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A personal journey through Linux from 1997 to 2022, chronicling the evolution from confusing command-line interfaces and dependency hell to modern package managers and improved usability. Despite significant progress, the author argues Linux desktop never achieved true user-friendliness due to excessive fragmentation and choice. While acknowledging Linux's dominance in servers and potential in gaming through Steam Deck, the piece reflects on why everyday users with limited time may find the ecosystem overwhelming compared to alternatives.

A brief history of my Linux experience

Lonely Programmer

A brief history of my Linux experience

I think it is not all about getting old… (or at least not the main problem). The thing is, if you are, like any others here, an adult person that has responsabilties and produces something (posts, content, software, tools, etc…), you will prefer to use as much as time you can to create, and have a good life work balance, instead of resolving anoying bugs in linux for an hour or days… However now a days some workstation distros work out of the box pretty well, just don’t use Nvidia GPU 😆 (Linux + Nvidia + Wayland + Flatpak is a headache for sure).

It’s the same story for beginners, but I think the difference is that back in 1997, resources for learning Linux or any new technology were limited, right? Also, getting older makes you use Linux more, not leave it, because you can create scripts to automate all your daily tasks.

I’ve read the whole thread, and I actually think it’s much more a matter of ethical choice that anything else. Time-wise it’s a fact : Windows and macOS are way more out-of-the-box OS’s that Linux distros.
OP considers his time better spent with family and things like that that he calls “real” problems. Props to him, nothing to be ashamed of, part of his life.
Others will consider aiming at a FOSS mentality is something that matters in the world, and it will be part of their “real” problems. Linux is like the designated way to be in that kind of ethical posture. Props to them, nothing to be ashamed of neither.
It’s a choice.

“What happened in 2022? In reality, nothing special. I just got old. And getting older means you don’t want to waste your precious time searching for a device that works with Linux.”
Must surely be 2002?
&quot;Every programmer who thinks a GUI needs change creates a new GUI. &quot;
So true, and that’s why I just use Gnome, Zorin variant. Ubuntu is also just fine. I think this is exellent, if I was more interested i would use KDE I guess, but for me it is just “too much”. If I had an older laptop I’d use a lighter desktop, and not an outdated version of the whole OS with no support. Which is the alternative on other OS’es.
Except Finder was a bit crude I lived well with MacOS too. Windows would be hard for me though, with it’s inconsistent looks and even React Native (!) in the desktop stack (control panel, start menu)! Makes me wonder what else is in there… (Nothing wrong with React Native in itself, but what on earth is it doing in the Windows desktop???)