We love to praise linux constantly and tell everyone to change to it (they should) but what are your biggest annoyances ?
Mine would be, installing software (made even more complex by flatpaks being added, among the 5 other ways there already were to install software) and probably wifi power management issues.
audio - Most of the time it works, but there have been plenty of times that after an install, I have to go in and make a handfull of changes to get it working.
“you are using it wrong” developers - Lookin at you, Gnome, Mozilla and Pottering. Yes, you are donating your time, and I appreciate that, but don’t be dismissive of people if they bring up valid issues. If you just don’t want to fix problems, that’s fine, but just be honest about that, instead of blaming the user.
sleep/hibernate - I’ve never depended on sleep or hibernate to work properly. I gave up on that years ago, and whenever I come back and try it again, I remember why I gave it up.
documentation - As a seasoned linux person, I love man-pages, but they are soooooo obtuse and hard to parse for newbies. I also hate it when the website has mountains of documentation, but they couldn’t be bothered to put that into the man-pages.
video/wifi drivers - Yes, I know that this is mostly a problem because of the manufacturers. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem.
unsympathetic users - Just because it works for you, doesn’t mean it works for other people. I can’t wait for year-of-the-linux-desktop, but it just isn’t there yet. As soon as you have to tell a non-tech to open a terminal, the vast majority of them are out. You and I know that ‘editing /etc/somedir/somefile and running /usr/sbin/somecommand’ is easy, but sooooo many of them don’t know what that means, nor will they care. I hear that windows is pretty bad nowadays, but people will often stick with the devil they know.
Last point is the most important in my opinion
So much this!
Please, if I don’t know how to build this from source, please tell me what I need to do.
Please say “open a terminal and type git clone [URL]” instead of “clone the repo.” Anything to be more verbose. This might be my first time.
Agreed. Even something like: “Read up more on this here at someurl.com for more info”. The assumption that everyone knows how your repo works, as well as the 3 different build-tools that you use, is quite a lot. I feel like a of the instructions are like how you draw an owl: https://kstarr.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/draw-the-owl-300x257.png
Idk man it all works for me.
Great summary, too many Linux elitists like to claim Linux to be without flaws and every other OS to be the devil.
I’d love for Linux to become more mainstream. But as long as those elitist are pulling the strings, it will never become user friendly enough for a regular user.
“But I moved my granny to Linux and she can use it” is their argument. When in reality every time this granny had an issue, the Linux user came around to fix it. The majority of people do not have a tech savvy user in their direct circle capable of fixing Linux. So the only option they have is to bring it back to the store they bought it from.
Great summary! Longtime Linux users and tech people in general tend to forget what it’s like to be a layperson, and take for granted all the skills it takes to daily drive Linux without trouble.
The audio stack is just just a nightmare, it’s not even funny. Sometimes, at random, when my PC boots, it will output white noise at full volume through my headphones. The is fine if I turned it on and went to get something, make a coffee, whatever. I can still hear it in the other room though. If I’m sitting at my PC and I was just rebooting, wearing the headphones: that isn’t ok. It damn near blows my eardrums out when it happens.
To be fair, my colleagues have audio issues on Windows more often than I do.
The classic “oh, windows reset all my audio configurations after an update… again…”
The unsympathetic/pedantic users and obtuse man pages are why I’ve abandoned Linux attempts in the past. The reason I am trying to move to Linux now, isn’t because those were fixed. It’s because windows is becoming the more annoying option. I’ve prevented my computer from updating win 10 until I can leave the platform. But I’m not looking forward to dealing with Linux frustrations. Especially the fucking users. I hate asking Linux people for help. 95% chance I just get a pedantic dickwad.
You can ask me for help, im pretty nice :) not a linux pro tho
Lol thanks, I appreciate the gesture
I think things are getting better. I’m not going to lie and tell you that it’s no longer a problem, but I think you can do a lot more with a little patience. I know there’s a lot of different implementations, so you might need to experiment as well. Good luck!
You can ask me for help, im pretty nice :) not a linux pro tho
Sleep and Audio are definitely my most annoying, and prominent, issues that I run into. Devices like USB audio interfaces I find tone temperamental. Oftentimes they will not be recognised on startup and I have to unplug them and replug them back in. I also gave up on hibernate, my PCs are now either on or off…