MBP I was really impressed with the look/feel, weight, screen, ease of use and battery life. I have the features I need with Linux and the ecosystem/access for apps etc. Sure I could get them on virtually all OSs but maybe it truly came down to creature comforts?
Like others have suggested though, I do dual boot with Windows 10 and have an Ubuntu server here at home.
Yeah, man, another option for me is to keep this laptop with windows / wsl and have a MB Air with its bash and its nice things... and save a lot for an MBP like yours!!! hahahaha! Thanks!!
Yeah, depending on what your doing, I bet the air will be that sweet spot with an external monitor and on the go ease. With git and remote syncing it's easy to switch between machines.
Id' run a distro in a VM and see if you like it - personally I would go with silverblue Fedora - the containerized workspaces are amazing and it offers something unique. You should still be able to use Steam. In fact they have some wine integration that let you run windows games.
I work on the GNOME project, but there are plenty of choices of UX desktop that you should evaluate and see which one is more comfortable.
VM is an option, actually my Linux experience is through VM or WLS. I think I'll try a dual-boot, and of course I'll try GNOME. Thanks!
Recently I switched from Mac to Windows because I'm working on a windows native app combined with web view. I have found that working with WSL2 is awesome, everything work related, including source code is inside the linux subsystem, and Visual Studio, Windows tools and the native app are running on the win kernel. It feels like having best of both worlds. Not to mention gaming...
Right. WSL seems to be working better every day and they implement new improvements every little bit. Is a pure Linux really necessary having WSL??? Your comment makes me think not. Thanks, Avichay!
Choosing an OS is an opinionated thing. I know some developers who would go to war over that debate.
In my own experience, working on OSX, Windows, Ubuntu (and obviously terminal-based remote Linux machines - centos/ubuntu/etc), I find OSX very comfortable.
Recently I started working on a project running in a native window app, and virtualizing windows in my mac was slow as hell. So I took a (very) nice windows laptop and surprisingly found out that WSL2 feels native.
Combined with a decent terminal (The new Windows Terminal is minimal and nice), I do the actual work on the subsystem. Everything is there: the source code, the command-line tools, all Linux based.
Only the native app (and it's build tools) are windows executables, and I really do not feel I miss anything.
The ease of terminal and *nix workflow I had on MacOS is now available on windows, and nearly every *nix binary available I can use in the WSL.
I might even consider keeping this state for a longer time than expected.
Definitely go linux, its just so much better for development. Its also very fast and light compared to windows and the flexibility is insane. steam does work on linux, game support is lacking but getting there.
Do you miss anything Windows???? nothing??? :p
I don't game but I can imagine it's not great on linux. There can be driver issues in new hardware, but my laptop is a 2016 model so I am good there. All my dev tools work great, web browser support is fantastic, zoom, MS teams, ect. all work without issue, and most unsupported apps have solid Linux alternatives. So, I don't miss a thing.
I’ve been using Windows for years, I recently switched over my Desktop over to Linux and I’ve never looked back. I also enjoy playing games from time to time, so I decided to go with Pop_OS!
I don’t miss Windows one bit.
I don't really care about games that much, I'm afraid of losing compatibility with drivers and so on... but opinions like yours make me want to jump into Linux! Thanks, Theunis!!
I've not had many issues with driver compatibility, Nvidia have good drivers and the only issue I've had is the realtek audio driver but that allows you to compile it from source
Same!
Totally, Pawel!!! dual-boot is the winner!