I got a laptop recently with an AMD GPU, and installed Ubuntu on it, and the first time round I got the AMD drivers working, but every boot the discrete GPU and the integrated GPU would change their device IDs (e.g. gpu1/ gpu2), so Steam would end up launching games on the integrated GPU half the time. I got frustrated and installed Windows, but found out that you can’t buy Win10 anymore, so got Win11 and hated it so much I went back to Ubuntu. Second time around, I found a thing for setting the GPU in the launch options by GPU name, and that has fixed it.
Linux is not ready for average consumers if they have to install it themselves, but neither is Windows; most people buy a computer with the OS preinstalled, and never have to deal with driver setup; the Win11 install had a bunch of driver issues too.
SteamDeck is such a huge revolution because it’s really the first time that a company has made preinstalled Linux machines available in a way that average consumers don’t have to go looking for or pay through the nose (cough System76 cough).
If someone like Dell or Lenovo (or hey, even System76 or Framework) could get their laptops in-store at BestBuy, with everything pre-configured and ready-to-use, that would be Linux being “ready” for the average consumer.
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Like, installing it it asked if I wanted extra helpful software and drivers, but I still had to spend a ton of time setting up basic programs. Default video player sucked, default file browser sucked. Having both the dock and the system toolbar is unnecessary, annoying, and confusing for new users. Most of the default apps feel like an Apple OS to me also, like you have NO configuration options, it’s just you get what you get. The Ubuntu software store is a fraction of a fraction of what it should be. Snaps SUCK.
I got a laptop recently with an AMD GPU, and installed Ubuntu on it, and the first time round I got the AMD drivers working, but every boot the discrete GPU and the integrated GPU would change their device IDs (e.g. gpu1/ gpu2), so Steam would end up launching games on the integrated GPU half the time. I got frustrated and installed Windows, but found out that you can’t buy Win10 anymore, so got Win11 and hated it so much I went back to Ubuntu. Second time around, I found a thing for setting the GPU in the launch options by GPU name, and that has fixed it.
Linux is not ready for average consumers if they have to install it themselves, but neither is Windows; most people buy a computer with the OS preinstalled, and never have to deal with driver setup; the Win11 install had a bunch of driver issues too.
SteamDeck is such a huge revolution because it’s really the first time that a company has made preinstalled Linux machines available in a way that average consumers don’t have to go looking for or pay through the nose (cough System76 cough).
If someone like Dell or Lenovo (or hey, even System76 or Framework) could get their laptops in-store at BestBuy, with everything pre-configured and ready-to-use, that would be Linux being “ready” for the average consumer.
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Like, installing it it asked if I wanted extra helpful software and drivers, but I still had to spend a ton of time setting up basic programs. Default video player sucked, default file browser sucked. Having both the dock and the system toolbar is unnecessary, annoying, and confusing for new users. Most of the default apps feel like an Apple OS to me also, like you have NO configuration options, it’s just you get what you get. The Ubuntu software store is a fraction of a fraction of what it should be. Snaps SUCK.