Yes. Linux is dirt simple. Which is why 2025 is the Year of the Linux Desktop. For about the 30th year running.
Linux “just works” if you view the computer before you as a toy or a game or an end unto itself. If you view it as a tool that is supposed to let you do your real work while staying out of the way, it falls down flat on its face.
For example, I have a nice Bluetooth speaker that worked flawlessly under Windows. Still works flawlessly with my phone. My SO, despite hours of reading things and trying things out while, toward the end letting out a never-ending stream of quiet profanity, could not get it to work reliably. He can get it working. And then it will just randomly cut out and he has to do it all over again (albeit not for hours anymore).
This is not the only such problem. We can’t get it to hibernate either. I have to leave my computer running all the time so I don’t lose my place with my work. When I was running Windows it was “press the power button and walk away” after about three minutes of changing some settings when I first got it.
This is a never-ending stream that a techno-nerd would probably have no problems dealing with on a daily basis, but I’m not that, and I don’t want to be. (My SO is, but he has his own work; I don’t want to treat him like my personal IT department. I’d rather just have my computer work without these little, never-ending irritations.)
But … it’s still better than Windows 11. It will be what I use until the HarmonyOS PCs stabilize and breaks free into the wider ecosystem, after which my next phone and computer both will be using HarmonyOS.
Yeah, this is a huge issue with Linux. It works out of the box, and usually in a much much better way than Windows. However, if you come across a small annoying issue, it can be either a breeze to fix with a simple command or a complete nightmare due to incompatibility issues.
I’m a professional software developer and IT technician, and have been for many years. And I still couldn’t get my grandma’s fucking printer to work on Ubuntu after 3 hours of debugging.
The good news is that the more people switch to Linux, use it, come across annoying issues and complain about them, the faster they get fixed and manufacturers develop their products with Linux in mind.
Well, “out of the box” I hit that Bluetooth speaker problem so I didn’t have it working flawlessly such. But that and the hibernation aside, a few of the problems I’m having are more “this is different; I have to learn”. Fortunately things I do most of my work in are programs I already use: Zen for the browser, LibreOffice for office suite, etc. so I’m only getting little bits of culture shock here and there.
I’m annoyed, however, that I have to plug my speakers into the computer by old-fashioned wires. They’re fugly and in the way of other things since the plugs are in the front of the computer, right above the USB port I stick my thumb dries, etc. into.
Bluetooth is one of those things that is a crapshoot in linux. A big part of that is because the bluetooth protocol itself is a giant train wreck. It requires a stupid level of integration into the OS to do basic stuff (It should have just been effectively what Wifi Direct is). It also doesn’t help that the linux audio stack is kinda fucked.
Sleep/hibernate is also somewhat of a crapshoot because it’s a very weird protocol.
For some linux hardware these things work pretty well, but for others it can be a nightmare to make work properly.
FTR, I’m currently using KDE plasma + pipewire and that works pretty well for me with my bluetooth devices. But I realize that’s probably also somewhat due to me having good hardware for linux in the first place.
Get a Bluetooth dongle by Tao Tronics, I usually find them on eBay. Short tiny stereo aux cable and boom…it’s not perfect but removed the speaker connection.
This is a bit of a self reinforcing problem. It’s not magic that makes hardware work on windows. It works better on windows because people put time into making it work on windows. They didn’t do the same for Linux because there’s fewer users there.
I’m sure you can imagine the scene that’s like
Eng: “I don’t know if it’ll work on Linux. I want some more time to test it”
Boss: “how many users we have on Linux?”
Eng: “a few hundred”
Boss: “yeah no, just ship it as is”
But the good news is as more people use Linux, that conversation changes.
Yes. Linux is dirt simple. Which is why 2025 is the Year of the Linux Desktop. For about the 30th year running.
Linux “just works” if you view the computer before you as a toy or a game or an end unto itself. If you view it as a tool that is supposed to let you do your real work while staying out of the way, it falls down flat on its face.
For example, I have a nice Bluetooth speaker that worked flawlessly under Windows. Still works flawlessly with my phone. My SO, despite hours of reading things and trying things out while, toward the end letting out a never-ending stream of quiet profanity, could not get it to work reliably. He can get it working. And then it will just randomly cut out and he has to do it all over again (albeit not for hours anymore).
This is not the only such problem. We can’t get it to hibernate either. I have to leave my computer running all the time so I don’t lose my place with my work. When I was running Windows it was “press the power button and walk away” after about three minutes of changing some settings when I first got it.
This is a never-ending stream that a techno-nerd would probably have no problems dealing with on a daily basis, but I’m not that, and I don’t want to be. (My SO is, but he has his own work; I don’t want to treat him like my personal IT department. I’d rather just have my computer work without these little, never-ending irritations.)
But … it’s still better than Windows 11. It will be what I use until the HarmonyOS PCs stabilize and breaks free into the wider ecosystem, after which my next phone and computer both will be using HarmonyOS.
Yeah, this is a huge issue with Linux. It works out of the box, and usually in a much much better way than Windows. However, if you come across a small annoying issue, it can be either a breeze to fix with a simple command or a complete nightmare due to incompatibility issues.
I’m a professional software developer and IT technician, and have been for many years. And I still couldn’t get my grandma’s fucking printer to work on Ubuntu after 3 hours of debugging.
The good news is that the more people switch to Linux, use it, come across annoying issues and complain about them, the faster they get fixed and manufacturers develop their products with Linux in mind.
Well, “out of the box” I hit that Bluetooth speaker problem so I didn’t have it working flawlessly such. But that and the hibernation aside, a few of the problems I’m having are more “this is different; I have to learn”. Fortunately things I do most of my work in are programs I already use: Zen for the browser, LibreOffice for office suite, etc. so I’m only getting little bits of culture shock here and there.
I’m annoyed, however, that I have to plug my speakers into the computer by old-fashioned wires. They’re fugly and in the way of other things since the plugs are in the front of the computer, right above the USB port I stick my thumb dries, etc. into.
Bluetooth is one of those things that is a crapshoot in linux. A big part of that is because the bluetooth protocol itself is a giant train wreck. It requires a stupid level of integration into the OS to do basic stuff (It should have just been effectively what Wifi Direct is). It also doesn’t help that the linux audio stack is kinda fucked.
Sleep/hibernate is also somewhat of a crapshoot because it’s a very weird protocol.
For some linux hardware these things work pretty well, but for others it can be a nightmare to make work properly.
FTR, I’m currently using KDE plasma + pipewire and that works pretty well for me with my bluetooth devices. But I realize that’s probably also somewhat due to me having good hardware for linux in the first place.
Get a Bluetooth dongle by Tao Tronics, I usually find them on eBay. Short tiny stereo aux cable and boom…it’s not perfect but removed the speaker connection.
This is a bit of a self reinforcing problem. It’s not magic that makes hardware work on windows. It works better on windows because people put time into making it work on windows. They didn’t do the same for Linux because there’s fewer users there.
I’m sure you can imagine the scene that’s like
Eng: “I don’t know if it’ll work on Linux. I want some more time to test it”
Boss: “how many users we have on Linux?”
Eng: “a few hundred”
Boss: “yeah no, just ship it as is”
But the good news is as more people use Linux, that conversation changes.
deleted by creator
What an overgeneralization. Many servers run on Linux. Many developers code on Linux.
But I understand your point.