I Tried Linux Desktop for 2 Months...

I ran Linux desktop as my daily driver for 2 months - dev, streaming, gaming. Here’s the straight rundown: what worked, what broke, and what I’d do differently if I tried again.

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Episode Transcript

Don Hansen (00:00):
I'm just gonna come out with it.
I have really sad news toshare.
I went back to Windows.
Now I know.
I know.
I was angry too.
I had to go through a mix ofemotions.
I was using Linux desktop forabout two months.
I was using Pop OS.
Everything seemed like it wouldwork out in the beginning.

(00:26):
It really did.
I wanted it to.
I really wanted it to.
In fact, I spent a full weekjust trying to um set up like
the dual boot for Linux, and Iwanted to keep Windows as a
backup.
And then I realized that mymotherboard kind of had the

(00:47):
security thing that prevented itfrom me doing it easily.
And so I finally just settledon deleting Windows.
And I spent like a weekstraight figuring that out.
I deleted my video driversseveral times.
I got into command prompts thatI didn't even know existed to
restore that.

(01:07):
And AI did help me out a littlebit with that.
It also caused me to lose myvideo drivers, but it did, you
know, fix its own problems thatit brought me.
But to be honest, I didn't knowa lot about like I interact
with the Linux, and I'veinteracted with the Linux ever

(01:28):
since you know I became a dev,but there's so much to trying to
make Linux work with thesoftware that you love to use.
And I spent a lot of time doingthat.
If I spent a week figuring outthe video driver stuff and the
dual booting stuff, um, youknow, I had low points, but I

(01:51):
would just remind myself,honestly, how much I hated
Microsoft and Apple.
I didn't want to go back,right?
I think that's a goodmotivation to start with.
Like that gets that fireburning under your butt, and you
just want to make it work nomatter the time, no matter the
graying of your hairs.
I feel like that's probably whyI got some of this gray.

(02:11):
Um, but you want to make itwork and it's exciting.
And the idea of customizingyour environment and having that
control, like it soundsexciting, unless you're running
a business.
Unless you aren't, unlessyou're trying to make it work
for your business, right?
If you're just spending like anhour or two, maybe a few nights

(02:32):
a week, and you're just playingaround with it, you can break
stuff, it doesn't set you back.
Linux is a great thing to tryout.
The desktop is a great thing totry out, but I went full force
in, I burned the boats, and Igave it a real try.
And I was actually able tostream.
So I do live streaming, I setup OBS, and I even got like a

(02:55):
web app that replicated what myGo XLR software does on WinX or
Windows because that isn'tprovided on Linux, and it mostly
worked when it wouldn'tdisconnect and reconnect
randomly.
And then my Stream Decksoftware, I had to use an
alternative for that, and itmostly worked when it would

(03:16):
load.
And sometimes it would load onits own, sometimes I'd have to
manually load it, sometimes itjust would give me some error
that I would have to look up.
And you know, you have somesoftware that works like that,
that's fine, right?
Couple pieces of software,that's fine.
And then when it expands tolike half a dozen apps that you

(03:39):
use, and then a dozen apps thatyou use, and the errors happen
at the worst time possible, orthey screw up my recordings, and
I'm just dumping a bunch oftime into then having to like
set up my my backups andeverything for my my progress

(04:01):
because I can't trust.
I like working locally.
And if you're if you're gonnago Linux, you might as well work
locally, right?
Um, but I can't trust my workto be safe, so I had to figure
out backup solutions for Linuxthat worked with my NES.
And it was just problem afterproblem after problem.
And maybe some of you have setall of this up over the previous
years, but I've used softwarethat just worked.

(04:23):
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(04:45):
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Check it out.
What do you have to lose?
Now let's get back to thevideo.
You can bash Mac, you can bashWindows all you want.

(05:10):
It works.
Not all the time, most of thetime, but it works a hell of a
lot more than Linux desktop.
I wasn't even using Arc Linux,I was using Pop OS.
And gaming is a pain in theass.
I got sold that I could playall these games on Linux, right?

(05:31):
Steam is coming out with umkind of their Linux version, I
think, for their handheld, and alot more games were supported
through Linux, I think throughprototype.
I'm probably getting thatwrong, but through one of their
runners, and my terminology isgonna be off.
I tried my best to learn this,but through one of their runners

(05:51):
that kind of worked most of thetime until I got to my games
like Battle.net stuff.
When you get to like clientlaunchers, that's when things
become a pain.
And you can forget any likekernel level anti-cheats and try
to make that work and like tryto play GTA 5 or anything like
that.
I just I spend so much timegetting most games to work, and

(06:16):
most games did work for the mostpart.
Once in a while they had crash,I had Overwatch crash once in a
while.
You might be saying, Why areyou playing Overwatch?
And that's a legitimate thingto call me out on.
But these are the games Iplayed, these are the games I
grew up on, and I got most ofthem working, but then they
would just stop working, or Iwould have to shut off updates

(06:39):
for battle.net because one ofthose updates could cause me to
have to debug for four hoursfiguring out why I couldn't
launch battle.net anymore.
Because one of their updatesdidn't really work with the
runner that I was using and thatneeded updated.
Then I'd have to cycle throughdifferent.
I'm using the word runner.
I think there's a properterminology for this, but

(07:01):
basically to be able to run thatWindows game through Linux.
And it just got to a pointwhere like I kind of felt like
Superman.
I kind of felt like a tech bro.
I felt like I was learning somuch trying to get all of this

(07:22):
to work on something it wasn'tmeant to work for.
And I feel like I did learnquite a bit about Linux.
And then one day I just thoughtto myself, maybe I should be

(07:42):
living life instead of gettingLinux to work.
I'm not even joking.
Like, I'm not being snarky.
I'm like, I have spent the lasttwo months trying to make this
work fueled by my hatred ofMicrosoft and Apple.
And I literally put my life onhold for many weeks of that.

(08:06):
I didn't even realize it.
I hadn't touched grass inforever.
And that's when I learnedthat's what Linux does to you.
It lures you in with thispromise of power and control,
and then you come out of it, youhaven't shaved for months, and

(08:31):
you haven't touched grass, allof your relationships are dead.
Maybe it's not that dramatic,but it can be because Linux is
that addictive, and I found thatI wanted to live instead of try
to make Linux work.
Now, to be clear, I'm talkingabout Linux desktop and using it
as a daily driver.

(08:52):
I'm not talking about just, youknow, hosting your application
on Linux and interacting withthe Linux through SSH or
something like that.
But I tried.
I really gave it a try.
And I just wanted to sharethat.
So I'm back on Windows.
And it's better.

(09:12):
Windows can have my data.
I hate that I just said that,but I like I'm not going back to
Linux Desktop.
I don't know how you guys makeit work.
Um but I'm curious, have youguys actually thoroughly tried
to use Linux desktop as a dailydriver?

(09:33):
Do you use it as a daily driverand for how long?
I'm curious.
The main question I have islike, how many people are
actually making this work fortheir daily driver for
everything?
And I know some people aregonna be like, well, you
shouldn't do that.
It's like, well, you kind ofcan though.
You have to make sometrade-offs, but you can.

(09:54):
And why wouldn't you?
Right?
Because I feel like if you diveinto the Linux world, like you
go head first.
There's no you you burn thoseboats.
Or did I just do it the wrongway?
I probably did it the wrongway, but I don't know.
I'm not going back anytimesoon.
But if I do go back again inthe future, I'm doing the same

(10:15):
damn shit.
I'm just gonna make sure I havetime, like available time for
it.
And maybe that's was myproblem.
But, anyways, do you use Linuxas a daily driver?
I'm curious how you make itwork.
And have you tried it and haveyou ditched it and realized it
wasn't for you?
Are you curious about it?
What are your thoughts aboutusing Linux desktop as a daily
driver?
Let me know in the commentsbelow.