[Linux General]

[webhead 518]

Anyone actually use Linux?  Just looking to see who dabbles.  Maybe post about new stuff occasionally if there is anyone.

 

How long?

Since highschool I've been tinkering with it on and off.

 

Which distros?

Ubuntu and Arch Linux primarily.

 

For what?

I use Ubuntu for web server stuff because it's stable and has good community support (i.e. community PACKAGES for weird stuff) and I use Arch for my desktop install and my media center stuff.

 

You try gaming on it lately?

So I've been tinkering around a bunch as of late and the work that Valve and friends have done via Steam and Proton (a WINE fork) is nothing short of incredible.  Not only do we have a lot of native Linux games, but you can launch games through Steam and its own version of WINE.  I was able to launch like weird old stuff (Vampire the Masquerade) and new stuff (Devil May Cry 5...with a quick patch for a problem it had playing WMV videos lol).  I am really impressed with how far the gaming stuff has come now.

[Truami 24]

How long

I've been using Linux for over 20 years now, full-time. And I've been using it as a daily (work) driver for pretty much over 12 years.

 

Which distros?

I stick to Debian-derived. For servers I try to use Debian, but sometimes switch to Ubuntu if I need some more bleeding-edge software.

Desktop I run the latest Ubuntu LTS, and only upgrade to a new LTS.

 

For what?

I have a couple of VPSes that run various websites and selfhosted tools (like gitlab, bitwarden), on Debian/Ubuntu.

I run Ubuntu on my XPS15 as a development powerhouse, so that's Chrome/IntelliJ/Docker and a various host of other tooling that relates to my work.

Also I fiddle around with my Synology NAS (which runs a Linux variant) a lot, and still have a Pi with Raspbian running in the house.

 

You try gaming on it lately?

Actually, yes. Steam + Proton is AWESOME. I agree with @webhead that this is a major leap in consumer gaming for the platform, although purist will say "ye but its wine". As a consumer idgaf, and I'm glad I can finally play (most of) the games I want without any hassle.

 

Verdict

People around me use Windows, a lot use Mac, but they are all idiots. Linux is win.

[webhead 518]

@Truami

You ever play with CentOS for web servers?  I have tried a few times but I detest building my own software and their community repos don't seem as robust as Ubuntu.

[Truami 24]

51 minutes ago, webhead said:

@Truami

You ever play with CentOS for web servers?  I have tried a few times but I detest building my own software and their community repos don't seem as robust as Ubuntu.

 

Sure, I've used CentOS. I just really love the way Debian handles it's packages, which means I hardly ever have to build my own software. Exactly your point.

 

But if I had CentOS, I'd still use it over Windows/Mac. ?

[webhead 518]

Yeah that is mainly what attracts me to Ubuntu and Arch.

 

I've been trying to main on Linux again for a bit here and now when I go into Windows I really fucking miss GNOME's activities hot corner feature being so easy.  That and I love having GUAKE slide down for terminal shit (I have to SSH into my servers all the time for this and that).

 

I've thought about trying Debian but that seems like ultra stable like way the fuck behind.  I felt like Ubuntu LTS was a nice middle ground.

[Truami 24]

10 minutes ago, webhead said:

Yeah that is mainly what attracts me to Ubuntu and Arch.

 

I've been trying to main on Linux again for a bit here and now when I go into Windows I really fucking miss GNOME's activities hot corner feature being so easy.  That and I love having GUAKE slide down for terminal shit (I have to SSH into my servers all the time for this and that).

 

I've thought about trying Debian but that seems like ultra stable like way the fuck behind.  I felt like Ubuntu LTS was a nice middle ground.

 

+1 for Guake, I've been using it for years now. Whenever I'm behind a different box I end up opening weird programs cause SHIFT + ESC key binding I use triggers other shit.

 

Debian is behind a lot indeed, I only use it for systems that need to be really stable. Just run Docker on it for your custom services, but let the core be stable af.

[webhead 518]

I was going to play around with Docker on my media center box but I'm running ESXi right now (3 VMs) and APPARENTLY you can't run virtualized services inside a virtualized OS very well!

[Downshift 54]

I have an Android OS device. Does that count?

[webhead 518]

Well technically yes but that doesn't really fit here.

[MT 900]

I should've guessed it would've been a web/Truami circle jerk in here.

[webhead 518]

Well if George would join the damn forum it could be a 3 way circle jerk.

[gibblets 3]

On 4/5/2019 at 6:00 PM, webhead said:

Well if George would join the damn forum it could be a 3 way circle jerk.

 

Your iron grip is slipping, you let non-Linuxers into the thread.

 

I primarily use Arch for anything Desktop-style use, Fedora & CentOS for servers. I like how Fedora handles its SELinux with a very strong, working config for all default packages. It's a bit of work to add others but I feel that something like SELinux is a great thing to know for general security and wish Arch would pick it up, but I'm not about to sacrifice my gaming and package library for it on a main desktop.

 

I've also been keeping an eye on Solus and some of the new 'Atomic' style distributions like Fedora Silverblue. The idea of having docker-like layered updates for _every_ system update is really neat, and being able to just reboot to an older layer to reverse an update no matter how bad the update is just feels like living in the future. Most of that stuff is still too new for me to go all-in on, but I really feel it's where the future of OSes should be heading.

[webhead 518]

I did look at Solus a bit but yeah, I'm a little suspicious of that kinda stuff lol.  Plus its very few people and they have no upstream distro.

[dr. b 486]

I used Linux exclusively for nearly 10+ years before I bought a MacBook. in... 2015 I think. OS X / macOS has been a pretty big adjustment from what I was used to, but going back to Windows would have been far worse.

[webhead 518]

Could always slap Linux on that thing.

 

What distros did you use?

[dr. b 486]

I split time between Debian/Ubuntu and Arch. I always liked the original design principles behind Arch, and pacman is great too. But I eventually went back to better stability with Debian.

 

I'm pretty content with macOS so I'm not likely to install Linux on the MacBook, but I did look forward to my next PC purchase - probably not buying another Mac - and then getting back to being a full-time Linux user. 

[dr. b 486]

I spend just as much time in the terminal on the Mac as I used to on Linux, too. And I prefer the BSD userland to GNU coreutils so I've never really felt a burning need to change anything / install Linux. Only needed to do some minor changes to my various shell scripts and python programs and then it was basically back to business as usual, except with a different GUI on top. 

[gibblets 3]

I use a mac at work also since it was either that or Windows, and Apple's environment is much nicer than Windows for any type of command line use. Basically install GNU Coreutils and a package manager and it's pretty much like using Linux for most CLI tasks.

 

Unfortunately I would never use it on my personal systems as:

1. It's not open source.

2. Really, really shitty graphics driver and hardware support.

3. No Vulkan support for gaming, pushing their own proprietary Metal instead.