Long time Linux user feeling burnt out

I'm actually having the opposite experience (for the most part). All the little papercuts of yesteryear are almost completely gone, and it's only looking better on the horizon. Of course your mileage may vary depending on use case and hardware..

Some things of the top of my head:

• Flatpak replacing 3rd party PPAs. Brand new software without dependency hell or breaking system packages? Yes please
• Snaps and AppImages too
• XDG Portals standards, making snaps and flatpaks play nice with confinement
• Audio and Bluetooth? It "just works" now
• Pipewire
• Even gaming works really well now, with Proton, DXVK etc
• AMD and Intel drivers baked in to the kernel
• Wayland finally being production ready for many use-cases, and being adopted as the default, fixing so many of the ancient X11 issues (screen tearing, multiple displays with different scaling, refresh rate, fractional scaling) ( cries in Nvidia )
• Nvidia finally changing their mind so Wayland on Nvidia can be a thing (I can't wait 😊)
• KDE Connect / gsConnect phone integration
• Screensharing on Wayland even on legacy X11 apps becoming a thing through the new screensharing Portal

The only problem I've had recently is Ubuntu's forced snapification, and snap being very rough around the edges for Desktop apps (ahem drag'drop)

I use Linux, MacOS and Windows more or less parallel. Each has its quirks and benefits, but I would say Windows is the worst. MacOS looks very clean at forst glance, but has some weird things that appear randomly and seem to get worse with every update. On Linux it depends a lot on how you set up your system, my Fedora with mostly flatpaks works really well, but there are UI inconsistencies all over the place and maybe you need to look for a workaroubd from time to time.

Weird. I can drag and drop just fine. Are you using VScode from a snap or the DEB straight from https://code.visualstudio.com/

If it is frome the Software store then it is a SNAP and the application is now allowed to work that way. Perhaps the SNAP can see your Documents folder, but not your Downloads folder as an example. While annoying this is a security feature of SNAPS.

Right now I am using Ubuntu and I cannot drag and drop into VS Code from Nautilus, I can’t drag and drop from the default archive manager,

anything from Snap or Flatpak in there?

Always choose what’s right for your work. You can still keep your Linux distro for the less relevant tasks and skip to macOS for the main productivity job. It’s not a matter of religion

Yup Im like you, been using Linux since I was a kid basically. Probably for 20 years now I guess.

For me, its just screen sharing that is a major annoyance. This is something that is so annoying when it doesnt work, and quite embarrassing as well.

I have had periods when my Linux machine has been the most stable in the team. Mac users had constant problems with bluetooth issues and other bugs.

Currenly im the one having the most issues though, and my collegues with macs dont have any major issues.

So yep, its frustrating. But i really love linux and when I have used mac, I stopped being interested in open source and technology. I dont want to become that guy who just waits for the next Apple conference for exciting news. I enjoy new Gnome and KDE releases and reading about Linux features very, very much.

But yes, its not without its annoyances to run Linux.

macOS is still Unix, so you’ll find yourself somewhat at home in the terminal.

Honestly, if you’re distro hopping a lot, find one that supports your hardware well out of the box with a desktop environment that suits you and works and stick with it. Futzing around with everything can definitely make it more frustrating.

I’ll echo others’ comments and say that operating systems are tools. Find the one that works for the job. If I’m doing audio production, macOS wins for me. If I’m gaming, I have a Windows install. If I’m doing anything else, Linux is my preferred environment. Don’t overthink it, go with what works for what you need!

Don't use Snaps. Just don't use Ubuntu in general anymore. Switch to Mint if you liked Ubuntu. It's Ubuntu but with the parts that suck out. A freedom that doesn't exist in macOS or Windows.

Do it.

I currently use all 3 (M1 MacBook Air for a laptop while I'm at work, and Ubuntu 23.04/Win10 dual boot desktop, and an old Dell Latitude core2duo running AntiX for just sorta messing around with)

All 3 of the systems have their ups and downs. I just recently tarted using Linux again after trying it off and on for several years. This time seems like it's properly sticking for me though.

I also like to do audio production, and no matter how much people like to yell about how you can do music production on Linux, it's a right pain in the ass to deal with Jack and finding a DAW that doesn't have that classic FOSS learning curve.

So, I use Windows for music production because FL Studio works great, ASIO is surprisingly just fine and it supports all the plugins I use.

I like MacOS on laptops because of the fantastic touch pad, pretty insane battery life, good screens and good speakers. Not to mention that the Apple Silicon has been WAAY more than powerful enough for anything I throw at it.

I use Ubuntu as just a basic daily driver. Discord, Telegram, Firefox, a file browser. I don't really need to do much more than that on a daily basis. I enjoy that Linux provides me the ability to reduce big companies spying on me, but otherwise... It's fine. Gaming through steam proton is fine, chatting with friends is fine. It all just feels very middle of the road. I do appreciate the fast boot times I get, and the immediately usable desktop. The styling of Gnome 44 is also nice, but I just love "dock + top bar" setups personally.

As someone who uses all three, if I was forced to use any one of them for the rest of my life.. It'd probably be MacOS. You get the flexibility of an underlying unix system, and support for pretty much everything Windows has these days.

MacOS is a good middleground and everything blends it smoothly.

But tbh Ubuntu has gone south lately and GNOME has always had troubles with apps interoperability.

I find it easier to use Plasma because I can actually drag and drop to another app. But it's not perfect either.

Anyways, be it MacOS, Linux or windows the choice is yours. You should switch to something that feels good to you. Plus, on macOS you still have a decent terminal, zsh, etc.

Be free.

I’ve been a Ubuntu user for 12 years. Got bored. Turned my hp laptop into a Hackintosh. Got hooked on macOS and all the convenience the Apple ecosystem has to offer (copy on iPhone, paste on macOS; AirPods automatically switching to whatever device started to play audio; drag&drop works everywhere in exactly the way you’d expect; etc. etc.) Also with brew.sh you can install some commandline tools and use the Terminal almost the same as with Linux. Python and bash scripts work, there’s FUSE available, etc.

And the best: it all “just works”. There’s the odd issue after a major macOS update, but nothing critical.

I use Mac OS for work and Debian for my personal stuffs. Both have pro and cons.

On Debian. bugs happens, but not that much. But you are right, some stuffs are not simple as it should be, like configuring my wide screen display need to enter some CLI commands.

On the other hand, for Mac OS, everything work out of the box until you have a special need. I have those in mind:

• you need to install homebrew as package manager. Debian/Ubuntu have apt which basically works for (almost) everything out of the box
• can't play my FLAC files using iTunes, so I need to buy a paid software or do some research. On Linux, Rhythmbox works pretty well out of the box. I currently use mpv using CLI, I didn't find a better alternative
• the AZERTY keyboard layout doesn't work well with "not apple" keyboard. I needed to install an extra software to do this
• some pieces of software don't work as good as Linux (Inkscape, Libreoffice, etc..)
• Docker is not as good as it is for Linux
• OpenVPN is not integrated as the Desktop as Gnome do

I have to say, as several others have said as well, that these days, I don't recognize your tribulations at all. I can think of three possible reasons:

• I'm staying faithful to Arch, which is a much more robust system now than in the early 2000s
• thanks to Arch, I know my system quite well by now
• I've settled on Lenovos, so no Nvidia trouble or any of the other stuff that seems to plague others. I don't know if the machines I've had have been particularly well suited, but at least they have worked without any problems.

I would have liked to add "I've been faithful to DM x" as my fourth point, but that's not true: I abandoned KDE after 3.5, used Cinnamon for a while, and was happy with it, mostly, but when KDE became good again recently, I've switched – and must admit I have occasional problems with bluetooth and dual monitors, but nothing I can't fix.

Been trying out Linux mint recently and I haven't had any significant issues with it yet. I do miss some of the the tiling options that I get with windows though. I've been gaming with the steam deck, though I keep around a windows 11 desktop with WSL2 for windows only workflows and some games.

Whenever there's an issue I just RDP into the other machine for what I need, haven't had anything game breaking for me yet

I'm new to daily driving Linux. I've dabbled with Linux for years, but never used it that much until I installed it on a new m.2 drive on my main PC. Been using Arch for a little over 1 month now.

I can understand your tired of tinkering, I came from windows where I was tired of fighting the OS to do what I want. So in that regard I use the same "energy" but instead of fighting windows I'm learning and getting better and building and customizing my Linux install exactly how I like it.

As for other suggestions I don't mind macOS, but their hardware screams planned obsolescence. they charge obscene amounts for a few gigabytes extra of SSD. I checked just now and they charge 259euro in my country to go from 256GB to 512GB. And I bought 2TB Samsung 980 pro NVME m.2 drive for 120euro a month ago.

Windows is probably the worst OS, but you can install software that rips out all the built in spyware. And you get keys around the web for cheap. This way you can keep your PC, and the next time you get a new PC you can buy one you are reasonably certain will work well on Linux.

I felt the same after using Arch for 2 years. I switched to Fedora now and It's pretty stable. Drag and drop with VSCode is generally broken, not an issue with your system

This year it will be 20 years since I switched to Linux. I also have tried many different distros and finally landed with Arch/Manjaro. From what I've seen, to me, Mac OS seems as "locked in plastic" as Windows and Ubuntu. Last time I checked, running Linux on a newer Macintosh is a hard route with a lot of hoops to jump.

But in the end this is just a tool. There is no point in using screwdriver if hammer works better for your use-case.

Mac OS is honestly pretty good, it's just that Apple enforces such a walled garden with their products and when you hit that wall you really hit that wall.

And while Windows works great 99% of the time, that other 1% is such a pain to debug that it's hardly worth it to me.

Fedora 38 with Wayland has given me the smoothest and most trouble-free Linux experience. I suggest using either the gnome or KDE version with Wayland.

Hardware and software integration are, for me, the major selling point of Macs and MacOS. If it makes you feel much more comfortable, go for it.

TBH I did the other way around. Ditched windows for Macs around 2005. Eventually got tired of my super outdated macOS on an 10yo laptop a few years ago, was working with Linux already for more than a decade, and I was already using FOSS software for most of my use cases, so I made the jump to Debian Gnome. Everything felt natural. I tend to organize my workflow around what works tho, so YMMV.

Firstly, I think if you want to try switching to macOS, do, it might suite you better. You could always switch back to Linux if you change your mind, but be aware linux typically runs worse on apple hardware. I would say I've read and heard people have plenty of problems on macOS too, so the grass might not be as green as it first appears. MacOS does have one thing going for it, which is integration between hardware and software, apple make both. You can get a similar effect by picking specific hardware in linux, it's less important, linux runs well on most hardware, but if you for example pick a thinkpad, you'll probably have a better experience on the whole as lots of linux kernel developers use them.

It could be worth trying to ask in a community forum or IRC about each bug specifically and try to fix them, or you could switch distributions and see if a different distribution runs better for you, although Ubuntu is pretty well used and I think I've heard they tend to ship recent kernels.

I don't think the variety is effecting this too much, generally someone working on some tiling window manager isn't impacting a user who's using a vanilla-ish ubuntu install, it only really impacts the folk using it and if you're using Ubuntu you're using a well defined, well tested set of software. Yes maybe the variety of package management might be effecting you if you're using some esoteric package management system, but ubuntu uses apt and to an increasing degree snap, so I suspect that isn't playing a big role in your problems.

I've been using various Linux distros since Ubuntu 8.10 came out, when I was back in high school.

Ever since I got my iPad mini though, my computer usage has honestly kind of dropped off. I have a ThinkPad X13s, and I'm waiting on it to get better Linux support (since is has a Snapdragon ARM processor). Until then, it's currently running Windows 11, and it's fine. Not the greatest thing in the world, but it works for the things I need it to do, and that's what's important to me as I get older.

Once it gets better Linux kernel support, I may install a Linux distro, but at the end of the day 90% of what I do on my personal machines is just browsing the web and content consumption. I'm a Windows SysAdmin at work and tinker plenty. When I make it home, I end up just chilling and reading or watching something interesting.

It's called F R A G M E N T A T I O N. Wasted thousands of hours despite having weaker manpower...

You should really try a distro that's actually up to date instead of ubuntu or debian, things are changing rapidly because of wayland, and you might not have a good experience on stable distros until the big transition is done.

Are you doing a lot of customization, or just running vanilla installs? I think the former is prone to more issues.

You may find that making your own desktop environment more your style, as opposed to relying on larger mainstream ones like KDE. For example, I was a GNOME guy until I dabbled with window managers like qtile, finally settling down with DWM currently with my own custom bar using slstatus.

If you are willing to try another distro, Void has been fantastic. My two main machines run Void very nicely for my needs, and it is very lightweight at barebones.

PopOS, Fedora, Mint and of course making sure you've got compatible hardware. There are several vendors for devices that help with that even though some are on the expensive side.

It depends on why you are using FOSS now?

For me its a principle choice of freedom and privacy since 1998, so I cope with the downsites on the desktop as much I can.

I used a Mac once. I tapped with two fingers and didn't get a menu. That was it, can't handle only single click UI on the touchpad