this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I've tried switching to Linux exclusively multiple times, and I always end up falling back to Windows on my desktop. I have multiple Linux servers and VMs, but there are two main barriers. First is gaming. Last time I tried, I couldn't get RTX working in some titles, EA launcher was broken, and it was generally just buggy. The second reason is for coding. I've been coding for Windows for almost 20 years, and I am hugely reliant on Visual Studio. I just can't find a comparable alternative for Linux.
I'd ditch Windows in a second if I could make Linux work for me, but so far I haven't had much luck.
I have a friend that does .NET development on Linux. So I guess that's possible. I know he uses JetBrains Rider as an IDE instead of visual studio. I'm sure there are some other hoops he jumps through, as well, but I never really dove into it with him. I always used Visual Studio in Uni, myself. I also have a Windows partition for gaming and music production.
.NET is infuriating enough on Windows. Any time I have to work with a .NET library, I always write a wrapper with a C or C++ interface first. Your friend who does .NET development on Linux has far more patience than I can ever hope to have.
For sure. If I was going to do .NET again I would just fire up Windows and Visual Studio like most other sane people.
I had similar issues. My Nvidia GPU was the main thing hold me back for so long. I finally upgraded to an AMD RX 7900 XTX and cycled my Nvidia GPU to my home server for transcoding, gpu compute, and KasmVNC GPU acceleration.
I also decided that ray tracing, HDR, and games that don't support Linux just aren't important to me, but it took me a long time to become okay with that.
For development, I guess I've been lucky in the type of work that I do in that Linux is a perfect fit. I find Windows to be far more of a hassle than it's worth, but if you do game development or Windows-specific development, I can see that being a barrier.
RTX is one of those things that just isn't optional for me. I may be in the minority, but I am far more concerned with how games look than how they run. As long as my FPS is above 30 or so, I'm generally okay with performance. I feel like Windows will always support those "extra features" like RTX before Linux, unfortunately. I really comes down to market share, I think; the developers at Nvidia and AMD are going to target Windows first, and the people who maintain Proton are stuck in second place. You'll have to pry Windows 10 out of my cold dead hands, though; I liked Vista better than Windows 11.
For development, I'm locked into Windows at work, but my job isn't specifically software development; it just happens to be a useful skill to have in my career. I do far more coding at home, and I certainly have the option of switching to Linux. I think I've just been spoiled by Visual Studio's all-in-one approach for so long. My #1 concern is debugging. I haven't seen an Linux IDE that allows for stepping back through the call stack and checking variable states inside the IDE quite like VS does it.
To be clear, I'm not bashing Linux at all. I've been a homelabber for longer than I can remember, and I have a total of 3 physical machines and VMs that run Windows compared to a total of probably 20 that run Linux, FreeBSD, or some other POSIX variant. I have so few Windows machines that I actually own legal licenses for all of them. I do feel like the people who say "Just run Linux on your desktop PC; it can do everything Windows can" are looking at the operating system through rose-colored glasses. Linux will always be the best choice for anything that doesn't require having a monitor attached, but otherwise, it feels like it's playing catch-up to Windows.
For sure, there are compromises no matter what you pick. I just hit the point where Linux checked enough boxes for me to ditch Windows. I hope that it gets to that point for you eventually!
I use VS Code on Linux, but yeah regular VS is Windows-only. Maybe people good at compatibility layers can get it working.
VS Code(ium) doesn't work for you instead?