edit: I’m using Fedora Workstation 42!
I really like the ability to just search “sleep”, “shutdown”, “restart”, etc. Switching between windows and opening search using either the super key or a three finger swipe up is super handy, on Windows the button opens the start menu (where the search is horrible) and a three finger swipe up can open app switcher, where you have to hold your three fingers to go to another app.
Using GNOME extensions to see power usage, CPU usage, memory usage, etc. is very useful. Weird that the “extension list” addon isn’t a thing that’s on by default. Feel like being able to see all your extensions is a really important part of having extensions. Being able to see the clock at the top took a bit getting used to but makes so much more sense than having it tucked in a corner. I also like the integrated calendar, much better than Window’s version where you are unable to see any of your events, not even as a dot!
Using dnf and flatpak to install programs is very smooth and I like being able to update all my programs at once with just “sudo dnf update && flatpak update”! Being able to see the dependencies and progress bars and download speeds is really helpful too. I don’t need to search for programs anymore because of a thing called “fuzzy search”. It’s like magic!
GNOME’s UI looks much cleaner than Windows, everything is actually cohesive. It’s not a mix of flat and glass and clear and ancient. It’s all adwaita. (that’s what you call it, right?)
Something weird was not having the minimise and maximise buttons. I had to enable those myself, which is a bit odd. Now that it is enabled it works fine.
I also really like being able to easily customise themes (everforest) and icons (Papirus!). And if GNOME is considered “not very customisable” in the linux world, KDE, Cinnamon, etc. must be even more customisable! I’m happy with GNOME though, so I probably won’t switch DE anytime soon. Maybe when I get a new computer I could try out KDE.
App compatibility was no problem. All the apps I used before (thunderbird, obsidian, joplin, vscodium, godot, etc.) all have linux versions, and the ones that don’t (like SumatraPDF and AIMP) have linux alternatives. Okular and Gapless has been working great!
There were very few issues, but there were some nonetheless. OBS Studio footage was very choppy as hardware decoding wasn’t working, and I had to dig deep into forums to install drivers for my intel igpu. Now it works fine, so that’s good! I also had an issue with a VPN app, but they support an app called “Clash Verge”. They only note the Windows and Mac versions on their site, but clash verge has a linux app too, and it works quite well!
I don’t play many games, mostly Minecraft and some retro titles. mGBA works fine on linux, and Minecraft java edition supports linux. I’ve also tried a bunch of linux games like SuperTuxKart and Xonotic and, considering they were made around a decade ago or so (I think) they were really fun! My other games ran fine with Steam installed, Proton and Wine makes them run fine!
I’ll be sticking with the penguin as it’s fun, playful, and is much cuter than both the window and the apple. :D
I think you’re just experiencing a usable UX experience though. You’re not talking about anything except one desktop environment.
Your uptime is better. Your resource usage is more sane. Your ability to control what you do and don’t want on your machine is better.
That’s really the bigger win for you from what I’m reading.
For most relatively-nontechnical users, UX is among the most important parts of any OS. As long as it “feels snappy” and doesn’t run out of memory too quickly, marginal differences in resource usage won’t even register. Ideological considerations about being in control have been there since the beginning of Linux – it’s only the absolute horror of Windows 11 that has brought that to a crisis point that has more people switching.
I make these points out of frustration with some linux software devs who seem to hold UX in contempt. Darktable, for example, is powerful enough to pull tons of market share from the ever-more-expensive-and-resource-hungry Lightroom/Photoshop, but the mediocre UX is a powerful disincentive. “Fork it!” is… an answer. But, despite using Linux, I’ve never written a line of code. Neither have most of photographers in the world currently using Adobe products. UX is extremely valuable and shouldn’t be a second-order consideration.
Neither have most of photographers in the world currently using Adobe products. UX is extremely valuable and shouldn’t be a second-order consideration.
IMO we will never see the year of the linux desktop unless devs on linux understand that their idea of a good UI/UX is not good to everyone, especially the target use case of their software. Focus groups are things that these big for profit companies do, that some random person sitting at home can’t easily do.
Instead of compiling your thoughts, you could’ve compiled your Linux kernel!
Just kidding, that was a nice writeup.
Underrated comment 🤣
If gnome was my first experience with Linux I think I never would have lasted with it. Glad it’s working for you. Mentioning which distro you went with would be helpful for a post like this btw, especially for anyone considering the change.
I’ll probably get flamed for this, but I feel like gnome works really well and is awesome if you just can be okay with change. People aren’t really all that good at being open when trying something different
I agree with you thoroughly. I hated on GNOME for looking different from Windows and immediately went to KDE.
Then one time I said “meh, why not try it?” and was immediately converted on the spot.
Now KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE etc don’t make sense to me anymorr. Why so many windows??
I don’t think you’re going to “get flamed” for that at all. Gnome is very popular.
Interestingly, I love the Gnome workflow and could never get into KDE. I tried a KDE distro for a while but it was after I’d tried Gnome and it just didn’t click for me.
I begun with GNOME and always come back to it when I try something else. But that’s what’s wonderful with Linux: there’s choice!
Hey nice job troubleshooting that OBS issue! OBS and Discord are common misbehavers on the common stacks.
I also like GNOME. I like KDE better but GNOME is default on the distros I like and it does the job well, it just isn’t as cool as KDE Plasma.
Yeah, I’m open to trying KDE some time in the future
And if GNOME is considered “not very customisable” in the linux world, KDE, Cinnamon, etc. must be even more customisable
It’s more like GNOME doesn’t come with a lot of customization options OOTB. You need extra tools -be it Tweaks, Extension Manager or the somewhat archaic Dconf Editor- to unleash the plethora of customization options in a palpable manner.
On the upside, GNOME’s extensions do allow for extensive customization with ‘ease’. Heck, this often goes beyond what other DEs are capable of (see e.g. PaperWM[1] or Material Shell[2]).
ahh okay, that makes sense. Material Shell looks very cool
Just a FYI: You can play with KDE in two ways.
- Use a live disk. I would suggest Kubuntu, burn it to a disk or USB drive and choose “try” instead of install. You can play with it and mess it up real good without ever installing anything. When you’re done it disappears.
- Use a VM to install a KDE distro. This will take up some space, but can be deleted without changing your current system.
Eh, why? KDE and Gnome work perfectly fine installed in parallel, at least on Debian, no VM needed. You can throw in XFCE and MATE for a good measure.
Sometimes you don’t want to install all the DE’s on your system. It’s nice to try stuff out as a newbie. When you become more experienced, install of things is easier if you break things.
Many of these things are down to the distro. So which one did you go with?
I didn’t see you mention anywhere what you picked. Seems like Fedora or something Fedora based?
fedora workstation :D
The VPN problem sounds strange to me because from what I’ve seen WireGuard has essentially become the de facto standard (which is native to Linux).
no the vpn I was using didn’t have a native app, so I was looking for alternatives. It uses v2ray, and v2raya wasn’t working. Clash verge works though, so it’s all good!
