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I’ve been a Linux sysadmin for 25 years but always preferred Windows on my desktop. Reason: Software compatibility. Windows 11 changed that. I have to reinstal

I’ve been a Linux sysadmin for 25 years but always preferred Windows on my desktop. Reason: Software compatibility. Windows 11 changed that. I have to reinstall it every six months or so due to instability. Last time it happened, multiple monitor capability disabled, audio out to my headphones kept disappearing (reboot to fix), and every few days upon rebooting, boot would fail requiring the Bitlocker PIN. I don’t install any weird drivers/software or visit weird sites, never get malware. It’s just Windows fragility. I really miss Win10. I’m scheduled for a new laptop in June and I’ve decided it’s getting Ubuntu. I’m done. Windows 11 is just too fragile. I checked and all of the important apps I use now have near-perfect Linux counterparts. So the software compatibility issue is no longer a concern for me. Bye, Microsoft!

aaomidi 11mo ago
Ubuntu is.. not that good on the desktop
- cbdevidal 11mo ago
  I just installed it on my son’s desktop with Cinnamon. It’s good enough for me. It’s the server OS I prefer to use so I’m most familiar with it. And has the same excellent software compatibility as Windows; Most tutorials assume Ubuntu. Oh and I’ve been using Lubuntu for the past year on my road laptop. No issues. Good enough.
  - tasuki 11mo ago
    I mean, you're the sysadmin, so I probably shouldn't explain things to you. But I spent 20 years with Ubuntu and recently switched to Debian. The tutorials work the same. The disadvantage of Ubuntu is its weird mixture of apt and snap. The snaps self-update when they feel like it (eg when you're on a train, wasting your precious data). Debian uses apt for everything. It's a lot simpler and you have more control over it.
    - cbdevidal 11mo ago
      I cut my teeth on Debian many moons ago. It’s alright, but I’m content with Ubuntu, having run Lubuntu now on my road laptop for a year.
  - aaomidi 11mo ago
    Good enough is a wacky metric. Linux desktop is having so much positive changes happen to it. Something like Bazzite or Cachy is a significantly better experience for general desktop usage. Also, most tutorials when we’re talking about desktop no longer assume Ubuntu. There’s a reason steam decided to be based on arch for the steam deck.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
whizzter 11mo ago
Those symptoms sounds like breaking hardware though, cold joints somewhere or even worse a swelling battery, I literally had a multi-monitor disappearance last week on an older machine because the broken battery somehow caused the Intel GFX chip driver to fail and a colleague had some bitlocker failure when his last machine died.
- cbdevidal 11mo ago
  If it were breaking hardware it would persist through the reinstall. But since the day I got it, it’s done this kind of thing about every six months and every time, a reinstall fixes it. For about six months, and then I need to do it again. Work laptop has done a little better but if memory serves they did have to reinstall it about a year ago. I only use very bland software on that.
  - cbdevidal 11mo ago
    Well you may be partly right. Two weeks after reinstalling Win11 it's exhibiting frequent lockups and audio dying--often on the same day. Clearly some issues were resolved with reinstall (so those were software-caused), but potentially not all of the issues. I'll have to reinstall it once more to confirm. That, or I'm installing some software causing this. I don't install weird software, and it was software that I had used in Win10 on another laptop, so that's probably not it.

aaomidi 11mo ago

Ubuntu is.. not that good on the desktop

cbdevidal 11mo ago
I just installed it on my son’s desktop with Cinnamon. It’s good enough for me. It’s the server OS I prefer to use so I’m most familiar with it. And has the same excellent software compatibility as Windows; Most tutorials assume Ubuntu. Oh and I’ve been using Lubuntu for the past year on my road laptop. No issues. Good enough.
- tasuki 11mo ago
  I mean, you're the sysadmin, so I probably shouldn't explain things to you. But I spent 20 years with Ubuntu and recently switched to Debian. The tutorials work the same. The disadvantage of Ubuntu is its weird mixture of apt and snap. The snaps self-update when they feel like it (eg when you're on a train, wasting your precious data). Debian uses apt for everything. It's a lot simpler and you have more control over it.
  - cbdevidal 11mo ago
    I cut my teeth on Debian many moons ago. It’s alright, but I’m content with Ubuntu, having run Lubuntu now on my road laptop for a year.
- aaomidi 11mo ago
  Good enough is a wacky metric. Linux desktop is having so much positive changes happen to it. Something like Bazzite or Cachy is a significantly better experience for general desktop usage. Also, most tutorials when we’re talking about desktop no longer assume Ubuntu. There’s a reason steam decided to be based on arch for the steam deck.
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]

whizzter 11mo ago

Those symptoms sounds like breaking hardware though, cold joints somewhere or even worse a swelling battery, I literally had a multi-monitor disappearance last week on an older machine because the broken battery somehow caused the Intel GFX chip driver to fail and a colleague had some bitlocker failure when his last machine died.

cbdevidal 11mo ago
If it were breaking hardware it would persist through the reinstall. But since the day I got it, it’s done this kind of thing about every six months and every time, a reinstall fixes it. For about six months, and then I need to do it again. Work laptop has done a little better but if memory serves they did have to reinstall it about a year ago. I only use very bland software on that.
- cbdevidal 11mo ago
  Well you may be partly right. Two weeks after reinstalling Win11 it's exhibiting frequent lockups and audio dying--often on the same day. Clearly some issues were resolved with reinstall (so those were software-caused), but potentially not all of the issues. I'll have to reinstall it once more to confirm. That, or I'm installing some software causing this. I don't install weird software, and it was software that I had used in Win10 on another laptop, so that's probably not it.