I only used Linux for A WEEK

Which distro of Linux should I have used??? Let me know in the comments.

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0:00 Intro
1:01 Day 1 - Setup
2:03 Ekster Wallets
3:03 Day 2 - Video Editing
9:22 Day 3 - Gaming/OBS Issues
12:17 Day 4 - Driver Issues/Gaming/Dev Stuff
20:52 Day 6 - What about Day 5? and GIMP
24:31 Day 7 - Live Stream
25:36 Overall Experience
28:13 Conclusion

[RaidOwl]

Thanks to everyone for all the tips in the comments for how I could do this better next time! I know there are plenty of things I could have done differently...next time will be better!

[theweez]

It’s definitely not an easy switch when you are used to certain software that isn’t available. Since most of the software on Linux is available for windows it’s a good idea to learn it there before making the move or install Linux on an old laptop to get familiar with it. Good luck in the future!

[JackMeadows]

I remember in 1999-2000 picking up a computer magazine about this new thing called "Linux". Popped in the CD and played about trying to install Mandrake Linux, after that I was hooked installing testing all the new releases and different distros over the years. Never looked back, been using Linux for over 20 years and love it. Archlinux on my desktops and Debian on servers are what I use these days.

And with Valves massive contribution to making gaming more accessible on Linux thankfully means I don't have to use Windows any more.

[ardishco]

Switching to Linux for a week as a challenge gives the OS bad rep, its not just for developers and programmers. It shouldn't be a challenge but rather a first look into the OS. Good video btw.

[Chromiell]

I've been using Linux exclusively for the past year and a half and I'll say this: Linux for now is great for the tinkerers, programmers and hobbyists. It can run most games without issues with just a bit of tinkering and it can absolutely be used as daily driver for right about everything, BUT you absolutely have to invest a ton of time learning it inside and out, just for gaming you'll have to understand Wine, Bottles, Proton, Proton-GE, DXVK, WINED3D, VKD3D, DXVK-Async and the list goes on and on. If anyone wants to dive into Linux I can assure you, it's a great world to explore, but be warned: it's not for everyone, it requires a lot of knowledge, a ton of time reading guides, making mistakes, learning how to fix them etc.

I'd not recommend Linux to someone who works as a creator, it's a mess and if you don't have time or don't want to invest your free time learning, don't even start, you'll only hate it. Since I've started my Linux journey I've watched Linux content daily, I've read god knows how many articles and Wiki pages, but I can say that I now have an OS that feels like home, and I still feel like I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. It took blood, sweat and tears but I can really say that I enjoy using my computer now and I've learnt more about Linux in this year, than I've learnt about Windows in the 20 years that I've been using it.

[gwgux]

As someone's who's been running Linux on the desktop for many years and have been Linux exclusive for a few years now, I can say this was a good test to see where Linux is in relation to what you need it for. I'm not going to go into distro A is better suited for X or anything like that. You picked something you were more familiar with and ran with it.

Most people transitioning to Linux for the first time will do the same. In their case, it may be picked on what the default GUI looks like for that familiarity to operate the computer as they learn an OS that'll be completely new to them or some other reason. At the end of the day, distro doesn't matter too much so long as it's not a good solid development team behind it that'll keep providing updates. A distro is just a starting point with a default set of pre-installed software and settings. Specific settings and configurations will be set by the end user anyway.

When I heard you describing your setup, I gave it a 50/50 chance. It wasn't going to be anything but really good or really bad. I've seen a lot of videos on this topic, and content creators tend to have a hit or miss experience with not much in between. I'd rate this as a miss for you. All this means to me in the Linux community is that there are still more challenges for us to overcome. My personal experience is that everything I need just works and I rarely have any issues at all for both desktop PCs and laptops running Linux, but that's me and my situation. The fact that it went so badly for you doesn't mean Linux sucks, it just means we have more work to do.

From the Linux community, I thank you for trying it out and documenting your experience in a video. Clearly we have more work to do to be able to free more people from the shackles of big companies like Microsoft, Adobe, and Apple. We've come a long way, but we'll keep trying to push through these problems.

[truth]

Good video as usual. I’ve personally gone all in on Linux. I use PopOS, and before that I used Fedora, and CentOS. I’m a Visual Effects and Editing guy and I wanted to see if Houdini would get a performance boost, and I’ve been on Linux since. Oh also Davinci works with no issues on PopOS with with Nvidia. Linux definitely has sore spots. I have been using Nvidia GPUs and they have been working for me. I don’t think I ever got my AMD graphics card working.

[jamesm]

Very interesting video. I have been using Linux as my daily driver for over a year now and I have personally found it to be a viable alternative for me. I can 100% see why this is not the case for everyone (or likely not the case for most people). I am just lucky that I have been using Linux for work for years now so I am probably more familiar with Linux than Windows at this point. Hopefully desktop Linux one day becomes viable for people like you.

[xellaz]

Linux Mint recently had a major update. Their Cinnamon version is more similar to Windows than ever despite being Linux. You might want to try it again. For me, the distro that was able to make me 100% switch to Linux as my daily driver is Manjaro KDE. Now I'm on MX Linux (KDE) and liking it even more.

[asmi]

"I spent like four hours and accomplished relatively nothing" - that's the quote of the day! :D

[mrcrackerist]

I went with Arch when switch to Linux from Windows because of all the possible problems that could arise I want to know how stuff worked so that it would be easier to fix later.
I switched to Linux because boot and shutdown time was ridiculous on my PC, prevented me from sleeping and changing class room during school.

Anyways nice video :)

[kevin]

Yeah, Linux can have some pains in the beginning. However, Gimp can do all the things you wanted... just gotta' go about it in a different way. This was fun to watch because I've been using Linux for 13 years for graphic design (Inkscape is a great vecor program!) so I kind of forgot how irritating it was in the very beginning, lol.

[graysonpeddie]

My question to you is: what about trying out Nobara Linux? It's a distro for gamers and content creators. That is what I have installed in my Linux machine.

[MrTom_Songwriter]

@RaidOwl -This is the first time watching your videos and content. This is also the third time that I've ever commented on video outside of music creation. I've been working in information technology and services for more than 35+ years. I've also used Linux since the very first distro's. I'm an old guy, and I can tell you there is NO perfect O.S. out there.
I use mainly Debian's unofficial firmware builds because I get great performance on some of my older systems including as virtual machines (hypervisor II).

There are SOME applications that I have to run in Windows, (or a Windows virtual machine) for certain lines of work as there is no Linux equivalents. But for every day browsing and commenting like I am doing now, I use Linux. One thing you may want to consider, if you CAN NOT get away from Mac OS because some of your applications that you use from work is on that system, keep it as it for that purpose and don't buy any new Apple Systems. Use another computer for your daily use....as in everything else with Linux.

You'll find that you save money not investing in every single new Apple hardware and OS and also Windows as we have seen with Windows 11. It's also an interesting to note, that I'm typing this to you on a old laptop that has a single core 32bit CPU Pentium M (which is a Pentium 4 equivalent) with 2GB of memory. I also can tell you for production work, a few years ago, I actually wrote two retail albums using a modern system with Debian Linux and LMMS (multi track midi application), just concept albums... instrumental tracks.. But that proved to me that Linux IS capable for SOME production work that I do, and as always, daily use. I hope you and everyone has a great upcoming New Year.. All the best! -MrTom

[liquidmobius]

Nice switching to Linux! Personally, I run Debian stable, but if you're considering switching to Linux fulltime and want a good workflow for everything you want to do that you mentioned, go with Zorin OS, trust me! It's actually designed for Windows and Mac users to switch to Linux, it has NVIDIA and AMD drivers, you can AAA game with Steam, Lutris, and GOG, you can run any Windows app with Wine and there's also an added layer of support with Windows Support Layer, their software library is extensive, based on Ubuntu LTS and it just works! You can also enable third-party repositories for better proprietary hardware and software support. You can of course go with the free Core version, but if you really want a premium experience then you can drop $39 for the pro version. I did and it's going to be hard to switch back to vanilla Debian.

[coreytv]

Havent watched the whole video yet, but most of the issues are because you are using wayland. On the login screen if you hit the settings cog, select xorg. It will fix 90% of the issues I've seen such as hardware encoding in obs, davinci resolve, etc

[BoDiddly]

As a Content producer, I am surprised you didn't choose Ubuntu Studio!
Ubuntu Studio comes tailor made for Multi-media production with all of the tweaks necessary and most of the software you need.

[Tech_for_the_busy_Exec]

Here is a series idea, do exactly the same with a few of the recommended distributions. Like Mint, PopOS, and I'll throw one in ZorinOS. See if it really is a distribution issue more so than a "Linux" issue.

[jonathanrider]

I have been using linux for about 12 years; started with Ubuntu - a couple of years ago did some "distro hopping" and landed on mint - which I still like. Just recently I have been test driving Pop OS and is really is super. There was a lengthy learning curve over the 12 years - I'm still learning all the time - but I don't think I could use Windows for a week. One of the main reasons I switched to linux is I was fed up with MS control of EVERYTHING. The linux community is huge and growing - with mostly an ethos that embraces open-source and many values I share so I'm very happy with it. I have viewed many of you segments and am astonished to learn you use Windows so much (or even at all). I think you made a very wise choice of distros for your needs and I am sure you can find whatever is required to carry on. The linux forums are my go to resource when I can't find answers on youtube. I strongly recommend Jay Lacroix's LearnLinuxTV channel on youtube. Best wishes for the New Year!

[zrsDemise]

I use Nobara and they have fixed just about all the of the issues that you ran into in this video. Overall good video, and thanks for giving it a shot.