Everyone Is Switching To Linux
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses the resurgence of interest in Linux, addressing common issues faced by new users, such as software compatibility and the learning curve. It highlights the challenges of using applications like Photoshop and video editing tools on Linux, the complexities of GPU drivers, and the importance of understanding the terminal. The speaker shares personal experiences with Arch Linux and emphasizes the continuous improvement of the Linux ecosystem, encouraging a gradual learning approach rather than a sudden switch.
Takeaways
- ๐ง The speaker has been using Arch Linux for about five years and acknowledges its reputation for being difficult to install.
- ๐ฝ The video discusses common issues faced by new Linux users, such as the lack of direct Photoshop alternatives and the challenges with video editing software.
- ๐จ For creative professionals, tools like GIMP and Inkscape are mentioned as alternatives to Photoshop, but they lack some features and have a learning curve.
- ๐ป The speaker highlights DaVinci Resolve as a professional video editing tool available for Linux, but notes issues with its free version and installation difficulties.
- ๐ฅ๏ธ There are ongoing challenges with Linux compatibility, especially with client-side decorations and window management in certain applications.
- ๐ง The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding terminal usage in Linux for troubleshooting and advanced configurations.
- ๐น๏ธ The Steam Deck's success has given confidence to new Linux users and showcased the potential of Linux for gaming and general use.
- ๐ฎ Gaming on Linux is discussed, with the speaker noting that while many games work well, some with strict anti-cheat measures may not be compatible.
- ๐ ๏ธ Hardware compatibility is a concern for Linux users, as some devices may lack native software support, requiring community-driven solutions.
- ๐ Learning about Linux internals, such as package managers and the kernel, is encouraged for a deeper understanding and better troubleshooting.
- โณ The Linux experience is improving over time, with the community and developers working to address issues and improve software availability.
Q & A
Why is Arch Linux considered difficult to install?
-Arch Linux is notorious for being difficult to install due to its hands-on approach, requiring users to perform a significant amount of configuration and setup manually, which is not the case with more user-friendly distributions.
What is the speaker's experience with Linux and Arch Linux?
-The speaker has been daily driving Linux for about five years, and throughout that time, has been using Arch Linux. They have encountered many issues but also appreciate the distro for its features.
What creative software challenges are discussed in the script?
-The script discusses the challenges of using alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, such as GIMP and Inkscape, which may lack certain features or have a steeper learning curve compared to Photoshop.
What is the speaker's stance on GIMP as a Photoshop alternative?
-The speaker acknowledges that GIMP is a reasonable tool once you get used to it, but it is not a one-to-one replacement for Photoshop, lacking many equivalent and basic features.
What video editing software is mentioned as a professional alternative to Adobe Premiere on Linux?
-DaVinci Resolve is mentioned as a professional video editing software that is natively written for Linux and can be an alternative to Adobe Premiere.
What issues does the speaker encounter with DaVinci Resolve on Linux?
-The speaker encounters issues such as lack of AAC support in the free version, encoding problems, installation difficulties, and window management issues related to client-side decorations.
Why is the speaker using NVIDIA for video editing?
-The speaker is using NVIDIA because it is the most performant and optimized for video editing tasks, especially with high-performance cards like the 4090.
What are some of the issues with NVIDIA drivers on Linux?
-The speaker mentions that NVIDIA drivers on Linux have had a rocky history, with issues such as drivers randomly disappearing, requiring a reboot, and difficulties with screen tearing and X11 graphical glitches.
What is the speaker's view on the learning curve of Linux?
-The speaker describes Linux's learning curve as a 'learning cliff', emphasizing that to get the most out of Linux, one must learn to use the terminal, which is central to most operations beyond basic tasks.
What is the speaker's opinion on the Steam Deck's role in Linux adoption?
-The speaker believes that the Steam Deck, with its desktop mode, has given people confidence in Linux's usability and has inspired them to try Linux more seriously.
What misconception about Steam OS does the speaker address?
-The speaker clarifies that Steam OS is a customized distro for the Steam Deck and is not a generic operating system that would be any different from other distros if used on any PC hardware.
What advice does the speaker give for choosing a Linux distro?
-The speaker advises using whatever distro makes sense for what the user is trying to do, recommending against Arch for beginners and suggesting Pop West for gamers due to up-to-date drivers.
What gaming experiences does the speaker share in the script?
-The speaker shares experiences playing CS 1.6 on Fedora 39, mentioning that it worked perfectly, and discusses their general gaming experience on Linux, including playing single-player action RPGs and Path of Exile.
What hardware compatibility issue is mentioned in the script?
-The speaker mentions an issue with the Insta360 webcam, whose software does not exist for Linux, highlighting the need for research when buying hardware that may not have Linux support.
What is the speaker's perspective on the future of Linux?
-The speaker believes that while Linux is improving and becoming more user-friendly, it will not become completely mainstream until there is a user-friendly, generic Linux operating system that can replace Windows, like Steam OS.
Outlines
๐ Arch Linux and the Switch to Linux Trend
The speaker introduces the topic of the video, discussing the resurgence of interest in switching to Linux, particularly Arch Linux, which is known for its challenging installation process. They express their surprise at the continued popularity of 'switch to Linux' videos and decide to compile common issues and solutions from these videos rather than creating individual responses. The speaker has been using Arch Linux for about five years and acknowledges that while it's not the best for everyone, they have encountered many of the issues discussed in the videos.
๐จ Photoshop Alternatives and Video Editing on Linux
The speaker addresses the common issue of finding suitable alternatives to Adobe Photoshop for Linux users, particularly those in creative fields. They mention Inkscape and GIMP as alternatives but note that GIMP, while functional, lacks many features of Photoshop and has a learning curve. The discussion then shifts to video editing, with a focus on DaVinci Resolve as a professional alternative to Adobe Premiere. However, the speaker points out several issues with Resolve on Linux, including lack of AAC support in the free version and various bugs and installation difficulties.
๐ฅ๏ธ Linux Desktop Environments and GPU Driver Challenges
The speaker talks about their experience with different Linux desktop environments, particularly the issues they faced with DaVinci Resolve's window management on Linux. They also delve into the complexities of using NVIDIA GPUs on Linux, noting the improvements with the latest drivers but also the lingering issues, such as the need for reboots when drivers stop working. The speaker emphasizes the importance of open development in the Linux community, which contrasts with the closed development practices of some companies, leading to smoother experiences with AMD on Linux.
๐น๏ธ Gaming on Linux and the Learning Curve
The speaker discusses the gaming experience on Linux, mentioning their personal preference for single-player action RPGs and the challenges faced with competitive games due to anti-cheat software. They also touch on the learning curve associated with Linux, describing it as a 'learning cliff' due to the necessity of using the terminal for many tasks beyond basic internet browsing. The speaker shares their positive experience with the Steam Deck and its desktop mode, which has influenced their decision to explore Linux more deeply.
๐ ๏ธ Linux Distro Selection and Hardware Compatibility
The speaker reflects on the tribalism within the Linux community regarding distro preferences and emphasizes the importance of choosing a distro that suits one's needs. They discuss their decision to use Arch Linux despite its complexity and recommend against it for beginners. The speaker also addresses the importance of researching hardware compatibility with Linux, citing examples of devices like the Insta360 webcam and the Elgato Stream Deck, which may not have native Linux support.
๐ง The Linux Learning Experience and Future Prospects
The speaker concludes by sharing their learning experience with Linux, focusing on understanding its core components such as the kernel and package managers. They acknowledge the frustrations that come with learning while trying to maintain existing workflows and the importance of taking a gradual approach to learning Linux. The speaker expresses optimism about the future of Linux, noting the improvements over time and encouraging viewers to share their experiences and challenges with the Linux operating system.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กArch Linux
๐กPhotoshop
๐กGIMP
๐กDaVinci Resolve
๐กWayland
๐กGPU Drivers
๐กLinux Distributions
๐กSteam Deck
๐กGaming on Linux
๐กHardware Compatibility
๐กLearning Curve
Highlights
Arch Linux is notorious for being the most difficult to install.
The trend of switching to Linux videos seems to recur periodically.
Common issues and misunderstandings about Linux are discussed.
The speaker has been using Arch Linux for about five years.
Photoshop's absence on Linux is a significant hurdle for creative professionals.
GIMP is a reasonable tool but lacks many Photoshop features.
DaVinci Resolve is a professional video editing app natively written for Linux.
DaVinci Resolve on Linux has issues like lack of AAC support and installation difficulties.
NVIDIA drivers on Linux have improved but still have issues.
AMD drivers are smoother on Linux due to open development.
OBS sometimes fails to recognize screens or has compatibility issues with drivers.
Wayland has screen capture issues and kinks that need ironing out.
Linux has a steep learning curve due to its reliance on the terminal.
Steam Deck's success has given people confidence in using Linux.
Steam OS is not a generic solution for all PCs but a customized distro for Steam Deck.
The choice of Linux distro should be based on individual needs and not just popularity.
Gaming on Linux is possible but may require research and driver updates.
Hardware compatibility with Linux varies and requires careful consideration when purchasing.
Hyprl and, the issue of file dragging and dropping between apps is criticized.
Linux is improving over time, but it's essential to manage expectations and learn gradually.
Transcripts
Arch Linux, notorious for being the most difficult to install (I'm not subbing the rest of this).
Get stuffed, Apple. And especially Microsoft, right? You know why? I'm turning into a penguin.
Right now, it seems like everybody is doing a switch to Linux video. I thought after the Linus
challenge two or so years ago, we were basically done with this. But no, I guess has to come back
around every so often. Now, I could make an individual video on each of these different
situations, but frankly, a lot of what is being said is basically the same thing over and over
again. So instead of doing that, what I decided to do is go through, watch all of these videos,
and put together a collection of common things that are being said, common issues that people had,
and talk about whether they have solutions, whether these are actual problems, or just
a general lack of understanding of how Linux actually functions. Now, if you're new to the
channel and don't know who I am, I have been daily driving Linux for about five or so years now.
And for the entire time, I have been using Arch Linux. This is not to say that everybody should
use Arch or Arch is the best distro. It is. But that's not the point. I have run into a lot of
issues myself. And a lot of the problems that are being brought up here, I have certainly seen myself.
Let's start off with the big one. You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it.
Let's talk about Photoshop. Now, normally, I would say you don't actually need Photoshop. You
would just bring this up as an excuse for not wanting to use Linux. But we're not talking about
random people making excuses here. We are talking about people operating in a creative field where
they are using Photoshop for their job. And some people here are familiar with Inkscape.
One person actually discovered that Photopea exists. But whilst I personally do use GIMP,
and GIMP is a reasonable tool, once you get used to using it, it is not a Photoshop one-to-one
replacement. It is missing a lot of equivalent features. It is missing a lot of basic features
like multi-layer selection is only coming up in the new version. Non-destructive editing
is only coming up in the new version. It's got a weird layout out of the box. It's got some odd
hotkeys. And honestly, learning GIMP is a challenge series unto itself. You can't just
easily replace something like Photoshop if your entire workflow is built around using it.
Now, video editing is also in a pretty bad situation, but not as bad. And I don't just
mean, oh, you could use Kdenlive or Shotcut. Kdenlive and Shotcut are basically the same
tier as GIMP. What I mean is this. It's fortunate that in video editing and VFX, there are actually
a number of professional apps written natively for Linux, which brings us back to dumping Adobe
Premiere for DaVinci Resolve. I am honestly surprised by how many people this time around
have talked about using DaVinci. I remember last time there was a lot of Premiere and other things
like that. I guess Adobe is annoyed enough people that they're at least willing to get rid of that
one part of it. And yeah, Resolve is available on Linux. Asterisk, Asterisk, Asterisk, Asterisk,
Giant Pile of Salt, Pray to the Gods is actually going to work because
Resolve has a number of issues on Linux. The free version is a bit of a mess. For example,
When I do recordings with OBS, there would be no problem with the normal playback,
but when I'm imported into DaVinci Resolve, there would be no audio. Apparently, AAC isn't
supported in Resolve for Linux. Yeah, this is entirely a free version Resolve issue. So my
understanding is AAC support on Linux is done with some reverse engineered drivers and most of the
applications on Linux make use of those drivers. Resolve doesn't want to do that. They want to
use their own special source solution that is only included in the paid tier, which has a little bit
of a very high price tag attached to it. However, even if you work around that, there are still
a number of other issues like the application, sometimes just breaking your encoding,
it not opening, it being an absolute nightmare to install on anything besides the specifically
supported distro it wants to work on. If you want to install it on something arch based,
you're probably going to have to manually edit some package builds. If you want to use the beta
build, that's probably going to be out of date. And because Arch's dependencies always misalign
with the thing it's actually built against, it might just not work anyway. And here's something
for the GNOME developers who insist on client side decorations. Like I mentioned in my podcast setup
in OBS, I had some window management issues with DaVinci Resolve as well, in that you can't
like at all. DaVinci Resolve for whatever reason doesn't maximize or resize inside of Linux,
at least not that I could figure out how to do it. It doesn't even have the maximize close and
minimize icons in the top right of the window, let alone the ability to drag the window around
or grab it and resize it. This is what happens when you insist on client side decorations
and an application developer just says, we don't care to support your broken platform.
And if we're talking about big things, we cannot forget the one that ends up biting so many people.
The reason I'm using NVIDIA is simply because it's the most rational choice. I built my computer
first and foremost to excel at video editing and NVIDIA cards, especially the 4090, are by far the
most performant and optimized when it comes to that. If I were... It's all well and good to say
AMD drivers better, AMD drivers better, just get AMD. A lot of people when they switch to Linux
are just using the system they already had. Now, the NVIDIA experience on Linux has had a very
rocky history, but as of late, things are getting a lot better, especially on Wayland with the 550
and 555 drivers. But whether you have access to those drivers out of the box is going to depend
on what you're actually using. If you're using an LTS release of Ubuntu...
Well, you know, you're on an LTS release of Ubuntu. If you're on something like PopOS,
you'll have a much better experience. If you're on something like Arch,
a much better experience. But it's still in that situation of transitioning from being
really bad to where it should be. I'm not going to say exceptional, but like baseline good.
But at the same time, I'm now seeing reports of the opposite happening over on the X11 side.
I had those X11 graphical glitches even on Arch Linux, so Cinnamon was out of the question as well,
which once again brought me back to i3. And of course, there's been long-running issues
like screen tearing that are just never going to be resolved. There are technically ways to
deal with on X11, but it's hit and miss whether it actually works. But most from the topic of GPU
drivers. Weird issue I ran into with these drivers was that these randomly disappear and stop working.
Everything that uses these drivers refuses to work, and I eventually need to reboot my PC.
I've had the exact same thing happen with AMD GPU drivers as well. OBS just sometimes
breaks. It sometimes forgets that drivers actually exist. Usually just doing a reboot fixes it.
Sometimes there's like a mismatch of the application version and the GPU drivers,
so doing an update there usually fixes it. But it's just messy. GPUs are just messy.
At the end of the day, when we're talking about these Nvidia driver issues,
it is up to Nvidia to actually get them resolved. The reason that AMD is a smoother experience on
Linux isn't some magic that AMD has done. It's because things are developed in the open,
it's easier to test, it's easy to modify, and it's easier to ensure that the developers aren't
doing something really, really stupid that everybody else has to account for. But before
we completely move on from OBS, one more thing. Although it installed with ease,
but it wasn't recognizing my screen. So after a few hours of debugging and a Stack Overflow
solution, we were good. Now to use H. You might have noticed that little thing right here. This is
a Wayland user. So Wayland and screen capture works, right? Like I'm doing it right now. That's
what you're seeing when you're seeing my screen. The problem is there's still a couple of kinks
here and there. Sometimes the portals just die and they crash and OBS needs to be restarted or you
need to restart the portal or there's like another portal running in the background that's conflicting
with the portal which can happen if you have multiple desktops installed. Basically, sometimes
things just don't work. Sometimes they just don't work. Usually you can just restart things and
they start working though. Now this next point always gets brought up, but it seems like it's
a lot less often this time around. Or from that, it's like a lot of things have like a curve,
like the learning curve, you know, like as you want more from it, it gets harder. Well, Linux is
more like this. It's a learning cliff and you go, oh, what's this? Oh, it's called terminal. This is
like the lifeblood of Linux, like random distro tube. You want to do nearly anything like that's
beyond just browsing the internet. You're going to be in terminal and you got to learn how to
like do script and whatnot. And to people who've lived and grown up with this and work.
Yes and no, like you can go about your day never interacting with a terminal. If you want to go
and install software, every major desktop and every distro ships the application software
center thingy, whatever the desktop calls it, a GUI for installing software. And that's the main
thing you're going to use the terminal for anyway, file browsing, video editing, image editing, most
of the things you never have to interact with a terminal. Now you can and they usually are CLI
tools out there that you can use if you want to where you really need to interact with the terminal
though is where there are these like weird edge cases where things don't necessarily work. Like,
hey, there's a driver for this, but the driver is weirdly configured out of the box. You got to go
and run this like weird command that changes some random setting in those cases. Yes. But most of
the time you can use it like windows, you can use it like macOS and just pretend like the terminal
doesn't exist. But not everything is negative. I got the confidence to really jump in the Linux
after the Steam Deck. The fact is got like a desktop mode and it's just a computer. It's fine.
It's got everything you need like keyboard and mouse straight into it and the external display.
I've happily lived out of this and that's what really inspired me to have a good old go at it. So
in boot 2 I find.. Also he says Ubuntu wrong, just ignore that. I am really happy to see that people with no
experience using Linux or very minimal experience using Linux are trying out the desktop mode
on the Steam Deck. I've been using my Steam Deck as much as I should be even playing way too much
Path of Exile, but KDE is in a really good state and Valve has built some really nice integrations
with their desktop with the Steam Deck and made everything just like a nice package that works
together. And it's given people this idea that Linux isn't actually that hard to use. With that
being said, I don't think this should be your takeaway. Well is Linux going to be completely
mainstream given how like miserable Windows is and whatnot? No. Not until Steam OS is just
something that you can download and put on your computer instead of Windows. Steam OS
You do not understand how many times I've heard people say this. Steam OS is a customized distro
that makes a lot of sense for the Steam Deck hardware. Much like the operating system on a PS5
makes a lot of sense for a PS5. If you turn that into a generic thing that could run on any PC
hardware, it wouldn't be any different. From any other distro out there, yeah there's a couple
of nice little gaming tweaks here and there, but for the most part it's literally just a regular
distro. Yes, it is an atomic distro, but there are a lot of atomic distros out there now. If you
want something more catered towards gaming, try out Ublue Bazzite. But on the flip side of that,
I do understand this annoyance. For the most important question, which distro did you go with?
Drumroll please. Obviously it's going to be Arch. I went with the wrong one. That's right. It
doesn't matter what I chose. People would still complain. Some of you are so passionate about
the Linux distro that you use that you actively hate when people use other ones. Like you're on
the same team here. Yep. This is very, very, very true. It can be confusing. People can be
tribalistic. I like to joke about Arch Linux, right? Like I honestly don't care if you want to use
Arch or don't want to use Arch. I would honestly recommend against it if you're a beginner user
and don't want to mess around with stuff in your terminal. But at the end of the day, use whatever
makes sense for what you're trying to do. Now the problem is if you're new, you don't really have the
criteria and the knowledge to understand what makes sense for what you're trying to do. But
frankly, any of the major distros are going to be pretty much fine. If you do gaming,
I would recommend leaning more towards something like Pop West just to make sure drivers are up
to date. But if you don't game, literally anything's going to be fine. And since we're here, let's talk
a bit about gaming. There's something which I didn't mention in the previous video at all,
which is gaming, but I actually did try a bit of gaming on the Fedora 39 setup at the end of 2023.
The first game I tried was CS 1.6, which worked perfect. Very modern video game, by the way.
Fine. Even on i3, though, for whatever reason, it did default to my secondary vertical monitor at
first. I also joined a server and had... Yeah, i3 can be weird sometimes. There's like random little
things you got to make sure you configure. Like, I wouldn't recommend doing window managers for
like beginner users. Livakivi's been using Linux like on and off for a bit, so like very different
situation. He decided to try out Arch this time, so like, not the average experience we're seeing
here. Now for me, outside a couple of exclusives and random games I got cheap on console, most of my
gaming is done on my Linux machine. But I'm not really into like competitive shooters and other
games that have very heavy anti-cheat. Most of what I play is, as you saw, Weeb garbage,
uh, single player action RPGs, and a lot of Path of Exile, all of which works great. But I understand
I am not the average person, though. Also, you can see I can't play League of Legends. Now while
some of you may argue that is a good thing, I would. It's the only game I play and it just won't run
on Linux now due to their new anti-cheat program that run... Not just League, um, I think basically
everything that Riot does that's a multiplayer game. So, yeah. Now being YouTubers, there is a
lot of people playing hardware that most people just frankly aren't going to buy. As such, you run
into issues like this. You know, that would be a common theme that I discovered in the first few
days is that you have to do actual research when you buy a piece of hardware. I have an Insta360
webcam and their software to control the position and visual settings doesn't exist for Linux.
This is never a problem in Windows or macOS because you just...
Sometimes problem in macOS, but generally no.
Assume the software will be supported and 99% of the time you're right. Luckily the default is...
Yeah. On Linux, most of the time it's... most of the time it's fine because most of the time
things are using like normal, sensible drivers or somebody has gone out of their way to make
support for that hardware. But there are absolutely cases like this. I think a great example of this
is the Stream Deck. The Elgato Stream Deck, not the Steam Deck. It's like a streaming pad thing.
It has a bunch of keys on it. And for a long time that just didn't work on Linux until one developer
was like, I have a Stream Deck. I want it to work. And he went out of his way to write a driver for
to write software to control it. And now you can actually use it. And a lot of the time if you're
buying things that are like weird out of the box, they rely on specific software,
you do need to at least think a bit about it. One thing I'm really surprised about is this time
around a couple of people went and tried out Hyprland. And when they tried out Hyprland,
they all ran into the exact same problem. A problem I've criticised actually about.
And I've told him is an actual problem. And you can't pretend like it doesn't exist.
Oh, I got to know that Hyprland doesn't support dragging and dropping of files among two apps.
It does in few, but not every app. So there is a problem going between X Wayland and Wayland
Windows. Now it's one thing if you don't want to fix it, right? Like you can say I don't want to
fix it. That's fine. But don't pretend like you can just replace everything with a Wayland to
Wayland window. There are a lot of cases where you need to use X Wayland. But I am really glad
that people are treating this as a lot more of a learning experience than what happened in the
Linus Challenge. About a week in is when things started to go downhill because this time around,
I didn't want to just survive the Linux Challenge. I wanted to really learn the ins and outs of Linux.
What's a kernel? How do package managers work? What's the actual difference between distros?
It sounds good and all, but when you're forcing yourself into this while also slowing down your
existing workflows and not being able to use specific softwares, it gets frustrating very quickly.
Yeah, if you try to take on too much at once,
like this is how I did it, right? Like I was in the middle of university. I switched to art in a
semester. I was doing my assignments and learning art at the same time. I would not recommend doing
this approach. I would recommend getting used to a GUI and then trying out little things here and
there like, oh, what does this do? How do I do this? What's a terminal waste approach for this?
Oh, let's try this thing. Doing everything at once, you can make it happen, right? But like,
it's a much bigger commitment and you have to be willing to have things break then.
All in all, a lot of the issues I saw are kind of what I would expect. And in many cases,
the kinds of issues that I run into as well.
But whilst a lot of these people aren't going to keep using Linux, it does seem like the
vibes are generally getting better. People aren't using it and thinking, oh my god, this sucks. I
can't do anything. Why is everything broken? Why did I try to install Steam and it deleted my desk?
PopOS is never going to be able to live that one down. That was insane. I have no idea how
they shipped a version like that. But people are having a reasonable experience and most of the
problem now are things they want are missing, like software they need is missing. And that's much
better than what we had before. Every single day, things are getting better and better and better.
Sometimes we stumble along the way. Sometimes there are things that are like held up because
bikes shedding and all this dumb stuff. But if you come back a year, two years, five years from
now, you're going to have a better experience than you had before. And that's honestly all that
matters. So let me know, are you a Linux user? Are you a new Linux user? What is your experience?
And have you run into some problems as you've gone along the way? Are there problems that other
people have experienced? Or are they unique to your system? I would love to know. So if you
liked the video, go like the video. And if you really liked the video and you want to become
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