It’s only been a few days with a Linux system as my daily driver and I already gained more understanding about how UNIX operating systems work than I did all the previous years with macOS (and dabbling with Linux on the side). It’s nice to finally see how much complexity is usually hidden away, e.g. when using a fingerprint reader for authentication. You can break things easily though, I’ll have to get used to that.
1 Like
Jeez. I had a '60 MGA and later a '70 MGB. You’re right–Linux on a Framework is a lot like an MG: if you aren’t willing to learn how to fix it, it’s probably not the right choice for you.
Regarding the pre-internet days, you obviously hadn’t discovered Moss Motors in Goleta, CA. They bought the old dies from MG and manufactured most everything you might need. I still have my MG Workshop Manual; it was invaluable.
1 Like
I’ve made that switch almost 20 years ago: I started doing everything but gaming on Linux, and for the past 2 years I’ve managed to do everything (including gaming!) on it.
Never regretted, never will.
I’ve even refused job opportunitiese because the wouldn’t let me install Linux on my work computer. And I’ve never regretted that either.
And, by the way, my Framework is running Arch Linux since the first boot, and Windows (if there will ever be need for it) will only work on a VM.
2 Likes
Same here, though I’m still waiting for my Framework. 
2 Likes
Ah yes the obligatory “btw I use Arch” meme lol
4 Likes
I swear, this time was not intended. Maybe it comes out naturally, at this point 
7 Likes
Pretty sure you recompile your own DNA to write that requirement in when you compile the kernel for Arch 
3 Likes
Licensing issues centered around patent law.
One of the many things you are getting when you purchase a retail operating system are codec licenses. It you don’t spend money on a distribution then you are not buying a codec license.
MP3 patents expired in 2017, MP4 patents will likely expire in 2023, but by then there will probably be something new patent and codec to draw licensing profits from.
iTunes is definitely one of those for me. I’m trying to avoid Amazon Prime. I’ve amassed a decent iTunes library, and kind of want to keep it.
Like AMD breaking the 1GHz barrier, Linux established a standard for computing for me a few decades back. Windows 10 has largely met that standard. For me it is switching back, rather than switching, and it feels like home when I log into KDE.
Some things are different, I keep wanting to fire up XMMS or Amarok instead of Elisa. I’m running Microsoft Edge instead of Konqueror. I’m tinkering with TLP for power savings rather than Beryl/Compiz-Fusion for graphical effects.
For the most part, I’m just using my computer. Check my email, listen to music, do some online shopping, watch videos on YouTube and watch it drain the battery in all my devices, etc.
2 Likes
Not necessarily, Windows doesn’t bundle AV1 into the OS, you have to seek it out on the Windows Store and download it. Also HEVC and they have the balls to charge 0.99 cents for it.
I managed to lose the entire library I had ripped from CD’s a while back…keep backups is the lesson learned there
I’m taking the opportunity to rebuild my library from scratch using DRM-free marketplaces
I shop for games at GOG for the same reason
1 Like
Yeah, I lost my CD’s and DVD’s a couple moves back, my backup drive was dropped and failed during this last move. Also, life typically keeps me limited to a single room for my personal belongings, hence a laptop and iTunes. GoG works well, though I have spent more money on Steam than GoG.
Last time I used Linux, I was focusing on a DRM-free library that I could move between OSes. When Walmart closed its MP3 store, and I decided it was necessary to stop maintaining a physical CD Library, I gave up on that. It was the era of the iPhone and I already had an iPod, so I moved to purchasing digital copies through iTunes.
2 Likes
No need for that: the code triggering that joke depends on an env var, _NO_MORE_ARCH_BTW_JOKES=“not-true”. Slightly misleading, but if I don’t forget to set it, it works
4 Likes
Also: if you do it sixty-nine times, it becomes nice…
2 Likes
I managed to finally extract my wife’s library and decouple our home from Apple completely (well, save one iPad running virtual cycling software on my bike trainer). It took a while, especially as I was also organizing and cleaning up metadata, but you should be able to export everything from iTunes now to DRM-free files to take to whatever platform you like. I’ve currently got it all served up on a Plex server.
1 Like
I have switched back and forth between Windows and Linux on my Framework at least 3 times. I ended back up on Windows because audio support is better AND eGPU support is better (especially when using NVIDIA based GPUs).
However whenever I don’t need to use my Framework as my desktop anymore I’ll be putting Linux on it. The Linux distro I settle on will probably be Ubuntu. I would like to use Mint, but I feel like not using Wayland is something that means I might get left behind right when I get comfortable. I really like Sway as well, and using it instead of Gnome is great for me. It would be cool if Ubuntu has a version that ran Sway out of the box. I do really like Cinnamon though, so hopefully the Mint folks make the switch to Wayland sooner rather than later. However, I suppose you could use Gnome like a tile manager using snap to side like you would in Windows. You just aren’t going to benefit from having a more streamlined overhead.
2 Likes
When I first changed to Linux, it wouldn’t natively run any games except Freecell. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘when I boot into Linux, I have to focus on doing my work.’ Thanks Proton for ruining my productivity 
@Roberto_Vernina I’ve made that switch almost 20 years ago: I started doing everything but gaming on Linux, and for the past 2 years I’ve managed to do everything (including gaming!) on it.
3 Likes
Can’t say that I “switched” to Linux on the Framework laptop because I have only ever installed Linux on it. I started with Fedora 34 (Gnome) and now I am using Fedora 35 (KDE). Everything except fractional scaling worked just fine for me out of the box. I am a developer so I spend most of my time on the command line. My GUI needs are mostly limited to a web browser and a notes app and I haven’t had any issues with either. I am impressed with how Fedora has worked out of the box on this machine, especially considering all the issues I have on an Asus Zenbook 14 with a Ryzen processor. That laptop actually randomly decides to disable its keyboard, which makes it impossible to be my sole dev system if I am traveling and don’t have access to an external keyboard. The battery life on the Framework laptop isn’t the best but it is better than the Zenbook. I have learned to tolerate these problems with Linux because in the end I am able to work around or fix most of the issues, even if takes me a while to learn how a specific part of the OS works and how I can fix my issues. The problem I have had with Windows is that my ability to fix issues is limited. Windows ran fine for nearly 2 years on the Ryzen system I built. Then the BSODs started and I nearly lost my mind. My dev setup was just fine with WSL and Docker Desktop but I just couldn’t stand the 5-10 BSOD events every day. I still have a Lenovo laptop with Windows 11 and use it quite often (and an office-issued Macbook Pro), but I’m daily driving the Framework with Fedora 35 and it is more than enough for 99.99% of my needs.
4 Likes
Just wanted to say that stock Fedora 35 works flawlessly for my needs full-time here out of the box. It’s rock solid and fast. Using it full time for Node development, browsing and some light gaming with Heroic.
3 Likes
Fedora 35 user here.
Laptop got uncomfortably hot when the power setting was set to Performance mode, and was doing OBS + a game with it. Battery life is also not as long as I’d like it to be, around 3-4 hours with Youtube and Discord calls going concurrently for 90% of my use case in Battery Saving mode - definitely lower with Performance mode optimizations and gamestreaming.
However, stock GNOME is fluid on this laptop. Aside from some GNOME hangups and crashes, the animations are smooth and responsive. PopOS is more responsive in terms of UI for the same hardware as well - but those are PopOS optimizations. Great laptop for Linux users overall.
Just waiting on coreboot and the nuking of Intel ME now…
Oh noticed that too, I normally use power saver exclusively but had one situation were additional computing power would have been nice and was a bit surprised when temperature skyrocketed instantly.
You are also right about the smooth Gnome experience - I was really happy with that as I grew fond of Gnome as a DE on my desktop.
But I’d say I get more than 3 hours battery life out of it in my daily usage.
1 Like
In this group, I’m a bit of an outlier. I’ve been using linux since the summer of '97. I am a technical person, so for me the change was a no-brainer, even though at that time there were no useful WYSiWYG word processors, and, because RH 4.1 didn’t have a modularized kernel, I had to recompile the kernel just to have point-to-point protocal to, yes, dial into my ISP (that meant doing a little hacking to get the handshake.) Why put up with some of the pain?
First, the stability of linux at that point was much better than W-95. At the time outlook was thought of as a security hole that was also a mail transfer agent. Price was also a related issue. I didn’t want to actually pay for windows problems and frustrations. The price issue was, and is, deeper. I used a variety of languages, including c++, pascal, and fortran, each of which would have been expensive to purchase for windows. All of them were free with linux. I should also mention that even in 1997, there were really nice window managers that could look very much like windows if you wanted. So, the system came up with very usable editors (I still use vim for some cases, and emacs for many others) compilers, and even some plotting capability (gnuplot) out of the box.
Over the years I migrated, first to suse linux, then for many years to Debian, and finally to Ubuntu, a Debian-based distro.
If there are gamers on this thread, I should tell you that my son, a dyed-in-the wool windows gamer, discovered that with the right software (glorious egg roll version of wine), and some care that almost all windows games run better on linux (by better I mean higher frame rates at higher graphics settings) than they do natively on windows. He is now a linux user. He does now have a steam-deck that he absolutley loves.
There are very specific areas that Linux does not do as well in:
GIMP is good enough for me, but people prefer photoshop (enjoy buying it)
Sound and video recording and editing is probably better on a Mac
Screenwriting software may be problematic, although my wife uses a web-based tool that she likes.
Most physicists I know use linux for any actual computation. I don’t know of a high performance computing center that uses anything else.
My final note is about desktop environments. My son convinced me to try KDE. I am still using it on my framework, but I will probably change sometime soon back to gnome. I am not a fan of gnome-3. I don’t know what people see in it. However, Ubuntu has gnome-session-flashback, which looks just like gnome-2 if you want it to (I do), with all of the modern eye-candy.
2 Likes