I’d wanted to jump to Linux since the 90s, but it was never quite there for me, plus my day jerb requires me to be on Windows. I finally started ripping the band-aid off a couple years ago and it’s been amazing. I received a private message in response to a long-running issue I was having with my dGPU, and that person absolutely got me squared away by suggesting I give Aurora Linux a try for use cases.
Win10 at some point stopped recognizing my beloved FiiO E10 USB headphone amp despite it supposedly being class-compliant. Nothing I did could get any Windows machine to recognize it. Today, I found that amp in a drawer. I plugged it into one of my Aurora Linux machines, and the OS immediately recognized it. Works great and gave me back the headphone sound that I know and love.
So thank you all, for this community, for your contributions, for paying forward the Linux love. Have a great day all.
It took me a while before making the jump with the home laptop. I had tried several times since 2004 but always had some issues with WiFi or graphics. With Debian 12 I heard good stuff so when Debian 13 was released I installed it and no issues whatsoever.
But I will say some of the forums I visited back in the days where not as friendly as now. RTFM was a common thing you got thorn in the face when you had issues - and the manual did not always work.
Win10 at some point stopped recognizing my beloved FiiO E10 USB headphone amp despite it supposedly being class-compliant. Nothing I did could get any Windows machine to recognize it
Well, you should just have upgraded to Win 11 and asked Copilot about it.
*runs away in maniacal laughter, with a band of angry neckbeards in pitchforked pursuit*
Lemmy also pushed me into trying Linux about 2 years ago and I also ended up on Aurora. Aurora has a pretty small user base, but it’s nice.
Honestly this should be a weakly or monthly thread of just telling stories of the times someone from the community helped you or you helped someone with an issue.
Feelgood stories in my linux sublemmy?
It’s more likely than you think
As a long time linux user it makes me so happy its serving you well! ☺️☺️
I hope it continues to!
i’m coming at this realization from the opposite direction; my experience w linux made me believe you had to be VERY disciplined about your hardware purchases or you’re stuck having something that doesn’t work until you fix it.
so i’ve spent the last decade buy linux-first laptops – aka generic tier laptops with mac laptop price tags.
i needed a new laptop and my circumstances forced me to buy a cheap/off-brand windows-first laptop and i was dreading having to fix whatever didn’t work like i had to do circa 2002; but no, it’s just worked.
the people of lemmy made me realize this and wo them, i would be stuck trying to do my thing on broken hardware.
Yep things have certainly changed since then, I remember when it was common advice to new Linux users to generally avoid laptops.
that logic was my exact reasoning for buying linux-first laptops and it gave me an ultra smooth sailing for almost a decade meanwhile this is how i felt learning about everyone else’s hibernate/wifi/nvidia/battery-draining problems that system76 solved for me:
imagine that this is how mac people feel. lol
I remember this too. Somehow, despite all the laptops I installed it on I got VERY lucky and only had a couple of WiFi issues, one totally incompatible laptop, and one that would not boot until I got the boot parameters right. I heard plenty stories from other people though. All that said, it’s so much smoother and easier installing Linux nowadays that the Windows install where I worry the whole time that MS is trying to reverse psychology me into agreeing to sell my unborn children into slavery.
Welp, maybe even the SDIO wifi on that 200 $ convertible back in … 2018-ish would work ootb now. Windows 10 struggled already with the only 4 GB RAM, forget webbrowsing, the only reasonable task for such a device.
You’re welcome!
I have revived two old computers back from being utterly unusable thanks to Linux. Thats two less sitting wasted in a landfill somewhere.
i used mine to build an everything server and i kept cannibalizing parts from other “dead” systems from e-waste collection dumpsters intended for landfill to keep it running for many years until it died recently.
it’s amazing what people throw away sometimes; i once got a macbook air from one and ran fedora on it for many years as well.
🤗
Great story … thanks for sharing
You know what, I double that sentiment. The Linux community definitely helped me make the switch too, even if not by DMs.
I still have issues with an Nvidia card computer I own, but all my other machines work just fine and I simply like it more. I’m sure my card will come around sooner or later anyway.
I still have issues with an Nvidia card computer I own …
who doesn’t? lol
i intentionally avoided nvidia this time around because of my experiences w it in the past.
My GTX 970 has always worked on Linux Mint, even when it was only a year old
Oddly, not a single problem on my 2070 system but I think age helps Linux get stable. Older the hardware, the better open source works.
very true and i would have been better insulated by purchasing older hardware, but buying electronics second hand has always made me regret it.
Enjoy it while you can. AI, Wayland and Rust-coded MIT libraries will change the landscape of the Linux ecosystem very soon and irreversibly.
