Linux is NOT ready for consumers

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I should preface the following article by stating that I had used Linux on a nearly-daily basis from April, 2023 through late May, 2023, and this is merely my experience with two different distributions, and shouldn't be interpreted to be the be-all-end-all in experiences with Linux-- everyone's mileage varies, mine wasn't good.

Introduction

Having been sort of displeased with Windows 11 on my 12th gen Intel system, I opted to install Linux Mint in a 'dualboot' configuration on my main system; initially, Mint ran fine, and was convenient, given the similarities between the Cinnamon Desktop Environment and Windows Explorer, the fact that Mint is Debian-based, and the lean-feeling performance compared to Windows 11. I also installed Linux Mint onto my old laptop, where it actually ran better than it did on my desktop (in fact, Linux Mint is still running on that laptop, due to my satisfaction with Mint's performance).

My issues with Linux

Mint, and partially general Linux issues

On the desktop, while it was running Mint, it did have the supposedly unreproduceable issue of memory leaks caused by Cinnamon, which, in spite of having been known about for a solid few years now, no definitive fix, patch, or cause has been determined. This issue, however, didn't appear on my other desktop, or the laptop. I'm inclined to put this issue down to bad luck.

On laptops, I had issues with drivers, especially in my newer Lenovo system, which has a Realtek wireless card, which presents a complex issue for using Linux, since it only appears that Intel is making wireless drivers for Linux. However, when trying Q4OS on an older Toshiba NB305 (manufactured in 2010), I had functional wireless networking out-of-the-box, using its "stock" Atheros wireless card; and neither my desktops, nor my older Asus laptop had any issues dealing with wireless networking on Linux, and I'd likely attribute that to Intel releasing official wireless drivers for Linux.

openSUSE Tumbleweed, and "why are software packages so damn complex on Linux?"

At the behest of a friend, I had openSUSE Tumbleweed installed on a secondary SSD on my current desktop, which, while it ran fine (operationally), it refused to see my ethernet connection without manually configuring it. However, after going through the (admittedly, overcomplex) process of configuring wired networking, openSUSE had no problems connecting to the network. In fact, I even found KDE Plasma to be intuitive and efficient to use, almost more-so than Cinnamon, GNOME, or Xfce.

Another issue quickly arose when it came time to install my preferred web browser, Naver Whale, which does offer a Linux binary, but only a *.DEB file, for Debian-based distros, meanwhile, no package is offered either as a *.RPM (the format used by openSUSE, Fedora, and several other distros). Fortunately, Alien exists to help convert packages, however, it seems to be admittedly overly-complex for most users, so I wouldn't automatically call it usable.

Copyright 2023, Econobox_ (d.b.a konat.neocities.org)