cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/34247715
Curious on the experiences of those recently migrating to Linux from Windows 10, Intel-based MacOS, etc. How is it being on Linux? Anything surprise or frustrate you?
I started usung mint on my home desktop in April 2025, completely wiping windows. Was a fun experience and here in 2026 I got the confidence to daily drive Linux on my work computer as well.
I’m using omarchy and loving it. It has been a great learning process and I feel like using my own computer is fun again. There are a lot of great programs on Linux as well.
Dropped Mac, iPhone and all US (cloud) services after 20 years in the Apple Universe.
Was using Linux Mint first and just bought a brand new Tuxedo Laptop in November and am using Tuxedo OS now which is a Ubuntu LTS fork with KDE Plasma and Flatpak instead of Snap.
I am really happy with my decision and not looking back. I feel like I have control over my stuff again and my computer is listening to me instead of forcing me to do things in a specific way that Apple deems correct.
My phone is a Graphene OS for now until Postmarket OS or Ubuntu Touch are usuable and I am self hosting everything I need on Proxmox / Podman and I have a TrueNAS Server with a 64TB Raid running.
How was switching up the phone? I’ve been on linux for 10 years, but I still use android because I’ve found the switch via the phone to be far more intimidating.
I actually cut out all distractions besides Lemmy, so I reduced phone usage by 2/3rds in the process.
I went form an iPhone 15 to a Pixel 6 that I got for free and it does everything I need. I am not a slave to my phone anymore, I just use it as a tool when actually needed - not as as a distraction machine.
not as as a distraction machine.
Yeah I’ve got a steam deck for that.
How about connectivity/ usability? Have you had any issues with particular apps or functionality?
Nope everything works. I have one profile with play services for my banking apps, but everything else runs in my daily profile that has no play services and no GPS, just the barebones and all apps installed via Obtainium.
I switched to FOSS apps for everything really.
What pixel would you recommend? Is the one you used sufficient?
It’s good enough for me, but will only be supported for about 10 months.
Your best bet is to get a 9 or 10 at this time.
I’ve been looking at a new phone myself, and also came to the pixel + graphene solution after doing some research. Best bang for your buck, performance-wise vs any phone capable of alternate OS (even if it is android based).
For an extra answer, GrapheneOS is based on stock Android, in contrast to the Linux-phone options they mentioned. Since it’s only (officially) supported on Pixel phones and focuses on security and privacy more than other customization, it’s actually the most stable and easy transition I’ve made, coming from an Android phone already. Installer is super easy compared to other phone OSs I’ve tried, you can do it by connecting the phone to a computer, opening https://grapheneos.org/install/web , and just pressing buttons to do all the normally-complicated steps. I was very impressed with that.
If you already use Android, Graphene is even easier than switching to Linux. It’s a very well-polished, well documented, and just a dead-ass simple process.
It’s a breath of fresh air and a real productivity boost. It’s been ages since I’ve been so enthusiastic and passionate about pc’s.
Vast improvements. No regrets. Still working through a few growing pains, though.
What are the few growing pains?
Tell you what, I’ll just link a couple of recent posts/comments from elsewhere:
Love it (CachyOS). For the most part, everything “just works.” I have no plans to go back—not even wishful musings.
There have been a few…let’s call them…stnanks.
- Not all of the sensors were recognized for my motherboard out of the box. The important ones, like basic CPU temp and a few others were fine, but more granular ones, like fan speed, Tjunc, Tdie, etc. were missing. I like to apply my own fan curves based on various sensor conditions, so this was a sticking point initially.
- Thankfully, the Arch wiki and a thanklessly maintained
dkmsmodule for this specific (problematic) chipset came to my rescue. Pretty easy to get set up.
- Thankfully, the Arch wiki and a thanklessly maintained
- A small number of very specific games and mods don’t work on Linux. If you exclusively play competitive online games, there’s a good chance you are going to be out of luck.
- I have friends that play League, but I’m not willing to give up Linux just for that one game. Plenty of other multiplayer games out there that work just fine.
- Audio routing is both easier and more difficult.
- There’s great GUIs to manage audio connections.
- Trying to get automatic connections going, like with VoiceMeeter, is a lot more technical and involves learning Lua and Pipewire/Wireplumber. Not impossible, and audio tends to work just fine otherwise, but if you want a specific custom setup, it will take some effort.
Overall, I wouldn’t trade what I have for Microsoft any day of the week. I’m done being their product.
Recently learned about cachy and installed it yesterday to give it a try. I love it. It’s like arch, so that’s nice if you’re already familiar with arch, but a little less manual, and more functional out of the box; literally every bit of hardware wierdness on my 2in1 laptop just worked out of the box. Also, I love the fish terminal.
- Not all of the sensors were recognized for my motherboard out of the box. The important ones, like basic CPU temp and a few others were fine, but more granular ones, like fan speed, Tjunc, Tdie, etc. were missing. I like to apply my own fan curves based on various sensor conditions, so this was a sticking point initially.
These few month been relatively smooth sailing. Lot of unlearning and recognizing just how limiting windows was in comparison.
I tried helping a friend with windows recently and immediate felt like I was back in the gulag, so yeah I think Im here for good
Switched from w11 to bazzite for personal use (still have to use windows for work) and it’s been great. Wish there were a few pieces of software with native Linux support so I could switch for work too.
Honestly it worked so well I often forget I’m a new user
Linux is amazing using it for one year now. File explorer tabs is the best thing. Steam proton games works great. Updating software is no longer a nightmare. Big thanks to the Linux community. :)
Nobara has been great. I fucked it up once and had to do a full resinstall. I also tried Mint and Bazzite but ended up going back to Nobara. Only had to go boot into Windows a few times to use some old programs but pretty much everything else has been perfect for me.
Feels great!
like a breath of fresh air.
Doing great. Learned alot about Linux. I’m not that good at working with coding or so, but I love the help I can get from the Linux community. I’m on Fedora, because I liked their homepage, and because I had to start somewhere😁
I switched over a decade ago. It was great. Since then Windows has only gotten worse and Linux and its desktops have only gotten better. It’s wild to me people still need to ask this.
amazing, best thing I’ve done (although I’m not a fan of bazzite) but besides bazzite, the best thing. never looking back.
It just works… nothing bothering me, no annoying bullshit. it all just works as expected
Switched from w10 to arch on my home, mostly gaming, pc. It feels nice, and i like their rolling update model. But i had s lot of experience with Ubuntu before, currently have it on my working laptop
