I went back to Linux and it was a mistake

It’s a complete coincidence that I am Install Linux Around the same time as my colleagues Nathan Edwards and Stevie Bonifield. A few months ago, I decided to breathe new life into a 2019 Dell XPS 15 that had been gathering dust for a couple of years.

Despite a cutting-edge (for the time) Core i7 CPU and 32GB of RAM, Windows was frustratingly slow. The fan was constantly at full throttle even when the machine was idle, and it regularly failed to install updates. So in early 2024, I gave up and moved to the M1 MacBook Pro.

But I wanted to give my older child something to practice writing on. Plus, I was trying to find a suitable one Distraction-free Writing solution. (Spoiler: This laptop wasn’t the solution I was suggesting Looking for it.) So I installed Ubuntu. once again.

Look, before the MacBook and before the Dell XPS, I was a Linux user. I installed it for the first time Ubuntu In 2006 on a ThinkPad X40. It has been my primary operating system across three different laptops for 13 years.

Despite some… let’s call them quirks (Wi-Fi didn’t work out of the box on the X40), I was happy with Linux for a long time. I dual-booted Windows out of necessity, and often had a MacBook for work. But they were intended for testing applications or specific tasks, such as video editing. I’ve spent 99 percent of my life in Ubuntu.

That is, until approximately 2017. As I got older, fixing my laptop changed from a hobby to something that got in the way of my other hobbies. I rediscovered my love for making music, and try as I might, Ubuntu studio Just didn’t cut it. I was spending more time on Ableton Livewhich meant more time in Windows, until in 2019, I bought the aforementioned XPS and swapped it all out.

A lot has changed in the 20 years since I first installed Linux, and even in the seven years since I last used it. It is now arguably the best platform for Computer games. There are actually great photo editing apps out there, like Darktablewhich was introduced in 2009. There are also viable commercial options for making music Bitwig and combineall of which have improved significantly since 2019.

The Ubuntu installation process hasn’t changed much, but the interface is nicer. I put the ISO on a thumb drive and briefly considered erasing the entire XPS. I got scared at the last minute and decided to dual boot, which meant repartitioning my hard drive.

Immediately, I was reminded that Linux had not completely overcome its annoying nature. Fingerprint reader not working. A minor annoyance that I decided to ignore.

What’s even more worrying is that Ubuntu fails to install updates due to an error EFI partition problem Specific to the XPS 15 which was also causing issues in Windows. I was able to install it, but I’m not convinced that I didn’t create a time bomb by deleting essential files.

Ubuntu also refused to mount my Windows partition for the first month or so, before it suddenly stopped working for unknown reasons. Stevie similarly admitted,Anger quit smoking and go to bed“When they couldn’t get Ubuntu to connect to another SSD.

Nathan had his own strange issues where CachyOS refused to acknowledge his problem Mouse clicks. He was also struck by choice paralysis, trying to choose between four bootloaders and thirteen desktop environments. For some, that’s part of the appeal, the endless customizability, the ability to bend your computer to your every whim and make it truly your own. Ubuntu doesn’t throw its customizability in your face, like Cachy does, but it’s still there if you want it.

The problem, I encountered during my days meticulously tinkering with desktop computers and crafting the note-taking tool I dream of using Obsidianis that you are building a house of cards. One small thing in some seemingly insignificant library or plugin can cause the entire system to crash. I don’t want to waste my time tweaking and troubleshooting when I already have things working.

Even if you keep it simple, as I did with my XPS, it’s difficult to ensure smooth sailing. Ubuntu is one of the best supported Linux distributions. And while my XPS 15 isn’t one of them, Dell sells a lot of them Ubuntu certified laptops Over the years, so I thought I was obvious – wrong.

Many applications have been downloaded, both from the official Ubuntu App Center settles downor .deb packages, quietly failed to install. There is no obvious error, nothing. I had to open the device and install it from there to find out what went wrong. Installing software on Linux is somewhat more confusing than it was 20 years ago.

Even the things that worked weren’t smooth sailing. I got steam It was up and running, but it took hoursit required installing outdated 32-bit libraries, and crashed along the way. Oh, and Steam games refused to recognize my audio interface; They will only play through your laptop speakers. Cassius or Bazett It would have provided a smoother Steam experience. But it also illustrates the problem. Saying you are using Linux is almost meaningless since there are so many different flavors.

Fortunately, Bitwig recognized my audio interface, but was skittish about it MIDI controllers It wanted to work with me (a problem I never had in the Mac version), and it crashed when I first tried to run it. Also, while the original Bitwig tools are powerful, I missed my favorite soft effects and effects, e.g Arturia DyesIt works on Windows and Mac operating systems only.

There were a few other minor annoyances. If my laptop went into sleep mode (which only seemed to happen when plugged in, see figure), it refused to reconnect to the external hard drive I had plugged in, and stopped recognizing the SD card reader. To get them working again, I have to reboot. It also does not activate when inputting from a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard. I have to open the lid to wake it up when it is connected to my device dock And an external screen.

If you just need a web browser, Ubuntu works like a charm. I didn’t have any issues with Wi-Fi or Firefox. My XPS now runs faster and quieter than it did with Windows. And I’ve been running Obsidian with minimal fuss. I used Ubuntu as my primary work machine for a few days, and everything was fine. But I can do most of my work through a web browser.

It’s everything else. I can play on my Linux machine, but the experience is much smoother on my Switch or PS4. I can create music in Bitwig or Reaper on Ubuntu, but Ableton on macOS is easier to use and supports all my VSTs. GIMP and Darktable both offer powerful image editing capabilities, but let’s be honest, they’re not as powerful as Lightroom and Photoshop. Linux can do all the things now, sometimes better than Windows. But with everything he does, there always seems to be a better option.