I went back to Linux and it was a mistake

It’s a complete coincidence that I installed Linux astir the aforesaid clip arsenic my colleagues Nathan Edwards and Stevie Bonifield. A fewer months ago, I decided to respire caller life into a 2019 Dell XPS 15 that had been collecting particulate for a mates of years.

Despite its (at the time) high-end Core i7 CPU and 32GB of RAM, Windows was frustratingly slow connected it. The instrumentality was perpetually astatine afloat throttle moreover erstwhile the instrumentality was idle, and it regularly grounded to instal updates. So successful early 2024, I gave up and switched to an M1 MacBook Pro.

But I wanted to springiness my oldest kid thing to believe typing on. Plus, I’d been trying to find a suitable distraction-free writing solution. (Spoiler: this laptop was not the solution I was looking for.) So I installed Ubuntu. Again.

See, earlier the MacBook and earlier the Dell XPS, I was a Linux user. I first installed Ubuntu successful 2006 connected a ThinkPad X40. And it remained my superior OS crossed 3 different laptops and 13 years.

Despite some... let’s telephone them quirks (Wi-Fi didn’t activity retired of the container connected that X40), I was happy pinch Linux for a agelong time. I dual-booted Windows retired of necessity, and often had a work-issued MacBook connected hand. But those were for testing apps aliases circumstantial tasks, for illustration editing video. 99 percent of my life was spent successful Ubuntu.

That is, until astir 2017. As I sewage older, tinkering pinch my laptop changed from a hobby to thing that sewage successful the measurement of maine pursuing my different hobbies. I had rediscovered my emotion of making music, and, effort arsenic it might, Ubuntu Studio conscionable wasn’t cutting it. I was spending much clip successful Ableton Live, which meant much clip successful Windows, until successful 2019, I bought the aforementioned XPS and switched complete completely.

A batch has changed successful the 20 years since I first installed Linux, and moreover successful the 7 years since I past utilized it. It’s now arguably the champion level for PC gaming. There are genuinely awesome photo-editing apps, specified arsenic Darktable, which was introduced successful 2009. And location are moreover viable, commercialized options for making euphony successful Bitwig and Reaper, each of which person improved dramatically since 2019.

The Ubuntu installation process hasn’t changed much, but the interface is prettier. I put the ISO connected a thumb thrust and concisely considered wiping the XPS completely. I chickened retired astatine the past infinitesimal and decided to dual-boot, which meant repartitioning my difficult drive.

Right disconnected the bat, I was reminded that Linux hasn’t wholly flooded its fiddly nature. The fingerprint scholar didn’t work. A insignificant annoyance I decided to ignore.

More concerning was that Ubuntu grounded to instal updates because of an EFI partition issue circumstantial to the XPS 15 that was besides causing problems nether Windows. I managed to get them installed, but I’m not convinced I didn’t create a ticking clip explosive by deleting basal files.

Ubuntu besides refused to equine my Windows partition for the first period aliases so, earlier abruptly moving for chartless reasons. Stevie likewise admitted to “rage quitting and going to bed” erstwhile they couldn’t get Ubuntu to link to a 2nd SSD.

Nathan had his ain bizarre problems wherever his CachyOS refused to admit his mouse clicks. He was besides deed pinch action paralysis, trying to take betwixt 4 bootloaders and thirteen desktop environments. For some, this is portion of the appeal, the infinite customizability, the powerfulness to crook your machine to your each whim and make it genuinely yours. Ubuntu doesn’t propulsion its customizability successful your face, the measurement Cachy does, but it’s still location if you want it.

The problem, arsenic I encountered during my days of meticulously tweaking desktops and crafting my dream note-taking instrumentality utilizing Obsidian, is that you’re building a location of cards. One mini point successful immoderate seemingly inconsequential room aliases plugin could origin the full strategy to travel crumbling down. I don’t want to beryllium wasting my clip tweaking and troubleshooting erstwhile I already person things that work.

Even if you support it simple, arsenic I did connected my XPS, you’re hardly guaranteed soft sailing. Ubuntu is 1 of the best-supported Linux distros. And, while my circumstantial XPS 15 isn’t 1 of them, Dell has sold galore Ubuntu-certified laptops complete the years, truthful I figured I was successful the clear — wrong.

Several apps, whether from the charismatic Ubuntu App Center, downloaded snaps, aliases .deb packages, softly grounded to install. No evident error, nary nothing. I had to unfastened the terminal and instal them from location to spot what went wrong. Installing package connected Linux is someway moreover much confusing than it was 20 years ago.

Even the things that worked weren’t seamless. I sewage Steam up and running, but it took hours, required installing outdated 32-bit libraries, and it collapsed on the way. Oh, and Steam games refused to admit my audio interface; they would only play done the laptop’s speakers. CachyOS aliases Bazzite would person provided a smoother Steam experience. But it’s besides schematic of the problem. Saying you usage Linux is almost meaningless because location are truthful galore different flavors.

Thankfully, Bitwig recognized my audio interface, but it was fickle astir which MIDI controllers it wanted to activity pinch (an rumor I’d ne'er had connected the Mac version), and collapsed erstwhile I first tried to tally it. Also, while the autochthonal Bitwig instruments are solid, I missed my favourite soft synths and effects, for illustration Arturia’s Pigments, which is Windows- and Mac-only.

There were a fistful of different insignificant annoyances. If my laptop went to slumber (which it only seems to do erstwhile it’s plugged in, spell figure), it refused to reconnect to the outer difficult thrust I person hooked up, and it stopped recognizing the SD paper reader. To get them moving again, I person to reboot. It besides doesn’t aftermath connected input from a Bluetooth rodent aliases keyboard. I person to unfastened the lid to aftermath it erstwhile it’s hooked up to my dock and an outer monitor.

If I conscionable request a web browser, Ubuntu useful for illustration a charm. I had nary issues pinch my Wi-Fi aliases pinch Firefox. My XPS now runs faster and quieter than it did pinch Windows. And I sewage Obsidian up and moving pinch minimal fuss. I utilized Ubuntu arsenic my superior activity instrumentality for a fewer days, and everything was fine. But I tin do astir of my occupation from the confines of a web browser.

It’s everything else. I tin crippled connected my Linux machine, but the acquisition is smoother connected my Switch aliases PS4. I tin make euphony successful Bitwig aliases Reaper connected Ubuntu, but Ableton connected macOS is easier to usage and supports each my VSTs. GIMP and Darktable connection coagulated image editing, but let’s beryllium honest, they’re obscurity adjacent arsenic powerful arsenic Lightroom and Photoshop. Linux tin do each the things now — sometimes amended than Windows. But for each it does, it ever feels for illustration there’s a amended option.