this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Programming

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And you, what's your operating system to code ? Me, I use Arch btw

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[–] Aux 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Windows here. And WSL. Best UI and hardware compatibility with all UNIX tools I might ever need. As a bonus I can also play games and use industrial apps for my hobbies.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Linux time.

Best UI

KDE’s UI is better, even if you don’t take the lack of ads into account.

hardware compatibility

What hardware do you use that isn’t compatible with Linux? The only time I had a problem with that was when I was sold a bootleg PS4 controller on ebay once, and it didn’t work via USB (official controllers do work tho). Connecting via Bluetooth fixed it.

I can also play games

Same.

industrial apps

…like forklift firmware?

[–] Aux 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

KDE’s UI is better

KDE was good many moons ago, sadly today it's just a useless mess.

What hardware do you use that isn’t compatible with Linux?

Printers, NVIDIA GPUs, latest Intel CPUs, WiFi, Bluetooth, DRM protected stuff, etc.

…like forklift firmware?

Apps ranging from Photoshop to Fusion 360, from TI and Evolv board firmware flashers to Chinese device apps, all kinds of CNC controllers, etc. If your hobby requires an app and it's not a software development related hobby then there's a 99% chance that it won't work on Linux. And even if there's a Linux version of the app, it might lack critical features, like DaVinci Resolve which lacks audio and video codecs on Linux.

The sad truth is that Windows today is the best Linux distro out there for desktop use. And if you can get your hands on an enterprise licence then you won't have any limitations or ads or whatnot.

[–] Espi 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Windows had a fantastic UI but I despise the changes they have made to it.

A bottom bar showing all your windows? fantastic! windows are such a core component of the OS that it sure looks like the OS was named after them right? So why in the world would closed programs, with no windows appear there? why would multiple windows fuse into a single icon?????

I was fine with just not pinning programs and setting the task bar to "never combine", but they literally removed the option with Windows 11. I really don't understand why Microsoft is de-emphasizing the 'windows' part of Windows. Apparently 'never combine' is coming back at some point to 11, so that's good.

Now, I'm not going to compare the Windows UI to Linux DE's since there are many alternatives that may or may not fit someone better.


As for hardware compatibility, I would say its a mixed bag on both directions. I moved my laptop from Windows to Linux when it started bluescreening when waking up from sleep. It works fine on Linux.

Sure, you have some WiFi cards that don't work out of the box on Linux. But they don't work out of the box on Windows either, you need to install the drivers on both OSs manually so its not any better.

Then you have some computers where Linux works like ass and can't sleep, and you got some computers where Windows works like ass and can't sleep.


The only solid arguments against Linux nowadays is

  1. Programs don't run.
  2. The Windows display stack is vastly superior, VRR, HDR and fractional scaling all working fine for a long time already where Linux is barely beginning to figure them out.
[–] Aux 3 points 1 year ago

I personally like Windows UI as it is with all the pinned buttons. It is the same way on Ubuntu and MacOS and this is what everyone is used to. Windows also has a lot of accessibility features, it's the only OS, which can be used with keyboard only, mouse only or even a gamepad only out of the box.

As for drivers, I only install drivers if I want additional features. Otherwise everything works out of the box. I haven't seen anything that doesn't work since Win7 days.